The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1900-10-16
WHEAT.
FFO1' Merriam Writes From Experience on a
Timely Subject.

1O1' merriam Writes From Experience on a
Timely Subject
correspondence of The Progressive Farmer.
At the present writing, October
ord, many farmers in GEORGIA are
sowing wheat. There need be no
undue haste in this matter, and these
farmers had much better be working
over their seed bed one or two weeks.
We shall not SOW until after the
10Th Of October. Any time from
then to the first of December will do
nicely. We prefer to wait until
after the first good frost, for then
there is less liability of injury from
the fly, and this time can be very
proftably used preparing the land.
We shall plant our wheat on a corn
and pea vine stubble. The peas were
sown in the corn at the last plowing,
and have made rank growth, as
also have the crab grasses. This
we have cut for hay, and as the
stubble is too heavy to work up well
with a cutaway harrow, we are re-
plowing it shallOwly across the rows,
and shall work the land over about
once a week until we are ready to
plant. Part of this land we are fer
tilizing with 400 pounds to the acre
Of u chemical fertilizer consisting of
phosphoric acid and potash, and part
we shall leave unfertilized in order
to note the difference.
Mr.. w. P. Walker, of Griffin, Ga,
this year grew fifty-eight bushels of
wheat to the acre on three acres,
and an average of fifty three bush
els to the acre on fourteen acres. His
wheat was fertilized with 400 pounds
of guanO to the acre, made of half
cotton seed meal and half acid phos-
phate. Such fertilizing must involve
d great drain on the potash in the
soil and while his land evidently
contains large amount of this ele-
ment, it is doubtful how long such a
drain can be kept up without seri-
Gus falling off of the crop. I regard
it better farming to expend the
money he has spent for ammonia, in
purchasing phosphoric acid and pot
ash. While wheat undoubtedly con-
tains a great deal of nitrogen, still
this can be obtained very much
cheaper through the growing of
leguminOus crops.
To give you some idea Of what the
growing Of such crops will do to in
crease the yield of wheat, 1 will give
you the experience of one of my
neighbors. In 1899 he made eighteen
bushels of wheat to the acre on five
acres. A crop of COW peas was then
grown on the land and followed by
wheat again. This year he gathered
thirty-eight bushels of wheat to the
acre on this same land. After which
he sOwed it again to peas, and eX-
poets to follow with wheat again this
fall. The only trouble with him Is,
he has used too little potash on his
pea crop, and the growth of vines is
not what it should have been. His
land is of a sandy character and
needs potash.
If we want large crops Of wheat,
we must grow large crops OF COW
peas, and COW peas need chemical
fertilizers. l prefer to use the bulk
of these fertilizers on my pea crop,
to putting them directly on the
wheat, although they will pay on the
latter crop also.
At the meeting of our State Agri-
cultural Society, at Dublin, Ga, IN
August, while in conversation with
the brother Of the Hon. Pope Brown,
President of the Society, he informed
me that it had paid them to use pot
ash on wheat, and in fact, for most
other crops. Their soil is Of sandy
character like the majority OF the
land in the lower part of our State.
/ On all such land potash always gives
marked results. +. j. MERRIAM.
Battle Hill, Ga.
No theory, however correct. IS OF
/ - 49,, 1,,o ,7,,7oCc Won know how tC