The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1900-09-04
NOTES OF THE FARM.
ByW. F. MASSEY, Of A. & M. College


or more Of wheat per acre and -
pushels OF corn, and the clover hav
ana corn should enable y0u to feed
quite q number Of cattle and make a
good lot of manure.
ears ago. just after the close of the
war, General Mckinney. of MARYLAND.
started buying farms and renting
them on the agreement TO cultivate
them on the above three wear rota-
ton, he undertaking TO go halves with
the tenant 50 far as possible in the
expenses, and to share equally in the
crops He charged the tenant no rent
Tor the stock he fed, but took the
ing them to good tenants on the same
manure as his share. The grain
crops We're divided and sold. Year
after year he bought farms as means
increased, and rented them in the
same way Now after over thirty
years, the section where his farms
are situated has become an agricul-
tural paradise and his tenants are
buying land and renting it in the
same way while they remain on their
improved farms till theirs are gotten
into shape. Three years ago his share
OF the wheat crop was .20,0 bushels.
and he was assessed at a million dol
which has been made at farming in
an intelligent way Now in the same
section. lawyers and business men are
investing III the same way and rent
| plan. If some such tenant system
could be started in the South it would
do more towards the recIama ton of
our old fields than anything we can
| do. If some man with means at com
mand could be found, who had the
| same faith in the soil that General
| Mckinney had, far greater results
could be had in North Carolina than
there. for the soil in all our Pied
mont country is naturally far better
than there. In the cotton sections a
three year rotation Of cotton, winter
crimson clover. corn, winter oats and
peas, would produce far better re-
suits than the rotation of corn. wheat
and clover in Maryland. But the
great difficulty here is that the men
Of means have no faith in the agri
| cultural capacity Of North Carolina
soils. Only short time since Il gen
tleman remarked to me that from
Raleigh west TO the Blue Ridge there
could never be any profit in farming,
but that the people must leave the
farms for the cotton mills. The fact
is that there is no better country for
/
States than the Piedmont country OF
North Carolina if the lam. $ cuItivat-
ed as if should be. Our red clay soil
is the result of the decomposition Of
the rocks below. and it is all soil
down to the bed Of rock, ana is not
the heterogeneous mixture OF all
sorts Of stuff that the soils in the
glacier regions of the north are. All
our red clay needs is to get it broken
and aired and to get the pea and
clover roots down into it and they
Will bring up the long unusued fer
tiiity from below and renew the sur
face soil. 1t will pay at first to use
fertilizers literally, but after the
land grows peas and clover We'll, your
wheat will need only acid phosphate.
| had letter not long ago from an
old friend in Maryland near so years
old, bat with all the enthusiasm of
youth in his farming. He wrote that
for twenty-five years the only fertIll-
zer he has used has been acid
phosphate on his wheat, and his last
crop was 20 bushels per acre on land
that would not have made ten bushels
twenty-five years ago.
\ friend in Castor county asks ii
he can grow onions by sowing the
seed in the fall. and transplantin9
| tnen1 III tne Si'lInS. Iiieic No"iu y
10 trouble about growing onions
from fall sown seeds if our fall
weather could be depended upon
But we are so apt to have very dry
SeDtembers and Octobers that | have
long ago abandoned the effort tc
prow onions from fall sown seeds. lT
: any event they would only be gooc
for early green onions, and the sets
will answer for tins. ! always grow
a lot OF sets by sowing seed very
thicklv in April, and use these sets
for my fall planting. plant then
: in September, and plant IN bee
} deeply as protectlon' ana III 'ht
: sprino pull the soil from them so a!
. ~ leave them on the surface to swell
2 their bulbs These onions are simpl,
/, for spring use while green. If yol
2 want to grow y crop of onions 10
2 keeping YOU must grow them iron
? sDrjno sown seeds. 1t IS perfecti.
= easy to raise Il crop OF ripe onion
\ from seed the first season il the seet
f. are sown early enough. we alWay
s try to oct them sOwn IN FEBRUARY
h The Prizetaker onion Will MAKE mag
t nificent bulbs SOWn IN q coNtreti no
4 bed in January and transplahte'
I when about the size OF a Soosequi!
: 1atar on. This variety. however, /
r NOT q GOOD keeper. The best keepln
q onions have ever tried here are tn
d Southport White Globe fer whit
q and the yellow Danvers for colore
n sort. These can be soWn IN febrr
:. a,v or March and will be ripe
4 August or late July. and II taken u
r. with the tops left on and well curet
o they will keep well. For sets TO piai
Or in the Fall | use the White Quee
y n,ion seed. sold by George TAFT & Go
e f %orfoll< and sow half a pound {
% seed in space about ten feet squar
70 ~ rows so that they can be kel
;c nlo.n Mine. crown this season, WI
W average about the size of sma
J. ,,,.rh5e which is about the best siz