The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1901-07-23
FARM NOTES.

can do to stop it. The trees were heav-
lily manured with tobacco stems, and he
wants to know if there can be too many
stems used. Would also like to know
how to check the green worms on cab
bages. / believe that / have heretofore
stated that the blight in apples and
pears is caused by microscopic plants,
known as bacteria. These are carried
OH the feet of insects, such as bees,
(which visit the blossoms and they gain
entrance in this way and grow down
between the bark and wood, DESTROYING
the limb as they grow. If the grower
lis on the alert to discover the first evil
Idence of blight and cuts it out at once.
he can check it's further progress. for
the trees do not become affected later
in the season. But most people wait
till an entire limb is blackened and the
tree seriously injured. Pears. which
make longer growths than apples. are
worse affected, for the bacteria will not
grow in two year old wood. Eternal
vigilance is the price of fruit in these
days. The tobacco stems have nothing
to do with 1T except that they encourage
a more sappy growth and one more cas-
lily blighted. Air slaked lime is a good
thing to kill the caterpilars on cab
bages Pyrethrum powder. commonly
sold as fly powder and Persian insect
powder is also good if fresh. and it is
not poisonous to human beings.
A young man in Swain county says
that he reads what I write in the Adj
vocate, Farmer and Mechanic and in
the Practical Farmer and he is anxious
to farm right. AS his land is steep he
does not want to keep it in hoed crops
long at time, but to get clover there
as often as possible. He has forty
acre farm and a small apple orchard.
Has twenty three acres in cultivation
and proposes to make four year rotat-
| ion. Slowed six acres in clover this
spring, which reaches into the upper
side of the orchard AS the trees are
small, can dig and cultivate few feet
around each tree and prevent the clover
N iuriug them? / aim to SOW the re-
mainder of the orchard in peas, NOW
/ them and SOW wheat. Is this right ?
/ My orchard is below the clover and be-
i ing side hill will wash if cultivated in
| this way as fast as the covered land
| above? / have about $50 apple trees. Is
that enough? Soil is mainly black loan
with loamy clay subsoil. My plan is
to sow one of my four fields in clover
every spring and when I pillow up one
| only to work it in cultivated crop one
season, and to sow COW peas in the corn
| at last working Can / in this way
bring it up to make twenty-five bush
els of wheat per acre? 1t now makes
! ten to fifteen bushels. Will clover and
peas alone do this or will I have to buy
phosphate and potash?" AS I have said
before, I like to get hold of a young
man who wants to improve With two
years in clover One in wheat and one in
corn you need not fear the washing, for
the clover roots will prevent that to a
great extent. Then pillow and work your
Hand as free from burrows as possible
and break it deep, but work it shallow.
Make no burrows of any sort around
| the hill to gather water but keep 1T
spread out as much as possible. With
a short rotation and plenty OF clover
and pea roots in the soil l would not
fear the washing much. The orchard
should always be cultivated till the LIST
of July and then sown in crimson
clover or peas. In your elevated region
1 I think the best crop you can SOW in the
| orchard will be crimson clover at rate
| of fifteen pounds per acre in July. This
/ will keep the soil covered during the
1 winter with green crop, which can be
plowed under in the spring and prevent
any washing while the orchard is be-
iirg cultivated. But do not sow wheat
or. any small grain in an orchard I'M
| less YOU want to kill it. Ripening a
crOp of grain in the orchard draws the
moisture from the soil at time when
the trees need it ALL l would cultivate
the orchard to itself and SOW nothing
in it but the winter growing annual
/ crimson clover, which must be soWn
every year. 1t makes it's growth after
the trees have completed their CROWN
\ for the season. and in little while will
have so filled the soil with humus that
there will be no washing. The peas VIII
be all right in the orchard in late sum-
!, mer, but I expect that in your section
YOU can get more out of the crimson
clover Then would gradually increase
/ the apple plantation, using only those
apples that are in demand in the mar
lket. such as Winesap, York, Imperial,
/ Arkansas and others. Finally, l. beheVe
that YOU will find your profit in having
all the land in apples if you learn how
| to grow, sort and pack them for mar.
ket in the proper manner. In your sec
! ton / would suppose that good apples,
well packed and handled as the northern
| growers handle theirs, and shipped TO
1 the southern markets in winter would
be the most profitable industry you
could engage in. You are in the best
apple country in America, and it only
needs intelligent development.
/ A Wake county friend wants to know
/ if there is any reason why Kentucky
Blue Grass may not be raised success
fully in Wake county on land that is
impregnated with lime water. VIII
alfalfa. sown in corn the first week in
/ July, do for hogs to Craze on next sum-
mer? If you will visit the Station
/ farm and the College / will show you
as fine a sod of Blue grass as can be
seen in the United States. But there
are no limestone lands in Wake county,
and occasional dressings of lime are
very helpful to the sod. The lawn at
the station farm is fourteen years old
and today looks like green plush and
/ springs under the foot like mattress.
Yes. we can grow good grass in Wake
i county if we handle it right and keep