The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1901-07-14

used some oats he had in store which
were brought from the west, thinking that
oats were oats. He showed me the field
that fall and was very proud OF his oats
and the field was very green and pretty.
| asked him what variety they were, and
he said he did not know as they were
simply western oats bought to sell for
feed I told him that the winter would
have to be very mild if they lived BY the
first OF January after a hard Christmas
freeze the whole field of oats was dead,
while the Virginia Turf oats on the ad-
joining farms were not singed. | can
sympathize with our friends who have
been flooded and damaged for to use the
slang of the day 81 have been there my
self" l hope our friend will keep me
posted on his efforts and will not hest
tate to write about any difficulty that
may be able to help him out Of
Another correspondent, who must have
not read what l have heretofore written
on the subject, asks me to write full
directions for growing and curing broom
corn. met very intelligent farmer the
past week from the Western part of North
Carolina, who said: you are right in
discouraging the cultivation of broom
corn in this State. The man who grows
one crop will never want to grow anoth-
er." The growing of broom corn is just as
easy as growing sorghum, but a matured
crcp of broom corn will reduce the fertil-
ity of the land worse than most other
crops, and it requires the finest of land
to grow a good crop. But the growing
is one thing and the harvesting curing
and baling is quite another. a man who
has had no experience in the handling
of broom corn will be as likely TO succeed
as the man who has never grown or cur
ed any tobacco and tries his hand in a
fiue6 barn without skilled help. nc may
make tobacco worth about two cents a
pound, and the broom corn amateur my
get about the same results. There are
books published on the cultivation Of this
crop which give the methods of handling
in detail. but the chance are that the man
who undertakes it without any previous
experience will be like the man who tries
to grow mushrooms without experience
and from some ones directions. can grow
mushrooms with ease and certainty and
can tell you how to grow them. But
have never seen man in my life who
could make crop of mushrooms the first
tune from anybody's directions. 1t would
be useless for me to try to teach the
HHtHuHlS VI pfOOlI GOTH OF TIE hue curing
of tobacco. The only way to learn either
is TO hire au expert and stay with him
and learn practically. Then after you
have learned how to grow broom corn you
will wish that your LAM had been lart-
ed in five cent cotton or two cent tobao-
co. Better stick to the crops of your
section and grow them better, and leave
the broom corn to the Western men who
how fort ifu 10 aE
good money crops in the South as We need
and what We do need is to learn to grow
them better and in more economical
and systematic way.
correspondent writes that rs his ut-
scription to to this paper is about out he
encloses a stamp for a personal answer to
the following question: "Can tomato
plants be sprinlSled with Bordeaux mix
ture after they are in bloom?" There nay
be u remote danger that some blooms
might be hurt but the tomato plant is al
ways in bloom and if We do not spray any
after the blooms appear we will have lit
tie spraying to do ! would not stop on
this account Now we will say right here
that you have no business allowing your
subscription to the paper to run out
and we answer this inquiry in these col
umnS, those who allow their Subscrip
tions to run out do not care much for
what l write l suppose.
l am writing these letters for the dou-
bic purpose of helping the farmers and
helping the paper and was congratu-
lating myself that / was doing both. But
if man who is interested in this CORE
spondence school allows his subscription
to expire without renewal | shall have to
conclude that l have been Of little use to
the paper at least. Now instead of drop
ping out you had better go to work and
try to get more to subscribe and join our
group of letter writer's Any one can
write to me in perfect confidence for
names are never printed, not even the
postoffice address of the friends who ask
questions. We can make regular Far
mers Institute on this page of the pa
per If our friends will stick to us and
get others to ioin.