The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1901-03-28


That is he should have some special
crop to the perfection of which as a
money crop he is going to bend all his
energies, and for the good of which he
will arrange his rotat.cn. From what
you say / assume that wheat is your
money crop. Then your farming should
be done with reference to the produc-
tion of the most wheat in the most
economical manner. In the best wheat
growing sections of Maryland the farm
ers have generally d.opted the three
year rotation of corn, wheat and clover.
The clover is mown one season and
pastured late in the summer, and all the
farm manure is applied to the sod dur
ing the winter and the land plowed for
corn again. There the corn is cut off
at the ground as soon as the ears are
glazed, and is cured in shocks, and the
land at once prepared and seeded to
wheat, clover being Their sown the fol-
lowing spring on the wheat. The only
fertilizer they use is acid phosphate on
the wheat year $50 / had letter
from an old friend in Queen Anne's
county, Maryland, who is over so years
old and still is actively interested in his
farming. He said that for twenty-five
year he has bought no ammoniated fer
tilizer at all, but uses only acid phos-
phate that cost him that year $40 per
ton. and on land that years ago made 10
bushels of wheat per are, his last crop
was 40 bushels per acre. Whether this
three field system would be the best
here, however, is questionable, for red
clover is far more uncertain than it is
there and sthe COW pea far more GER
fai n I a Of hn nil fhof
with YOU, where wheat is the object,
the four year course you mention will
prove the best, for you there get in
two legume crops in cur years instead
of one in three years, and you have
two crbps of wheat, one after corn and
one on pea stubble. Then if all the
manure made from the feeding of corn,
the wheat following the corn will have
a good chance, and the wheat following
on the pea stubble vii! have still bet
ter chance, especially if on this last
wheat crop you apply good dressing
of acid phosphate and potash, and you
will need none of this if you apply it
to the peas instead of the wheat direct,
and will thereby get heavier crop of
forage and more nitrogen gathering for
the wheat. In fact IL the whole four
years rotation you need not use fer
tilizers but once and then only the
cheaper forms without nitrogen, for if
you feed all the abundant forage you
can make you will get, in the manure
and in the peas and clover more nj
trogen than you would buy in tons of
fertilizer and would get it without cost.
Hence in your case | would advise the
four year rotation which will not only
give you two wheat crops but great
abundance of straw for manure absor-
bent, and in little while you should
get manure enough to cover your en-
tire corn tend, and when you do that
you can make your land what you
choose, for it has been shown lately at
the Tennessee experiment station that
a set of native bred cattle fed on
rotation of shredded corn fodder, pea
vine hay and corn meal, all raised on
the farm, made a better beef and more
beef and at little mLre than half the
cost of another set of beef cattle which
was fed on corn slower cotton seed meal
and cotton seed hulls, When once our
farmers fully realize what this means it
| should make a revolution for the better
in our agriculture Tor if man can
! from the products of his farm and pro-
| ducts that in prove the land in growing
make a profit in feed ng beeves it will
+, enable him not only to get manure for
| his farm, but will give his cash at a
| time when he needs 1t for the summer
| cropping, To the cotton farmer this
!, would be great boon, for If he had
/ beeveS that he has been feeding during
the winter from his own products he
| Will have cash coming in in the spring
and will be able to make his cotton on
| his own account and will own it when
made. 1t will not pay YOU to NOW the
| ordinary red clover soWn in the fall the
| following spling. But YOU can use the
! annual crimson clover 20 great adVan-
| tage and can get it off in time to plant
corn CROP for it blooms here the last
| of March and it should be cut as soon
as in full bloom for if the heads are al
| lowed to mature to any extent it makes
| the hay dangerous for horses, as the
boards of the ripe heads will make hair
balls in their inteslines. But cut as
| soon as in bloom it makes the finest of
nay, and YOU can get it off in April and
have time 10 pant your entire corn crop.
And on this stubble is the place for the
farm manure Hairy vetch is still in
the experimental stage and it is rather
disappointing this winter, probably ow-
ing to the dry weather in the fall Mine
looks very poor and I have seen none
that looked we'll. / would always plant
corn in rows or drills no matter how
level the land. / could always grow
more corn in that way than in checks
and If you use the smoothing harrow
and the weeder during the early stages
of the growth of the crop there will be
little trouble in keeping it clean with
the cultivator. Running the cultivator
once in row will NOT keep the corn as
clean as it should be. l think that 1
have answered your questions as fully