The news & observer., 1901-03-15
Farm Notes,
(The Southern Planter.)


The weather during the month of
February was like that of January,
comparatively mild over nearly the
whole of the Southern States. Whilst
in the western part of this State and
North Carolina we have had some snow,
the fall has nowhere been heavy. In
the middle and eastern parts of these
States it has amounted to no more than
Sprinkling, and nowhere laid more
than a few days on the ground. The
frost has not been severe, barely more
than sufficient to enable ice to be saved,
and in no section that we have heard
from has it been in any way injurious
to either fruit prospects or crops The
open weather during all the winter has
permitted of great progress being made
in the plowing of land, and we have
had numbers of farmers live, progress
sive men, to tell us that they had all
their land broken, and were merely
waiting for seeding and planting time
to come round to enable them to pitch
their crops. Such men as these will
have a double advantage over those
who have still their land to plow. They
have done the heaviest part of the work
ing of it will have least harmed their
teams, and the frosts we have had will
have very materially helped them to
save time and labor in the preparation
of the seed bed with the harrow, the
roller and the cultivator To such
farmers as these we would say do not
be in too great a hurry to seed your
crops, nor yet seek to plow more land,
simply because you have time to do
So unless you are we'll assured that,
when plowed and planted, you can give
to the further preparation of the land
that complete narrowing and fining,
and to the crops, when planted, that
constant cultivation which they Will
demand to make a success. Rather
give the time to more perfectly prepar-
ing the land already broken to fit it
to make the best returns possible. Pro-
fessor Roberts, in his work on the Fer
tility of the Land says and no doubt
With great truth, that "Since the soil
and subsoil contain such stores of po-
tential fertility, as analysis has abun-
dainty demonstrated, and since tap
rooted leguminous plants bring to the
surface abundant quantities of nitro
gen with some mineral matter, and
since many fields receive application of
farm manure from time to time, some
far-reaching cause or causes must be
present, ever tending to seriously re-
strict production. 1t will be found that
in this country the principal causes of
low yields of farm crops are imperfect
preparation of the land, poor tillage,
and hence a lack of available plant
food and insufficient moisture during
some portion of the plants life" That
this is so has been abundantly demon
Strated in experiments made in several
places, and especially in experiments
made in growing Irish potatoes at Cor
nell Experiment Station, where, with
out the use of any fertilizers or manure
they have succeeded in producing heavy
yields of this tuber twice in four years
on land Of ordinary fertility which in
the intermediate years produced good
crops of corn and oats-the only addi
tion to the fertility of the land, except
that brought about by good cultivation
being the growth of crimson clover, rye
and wheat as cover crops during the
winter. The land was thoroughly
plowed from two to three times each
year, and well and frequently cultivat-
ed on the level from six to seven
TIMES every year. The yield of Irish
potatoes in the last year of the expert
ment was over 300 bushels to the acre.
This thorough and frequent plowing
and cultivation of the land every year
is mainly the secret of the much great
er yields of crops produced per acre
in England than in this country.