The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1901-09-24

Keep it sbeared and let all the cut grass
lie to gradually form a mulch to pro-
tect the sod. We have a sod formed in
this way at the station farm that can
not be beaten in kentucky.
From Granville county: Il am a
young farmer and have been reading,
your letters and trying to put your adj
vice in practice and have found it good,
and hence taken more pleasure in farm
ing. l have two acres which were in
tobacco last year, and nearly all the to-
bacoo died on it, ! sowed it in crimson
clover and made a fair crop and now
have it in peas, which are very fine.
Have thought of sowing it in Crimson
Glover and Rye this fall and plant in
corn next summer / want to get it up
so that | can make as much corn as
possible on it. Please tell me how best
to 10 this, how to plant and cultivate
the corn and. the best fertilizer to use.
Our friend has laid out quite a job for
me il / attempt to tell all he wants to
know. Doubtless if you sow Rye and
Glover on the pea stubble this fall and
turn all under in the spring the corn
crop will be greatly helped You should
plow the land then as deeply as you
can with pair of hors, and plant the
corn and then cultivate rapidly, but
shallowly with a cultivator. Flat and
shallow cultivation is the way to raise
corn after the land has been deeply pre-
pared. At last working of the corn sow
peas again and let them die on the land
after the corn is out. Follow the corn
with winter oats soWn in September
the corn having been cut off at the
ground and shocked to cure. Use acid
phosphate literally on the peas, clover
and corn, and on the oats apply mix
ture of five parts acid phosphate and one
part muriate of potash, using about 800
pounds per acre. Then practice good
short rotation of corn, oats peas afte.,
the oats, and cut for hay, wheat seeded
to clover and run one season in clover
cut for hay. Then manure we'll during
the winter and back to corn giving the
corn all the home made manure.
In travelling about the country this
summer. attending Institutes, the one
thing that gave me most encouragement
was to sec the great increase in the
area sown in peas and to note the anx-
iety to learn more about the curing of
the hay. The practices that have been
in vogue for the curing of the vines have
been troublesome and have generally
resulted in the loss of leaves. 1t really
matters little where you cure the peas
/ so that they are finally stored before
| getting too dry and are cured with lit
| tie exposure to the sun. Hay was shown
at the Lincolnton Institute which was
cut and at once put into rail pens and
| as we have noted above and it was good
hay. So it is really not the storing in
the barn, but the curing in the mass
| away from the air that makes this pro-
cess better than the old When our peo-
! pie get to growing more and more peas
and making more hay they will of ne
cesSity keep more stock, unless they are
/ like young man who wrote to me from
the west for advice. He has thirty-five
tons of Alfalfa hay every year and keeps
but three COWS, the milk of which he
sells in town nearby at six cents pei
quart. He wanted advice about getting
other feed for his three cows so that he
could sell more of his Alfalfa hay
which was worth there So per ton. With
milk at six cents per quart the hay haC
feeding value more than double the
market price and | pointed out that the
! right thing for him to do was to gel
more COWS to eat UP his hay. SO. friends
when you get a big lot of hay, dom
go to buying a baler and sell it all. bu
increase the number of your cattle anc
feed it all and feed your land with tn,
manure.