The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1901-06-04
Notes for the Farm.

From Edgecombe county: Following
the advice of Norfolk man in the
Southern Planter, / last September
sowed wheat and crimson clover to-
gether, and now l want your advice
what to do with it. The crop is
splendid, averaging SO inches in height.
The clover is blooming but the wheat
does not show head, and what want
to know is, will it be safe to wait till
the wheat is ready and will the straw
prevent injury from the clover hairs
balling in the stomach of the horses.
You have simply to take one horn or the
other of the dilemma. You can save the
clover hay and sacrifice the wheat or
you can let the wheat ripen and lose
the clover. One or the other you will
have to do, for the clover to make good
hay must be cut as soon as in bloom
and that is right now. The man who
advised sowing crimson clover with
wheat did not know what he was writ
ing about if he thought that both crops
could be saved, for the crimson clover
blooms entirely too early to sow with
wheat crop.
From Stanly county: Having found
your letters of much value, / always
read them with interest. ] have piece
of land which / wish to put in meadow.
1t is a dark loan, and makes about
twenty bushels of corn per acre. What
kind of grass would you sow, how much
seed and how should the land be pre-
pared? / want to sow the land in peas
first and follow with the grass" You
are adopting the right plan for getting
the land in grass. On soil of that char
acter / would SOW on the peas mixture
of acid phosphate and kainit mixed in
equal parts at rate of 300 pounds per
acre This will give you a good crop
of pea vine hay, and the land will be
in better shape for the grass. Prepare
the pea stubble very thoroughly with
the cutaway or disk harrow, going over
till the surface is perfectly fine and
mellow Then SOW the grass seed and
harrow with a slant tooth smoothing
harrow and roll if the land is level. If
not rolling will have a tendency to
make steep land wash. For seed 1
would use Orchard grass, Tall Meadow
Oats grass. and red clover. Mix ten
pounds each of the grasses and then
SOW five pounds per acre of the clover,
but do not try to mix it with the
grasses as it will not stay mixed. Do
not SOW any grain crop with it but
sow the grass alone. The time for SOW
ing will be any time after the middle
of September till middle of October ac-
cording as the season may be favorable.
If the weather is very dry in Septem-
Der, better defer sowing till good rains
have fallen. l would prefer the fer
tilizer named to the stable manure for
for the peas as they can get their nj
trogen from the air, but if you have
! stable manure to spare, put it on the
pea stubble in preparing for the grass
have been struck with the great en-
thusiasm with which the Northern
farmers are taking hold OF our Cow
peas. At the rate they are going it
will not be long before there are more
COW peas grown North of the Potomac
than in the South, for when the farmers
find a good thing they go into it with
vigor. One fact in this connection is
also interesting. Farmers in various
sections are tearing that the old
method of sowing broadcast is not the
best, for they can get larger crops when
planted in rows and cultivated and the
cost of seed is far less. Our friends
! in the western part of this State who
, overhauled me some time ago in the
Agricultural papers for advising too lit
tie seed, and insisting that two to three
bushels per acre should be sown, would
do we'll to read the following from the
columns of the Ohio Farmer. The ar
ticle is too long for us to quote here
entire, but the writer, an Ohio farmer,
says that he has been for five years
making the Southern COW pea a special
object of study. He says, II observe
most writer's recommend from one and
a half to two bushels of seed per acre.
This does not agree with my expert
ence. / have found that row culture
about 80 inches apart is the best way
In this way it takes about two and a
half acres for one bushel of seed
Broadcasting makes a third less hay
and takes more seed" Sown in rows
they have to be mown by hand he says
but we can see no need for this, for the
rows can be more rapidly cut by the
mower even If it takes but row at a
time. He says that two lnen can cut
an acre in q Gay. He throws t!..ee row.
together and before shutdown roll these
into piles, using no rake at all. Let
them lie four or five days and haul 20
the barn. He advises the application
of salt to the hay in the barn, mat
ter wholly needless, and better hay
can be made without it. Cured thus in
piles or shocks the leaves are retained
and if put in the barn while still limp
it will cure bright and green, and as
the Ohio man says, make a hay that
cannot be surpassed for any animal on
the farm" If you have plenty of cow
pea hay you need no gluten feed nor
oil meal, and only little corn for horses
and cattle. / have bought but one ton
of bran for the past two years, and
this l used nearly all for brood soWs.
Before | made COW pea hay ! bought
annually from 5 to tons of mill feed
and oil cake. And yet my cattle are in
better condition now than when /
bought these concentrated feed stuffs.
do now know that for me there is
more in growing COW peas for my main