The progressive farmer and the cotton plant., 1904-11-15
THOUGHTS FOR FARMERS.
1.-The Apple Crop.

A~01A NASOA -" ~" AAo0A
Polk County, N. c., about forty miles north of
Spartanburg, is meeting with deserved success i'll
raising apples. Last year he sold to one firm
here about $500 worth, and he will sell more this
year. Of course that does not include all his
crop. He plants his trees in a cove and they are
we'll protected. He buys young nursery trees and
does not do his own budding and grating. He
considers the Winesap the best apple for his
farm. The tree is hardy, a free bearer and the
fruit keeps well. The Starke is a fine apple, but
not a long keeper. The Northern Spy is also
good. He is increasing the number of trees every
year. He now has about 600. He is also trying
peaches and has about 600 bearing trees of select
nursery fruit. But the peaches are not as safe as
the apples, for they will keep only a short time.
He generally markets them in Saluda. There are
five or six counties in sight of Black Mountain
that are capable of raising cabbage, potatoes and
apples enough for the two Carolinas.
u.-Work In Hand.
Down in this State our farmers have bent all
their energies to get the cotton out of the fields.
They have succeeded. There is little left now.
The fields are as barren as they generally are the
first week in December. Most of it has been
ginned. At last, after ten weeks of weather near
ly rainless, the ground is wet again. The sowing
of small grain has been put off until this date. 1t
better to prepare ten acres well and fertilize lib
orally, rather than to SOW double. that much land
in a careless way. Clay lands should be broken,
subsoiled and well narrowed. Oats should be put
in with a one-horse drill. The CAN'T is the popu-
lar drill in this State and Georgia. 1t is said that
a good drill is made in Charlotte. The drill opens
the furrow, distributes the fertilizer, plants the
oats and covers them, leaving high, sharp ridges
between the rows which are II to 16 inches wide,
according to the pillow used for opening the fur
row. A 5-inch schovel will make 14-inch rows.
Care must be used so that one furrow will not
be filled by the succeeding one. A lively hand
will plant one and a half to two acres a day in
this way. 1t makes the oat crop a certainty.
Freezes will not kill them and they will stand a
dry spring and make a good yield. The writer
sowed the Appler oats on thin land with a light
application of manure last November. They did
not come up for two months. Although the spring
was so dry that they did not grow more than "a
to 70 inches high, they made Is bushels to the
acre, the oats weighing 35 pounds to the bushel
as they came from the thrasher. The same care
tul preparation should be made for wheat. Two
acres well prepared will make more than six
scratched In carelessly.
m-General News.
Two or three South Carolina counties have held
fairs. One township in Spartanburg County pre-
pared for a large exhibit this week. but the man
ayers found it necessary to put it off Yesterday.
The farmers and stockraisers of the section.
woodruff, are enterprising and thrifty. The
State Fair was a great success. One fault of orr
farmers is that they do not advertise things thew
have for sale. It is usual to see men at this time
OF the year hunting seed wheat and oats. MANY
OF them do not read advertisements when they are
issued. Our State is now better off financially |
than 1T has been for years. Merchants will have
to carry few accounts over. Many farmers have
surplus money.
r PETTY |