The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1904-04-26

he Writes of Potato Growing, Corn Growing, Etc.
"A Man with a commendable Pride in His Work.
Editors Progressive Farmer:

Editors Progressive Farmer:
L have been so busy of late that / could not find
time to write except to mother. Her weekly
letter must not fail. Now I am laid I'D with an
intensely painful carbuncle on my shoulder that
makes 1T very inconyenient to wear conventional
clothing and as it is not yet fashionable to go
without them, I am staying close.
The prominence you have given my last letter
and the kind comments upon it are very graft
flying and 1 sincerely hope 1 may be able to help
and bless my fellow farmers in this way.
IRISH POTATO GROWING.
We have our potatoes planted now and most of
the ground is ready for corn. 1t continues SO
cool that L am in no great rush to plant the latter.
All the land that was possible for such tools,
we turned from five to nine inches deep according
to It's nature Then we used the disc harrow,
tapping it halfway, returning the land twice. Our
harrow has ten twenty-inch discs. Set with a
slight angle, it effectually shufdes our loose land
three to four inches deep and, with the driver
walking, makes reasonable draft for two horses.
We followed this with a sixty-tooth steel lever
harrow, covering ten feet, with the teeth set at
an angle of about f~orty-fve degrees. This tool
left the surface in fine condition.
A visiting friend, who is a very successful DO
tato grower in New York, insists that the crop
should be planted in hills three feet apart each
way. I prefer the old-fashinoned way in drills. I
laid OF the patch as near three feet as possible,
crossed half of it and planted his way, putting the
other half in drills. We will see which is best.
lave almost t9Gr a aefeeSS IL IN al art Of our seed
came from the mountains nearby and part from
Michigan.
HOME MIXED FERTILIZERS.
For fertilizer, we bought one ton of acid phos-
plate, one ton of tankage and five hundred pounds
muriate of potash. From these we mixed one ton
for potatoes containing 4 per cent nitrogen, 8
per cent phosphoric acid, and s per cent potash.
This ton cost US less than $27, while the best
offer we had for similar analysis was $35. My
friend says this formula has given him best re-
suits in years of use.
From the remainder of the goods we produced
a corn mixture that was not exactly what we
want, but l think will give good results. In buy
in" these materials we purchased part in one place
nearly one hundred miles distant. It came
through for twelve cents per hundred. The other
we got at a town on same road in same direction
only twenty-seven miles away, and had to pay
eighteen cents per hundred freight.
If we had good roads, we could have drawn
the latter by wagon for less money. But that
LII
SPRAYING FRUIT TREES.
Apples are in full bloom now. We got an
Eclipse Spraying Outfit advertised in your col
umns) last year and found it all right. Did not
order our material in time for the first spraying,
so will have to wait until the bloom falls. What
we did last year paid in quantity and quality of
fruit. Want to go over the entire orchard thor
oughly this year, and in future hope to get over
before the buds open. =
To env ono huvino sDraviDo annarotus T would