The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1904-09-29
Southern Farm Department
Wheat in Georgia.

The following tlmely dTtlcle ny III
rector Redding of the Georgia EX-
pertinent Station. applies with equal
force to other Southern States. and
especially those Immediately contig-
uous to Georgia.
1T may be added that there are
many locations in Southwest and East
Georgia, say as far as the line across
the State from east to west and nifty
miles to the south Of the cities of Au-
gusta, Macon and Columbus. where
wheat may ue sown with reasonable
prospect of success. So far south and
towards the sea, it becomes doubly i'm
portant that a high elevation and
clay soil be secured, and an early ma
turing, rust-resisting variety be sown.
A field from which crop Of cotton
or of tobacco has just been removed IS
we'll suited for wheat. A crop OF cow
peas or clover, of which the vines nave
been converted into hay, or depastured
by cattle and hogs, leaves the soil IN
lust the right condition for wheat. Con-
sidering however. the advantage of a
system of rotation. and the demands OF
other crops, it is perho IS better prac-
tice to SOW wheat and other small
grain after corn. If the corn field be
we'll cultivated and sown in COW peas
at the last plowing, the corn cut and
shocked and entirely removed from the
land it is just the place for wheat or
other small grain.
VARIETIES OF WHEAT.
THE station has made no extended
or elaborate tests of varieties OF wheat.
hut such as have, been made Indicate
that the variety commonly known as
purple straw or blue stem. so long
cultivated in different parts of the
South, is probably the best variety, all
things considered. There are two sub
varieties. one a red. the other a white
wheat, but the red variety seems to be
the most hardy and reliable.
The early May, Of which there were
also two sub varieties-the red May
and the white May-was long a pop
ular wheat, largely because it was
;early and less likely TO be ruined by
rust.
Among the recognized standard va
r!eties the FultZ and Fulcaster have
been quite popular in most places in
the South when sown.
'It is universally known that rust is
the great and almost only enemy to
wheat culture in the South. This fun
gus is apt to be developed during hot,
moist spell of weather in April or May
or when the location is far south and
at low elevation above the sea. No
preventive has yet been found for rust.
All that can be done is to select a SOIL
that is known to be the most favorable
for wheat, which should not be moist
and low-lying, but rather elevated and
Cry, plant only an approved variety,
fcrtilize literally and leave the results
to weather conditions that are beyond
our control.
TO PREPARE THE LAND.
"Of all the varieties Of small grain
wheat is the most insistent on
thorough preparation of the soil. The
land should be we'll broken to as great
a depth as If for corn or any other
staple crop, and four or five weeks in
advance OF sowing. At any rate the
surface soil after such breaking
should be narrowed and rolled until in
a thoroughly pulverized condition
Wheat delights in mellow, fine seed
bed.
HEN III SOW.
THE almost universal belief is that
the seed should be sown about the time
when the first killing frost occurs, OF
from the middle Of October to the mid
die of November, according TO latitude
Wheat is more likely to be injured by
insects when sown too early than are
oats and other small grain. The regu
lar grain drill will invariably give bet
ter results than when the seed are
plowed in or narrowed in. But many
farmers will not find it eXpedient tc
incur the expense Of such machine
Very satisfactory results may be Sc
cured, when sowing only a few acres
by first getting the land in fine smooth
condition and then SOW the seed in
shallow drills made with small plow
from eighteen to twenty-four inches
apart, sowing the seed by hand through
a 'guano trumpet About one to two
and one:half inches below the general
surface. is about the proper depth fol
the seed to be deposited.
"One bushel is about the proper
quantity of seed for one acre OF we'll
adapted and well.fertilized soil, when
sown with drill machine or in furrows
by hand The seed, however, may be
cut in with a cutaway harrow, and
many of the fine crops made in 1895
were thus sown.
FERTILIZERS.
Long experience has taught the
farmers of the country TO believe that
there is no fertilizer for wheat equal
to stable manure or cottonseed, one OF
the other. or the two combined. Most
of the large yields have resulted from
the use of liberal application OF one
or the other of these home manures.
Long before the use Of guano and
chemical fertilizers was known in this
country cottonseed was considered the
all-sufficient for wheat, and stable ma
nure was equally we'll known and ap-
preciated. Now stable manure and cot
ton seed are each what is called nj,
trogenous fertilizer, becuase each owes
its effectiveness and value as a ma
nure mainly 10 the nitrogen that it
contains. Raw-bone meal has long been