Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1905-03-15
some Of .as sos. Paying Crops.

:
copies of the Scientific Supplement-
recently, the writer was particularly
impressed by an article on "Some of
the Best-Paying Crops which ap-
peared in she issue dated July 20,
1901. A proper consideration Of the
facts given therein affords a, very in.
teresting measure of the advances
that have been made in planting
since that date.
For instance, for crop of potatoes,
in 1901, as the article sets forth, $3.50
bushels per acre is considered satis-
factory to the farmer, which at I6
cents per bushel amounts to $112.50
per acre." Unfortunately, there are
yet many farmers who consider $50
bushels Satisfactory" but the best
growers now produce 800, and there
are men who obtain more than that
yield year after year.
Nor is that all to be said about the
matter, for it can be shown that even
400 bushels of potatoes is not the
limit that can be obtained. From
the reports of various agricultural
experiment stations, it appears that
the Canadian experimental farms,
near Ottawa, hold the record in
potato production. There the yield
on small plots, carefully managed,
rose as high as 772 bushels per acre.
Seven varieties gave over 900 bushels
per acre, fifteen turned out more than
500 bushels, and for sixty-one the
crop was 400 bushels or better.
While no such yields have been
secured from large fields, it is mani
fest that the lesser yields in field
planting are due to inferior oultiva-
tion. Moreover, even with what is
called "field cultivation" the best
farmers receive from $3.50 to $500
per acre of potatoes.
In turnips, which was another crop
considered, the yield was said to be
400 bushels, usually, per acre. With
present-day cultivation a crop of
from 500 to 600 bushels is gathered.
Where mangles produced 600 bushels,
modern methods have turned out
more than SO tons, or say 1900
bushels.
In field beans the development has
been relatively very small, but as
cultivated now there are few crops
that pay truck growers higher sums
for the ground occupied than string
or snap beans. For it is a poor
variety that will not give quart of
salable pods per foot length of drill,
and drills may be made two feet
apart. At five cents a quart-a
common price.-the return should be
at the rate of 81 900 an acre, or more.
The yield of parsnips is put down
at 500 bushels per acre in 1901, while
carrots gave 600. The more careful
cultivation now practised has in
creased the average crop from 10 to
25 per cent, and prices for table
varieties are the same-75 cents a
bushel. But the records show that
crop of 40 tons of carrots is not be-
yond reach, and parsnips can be
made to yield 80 tons.
A most profitable producer Cin
certain sections) that was not men,
toned by the writer of 1901, is the
strawberry. In New Jersey and
around Norfolk, Va, a crop of
from 5000 TO 5000 quarts per acre
is called good, but there are growers
who cultivate extra fine varieties
with great care, and thus produce
from 10000 to $1,000 quarts per
acre. And the extra fine berries
bring from 10 to Is cents per quart,
and in some cases as high as 25 cents,
where the ordinary crop brings from
3 to 7 cents.
The methods by which the i'm
proved crops are produced ere simple
and open to all planters. Where the
land was plowed and narrowed once
before planting, it is now plowed
twice and narrowed and worked with