The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1906-02-21
GROWING CORN
BY NEW METHOD.
Mr.. Il. Mclver Williamson
Gives Plan
HE STUNTS III A

How so, rs aud 100 Bushels of Corn cal
be Made to the Acre-..Deep Pillow.
Ing Very Essential.
The following highly valuable paper
prepared by Mr.. E. McIver Williamson
of Darlington county, has just beer
published in the Huntsville County Mes
senger:
For a number of years after I began
to farm I followed the old time method
of putting the fertilizer all under the
corn, planting on a level or higher, six
by three feet, pushing the plant from
the start and making a big stalk, but
the ears were few, and frequently
small. / planted much corn in the
spring and bought much more corn the
next spring, until finally l was driven
to the conclusion that corn could not be
made on uplands in this section, GER
tainly not by the old method, except at
a loss.
1 did not give up, however, for I
knew that the farmer who did not
make his own corn never had succeeded,
and never would, so / began to expert
ment. First, l planted lower. and the
yield was better, but the stalk was still
too large, so l discontinued altogether
the application of fertilizer before
planting, and, knowing that all crops
should be fortified at some time, l
used mixed fertilizer as a side applica-
and applied the more soluble nj
7, of soda later, being guided in this
b, excellent results obtained from
it's ., as a top dressing for oats. Still
the yield, though regular, was not
large, and the smallness of the stalk it
self now suggested that they should be
planted thicker in the drill. This was
done the next year with results so sat
isfactory that l continued from year to
year to increase the number of stalks
and the fertilizer with which to sus-
tain them, also to apply nitrate of soda
at last blowing and to lay by early,
sowing peas broadcast. This method
steadily increased the yield, until year
before last (1904) with corn IL inches
apart in six-foot rows and Sill worth of
fertilizer to the acre, I made "a BUSH.
els average to the acre, several OF my
best acres making as much as 125 BUSH
els.
Last year Q9O5) I followed the same
method, planting the first weekin April,
70 acres which had produced the year
before /, 200 pounds seed cotton per acre.
This land is sandy upland, somewhat
rolling. Seasons were very u%nfavora-
BILE, owing to the tremendous rains in
May, and the dry and extremely hot
weather later. From June 18th to July
18th, the time when it most needed
moisture, there was 5-8 of an inch of
rainfall here; yet with $7.01. cost of
fertilizer, my yield was So bushels per
acre. Rows were six feet n corn l6
inches in drill.
With this method, on land that will
ordinarily produce 1000 pounds of seed
cotton with 800 pounds of fertilizer, 80
bushels of corn per acre should be
made by using 200 pounds of cotton
seed meal, 200 pounds of acid phos-
phate, and 400 pounds of kainit mixed,
or their equivalent in other fertilizer,
and 125 pounds of nitrate of soda, all
to be used as side application as d.
rected below:
On land that will make a bale and
one-half OF cotton per acre when well
fortified, 100 bushels of cor should
be produced by doubling the amount OF
fertilizer above, except that 300 pounds
of nitrate of soda should be used.
In each case there should be left on
the land in cornstalks, peas, vines and
roots, from $12 to $16 worth of f%ertiliz-
ing material per acre, beside the great
benefit t o the land from so large an
amount of vegetable matter. The place
of this in the permanent improvement
of land can never be taken by CONNER
cial fertilizer, for it is absolutely i'm
possible to make lands rich as long as
they are lacking in vegetable matter.
Land should be thoroughly and deeply
broken for corn, and this is the time in
a system of rotation to deepen the
soil. Cotton requires a more compact
soil than corn, and while a deep soil is
essential to it's best development, it
will not produce as well on loose open
land, while corn does best on land thor
oughly broken. A deep soil will not
only produce more heavily than a shall
low soil with good seasons, but it will
stand more wet as well as more dry
weather.
In preparing for the corn crop, land
should be broken broadcast during the
winter one-fourth deeper than it has
been plowed before, or if much vegeta-
BILE matter is being turned under, it
may be broken one-third deeper. This
is as much deepening as land will us
ually stand in one year and produce
well, though it may be continued each
year, so long as much dead vegetable
matter is being turned under. 1t may,
however, be sub-soiled to any depth by
following in bottom of turn plow fur.
row, provided no more of the sub-soi
than it has been directed, is turned up
Break with two horse plow, if possible,
or better with disc plow. With the
latter cotton or corn stalks as large as
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