The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1906-05-12

uSuoiiy PioW eight W Ucu inches deep,
pulverize thoroughly with good clod
breaker or harrow. Be sure that all
Jumps are broken and the soil Is fine
and soft. Lay off your rows east and
west, If you can, thirty inches apart,
using bull-tongue pillow for the pur.
pose. Just before you order your plants
make up your beds by throwing two
burrows together with a single-horse
turn pillow. Then firm the beds by roll
ing them with a light roller such as
you would use in rolling hay land. In
small gardens use a plank for firming
them. Remember that no fertilizer is
to be applied until after the plants are
set. When your plants arrive, take
the baskets to the field, and as you
take the plants from the basket dip
the roots in water to moisten them.
Then set your plants on the south side
OF the. bed, far enough down the side
SO that the top of the bed is above the
top of the plant. This is done to keep
the cold north and northwest winds
from twisting and breaking the plants
while small. Your plants should be
set twenty inches apart in the row and
the entire stem of the plant up to the
first leaves should be in he soil. Pack
the soil good and tight about the roots.
The soil should be so firm that the
leaf of the plant would pull off before
plant would pull out. In a climate
where the thermometer does not go
below eighteen or twenty you can get
best results by setting your plants in
December and January Where the
thermometer goes below eighteen it is
best to set them in February and
March.
The object in setting In cold weather
is this: the top of the plant is dormant
and will stand severe cold without in
jury. The roots are in land where there
is no fertilizer. and they continue to
grow and spread all winter. About two
weeks before your regular spring
weather opens up take turn plow or
half shovel and throw a furrow away
from the plants in each alternate row.
Run the furrow as close to the plants
as you can. Then put in this furrow
fertilizer analyZing eight per cent. am
monia, seven per cent. phosphoric
acid, five per cent potash, at the rate
of LOCO pounds to the acre, and then
throw the furrow back, working dirt
well up around the roots.
This working will have worked and
fortified one side of each row. About
ten days after the first working, work
and fertilize the other alley in exactly
the same way. You will then have
worked both alleys and have put on
two thousand pounds of fertilizer to |
the acre. From this time on keep both |
alleys well cultivated and the soil as |
open as possible, using a diamond |
tooth harrow and cultivator. The |
roots that have been growing all win. |
ter win now take up the fertilizer |
very rapidly and make you a crop of |
cabbage two or three weeks earlier |
than you can make them by growing |
your own plants.
In purchasing your plants be sure
that you get your plants from a re-
iopiS SioWSI VIII uses nothing OUT
high grade seed, as the success or
failure of your crop will depend upon
the seed from which the plants were
grown. Reliable seed growers select |
their seed from only the perfect
heads of cabbage, cutting out all i'm
perfect heads before they seed. Some
seasons they have to cut out over
,ne-half of their seed crop. Other
growers allow the entire crop to make
seed. Seed selected by the first class
If grower will cost you three times
Is much as the seed grown by the
second class. The cost of seed is
about two-thirds the cost of growing
plants, and for that reason the plant
grower who uses the better grade
seeds can not sell you plants at the
'ame price as the grower who uses
he cheaper grade seeds. / use only
he high grade seeds in my business
and do not attempt to meet the
prices quoted by some of the plant
'rowers.-William C. Geraty, in Trf
State Farmer.