The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1906-02-27


What We have said from time TO
time in regard - the ScuppernGng
grape has brought us a great many
queries about this grape. and largely
from people living where the Scupper-
nong cannot possible be of ANY value.
The southeast corner OF Virginia is
about as far north as the ScurpernonS
has any commercial value. 1t is a
grape for sandy soil and a hot cii-
mate With a long season. and il fails
to ripen even in the South in the ele-
waited mountain country. North of
lower Virginia the vine would hardly
survive, and if it did the fruit ripens
too late for the climate
We notice that people are still writ
ing 70 the farm papers asking about
sowing COW peas and oats together. 1t
seems very hard to get people to un-
derstand that a plant like the COW pea,
that requires nor weather for its
growth and oats. that require cold
weather cannot be associated success
fully. for if the peas are sOWn at Oat
seeding they Will perish from cold, and
if the oats are SoWn in late May or
June when the peas should be SOWn,
they viii not amount TO much, and
will probably be choked out by the
peas. Canada peas are the only peas
to associate with oats, and these sell
dom do we'll south of New York state
Another notion that is hard TO Grad
icate is the use Of complete CONNER
cial fertilizers on the corn crop. Farm
ers, especially in the South seem to
have gotten the idea that for every
I. crop planted they must have q special
commercial fertilizer. Corn is Q gross
feeder, and can use the manure OF
the barnyard more economically than
any other crop, and in all of our ex-
perments We nave never found that
4 xNF 0TAif ia
fertilizer out of the corn crop. though,
Of course. it will increase the crop. If
one has a clover sod, as he should
have, for corn and is short of manure,
ne may profitably use some acid phos-
phate and potash on the corn, but
when the fertilizer contains a due per-
centage of nitrogen its cost is too great
for the average price of corn. and the
| clover sod will furnish this more eco
nomically and better than the ferti-
lizer.
Still another notion is that salt is a
manure and we are often asked about
its value. It may possibly lessen in
sect attacks in the ground. and may
possibly dissolve some things of value
il some soils. but its base is soda, and
it has long since been demonstrated
that soda is not used by upland crops
and cannot take the place of potash,
though years ago there was an effort
OtI lIIS pcil | Oh SAT- 1lldhtlS 10 pei
suade the people that it could do so.
| SO please do not ask about salt as q
manure, for it is not of value as such.
| And to this We viii add SaWdust. Let
the salt and sawdust severely alone.
| for neither of them are of value. and
| may be positively harmful.
An advertiser of ensilage corn says
| that his corn made s. tons Of silage
per acre. As this would take over A.
| coo stalks each weighing ten pounds,
| it must have been extraordinary corn
ana extraordinary soil. Next!
We thought. years ago. when by ac-
| tual weight from as large corn as we
| ever saw, we made a fraction over 20
| tons per acre, that we were doing
| about as we'll as practicable. Most OF
| these wonderful yields published have
| merely been guessed at Ours was
| weighed, and was tall growing South
| ern corn. grown il the South on Iand
! capable Of making - bushels OF
! shelled corn per acre. The man who
weighs his corn viii usually find that
| twenty tons is about the maximum
| crop per acre with any corn that may
be planted.~-