The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1908-03-19

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mercial fertilizer used cost 28
cents per bushel of corn made
besides the everlasting amount
Of work he had to do. He
plowed it on one side one time.
then down the other side next
time, and so on and so on. There
is no telling what his corn did
cost him. He made enough to do
him, however, and is so happy
that he will try the same plan
again.
Now it seems to be that very
few OF the writer's of those corn
articles touched the heart of the
matter. The object to be OBJ
tanned should be to raise big
crops of corn without any COM
mercial fertilizer. Anybody can
raise corn by using a big lot of
commercial fertilizer, nitrates
and what not.
But what we want is the man
who can raise the big crops with
out this great expense. The
banner crop of corn for 1906 that
| saw reported was raised by a
Philadelphia lawyer on his farm
near that city. His crop aver
aged 130 bushels per acre on 80
acres, and the land cultivated
had been in clover and was en-
riched with barnyard manure.
He did not use an ounce of COM
mercial fertilizer. And we all
know that Mr.. Clore, of Indiana,
who took over 81, 500 in prizes
on his corn last year, Zone ear
selling for $3.50, raised over 100
bushels per year on clover sod,
and with barnyard manure and
did not use an ounce Of COM
mercial fertilizer.
On our own farm we did not
have the clover sod, but we had
something better in the pea
stubble. We planted 80 acres,
40 upland and so bottom. We
fed one herd of 300 Angus cattle
on the ! upland plot and put all
the barnyard manure on it,
leaving the bottom with nothing
to help it but the pea stubble.
The result was, that land which
8 years ago made Is to 20 bushels
per acre by the help of the
usual modicum of commercial
fertilizer, last year made an
average of close to so bushels
per acre. Six acres of the up
land and ten acres of the bottom
made right around 100 bushels
per acre, weighed on the scales
as it was hauled from the shred
der to go into the crib. Not
spoonful of commercial fertilizer
was used on either field.
The land was prepared and
crop cultivated on the plan urged
by your Prof. Massey and DR..
Burkett-that is, deep and
thorough preparation and shallow
cultivation clean through. Of
course, we used the most ap-
proved tools-double row riding
planter, riding .weeders, riding
cultivators, etc. For the first
time we used the tWo-row culti-
vator, with which one man and
three mules can cultivate land
do it perfectly Is to 16 acres a
day. And of course, the corn
was cut with harvesters one
harvester in the best corn throw
out IA bundles in a minute by
the watch.
The corn was planted about
the first Of June and seemed
never to stop growing a single
day. The growing crop was
visited by farmers from five
counties; all pronounced it far
and away the best they ever saw
one party declaring it was the
only field Of corn he ever saw
with not a barren stalk in sight.
We used the best seed corn to
be had. 1t was one of the pro-
life varieties but had been bred
on our farm for five years and
bred to grow close in the drill
(16 inches) in rows 3 feet, 8
inches wide and bred to grow as
nearly as possible two good ears
to the stalk. A great many
stalks had three ears and some
four ears. From these was Sc
lected the corn for this years
seed plat, and to plant the main
crop as far as it will go. Good
seed is at least half the battle.
Now let us see who can make
the biggest crops of corn with
out the use Of any commercial
fertilizer. / am after that Phil
adelphia lawyer. It is a long
cry, but / mean to at least keep