The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1909-07-22

6 g
well for the enterprise OF those be-
hind the movement. This is another
of our fairs that began from a colt
show and has been enlarged into a
institutions and worthy of the sup
port OF all good citizens.
Wheat.
For many years the farmers OF
Mississippi have manifested no in
terest In the wheat crop and its cul-
ture has practically been abandoned.
With wheat selling at $1.35 per
bushel and -four at over $500 per
barrel, it would seem that farmers
would not long neglect this valuable
crop in their mad rush after cotton.
Under the one-crop system of the
south the. lands are becoming an
nually less productive, profits small
er and the cost Of production great
er for all crops What our soils
need to make wheat growing profit
able is more humus, better drainage
and abeter- preparation of the seed
bed before planting. Cowpeas are the
best source from which to get the
humus. All the land now in oats
should be sown in cowpeas as soon
as the oat crop is harvested. The
land should be thoroughly broken
and from two hundred to three hun
dred pounds of high grade acid phos-
plate applied broadcast per acre and
narrowed in. This will insure a good
pea crop and also greatly help the
wheat that might be planted on this
land this fall
1t is a common knowledge to all
farmers that crops of every kind
mature later and are more suscepti.
BILE to attacks from insects and dis
ripening varieties are more likely
to escape damage by rust, and rust
is less liable to attack wheat, on
we'll drained soils.
A good crop of cowpeas will fire.
quently increase the wheat crop from
five to ten bushels per acre. If cow
peas are planted for the purpose of
increasing the wheat crop, and not
for hay, they should not be plowed
under before sowing the wheat, but
should be cut into the soil with a
disc harrow If the vines are turned
under the soil will be left puffy
and loose and it will be impossible
to get firm seed bed which wheat
requires, and If the pea roots are
turned on to the surface much Of
the nitrogen will be lost. We have
gotten best results from planting
from October 18th to November Is.
The last census gives the average
yield of wheat in the United States
as eleven bushels. The same report
shows the average yield for Missis-
sippi to be only So bushels. We
should not be discouraged by the
very low average yield in Mississippi.
A few years ago when there was
more interest in wheat growing, the
writer made a number Of expert
ments at the Mississippi Experiment
Station with wheat, and the yields
secured were very encouraging. In
one Of the tests the wheat was plant
ed November 18th on we'll drained
sandy loan soil without fertilizers.
The yield of the best variety (Lan-
eastern was 248 bushels. The yield
of the poorest variety (Eclipse) was
1871 bushels per acre. The average
yield of twelve varieties for that
year was 19.1 bushels.
In another test with five varie-
ties sown on we'll drained sandy
loan soil Nov. 21st no fertilizer.
the best yield was from Purple
straw, 24.1 bushels. The five varie-
ties made an average yield Of 1873
bushels per acre. On another piece
of land where fertilizer was used
the yield was 81 bushels.
These experiments extended over
a period of three years, and IL we
exclude some fertilizer experiments
made on poor hill land, the average
yield for three years was 21.3 bush
els. This is not a bad showing for
Mississippi as a wheat growing state,
when we consider the fact that the
average yield per acre in Minneso-
ia, the best wheat sta,e in the Union,
was, according to the last census IA
bushels.
E. r. LLOYD.
Rasberries and blackberries re-