The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1909-09-02

es nearer and nearer the cOnflneS OF
Rankin county it has become very
serious question to our farmers what
to raise to take the place Of cotton as
a cash crop.
The writer does not presume IN TINS
article to say that Wheat is the only
substitute crop, or even the best one,
but as our farmers all agree that bet
ter farming means greater diversity
of crops, let us then assume that
Wheat in a part would be a good sub
stitute fer Cotton.
Every farmer uses the products OF
Wheat daily on his table and is ne
cessarily more interested in 1t as
crop that he would be in some COM
modify that would have to be sold
through a commission merchant. The
writer has interviewed scores of far
mers in the last sixty days and has
found them very earnest and serious
| in their inquiries as to the methods
of growing wheat, and while the writ
er is anxious to impart all the intel
ligence at his command on the sub
iect he still realizes that his recollec-
ton of Wheat and Wheat Growing In
the rich limestone soils of Pennsyl-
vania may or may not be of much
| benefit to the farmers in mississippi
with not only different soil but diff
ferent climate as we'll; hence he has
endeavored to get the most reliable
! information available from as nearly
a local source as possible After sift-
ing out the various articles on the
subject, have considered an article
by Prof. E. R. Lloyd as being the
most sensible and authoritative of any
that / have received.
/ beg. to quote Prof. Lloyd as fol-
/ lows: There seems to have awak-
ened in the farmers oft he State an
earnest interest in the raising of
wheat, and if we may judge the inter
est by the number of letters receiv-
ed asking for specific information on
this subject, there will be a greater
acreage planted in wheat this fall
than ever before
Probably the greater, obstacle in
the way of profitable wheat raising
| in Mississippi is the lack of good
| eIo,,~;,,~r willis +ho oy.ipdi,1o hoino al
present done by the most primitive of
of gristmills. If the acreage sown to
wheat is large enough and increased
each year, there will be a correspond
| ing increase in the number of first
class mills. With good up-to-date
Touring mills in the State there is no
doubt but that wheat can possibly be
made a very profitable crop for the
farmer to grow. We had to have cot
ton before we got gins, we had to
have produce to haul before we got
railroads and we will have to raise
wheat in sufficient quantities before
we get Touring mills. Produce the
wheat and the mills will surely come.
| Wheat is a good crop for the farmer,
because it fits so well into three
year rotation with cotton and corn
This rotations can be so planted as to
improve the soil rapidly The first
year SOW wheat i'm the fall and follow
the wheat with cowpeas. The second
year plant the land to corn and sow
cowpeas in the corn This plan gives
the land two cowpea crops i'm three.
Kind of Land for Wheat.
Wheat will grow we'll ON practically
any rich well drained soil, but makes
it best growth on rich clay or heavy
loam soils. The sandy loan soils
with good clay sub-soil will grow
wheat A soil to grow good wheat
must be well drained and contain or
ganic matter. 1t would be a waste OF
time and money to plant wheat on
poor land or on land that overflows.
There is no crop that responds SO
| quickly to thorough preparation of the
soil as does wheat. There is no bet
ter crop to proceed wheat than COW
peas. The land that is to be planted
in wheat this fall should be planted
in cowpeas now. If the land is thin
use from 200 to 300 pounds acid phos'
phate per acre under the peas and
when the land is prepared for wheat
this fall use 200 pounds acid phos-
phate and 200 pounds cottonseed meal
4 per acre broadcast and work into the
soil when the wheat is planted. Do
not SOW the wheat until the soil has
been made fine with the harrow.
When and How to- Plant.
The best time to plant is from the
first to the middle of November. Use
one bushel OF good seed per acre and
~ tg,o r~i1 S< u0 ndx roll f+ after THE