The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-08-17

1drm or the late HOr Holt.
| Davidson, has made forty-five
| bushels per acre, all -e crops
show that these red ls <I.'e ideal
wheat soils, and will make wheat
| today under good farming u the
| famous spring wheat lands On =
kotas. But good farming d. 8
that crops shall be grown ecOnOn. al
/ 1y. and it has been found, as I have
said, that the fallowing system is
not an economical way to
raise wheat. Our clover sod, while it
will make fine wheat, can be more
economically used for the corn crop.
The farm manure spread on this
clover sod as made during the winter.
and plOWed under in the spring, makes
the best of all preparation for the
wheat crop if the corn is cultivated
shallow and level during the summer,
thus producing the same conditions
that would be made on summer fall
low, while making valuable crop.
The same may be said of the tobacco
crop as a preparation for wheat. The
leading idea is to make the breaking
early, and then devote the whole sea-
! soil to get it fine, and the lower soil
compacted to the state the wheat pre-
fers.
l. Time and Manner Of Seeding.
Then as to sowing. Too early SOW
| ing must be avoided on account of
the Hessian fly There is less danger
of the fly after we have had one good
white frost, and I would always de-
fer the sowing to this time. This will
usually make the sowing in all the
warmer parts of the State of North
! Carolina about the last of October or
fsrt of November, and somewhat
earlier in the upper sections. Mr..
Daughtridge, in Edgecombe county
made some years ago fine crop Of
wheat soWn in December, but in any
Of the upper parts of the State that
would be entirely too late to give the
wheat a fair chance, while it might
do in lower Georgia and Alabama.
AS to the amount Of seed to be
used. I would SOW more on thin land
than on strong land. for it will tiller
less. On the best wheat soil five to
SIX pecks per acre, and on thin soil,
seven. pecks or even two bushels per
acre, will be none teO much. Get
seed wheat. if practicable, south Of
you rather than north for south wheat
is sOwn later and ripens earlier and
hence earliness is promoted by go
ing south for seed In the days of
the old Blue Stem White wheat it was
common for Maryland farmers to get
seed from North Carolina. and they
found this to be an advantage in earli-
ness.
Where one has a manured clover
SOD turned for corn. the only fertilizer
that will be needed on red clay soil
will be about 400 pounds Of acid phOs
phate per acre, and on sandy or grey
soil an addition of 25 pounds of mu-
riate of potash will be an advantage.
Always drill the seed with a wheat
drill, and never follow the old prac
tice of sowing broadcast and harrow
ing in. See that the seed is clean,
plump and heavy, for great deal de-
pends on the vigor Of the plants. and
you cannot expect strong plants from
shrivelled seed
You will have no cheat unless you
SOW the seed with the wheat or have
land already infested with cheat seed.
Cheat is more common among oats
in the South than among wheat. for
the cheat seed is very much like
small oat and farmers SOW them with
the oats without suspecting their pres
ence Then the winter may be hard
and the oats get killed, but the hardy
cheat grows, and the farmer, seeing
green leaves, imagines that it is oats
tin it heads out, and then he thinks
his oats have turned to cheat. No
man ever had any cheat but what
came from cheat seed which was in
the ground or was soWn with the
grain.
A farmer reported to us yesterday
the loss of a fine $3.50 mule as a re-
suit of eating crimson clover cut af-
ter the blooms had become too ma
ture. This will make it plain why we
! have consistently advised against the
feeding of over-ripe crimson clover
hay to horses. green sorghum to cat
tie, Or eottonseed meal to hogs. The