Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1909-06-18
GROWING CORN
AND POTATOES.
Extracts From Speeches Made At
lrvinstOn By Messrs. SprOuI And
Hei9eS.

heiSeS.
Below will be found the salient points
IN addresses to the farmers of this sec
tion made by w. w. Sproul, practical
potato grower of near Staunton, Va,
and Prof. S. B. Heiges, Of the State
Experiment Station, at the Farmers
Institute held aboard steamer Gratitude.
at lrvington, Saturday, June 9th, 1909:
Starting out with the statement that
Virginia does not raise enough potatoes
for home consumption, and this with q
better soil for the crop than even in
Maine" Mr.. Sproul proceeded to give
his method of preparing land for such n
crop. The main thing to be considered
in potato culture, the points to be
ever kept in mind, he said, was that
much of the land used for this crop
was naturally unfit, needing humus
in some form. Acid land was es-
sential-land in which humic acid in
some form northumberland to get
this condition the best preparation was
some one of the legumes GRIM
son clover, alfalfa or the like. 1t was
useless to expect the best results unless
some preparation like this preceded the
crop. A crop Of crimson clover was as
good as any, this to be turned well under.
1t supplied what all crops need, and
especially potatoes-nitrogen. The use
Of fertilizers in the hill was deprecated,
the nitrogen from the air, fixed by the
clover. being the best of all. 1t paid, he
stated, to get new seed at least half of the
planting should be new, as experience
proved that the use of seed raised on
the same soil did not give continued good
results. He thought also that it was
bad farming to plant the same land in
the same crop from year to year. Land
thus treated gets filled with potato
scab. and about the only way to erad-
dicate this was to SOW AMI turn under
successive crops of some of the legumes.
See that the seed potatoes are free
from scab, and if not they must be
sterilized with a solution of corrosive
sublimate or some such agent. He
emphasized the Importance of not al
lowing seed potatoes To sprout, as this
weakens the seed. and the result was
never as good. Do not skimp in cut
ting but give a good chunk to each
plant. 1t is important, if we can, to
save our own seed; seeing that we are
payi8g TOR Maine potatoes as high as
IS per barrel. Do not put commercial
fertilizer in the hill with the potato-it
rots the seed, and this is one secret of
why so many plants never come up.
The lecturer emphasized the impor-
tance of regularly spraying the potato
vines. this preventing the blight, and in
order to have the best results the SPRAY
ling should be done with force pump,
that the liquid may be forced well into
the vine. He gave formula for liquids
used, which any one interested can get
i by addressing the State Bureau in
Richmond. The Bordeaux mixture was
what he found best suited to preven,
blight, but added that once the blight
had set in no spraying would cure it,
and the only sure remedy is to preven,
| its setting in. The talk was intensely
practical. void of scientific terms ano
seemed greatly to interest the hearers.
In speaking on the corn culture Mr..
Heiges dwelt on the preparation of the
soil for the crop. saying in part
Cuch nrapa IN fiop oo,,lA ha hos& ouoo-.
plished by crop of crimson clover.
What the crop wanted was vegetable
matter to feed on-nitrogenous sub.
stance and it got this best from the
legumes, as from clover, peas or some
such preceding CROP which should be
turned under and then lightly cross
narrowed. In addition corn land need
ed potash and posphorus, both these
not being obtainabIe by any crop me.
thods, but must be purchased. He had,
he stated, increased the crop of corn on
his own land from to l3i barrels to the
acre by proper fertilization. The main
preparation of the soil, he said, should
be made before the crop is planted.
Especial emphasis was laid on this. II
g fertilizer is used, do not SOW this ir
the drill with the corn. Careful exper-
iment and trial showed that the roots
of the corn in very short while grew
! far beyond the hill or drill in which the
seed was placed, and as the end Of the
rootlets were the only parts of the
plant that possessed ability to take ut
the fertilizer, the result was that the
most of the growing was done far be.
yond the spot where the fertilizer had
been placed. It was proven that tn.
roots of corn went at least four feet Gu
from the stalk and the same depth il