The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-12-07
As TO RAISING CORN
Must Consult the Moon and the
Rabbit Foot

Questions Prorounded to Mr.. Bats.
Who Made Record breaking Corn
Crop in Wake County.
To the Editor:--A long time ago
when [ had to my credit much theory
and little experience, I was a great
believer in the sciences. especially
that Of medicine and agriculture both
Of which have practiced for the last
half century.
Experience and many disappoint-
nents have disillusioned me Of much
of the faith in what Paul spoke Of
as Science falsely SO called"
The fundamental principles Of agTi-
culture and medicine, Of course. can
never be undermined, hut agricultural
chemistry and plant physiology have
done less for the farmer. than hy-
geine and bacteriology have for the
mitigation Of disease. But giving due
credit to both, We profit really and
only by experiment and past exper-
ience. The marvellous strides made
in the increase Of corn production in
the last few years is only the carrying
out OF what was known to the most
ignorant farmer fifty years ago. and
to the ancient Peruyians before the
discovery Of America. Naturally rich
lands as drained swamps. will pro-
duCe immense crops without ploMr or
hoe. Poor and Worn-out land. BY the
application of manure and the aid of
the moon and the rabbit foot will
grow large crops with very little Ia
Dor. But the rabbit foot and moon
are important factors in this crop
tournament. as l shall endeavor to
show. And if Mr.. Bats had relied
more on this ''hoodoo" and less on his
deep plowing, I ara sure his corn
would have cost him less per bushel
Mine did, at any rate. as I shall show.
Many years before that feat had
been accomplished / was deSirous OF
making twenty barrels OF corn on one
acre, as [ believed it could be done
But hampered as [ was by scientific
writers whose great "cOnjure-wOrd'
was "humus," and whose shibboleth
was "plow deep" and ''subsoil." I
never was able to make q paying
crop.
One year I subsoiled a piece CT
clay land fourteen inches deep which
cost me ten dollars per acre. An old
name, but whose experience was
worth more than all the theories ever
published in the Progressive Farmer,
told me [ was wrong. OF course /
thought he was a fool. and as good as
told him so. He plOwed an inch and
q half deep, anC said he would beat
me making wheat, which we both
were preparing to SOW. We used the
same amount of guano, and when the
harvest came he got twenty bushels
and I eighteen to the acre. His wheat
cost him the seed. the guano and
cost the seed, the guano and about
twelve dollars for blowing. He car
ried q rabbits foot and sowed on the
full OF the moon. l ignored both
moon and rabbit foot
Who was the fool?
1t was q staggering blow, but [
was not convinced. l remained
scientific for near fifty years, and only
became convinced year ago, and de-
cided that Paul was right when he
said to Timothy: keep that when
is committed to thy trust, avoiding
prOfane and vain babblings, and op-
positions OF science falsely so called
In other words, keep the rabbits foot
and consult the moon.
/ had been reading the Progressive
Farmer about two years and was pre-
pared to follow out Prof Massey 5
instructions on corn raising, Nh.ch
L did This was in 1903. / made SO
bushels to the acre. and it cost me
90 Z-3 cents per bushel. [ made out
a detailed and itemized statement Of
the account. just as Mr.. Bats did this