The enterprise-recorder. (Madison, Fla.) 1908-1933, 1909-09-30
Grrirc Good crops o. Wheat.

bIHN H. h'~A 80
The present good price .-- vlsa-.
and -se apparent prospect for rs coz
tlluauca. is exciting interest u v4@a-
RAISING Ia the S5l-.. AID an ss--.--
letters from May farmers. va5 have
20. bzeu growing wheat, 1sEing &c.
the oes: methods &c. rs cultivation.
While wheat can De grown in the
coastal plain Of The South At.a1tic
region. g. Is hardly probable taa; uni
formly good crops viii be made taese'
because a. a rule Jhs soils axe rather
too light ard the climate too humid
tor the best results ID wheat. though
In certain unusually favorable seasons
good crops may sometimes Be made.
The best vhsa, soils are It's
medium heavy clay loans, ald q line
stone soil is highly es.semed 70.
wheat. Good drainage is. Ct course,
essential 20 q crop that must pass
through the winter, AID only well
drained soils can be expected 10 make
good wheat crops.
Formerly. Il was thought that the
IDEAL preparation FOR wheat was a
clover sod broken early IL the sum
mer and narrowed and tramped till
well settled. And there is 70 doubt
that a well prepared fallow Is still ex-
cellent for the wheat crop. But cul-
tiyato7s have long since learned that
this sort OF preparation for the wheat
crop Is too expensive, as il takes the
labor Of the farm through most OF
the summer without any crop on the
land, and the exposure TO the sun IS
also a bad thing for the soil. In my
boyhood I can well remember that a
farmer would apologize for the ap-
pearance Of a certain field by saying
that It vas corn land wheat, and
could not be expected TO be equal to
fallow wheat.
But these same farmers who for
merly thought that they were doing
well to &c. fifteen bushels Of wheat
per acre, have long since found out
that fifteen bushels is a very small
crop, and that there is no better
preparation for wheat than corn
field deeply broken in the spring and
cultivated shallowly all summer, SO
as TO bring about the same ideal con-
ditions that an early-broken fallow
gives. They have found, too. that
after the hoed crop, whether wheat
or tobacco, there is no need for re-
blowing the land In fact, there is
good reason for not doing so, for the
shallow and level culture of The corn
has brought about the very best con-
ditions for wheat, a well sompacted
soil and a fine surface.
Therefore, after a crop OF corn or
tobacco is of the land, a light disk
ing kept up both ways till the surface
soil is made very fine, will be all that
is needed. II peas have been soyn
among the corn or tobacco, they
should be mown OF, for the turning
under OF such growth would prevent
the compacting Of the soil that wheat
demands, and more wheat will be
made with the peas cut of than IL
they were turned under. But one
thing is certain, and that Is, that the
surface soil can not be made too fine.
The best wheat soils in Virginia and
North Carolina are the red uplands
OF the Piedmont section. Lands like
the farm OF Mr.. Lambeth, in Ran
dolph County, near Thomasyllle IN
Davidson, where crop Of over thirty
bushels Is reported this season. should
be made to average that much. or
more, every season. The farm of the
late Governor Holt, in Davidson. has
made over forty-fve bushels per acre
an these crops show that these red
Iands are ideal wheat soils, and will
make more wheat to-day under good
farming than the famous spring
wheat lands OF the Dakotas. But good
Farming demands that crops shall he
grown economically, and It has been
round, as have said, that the fallow-
ing system is not an economical wav
TO raise wheat. Our clover sod. while
IL VIII make fine wheat, can be mora
economically used for the corn cron
lhe farm manure spread on this
clover sod as made during the winter
ana plowed under in the spring
makes the best of all preparation for
tne wheat crop IL the corn is Guilt
Vated shallow and level during the
thus producing the same
conditions that would be made ON a
summer fallow, while making vama- |
BILE crop. =" 'a'ua'
Inc same may be said Of the IN.
oacco crop as a preparation for wbest
Inc leading idea is to make the
breaking early, and then devote The
wnoie season to the preparation of
the surface soil to get il fne ana al