Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-04-15
atlistrllaneous Rmaing.
FOR HOME SUPPORT.
Crops That Are Absolutely Essential
to independent Living.
The Corn Cron.

to Independent Living.
The Corn Crop.
The great American grain food for
men and stock upon the farm is corn.
| Therefore the growing of an abundant
supply of corn is one of the essentials
of good farming.
The southern farmer should grow
! enough corn for every possible need on
the farm. The reasons for this are
plain. 1t has been demonstrated thor
oughly that with proper preparation
and cultivation he can grow as much
per acre as the farmer in the best
corngrowing sections. At prevailing
prices it is cheaper to grow it than to
buy it, even with II and Is cent cotton.
| The best farming requires systematic
rotation of crops on all lands. Corn is
standard crop and is especially val
liable from the fact that we not only
get the corn crop, but can grow with
it heavy crop of peas. which will give
a liberal supply of nitrogen and humus,
two of the most valuable things in
building up SOILS.
Corn is a tropical plant. and all 9TH
er things being equal it should thrive
better in the southern than in the
northern states. This. however, is
not the case. What is the reason? The
main cause is the lack of suitable seed
beds in the south.
Experiments have shown that. while
il sends many of its roots or 4 feet
deep, the corn plant places the great
body of it's feeding roots from 3 to II
inches below the surface where the soil
is made loose enough by plowing or by
frost to permit it. The roots send out
in every direction an infinite number
of hairlike growths. which absorb
prepared and in sections of fair
rainfall the feeding ground for
corn is usually from to IL inches be-
low the surface This is strictly true
in the great corn belt of the northwest.
In the south there has been too much
shallow plowing. Breaking 8 or 4
inches is not deep enough to make a
suitable feeding place for corn roots;
on average land it furnishes neither
sufficient food nor sufficient moisture
for the plant to do it's best The trOu-
BILE with a shallow seed bed is that it is
too wet under heavy rainfall and too
dry in periods of drought. A long ad-
vance will be made toward increasing
the average yield fivefold If the fol-
lowing suggestions are carried out:
Cd Make a deep seed bed, suited to
the requirements of the corn plant
CO Fill this seed bed with vcgeta-
BILE matter and give it good drainage.
CD Use the best seed.
(4 Practice intensive cultivation.
The disk plow, the adjustable section
harrow, and the weeder are valuable
aids in producing the corn crop.
The Cowpea Crop.
The cowpea is a part of the corn
problem in the south, and the plan
generally adopted of brOadcasting half
a bushel to a busnel Of seed to the
acre at the time of the last working Of
the corn and cultivating it has given
good results.
The corn should be gathered as early
as practicable and the stock turned in.
Fortunate is the man who has tight
fencing, so that the pigs, as well as the
work stock and cattle. can have
chance at the cowpeas. on some of
the poorer lands the corn rows may be
made feet apart and row of pea
nuts planted between them; this will
add to the value of the fall pasture
when no cowpeas are planted. AS soon
as the crop of cowpeas has been fairly
well graZed, break deep, setting the
furrows on edge; harrow; SOW to oats,
vetch winter barley, or rye, and turn
this under in the spring. This plan
will economically improve the soil and
greatly increase the average crop pro-
duction.
Where the season is too short 10 sue
cessfully carry out the foregoing plan
it mas been found that planting vetch
and rye or crimson clover in the corn
and turning them under in the spring
rapidly builds up the soil and is much
more economical than the use of large
quantities of commercial fertilizers.
The general object is to keep the land
occupied summer and winter. prOduc
ing something of value for food or fer
tiliZer and at the same time protecting
the loose soils from washing or leach
ipu h,- ha nioS, nf ,,.int nd
spring.
Tools and implements Required.
High priced labor and generally
changed conditions make it imperative
that more and better farm implements
be used on every farm, whether large
or small in area. No man can farm
now without at least good breaking
or turning pl0w Ga reversible disk is |
preferable), disk harrow, a section
harrow, a good combination planter. a
weeder, and one single row and one
double row cultivatOr. The above are
essential, and if the size of the farm
and the means Of the farmer will allow
it, many other convenient labor saving
tools can be added. a good mower and
rake for handling the hay are very
necessary.
More Horse Power Necessary.
To use more horse power and less
man power per acre or to quit farming
is necessity confronting the south.
There should be more mares ON the
farm. In the future few small farmers