The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-01-24
Dr.. MASSEY'S VIEWS

and run a rotation of peas and GRIM
son clover with farm crops on one
half till they have restored the wasted
organic decay. and then take up the
other half, and in this this way keep
up the soil with an occasional lining,
in its greatest productivity.
Ali through the trucking sections Of
the South Atlantic coast there is too
little afternoon given to the winter COW
er crops like crimson clover, and little
effort to follow the early truck with
peas The man who had peas on his
land last summer and followed them
with crimson clover has far better
chance for potatoes, especially the
sweet potatoes. than the man who
made crop OF corn after his early
truck.
This matter of working in the le-
gume crops is what the SOUTHERN
trucker especially needed to learn.
With this high-priced stuff he can at
ford to bury the pea crop and rapidly
increase the humus making material
in his soil, while the general farm er
should always feed it. The consta Mt
dependence on commercial fertilizers
alone, and burning out the organic
matter in the soil, will inevitably re-
suit in diseased crops finally-malnu-
triton diseases, as Professor Johnson.
of the Virginia Truck Experiment Sta
crops Is just as important for the
trucker as for the general farmer.
All through the great sweet potato
sections Of the Eastern Shore counties
Of Virginia at this time in the winter
we can see men babOriOuSly raklng the
woods for pine straw and hauling and
spreading it on the land to go into
sweet potatoes merit spring, when
crimson clover sown last fall would
give them more and better material to
pillow under for the crop, for they
would not need to buy any ammonia
in ma fertilizer for the potatoes.
And then, through the same region,
we see them after an early Irish po-
tato crop is shipped, planting corn on
the same land or course after a
heavy fertilization for the potatoes
they can get good crop OF corn, but
it would have been great deal better
to have soWn peas after the potatoes,
and these, even without the clover
would make a better crop Of sweet po-
tatOes than the pine straw hauled at
so great cost. Bare ground in winter
is the bane OF the trucking regions Of
the South. Some winter-growing le-
gume should be on all the ground
where there are no winter truck
crops.
One Of the most profitable crops
grown here is the spring turnip crop.
which grows almost as fast as a rad
are sown thinly broadcast on we'll pre-
pared and fortified soil. They are
pulled and punched, four or five in A
bunch, when the size Of a biscuit, and
always sell well, and are off the ground
n time TO sow peas.
Sow seed or early tomatoes in cold
frames about ten weeks before the
plants can be set in the open ground
in any section, and transplant them
once in another frame to get them
strong, and then harden them gradu-
Tally before fisally Seeting out. This
means January sowing in the lower
South and February further North.
BeetS that I am about to SOW in
frames will be thinned in February,
and the Trimmings set outside, as they
can stand a good deal of frost when
the rough leaves are we'll developed.
ReetS should not be sOWn outside the
upper South till late February, for
when in the seed leaf they may be
killed by frost.
Have the garden work we'll planned
ahead and order seed early so that
there will not be any delay at planting
time.
To neglect the garden is to deprive
yourself Of much Of the pleasure Of
farm life and, at the same time, to
slight one or the pest chances TO get
large returns on your Ia Dor.
What Farmers Want to Know.
Prune your young keiffer pear trees
with a central step and keep the tree
in a pyramidal shape, starting the
lower limbs near the ground and grad
uating the length Of the side branches
as they go upwards, SO as to maintain
a pramiGal form. Grown in the usual
way, the Keiffer makes long branches
that hang over in bad way. Shorten
the top central shoot slightly, but
prune the side branches closer. Peach
es should have one-half of the last
years shoots cut back and interfering
shoots removed. The ecort should be
to keep up a supply of young wood all
through the body Of the tree, and pre-
vent getting bare limbs with the fruit
wood all out at the ends. Prune the
peach trees Just before the buds open