The farmer and mechanic., 1911-10-03

growth of crimson clover to turn uE~7
der for corn. Corn fires from lack
of organic decay in the soil.
Some say that it will damage the
soil to clear the trees off while the
san is ND. Is this true?" No it is
nos true These notions get handed
down from one to another and are
believed without any reference TO
facts
s.Vgill cutting tops a joint above the
ear injure corn " topping corn ana
STRIPPING the blades will shorten the
corn crop as much as the fodder is
worth. This has been proved a num-
Der Of times at different Southern ex-
pertinent stations.
Several want to SOW wheat after
coWpeas and talk about turning them
under. Do not do this, for turning
under the peas at this late season
will prevent getting the land in good
order for wheat. You will make more
wheat on a well-disked pea stubble
than il you turn under the peas and
at the same time you will sacr1nce
a lot Of valuable feed.
How shall I keep cowpeas over for
seed to avoid Weevils?'' Get a good
a drug store and mix them all through
the peas and then store them in
tightly covered barrels or boxes
This is the method seedsmen use.
If Weevils appear at any time, open
the peas and place some carbon BIZ
sulphide in a saucer on top Of them
and close up, and the fumes will sink
through and kill the weevils. Keep
fire away from this as the fumes are
explosive. But the moth balls will
usually prevent any WeeVilS.
"Can you give me any information
on the value OF Kudzu for hay or
pasture? Can it be killed easily or
is it a pest have only grown
the Kudzu vine as an ornamental
climber. 1t is a hardy perennial vine
belonging to the legume family. 1t
is a tremendously rapid grower, and
/ suppose that If let trail on the
ground it will root all along the
stems What it's feeding value is, /
do not know. Some parties in Florida
are booming it as a forage plant and
it certainly will make enormous
growth. / have seen shoots of it
grow a foot in twenty-four hours. I
suppose that it would have to be cut
often as it Will soon get woody, and
in few years you will have a thicket
of stumps to clear If you want 10
get rid Of it. 1t is perfectly hardy
and once in the ground is there for
generations unless grubbed out.
'I attended an institute and a
speaker advised US to pull out the
tassels from each alternate row of
corn to save the seed. What good
does that do?'' The tassels Of corn
bear the pollen, the male element Of
the corn plant. The silks are the fe-
male organs, and are attached to an
ovary on the cob. The pollen falls
on the exposed Part of the silk and
grows down through it till it reaches
the Ovary, and there starts a new
growth and a seed is formed. Every
grain on the cob has it's own silk, and
unless every silk gets pollen, the ovary
at its base fails to develop into a
grain carrying a seed germ. Now,
OF course, the pollen borne on the
same plant would set the grain if 1t
reached the silk, but nature avoids
self-fertiliZation and the pollen is
blown away mainly to other plants,
and it is found that this cross fertiliZa-
tion tends to invigorate the plant that
grows from the seed. To insure the
crossing we take the tassels before
they have ripened pollen, from each
alternate row. Then the silks on that
row must be fertilized by pollen from
the other rows that have tassels and
the cross is made when we take seed
from the rows that have had the tas-
Sells removed.
DO You think natural phosphOric
rock available on rye and cowpea
fa]1oW? Is it Well to use it on the
land deficient in humus?' The phos-
phate rock when finely pu1verized is
a good application to soil that abounds
in humus, or to mix in stable manure
to increase its efficiency. But on land
deficient in humus it will be a good
while in becoming avaifabl On land
of that character use the acid phos-
phate. It's best use is in mixing it
with manure or applying where a
crop Of cowpeas or crimson clover
has been plowed under.