The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-03-28

Old Rich Garden.-A garden that
for Years has had an annual dressing
of stable manure will be greatly nelp-
ed by using some Thomas
and potash on it. Nh garden mas peen
heavily covered with manure Tor Two
Years. and this spring l am AIDING
the phosphate and potash HberalIy all
over the land. This will make pota-
toes in spite of big vines. Big vines
are all right if you have the mineral
plant foods tina make the potatoes.
FYOats.-"What is the best way 10
use hoats?"- The best way is to mix
the floats in stable and lot manure,
a bout 100 pounds to a ton. On lana
where a growth of crimson ciONer
been turned under, YOU can apply
500 to 900 pounds of floats pfonta-
bly,. On land deficient in organic de-
cay. it will be a good While before
floats alone will have much effect on
the crops.
killing a Govt nave an old COW
that is not milking, and | want to rat
ten her for beef. | have been giving
he IA bushel and a half of hulfs ana
"a peck of ~cOttOnseed meal ana all the
peavine hay she will eat, but she keeps
thin and her bowels are always loose.
You will probably 500 have a dead
COW at that rate. You are feeding too
much protein feed, and should change
and give more corn meal and fodder.
Hulls have a theoretic food value, but
it taxes the. digestion and energy OF
the animal to digest them, so that
they are of little value as roughase.
You are feeding a great deal too much
c~ottOnseed meal Three pounds q day,
with the peaVine hay. is abundance
Their give her some corn or corn
meal and rorn stover.
How to Grow Broom Corn.-There
is no difficulty in growing broom corn
i;f has Crown SORGHUM. for
the cultivation is identical. The diff
ficulty comes in handling h crop.
Ittakes some skill to know just when
to break it over or table it. Then
you will need curing sheds and ma
chinery for cleaning it and bailing 1t.
and the chances are, that If you raise
and try to market one crop, You will
never plant another. The broom corn
culture is mainly confined to the rich
prairie soils of the Central West.
where they are equipped with means
for handling the crop and skilled men
to handle it. Better stick to cotton
and farm right With corn and cotton
and oats.
Nitrate of Soda.-"Will ammonia
from nitrate Of soda last as long in
the ground as from ~cottonseed
Properly speaking, there is no am
monia in nitrate of soda. t has nj
trate in the readily available form
for the plants. and teaches from the
soil rapidly if not used at once by
| plants. C~ottonseed meal must go
Through the process of nitrification by
the bacteria in the soil till the am
monia in it is changed to a nitrate
that plants can use. Hence it takes
longer for plants to get the nitrogen
from the ~cottonseed meal than from
| nitrate of soda.
Planting Cantaloupes.-"1f growers
in your section. as you say. do not
check-row for the hills Of cantaloupes,
how do they get them at equal dis
tances in the rows?' They do not
try to do so. They run out deep fur
rows s feet apart and put a liberal
dressing of stable manure all along
the burrows. This is done during the
winter and the manure left to partly
rot by planting time. a good
dressing of high-grade fertilizer is
added and bedded on, and the beds
f1attened for planting. The seed are
drilled all along the rows. and when
a good stand is certain, and the plants
have developed strong, rough leaves,
they are thinned out. and as the Gull
tlvatiOn is all one way, it does not
matter for them to be opposite. Thin
to 20 inches, and hen apply nitrate
of soda around the hills. Cucumbers
are planted in the same way. and
also watermelons. but these are in 10
foot rows and thinned wider apart.
NO one Names Hi1iS IoI any VI lueSe
now.
Bedding Sweet Potatoes bed
them in pure sand in a frame covered
with glass hotbed ashes. Put in a
good layer Of sand, bed the potatoes
and then cover them two inches with
sand. Water we'll and put on the
sashes and let them stay closed till
there are signs of %sprouting. After
that give air on all sunny days by
slipping the sashes down a little. Keep
them moist with luke-warm water, but
not wet. They make we'll rooted slips
and short and stout. Bedding clean,
sound potatoes in clean sand will pre-
vent rot to a great extent and give
you more healthy plants.
Crossing Seed Conf want to
cross Boone County White corr with
a corn that l have planting a seed
plot for the How shall /
do it," Plant each alternate row of