The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-05-07
FARM WORK FOR MAY.

tt'llII w d . j "a 1919
When the weather is showery you can
go over rapidly, while the men VINO
are irving to keep the grass down III
the old way Will be getting behlnd ana
getting caught. The time to klll grass
is lust as it starts, and the stirring
Close around the plants with the weed
er teeth loosen the crust better IMAM
can be done with any other lmple-
mcnt. Every farmer knows that
when there is a hard crust right
around the cotton plants the wind Will
chaff and damage the plants very Of
ten and the weeder Will check TINS.
Then, if YOU have planted the cotton
in the old way the weeder may be or
use in facilitating the choppinS out
But where the dropping planter has
been used there will be little need for
the hoe, and a hoe takes a man ana IS
"a costly tool.
Pea sowing will now be on hand
where a crop Of hay is to be made.
There are many things advised for
mixing with the peas with the ldea
of making the peas more easily cured
as hay. Some use millet, but his Wlll
ripen to seed before the peas are
ready to NOV, and the seed OF the
millet Will be dangerous feed Ior tne
horses as the seed are apt TO cause
lHlDdcIlOH III tlc lHtGStlHcS. Vii -
using corn and sorghum, n or THESE
i would prefer the corn, as 1t Will cure
better than the sorghum. But | great
" prefer to have Il clean protein nay,
and tine the best mixture IS half peas
and half soy beans. The beans grow
erect and will hold up the peas and
make the crop more easily harvested
and cured. Some claim that the mix
ture OF corn or sorghum makes a
- ~ 80 f~nI Mi ir fr,1a h1If
what we grow the peas for is to have
the hay with a high protein content
We can get plenty of car~bOnaceous
feed from corn fodder to alance the
ration and the more protein we get IN
the pea crop the better.
Velvet beans make a splendid hay
crop and take far less seed to plant
an acre than of peas. But the Velvet
beans viii hardly mature north of the
southeast corner of North Carolina,
though as far north as Raleigh they
will make an immense growth. | once
planted them at Raleigh in rows fully
four feet apart and six inches in the
rows and they made a mass waist high
All over the ground. and began to
bloom in September from late April
planting, but did not mature seed. |
once saw them making seed at Selma,
~. w., LII dp W IN AIONSl
porch. where they had a much better
chance to mature than sprawiing on
the round In all the lower South
the velvet bean will be a wonderful
hay crop.
In the lower South, too, the Lespe-
deZa strata. or Japan clover, on rich
moist land will make q fine hay crop,
and in the upper South it will make
"a NarN Na1l1nlln No ~ ~ trnnO I1a1 "
soil as far north as the Rappahan-
mock river in Virginia. 1t will make
some paSturage of the poorest soil. In
central North Carolina. | have ser n
this plant growing rankly in a dense
pine thicket, where nothing else
would grow. Wherever the lespedeza
grows strong enough for hay it will
make one Of the most valuable annual
hay crops and will re-seed the land
very effectively.
Where Johnson grass has taken
possession, as it has in many parts Of
MiSsiSSi ppi and Alabama it certainly
makes a wonderful and repeated crop
OF hay. If you want to get rid Of il
for the growing of hoed crops Of corr
or cotton write to the Secretary OF
Agriculture in Washington, for tbs
farmers bulletins on the destruction
Of johnson grass, for now is the time
to do IT. Johnson grass has done
good in some sections in compelling
farmers to take more interest in live
stock. and if it were not such an ag-
SreSSiNe grass. it would be one of the
most valuable crops that can be grown
IN the South, for we need forage be
Iore we can feed stock as we should
40 not let any field lie idlt
This summer with the idea Of ..ract
ing. 1t will rest far better BY frowine
peas thar growing grass and weeds
and II you have a field YOU can pas
ture, the grass will make a splendif
pasture If you take care not to turr
on cows when hungry, as they mig
get hioated. | once pastured pea.
down three times in one season. start
ing before they bloomed and takin.
the COWS off for awhile to let them star
up again. Where one is interested il
the dairy the peas can be used yer
hrnfJfaHlN 1 n 4 sc MO -. d.