The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-10-02
WITH THE FARMERS
By Prof. w. F. MASSEY

the Soil Is well inoCulatcd for clover
of other kinds. If your soil is acid
it will not pay YOU to spend none!
for iroculating cultures But swectci
tho soil with lime, and it will pay 20,
10 GO 10 almost any reasonable OK
pcnsc to get II stand of clover. Yo,
area. and once get that we'll inocu
lated ana YOU can use tho soil from
/ that arca on other land. II Is full lat,
TO SOW now. and | would test the cul
turc on Il small area at least. Thei
the land where the crimson clover ha:
! rallied before may have become inocu-
lated from that sowing, and may now
grow the clover. i have known this to
occur. But. really. believe far more
| in keeping the land In the proper con-
dition for clover to thrive than in any
arlincial incubation.
! We used TO grow clover wonderfully
we'll before we knew anything about
the bacteria, and most OF the failures
To grow clover where IL formerly
throve Lave been due to the acid con-
Gition Of the soil. Once. many years
ago, | took charge OF Il farm OF very
fine land. and was told that il was
useless TO SOW clover on a certain field.
as il was Glover sick" That field had
TO 20 in clover after corn crop, and
before planting the corn | gave the
land heavy dressing OF lime. and
when the clover came with the wheat
that followed the corn there was no
finer clover in the county than grew
on that clover sick field. 1t was sim
ply sick from acid conditions in the
soil II YOU want any OF the legumes
10 thrive we'll YOU must keep the land
/ sweet. Cowpeas will thrive on an acid
soil but they are about the only
legumc that know of that Will do so.
II Will never pay TO fail with clover.
and the thing is TO find out the reu-
son for its failure and remedy this.
There has been good deal OF dis
cuSsion among farmers III my neigh
borhoOd in regard TO the benefit OF fall
blowing. 20 you think that II pays TO
pillow land deeply in the tail that is to
he planted to hoed crop in spring
Late and deep fall plowing pays We'll
on the red hills OF the Piedmont sec
ton, provided cover crop OF some sort
IS sown. While the physical texture
OF the soil Will he greatly improved
by LAKE fall blowing and winter freez-
ing on clay soil. there Will be too
much loss Of nitrates on bare soil dur
ing our winters, and there should be
up these. that they can he return
Ell 10 the soil by turning the growth
down in spring. With n sandy SOIL,
fall ploWinG and bare ground IN winter
Will be worse than on clay soil and
sandy soil especially needs the cover
crop in winter.
Where subsolins Is desirable, rs II
is on the Piedmont hills, the fall is
the only time TO do it properly for in
the spring. when the surface SOIL Is
in good condition TO plow. the subsoii
will ba TOO wet TO run suhSoll plow.
The only lands that I would use q
! sub soil p.ov on are Tic hills that are
/ liable 10 wash, and there We need 10
! have n deep. loose bed of soil we
+ can make. There is no better proven
! tive OF washing thar deep breaking
and deeper subsoilinG. But always
have some green crop on tho land II
winter.
Sowing Alfalfa.
| King and Queen County: Have
: three acres Of land plowed and har-
fowed for sowing alfalfa Would YOU
advise sowing Auchilla fertilizer one
ton an acre At $l3 q ton delivered. or
lime At s. q ton delivered? Ground
oyster shell. and use with the lime
900 pounds Of li-s-i. am told the
. .AUchilla has Gu per cent lime. Land
was in oats this spring" ! do not
know exactly what YOU mean by Au-
i emilia II you mean tho orchilla cuano.
+ would say that this is phosp hatic
. deposit and that the phosphoric acid In
i IS more slowly available than thar
IN acid phosphate, and the lime in IL
- not lime carbonate. and would hardly
have The same effect as the oyster shell
limo. Then understand that the linn
: not burnt lime, but pUlverized oys-
-.rs 81 eel ,i-f1
FOX alfalfa II applied heavily or at rate
q t"u tons an acre But 81 ton is
TWO or Three prices for the ground
shells You can buy ground limestone
IN Virginia for 81 = ton III bulk and il
would hardly pay 10 give So a ton FOR
tho shells St,ll as you have but the
three acres il would not pay YOU 10 hug
carload. unless you need lime else
where, which ! expect is probable |
would harrow in the lime. and then
apply 900 pounds Of acit, phosphate ana
th!ri% pounds OF the muria;e OF potash
al acre
some DO not advise heavy applica-
mons u. potash on the soils here Some
tanners here use the 2-s-5 goods for
wheat and state that il makes heayv
"""at no" about using Gao win
the none n.Xturo2 have several tons
IN hara what do you think OF the
GROUND phosphate rock for this sec
ronf Wsll s; pay 10 apply It in the
sp'ihs on wheat II seems that your
uea 81 improving = rundown farm is
10 dose II "!th fertilizer. Of course.
commercial fertilizers can be used
jnaltioGs!y, and AID in the improve
mcrt Of the soil. But what YOU main
~ need is 20 put tho land Into n GOOD
rotation OF crops ana grow peas ana
c!pFer FOR the Improvement OF the
Lana 1t does not pay 70 depend on a
- o. 10 f.-rs lf.f...