The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-09-12

have found that while there was Il
grayish web-like formation, tho insect
was not gray but bright scarlet.
hardly large enough to be seen by the
naked eye, the red mite or red spider,
as some call 1t. This insect is en-
couraged by droughty conditions, and
spraying with soapsuds from the wash
almost daily is the best remedy. The
plaster did no harm and no good. and
in addition to the spider, it Is prob
ably the leaf rust that attacked them.
There is larger insect that lays eggs
that cause what are called Pickle
worms that bore into half grown melons
and cucumbcrs and spoil them This
Is very common trouble south in
Virginia, and makes cantaloupes very
uncertain in the lower south. The only
preventive is spraying with arsenicals
like lead arsenate several times after
the first blooming of the plants Cam
taloupes Will always be sweeter grown
on dry sandy soil. and the same is true
of tho watermelon. / have had good
melons on bottom land in Virginia
where the floods had deposited a thick
layer OF sand, but on moist clay bot
tom lands you can never grow the best
cantaloupes or watcrmelons.
Sundry Questions.
buckingham County: II have seven
acres in peas that are fairly good, but
no fertilizer was used on them. The
spring blowing was rather II poor job,
and l want to follow the peas with
wheat, and have no disk. I thought
would save the pea hay and plow the
land with one horse. What fertilizer
should / use? l am thinking of mix
ing 200 pounds of acid phosphate and
200 pounds of lime as n fertilizer. How
Will that do? Should ! put on the fer
tilizer with the drill when sowing the
wheat? n young farmer here, who
does not think much of peas, and does
think he knows more than you do,
proposes to SOW tho wheat, / paying
half the seed and half the threshing
toll and half the fertilizer. he furnish
ing one horse and l another. and he
using only 200 pounds OF acid phos-
phate. What do You think OF such
proposition? Have also two acres in
corn on which some bone meal, some
2-S-2 fertilizer and 4 little manure
were used. and want to seed it TO
timothy and red top with winter oats.
How much fertilizer should ] use? l
am using sawdust eighteen years old
and pretty rotten, as bedding and
think 1t great stuff TO hold the urine.
You do not like ii. but being rotten
may help. l appreciate what YOU say
in The Times Dispatch and only wish
l could have had it forty years ago"
writes in a long letter is of merely
personal interest. and would had n re-
ply by mail had he sent stamped en-
vclope. You propose to mix acid phos-
phate and limo as 4 fertilizer. Don't
do it, The lime will revert the phos-
phoric acid and make 1t less available,
and 200 pounds OF acid phosphate is
small application for wheat IL you
have read what I have been writing
you will see that ! have more than
once tried to show that we do not uso
lime as a fertilizer, but as a means for
sweetening the soil for the better sue
cess of the legume crops and the pro-
motion of the nitrihcation of organic
matter in the soil. -Four hundred
pounds an acre of the acid phosphate
will be far better than 200 pounds OF
phosphate with the lime in to injurc
II. Your young farmer may know n
great deal, but doubtless. like all 9TH
crs engaged In the cultivation of the
soil, has a great deal yet to learn, and
there would be more hope for such Il
man If he did not imagine that he
knows so much / suppose, though YOU
do not say so, that the idea is to divide
the crop equally. That is business
matter that | cannot undertake to set
tie for you. If the spring blowing for(
the peas was poorly done it would be
better TO plow the pea stubble deeper
with good two-horSc team, and then
harrow and tramp it and get 1t we'll
settled before sowing the wheat. Using
acid phosphate alone. you can put it in
with the drill attachment. One-horse
farming is necessarily poor farming as
a rule. Any man Of energy and char
actcr can get at least two horses At
the close OF the Civil War l suppose |
was as poor as any man with n gray
suit on his back. ] had nothing in
fact. But | rented a farm and went
In debt for two horses, and some implc-
mcnts, and made good, and was out of
debt at the end OF the year. and ~
hevc that any young man of energy
"ho character, who viii use IN, brains
ana realize how little nc Tnows a,d
therefore will study hard. can do a.
well. have little patience with mon &C.
peciatiy young men, who imagine that
.neS Know all about farming. None OF
us 40, and as have before said mo
men who know IL all are generallv Tho
pooFcst farmers to be found. for they
nave not learned how little they reolIy
hnoW ana are simply standing stil
while the progress Of improved farm
ing is going on all around them. Won
an 'niu thcn all over the country. tho
mo 40 not read farm papers do
not attend farmers institutes ana who
VIII tell you frankly that farming dos
not pay. Their kind never did nav ana
never VIII. Use on the grass 800 pounds
o. cotton seed meal and 200 pounds of
acid phosphate. Va
Japan Glover,
Aioemarie County: Il enclose a plant
OF clover which is coming all ovor
m! place ] had supposed that /, is
japan clover, but understand that
Japan clover has a yellow bloom. while
TINS is red and Of a different shane
Inc roots have many noduics. and
suppose 1t is a nitrogen hxcr. what
IS H. ana what is its value, and will it
ihocuiato the land for alfalfa? thonl;
you Tor the help find in your columns
IN Inc Times Dispatch am n no.
slnher in farming and have gotten
many valuable suggestions from you?"
The plant is doubtless what is called
JaPan clover There arc many leyumi-
nous plants that are commonly c1Ilco
Grover mat are not properly so called.
inc true cl"v"rs belong to the Genus
IrlloNum Your plant is Icspedeza
strata 1t is legume and n nitrogen
hNer, anu is very valuable plant to
make pasturagc on waste lands and
rough hills where hardly anything else
VIII grow. II is a tendnl apuu,1 ,cd