The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-09-02
WITH THE FARMERS
By Prof. w. F. MASSEY
tur,ty is Of the greatest Importance
and nitrate OF soda Will make the crop

I tur,ty iS of the greatest Importance
and nitrate OF soda Will make the crop
later.
Wheat Sowing.
| What do you think is the proper
amount of seed wheat to sow an acre
| in the red soil OF the Piedmont see
| ton? Also the quantity of fall oats to
SOW an acre?" The amount of seed
needed to sow an aero will depend
| somewhat on the fertility of the soil
/ On thin land more seed is needed than
on strong. soil. as there will be less
spreading or tillering. 1 have seen q
very good crop OF wheat made on an
old and rather poor field that was fall
iowcd early and put in good order, and
TWO bushels of wheat an acre sown
ihis is the heaviest seeding 1 ever
knew, and l thought at the time that
the owner was unwise in sowing so
, rmuch' put 1T turned out very we'll.
Ihat much wheat sown on strong land
would have been entirely too much
| l have used as high as bushel and &
half an acre and as little as one busfrel.
This last of very strong SOIL where
| peas had grown very rankly, and the
one bushel seeding lid finely But as
an average, believe that five pecks an
| acre OF good, heavy seed wheat will be
about right for tho general average
OF the red lands of the Piedmont sec
ton. OF winter oats the same condi-
tons will prevail. and on thin land
nave used as much as two and n half
bushels an acre. But as an average I
would SOW two bushels an acre, and if
sown carly in September smaller
amount will answer. But had rather
SOW two bushels than smaller uuan-
tity.
Bone and Gypsum.
Campbell County: II notice in your
book, Crop Growing and Crop Feed
lns, that you saw at place adver-
Using pure raw bone a machine at
work grinding oyster shells. If you
are at Lynchburg at any time, come
out to my place and I will show YOU
the results from the use of pure raw
hone meal and gypsum or plaster. You
can see here the results in the i'm
provement OF n hilly, quilted and exe
hausted farm by the use of bone meal
ana clover with a little gypsum scat
tered on the clover began using
bonedust annually in 1868 to 1865, and
since then 1t has been the only fer
tiilzer used except some potash and
gypsum. On stream on my farm /
have mill and grind my own bone
dust and avoid fraud" There is no
doubt of the value CT pure raw bone
what 1T costs. If the bones are gotten
cheaplN and one grinds them, it may
be that they will furnish the best
source for phosphoric acid. They also
carry about per cent of organic nj
troEcn. and this has effect earlier than
the phosphoric in the bones, as that
comes into use rather more SLOWLY
than phosphoric acid in dissolved rock
But there is one advantage in the use
| OF the raw bone dust and this is that
| II does not produce acid conditions in
| the soil as the long continued use Of
acid, phosphate does. On your red
| land the gypsum or plaster will, to
| some extent. release the abundant
store of potash that exists in ali the
| red clay of the Piedmont country
But the plaster will not keep the soil
sweet. and ii is far better 10 depend
on an occasional lining, say once in
| six years Lime Will keep the soil
sweet. and will. be fully rs cffectuaI in
releasing potash. Your red clay has
| an ineShaustible store of potash and
the burying OF vegetable matter and
| the use OF lime will bring this insol-
luble potash into use. l found that in
| THIS way, when l was cultivating those
red hills. I could get the use of all
the potash needed without buying any
In fertilizer. If one buys pure bone
dust the price is fixed largely by the
amount of nitrogen it contains, and il
q farmer is farming we'll. using lcgume
crops and feeding stock and saving
his manure in the best wa", by getting
it out on the land as fast as ros-
sible after it is made. he will
never need to buy nitrogen. and can
acid phosphate or Basic Stag meal,
than in bone.
Many have n notion that the phos-
phoric acid in bone is better than
phosphoric acid in rock But phos-
Phoric acid is one and the same thing
no matter from what source and tho
only thing that the farmer needs to
be particular about is it's availability
Phosphoric acid in acid phosphate is
more quickly available than in bone
or in basic stag meal. Bone. from it's
slower availability. lasts longer in the
SOIL and has greater residual effect
on following crops than acid phos-
phate The cheapest source for phos-
phoric acid to good farmer is the
pulVerizcd phosphate rock that has not
been treated with acid. | say TO a good
latiher. Tor II this is applied to soil
oehcient In humus II will be very slow
) In having effect, but used as a SIM.
: pienent TO stable manure it will nearly
, treble the efficiency of the manure ana
VIII also come into use readily
where vegetable matter is plowed
I under. e
, l have no doubt of the good resn,, 9
on your land from the use of hone
? uuSI out the question in all soil i'm
profement that is of the most import
auce Is the cost. Few have the faciIi
1 ies Ior making bone meal that Won
S 49, ana the average farmer can i'm
acid phosphate with clover ana ar ne
" a al@ers IN Inning. In farming it is not
t"aSS the actual results from the ,,so
I OF any materials, but what cost the
O improvements have involved
n WINTER Green's for Chicken.
= read what you write with -ro,I
g .htcre*t' but see nothing obou,
O t 81 and ! am greatly Interested
y ,n chickehs. VIII you please teu m,
I | 49, can SOW now as :, green feed
$ ior my fowls in winter" You car
2 SOW now. on strong land. well fer.
O .ii"ed seed Of the Dwarf Essex rono
. ~ VIII be best to SOW this where tbe
V 1.',chths cannot get at il to destroy
n -, oel're IL mas chance To- get strone.
~ Iact, IT VIII be- best To cut ~ fo,
d mem, mem rather than let them run on il,
r ms rape is quite hardy, and in Won,
q sectioh VIII stand the winter ,,or,
wen. on can SOW il in rows ,r,dr
enough apart for cultivation or car
@ so" broadcast About four pounds m
q acre sown in rows eighteen incne.
!, 'phrt ana cultivated with hand imule
= inentS VIII make n good cron mr. O.,