The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-06-09

| uo"H soHle DelOre turning tnefn. Az
ter narrowing in the lime or line
| phosphate and forty pounds Of muri-
ate Of potash an acre and harrow this
| in with smoothing harrow. Do this
In early September. 1t will be all
| right to inoculate the seed with the
Farmogerm. as this is the only arti.
fetal culture I have tried that really
| lnoculates.
| Pea Harvester.
| Il have heard that there Is pea
| harvester that gathers and cleans the
cowpeas successfully from the rows
| Do you know anything about it?" 1
| suppose that you refer to the machine
| formerly made and sold here under
the name OF the Perfect pea Harvester.
| The company here owning the ma
chine has now made u contract with
| the Keystone Manufacturing Company,
OF York. Pa, to make the machine for
| them on royalty. and they now call IL
| the Keystone Pea Harvester. To use
| this machine the peas are planted in
three foot rows and let stand TIL ripe.
| The machine is drawn by pair OF
horses or mules and bathers, threshes
! and cleans the peas as 4; goes. II
carries the peas out for sacl5ing.
have followed this machine in the field
and know that II cleans out the seed
| AoS'er tudH twenty nanQS could Dick
them by hand. The vines and bulls
all go back TO the soil for It's i'm
orovement. There is another machine
made In Tennessee that threshes the
| peas from the cured hay I went to
tennessee TO SEQ this machine work,
and saw !. clean out the peas from
the hay at tho ratio OF half a bushel a
minute. and 1t did not break tho seed
| This is a more costly machine than
the Harvester, and needs a sasolene
engine TO work It, But It saves tho
hay and chopa It up Ia nne shape for
| balins. Tho ono machine is simply /.
harvester, and the other simply q
| thresher. have no financial interest
In either OF them. but have watched
them with a great deal OF interest
The difficulty in thrcshing pea hay
| with wheat thresher is that it breaks
the peas. and the tough vines will
wrap around the cylinder and choke
| IL. Tho thrssher 1 refer to outs tho
vines into sx-inch pieces before
thresh!ng. and hence does not choke.
The harvester referred TO is now used
mere solely. and many ar. in use in
North Carolina and further South for
harvesting peas and SOY beans
Seed Corn.
Every spring | get letters innumer-
able asking what kind OF corn TO buy
| Il. 1
invariably told my correspondents that
| they need not expect any corn brought
from distance, either North or South
or them, 10 do It's best the first sea
son. Corn Is plant that needs to be
acclimated TO any new environment
and II takes several seasons to get 1t
| completely fitted to Its local conditions
There Is no plant changed n it's
| character b. climate. Take an carly
Dent corn to New England and con-
| tinue to plant 1t. and Il soon becomes
a mint corn. Many years ago a farm
err in secluded valley IN tho Virginia
mountains planted some New Eng
land Flint corn OF the King Phillip
| variety. This corn was az eight
rowed brownish yellow corn. The
farmer continued to plant il year after
! year. and there was no mixture from
anywhere In his LITTLE valley. But
as the years went on fhe corn changed
its character, and il is now a sixteen
semble the King Philip except that It
has retained the color OF the grain and
tho length OF the ears
But any farmer can do better by
breeding up tho corn that has been
long planted in his neighborhood and
| !s hence acclimated.
How TO Improve the Seed Corn.
IL mas oeen found that crossing
| within species is an IMMIGRATION of
the plant. Now to insure a good cross.
plant a separate plot for seed. If
you want TO grow one of the large
cared varieties. get tine best well-bred
+, seed corn that you can find. say Boone
| county White. Now plant alternate
! rows OF your seed corn that has been
grown for years on your farm, and
rows OF the Boone County W;,ite be-
tween them. AS tassels appear take
! out all the tassels from the rows OF
the home grown seed Then the silks
, VIII be fertilized by the pollen OF the
boone County White. Save the hes,
ears from the detassled rows for seed.
| and next spring plant these in the seed
| plot in alternate rows with Boone
| county White from another source to
insure more crossing, taking out the
tassels again from the home grown
seed After this simply plant the
nome grown seed, and go through the
seed plot at tasseling and remove the
! green tassel from every barren plant.
and every plant that does not come
somewhere near your ideal In stature,
etc. Tor good corn plant, SO that pol
len VIII be furnished only hy the best
! plants. Continue this year after year
until you have a perfectly fixed type
OF. ear and plant There will always
be plenty OF crossing to keep up the
type IL you take out every spring the
ones that vary from the type you
want.
Breeding to Stature.
| have been frequently asked which
ear should be taken for seed from the
Southern Prolific corns that bear two
or more. IT depends on what the OBJ
Ject Is. Corn III the South naturally
grows tall. and II care Is not taken
In tho selection OF seed we will have
plants with ears out of reach in strong
soil, and short top above them. It
Is desirable 10 have the ears located
In easy reach, and about half way be-
| tween the ground and the tassel. Then
to reduce the stature of the corn, for
a time take the lowest ear next the
! ground. This VIII never be the finest
ear on the plant, but 1t will inherit a
tendency TO grow nearer the ground
I was at the ST. Louis Fair, and was
talking with the gentleman in charge
of the Maryland exhibit He said,
"The Illinois Station han n Ap. chou,