The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-08-30
WITH THE FARMERS
BY Prof. w. r. MASSEY

, would be the garden. He kept last
winter 4 regular daily account of the
egg production. He feeds ground al
falia scaldcd overnight and mixed
and dried with bran In the morning.
and feeds oats at night. His fifty-three
hens laid from January / to July /,
| b,S43 eggs. L am not u poultryman, as
every one who knows me liz aware, and
do not know what my neighbor's
Barred Plymouth Rocks cost him to
keep. but 1t seems to me that that
number OF eggs Is a pretty good record
for alfalfa feeding.
| Clean Cultivation for Corn.
l have been looking around at many
| corntelds cultivated In divers ways,
| ana l notice that what / a year
| ago In a fine section OF Maryland is
true every year here and elsewhere.
This Is the value of shallow and fire.
quent cultivation of the soil. The fields
| 1 refer to were visited just at corn
cutting time. On one farm the owner
told me that he had gone over his
! thirty acres eleven times, starting with
smoothing harrow and then with
weeder, and finally the two-horsc Gull
! tivator running shallow all the time.
The result was that at corn-cutting
! time there was hardly a weed to be
seen in the field. All in reach OF the
influence Of the warmth and air had
been destroyed. and no more brought
l
eight and Il half bushels OF shelled
| corn acre.
/ On the adjoining farm. with land of
equal fertility, | saw another cornhcld
/ 1t had been cultivated few times and
| then laid by with plow turning up
| the soil to the rows. and OF course,
! bringing up a host of seed to air and
heat, and in that field the crabgrass
was then over knee-high, and the corn
crop did not promise over thirty
bushels an acre. while the land was
! capable, under better culture. OF maxi
| ing as heavy crop as the one on the
neighboring farm. 1t showed how hard
| 1T is to get some farmers out of the
old ruts They simply keep up the old
practice from habit and the failure
| 10 use brains in farming. They fail TO
see that In running n pillow through
the cornheld and tearing off the feed
ing roots they arc throwing money
away In the loss of corn. and then they
make still further loss by stripping
the green blades, while they are still
! feeding the green ears and. as has been
demonstrated at several Southern sta
tons. the loss of corn by stripping
! blades is equal to the value OF all the
| fodder saved
/ Some Garden Notes.
| The first week in August l sowed
seed OF the Big Boston lettuce for the
/ fall crop in the open ground. These
/ seed have germinated we'll, and as soon
as large enough TO handle they will
be transplantcd in sixfoot beds with
alleys between. setting the plants eight
} inches apart each way, and hope to
( head these In October or early No
vember.
| The last of the month more seed
Will be sown and the plants set in the
! frames at same distances and the
sashes Will be put on when the nights
! get frosty. These will be for Christ
mas and New Years.
! Early in September I Will plant sets
! Of the yellow potato onion in rows
sixteen inches apart. and at same time
will plant sets of the Norfolk Queen
! for the earliest green onions. To be
followed by the Offsets of the potato
! onions while the main bulbs Will be
allowed To ripen.
/ Ny first sowing Of spinach was made
| August 18th. This is for the fall crop.
/ In mid september l will SOW more for
the late winter and early spring crop.
Corn is pulled up by the roots as
soon az the ears are used, for do
not want the stumps in the garden,
and do want clean land for the later
crops.
In order to find how late we can
make cabbage ] planted seed of late
cabbage in hills the middle of August.
These l intend 10 thin TO one plant in
n hill. of course, and urge the growth
rs rapidly as possible, and will be able
TO say something about the success or
/ failure later.
Pansy seed have been sown on a
border in rows and covered with old
! fertilizer sacks 10 keep the moisture
to the surface. These of course will
. be removed the seed terminate and
when the plants are large enough TO
handle well some will be set in frames
I Tor winter flowers and others set in
beds for spring blooming outdoors 1
usually SOW a trade packet of 5000
seeds and get an abundance But
buy the best seed obtainablc. for in
icrior and low-prced seed make in
! ferior flowers.
My beds OF Phlox Drummondii will
De sown late in August. as the plants
winter we'll and come into bloom far
earlier than when sown in spring.
Sweet peas sown in September will
generally winter we'll and bloom
! early.
Killing wild Onions.
| is there any way to kill out the
Wild onionsT Some time ago / think
told of the method devised by one
or my old students. ]. S. Gates, now
editor OF the Southern Planter when
he was weed expert OF the Department
or Agriculture. He issued a bulletin
we'll illustrated which can be still had.
suppose. on application to the Sec
rotary of Agriculture. detailing the
method he devised for the killing of
wild onions.
1t was in effect as follows: IL will
De found that each plant of the onion
| mas comparatively large white bulb
ana bunch of small dark -colored off
sets. This white bulb will start to
grow In the fall. Let it grow till the
nuio Is exhausted and hollow, and then
piow all under completely The little
aark-colored offsets do not start TO
grow I'LL the spring. Then let them
grow III hollow. and then turn all un-
der' allowing no shoot above the
ground. and the crop is killed. You
tan get the bulletin which fully de-