The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1913-06-23
.ESCAMB|A CD.
CORNCROP BEST
IN MANY YEARS
COUNTY ADVISER McQUARRIE,
AFTER A WEEKS VISIT RE-
PORTS THAT THE CROPS ARE
IN AN UNUSUALLY FINE CON-
DITION-WILL VISIT SEVERAL
PLACES DURING NEXT WEEK.

Agricultural Adviser C. X. McQuar-
RE returned to Pensacola yesterday
after spending the past week in max
ing a tour of the county in the inter-
ests of the agriculturists and horti-
culturists.
Mr.. McQuarrie said on his return
yesterday that crops in general were
very promising in every section which
he had visited.
THE corn, crop promises to be the
largest for a number of years." said
Mr. McQuarrie but I am sorry to
see so many of our corn growers lay
ing by the crop, as they call it; or, to
use a better term, ceasing the Culti-
walton when it begins tasseling. This
is a great mistake, as one or two
workings with shallow working tool
even after silking, helps to increase
the yield and improve the quality of
the grain. This crop, up to silking
time, is occupied in the work of build
ing the plant structure, and making
calls for the storage of the starch
sugar and fat that that make up the
crop a maturity; and the silking
stage is really the most critical period
in the whole time of the crops eX-
istence, and is the time when the crop
should get the best care and atten-
ton. At that time there are untold
millions of small feeding rootlets in
the soil insistently calling for fresh
air or oxygen that can only be sup
piled to them by the constant stirring
up of the soil. This should, however,
be done as shallow as possible, so as
not to mutilate or destroy any of these
feeders; in a word, the cultivation of
the corn crop should be kept up until
the silk turns brown on the ear, as at
that period, and even later, the feed
ing roots are very active.
q also find a habit among our corn
growers of cultivating the crop in the
earlier stages of it's existence, with
tools that work too deep. A deep work.
ing tool should not be used after the
crop gets more than ten inches high;
after that, the use Of any tool that
goes deeper than couple of inches, or
less, is butchering the crop, and the
use of the shovel on the scooter stock
in the corn fields of the state has done
more than all other causes combined
to keep our corn yield at the low fig
ure that makes us the laughing STOCK
of other sections
THE cotton crop is very promising,
but the boil weevil is present in at
least 80 per cent of the cotton fields of
the county. A number of the best
farmers of the northern part have
p1owed up the cotton crop and pre-
pared the land for hay. This is
good move, and in the long run hay
Will pay better, particularly if it is cut
at the right stage and properly cured
IL SHOW now numerous the WeeVlIS
are in some fields, Mr.. Echols' boy car
ried last Monday, Zone days picking)
of 900 of them to Atmore for
which he was paid soc a hundred by
the Atmore business men, who do this
to encourage the children to pick all
they can find Of the first brood
II have insisted that this crop be
chopped out to three feet or more, so
as to let sunshine on the ground hot
enough to dry out the fallen squares
quickly, and prevent the eggs in these
squares from Matching.
The cane crop is beginning to look
promising, and if our farmers would
only pay as much attention to it as
they do to the cotton crop, they would
find it would pay them better 1 find
the same practice prevails in the
working of this crop, as in the corn
out of the cane crop, and use the sweep
or scrape instead, and you will in
crease your yield 100 per cent
Sweet potatoes are very promising.
[ found some on Mr.. Anderson's farm
at Century the other day large enough
revenue for Mr.. Anderson from this
crop, as he has quite an acreage plant
ed. How many of our farmers can
show this?
Melon wilt has been very destruc-
tive to the cantaloupe and water
very difficult to control; it is brought
about by carelessness on the part of
the farmer in not destroying the dis
eased vines and melons from previous
crops, thus getting the soil inoculated
with it, which will take years to eradi- |
cate and can only be done by growing
crops immune to it, in rotation |
Spraying it with Bordeaux Mixture in
the very early stages of growth will
control it to a certain extent
Worms are very prevalent in cu-
and cantaloupes. This is best
controlled by putting a chip of some
kind under the fruit whenever it
forms on the vine, so that the worm !
when Matched in the soil, cannot get
to the melon
"All lands that have produced spring
crops should be thoroughly plowed and !
prepared for either a. hay crop or fall |
crop. Don't allow any weeds to grow
and mature seed to trouble you next |
year. The best cover for the land |
and at the same time method of |
building up the soil, is to plant velvet |
beans in three foot rows; plant a seed |
every two feet in the row; this crop !
Is a soil builder of the highest type; |
Il protects the soil from the hot rays |
Of the sun, and is a rainfall equalizer |
IN that the vines break the force of the |
heavy rains that prevail in summer, |
and prevent surface soil washing"
Itinerary for Week
This week Mr. McQuarrie's itinerary |
includes Quintette, on the oath, Pine |
Forest on the 25th, Ferry Pass on the |
18th. and Cottage Hill on the 2Tfb