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

tst1fS9SSssSs SSss&sss% raise rs good tim
ktsaas.lAsSSaaft2aASsaSzszt&o thy hay as io
"a. l.. Massey. grown anywhere
two tons M acre the first year. Sowed
timothy and rcd clover together, but the
clover is too early for the timothy.
have two acres l wish TO sow in grass
of some kind Land has been in an
rual clover, followed by peas for three
years. and / have given the land Loco
pounds of acid phosphate each year in
sowing peas. The clover was waist
high this spring. and the peas are now
more than waist high and lodging
badly. SO that i can hardly see how ]
am to save them. Three years ago the
land was n bare hill. Cut at least
Twelve inches deep with an old fashion
Coulter" My correspondent goes on at
length in regard TO his farm improve
mont and the amount of fertilizer used.
all of which is interesting, but / have
not room here for giving it entire. He
winds up by saying: You are the best
writer on farm work that / read. But
you all are all wrong about resting
land.
Land will not rest If plowed. grazed
or moved or touched in any way with
human hand. / suppose you will laugh
at me. but il could show you my farm
i would make you think just little
Rest does land more good than any
thing YOU can do to It," / do not think
that YOU can SOW any oats that will
mature at the same time as the annual
clover. either the crimson or the white.
The clover will be in bloom before the
cats are mature, and the hay should
be cut as soon as the clover blooms,
without regard to the oats. Then | do
not know of any clover that viii! be late
enough to come in in good condition
with timothy. II is the common prac-
tice everywhere that timothy is sown
10 use the medium red clover with 1t.
OF course it is over ripe when the
timothy is cut, but 1t helps tho timothy
as stock feed all the same. have no
doubt that you can grow Il good crop
of timothy one year down in halifax.
but what about the second year? /
think that YOU will find that in your
climate il will not last long. ON the
two acres that YOU WiSn TO get in grass
YOU do not say whcthe, YOU want the
grass there for pasture or for hay. II
YOU want TO make it 4 pasture, | would
SON n mixture Of ten )oLnGs of orchard
grass. ten pounds OF tall meadow Fcscuo
and five pounds of blue grass seed an
acre. II for hay SOW ten pounds OF timo-
thy and ten pounds of red top an acre.
and then SOW n few pounds OF red
clover seed. and brush all in lightly.
Now in regard to your ideas about
resting" land. DID YOU ever know any
lana 10 rest? I hover did. If you are
not growing something more useful ON
it, nature Will keep it at work growing
weeds and wild grass. | never knew
land To get tired. but have seen many
thousands OF acres robbed and starved,
and have never seen an acre that got
tired II Kept in good improving rota-
ton Of crops. The best way TO recuper-
ate land. as YOU have yourself shown,
is TO got humus- making crops on il.
Yoc tell OF your old hill that was poor
and bare three years ago, and since
has made heavy crops OF clover and
peas. | suppose that the old hill had
been resting Il good while, and it did
not find much good in the rest. but has
walked up and grown crops since YOU
began TO farm it. You say that YOU
have been farming three years.
farmed for more than fifty years. and
really do not pretend 10 know it all
yet, while You seem cocksure after
three years experience Land lying
out untouched by man and ungraZcd
by stock is not resting, it is hard nj
work growing something TO rot down
and make humus year after year. lie,
ii lie out years in our climate and the
pine seed will blow on IT, and the land
will go 10 work and raise a pine
thicket, and finally pine forest, and
when the forest is cut down YOU find
fresh and fertile piece of land, not
because the land rested. but becaus,
it Was hard 1t work growing stuff &c
make this hunus that makes the new
ground. IT was not rest, but LONG
years of work.
We can beat nature at tho same
game by growing better stuff thar
broomsrdge and weeds. and can gel
back the new ground conditions in {:
fraction of the time 1t takes nature
10 do il. Let land alone and II vii
not rest, for nature viii not allow 1t
If you do not put something better
there she will use the weeds ant
hroomsedge and the pine tree. and viii
Keep it everlastingly at work in the
effort she makes through long year!
10 cure what RAN has wasted by poor
farming. 1t is good farming and no
= resting that land needs 1T is keeping
up the store OF plant food, and tn,
making OF the soil more mellow VIII
organic decay and more -etentive o
moisture There are thousands O
acres OF old fields in Virginia tina
are certainly gradually growing bet
ter because Of the pines that hav,
at soil Improvement. But these ole
fields are not resting The long tai
roots OF the pines are searching dow
far below the scratch blowing of tn
past and are bringing UP mineral mat
ter from below, and year after yea
scattering at'nUs material 81 thei
fallen leaves DO you CALI 1t ''re5ting
or that notion OF resting" land.
never gets tired, II yom feed II right
and the better 1t IS fed the harder /
will work You can starve IL Int
poor production, but il will still kee!
At work growing some poor stuf!
Sweet Potatoes.
Does il Insure sweet potatoes TO GU
OF the vines when the potatoes ar
making u certainly does no good
The leaves. as ] have heretofore cx
planned. are the organs through which
the plants get carbon from the air ant
use i in making starch. and starch i
essential TO the making Of the pota
toes Hence the more foliage we haV
the better. If the plants are getting tn
proper mineral matters from the soil.
Going In Debt for "a Farm.
There is near where ] live 81 farm
Of eighty acres. part upland and par
good bottom land. The upland vii
make fifteen to seventeen bushels o
wheat or twenty TO twenty-five bush
els of corn an acre. DO YOU suppOs