The Dickson County herald. (Dickson, Tenn.) 1907-1979, 1914-09-11
BUMPER" CROPS IN
A DRY YEAR.

purchased land near Dickson for an
experiment farm. the same az they
have done in Coffee county and al
the soil in that county Is similar in
many respects to that Of this county
We pelhish below few items in
regard ID the manner in which
these lands are cultivated;
The farmer who raises bumper
crops in dry year, such as mas
predominaied over this section. is
the exception aud, naturally, other
farmers all over the country will
be interested in the methods he
has followed.
What IL given below deals with
the work Of Mr.. Joe II, Judd. near
Fullahoma who has raised the best
tobacco crop Of any man in Ten.
nesSee or Kentucky, notwithstand.
ing the fact that he got late start
and succeeded in overcoming the
effect Of the drouth which caused
many farmers to despair.
Here il what Capt. I, +. Peck,
Commissioner Of Agriculture Of
Tennessee, has to say Of Mr.. Judd a
work NJ. Judd IL interpreting
the most practical ideas in farming
| have ever seen, and is keeping
his work in the reach Of the small
farmers.
GOT LATE START.
Mr.. Judd got late start, and
worked land which has grown up in
saw hriars and sprouts, TO con,
serve the moisture in land, accord. |
ing to Mr., Judd. one should begin |
IN the fall OF else put cover crop
on the land. To begin with he
plowed the land the latter part Of |
March to a depth Of from 5 to g.
inches. three inches deeper than il !
had eyer been plowed, and suh.soil. I
ed the first half behind the plows
The spring rains delayed the plow-
ing Of part ot the land until the I
middle OF April and tins was done /
without sub.soillng Suh.soiling, 7
however. should be lone in the fall
i the best results are to he obtained /
The tobacco plants were set dur.
ng the ir0uth and watered, Mr., /
)udd says his foreman noticed some
advantage where suh-solling had /.
been done. ..
TREATMENT or GROUND,
After the ground had been pillow.
ed, II vas treated 10 light coating
)f manure and then disk harrow
was run over il mixing the manure
with the soil. 4 week later the
.ield was gone over with a corru,
gated iron roller or elod crusher
This was about the last OF April. I
By the middle ol May the ground
bad been gone over with disk
harrow again SO as 10 insure a per.
tect seed bed and at the same time
the top worked 50 as To-
retain all the moisture, Half Of
the field was set in tobacco from
May - to June TO- No rain had
fallen since April -. About the
of June sufficient rain fell
to make a natural season and the
other half Of the field was set.
The ground had been SO thorough.
ly worked that il was only necessary
to plow with douhle-shovel twice
--once each wav. The ground Was
kept level all the time, and the
iouble.shovets were always followed
with a small.tooth harrow cutli +
yatur which closed up the iurfow-
made by the douhle.shovels and
thereby conserving the moisture
The drouth continued until the
tobacco was laid by, about the
middle ot July. The field was
gone over every week with a harrow
cultivator and then smooth
bottom drag to maintain the dust
mulch Under this treatment the
continued to grow steadily I
FINEST IN COUNTRY.
Tobacco men who have seen the /
field pronounce il the finest in Ten.
nessee or Kentucky, not excepting
the Black Patch territory, and (
estimate il viii make from 1000
to 400 lhs, to the acre. The pros
poets are for llc per pound,
Hr, Judd has discovered that the !
ground in that section responds
readily to either moderate dress
ing Of stable manure or \ fair
amount II complete commercial
fertilizer, and should make the beet
showing where both arr combined
Mr. G. 7. litekefsou, one of the
best known and most successful
farmers II the Tullahoma section,
says that the work done by Mr.
Judd on the experiment; farm ot the
Nashville. Chattanooga Il st, Louis
Ea5{wsv nnia~ conditions uhi IN