Lower coast gazette., 1914-11-07

! T rom LILY lSlIldlLLIS i ~ NSNSN W
cowpeas were threshed and sold besides furnish
ing seed for the 1914 planting. The seed was
sold on the local market at threshing time for
$1.6O a bushel, making a return of nearly fifteen
dollars an acre for the threshed.
And that wasn't all. Mr.. Rose says he got
a ton of straw to the acre, for which there was
a ready market at ten dollars a ton. This
; brought the gross returns from one acre up to
twenty-five dollars, which is a dollar an acre
better than 2 forty bushel-an-aer crop of corn
that would sell for sixty cents a bpshel,
What is more important, MIR, Rose is pro-
ducing his cowpeas on land worth less than half
as much as that which usually produces an av-
e.age yield of forty bushels of corn to the acre.
and every crop he grows leaves the land in as
good if net better condition than it was before.
Ten bushels of cowpeas to the acre is about
the average yield in that section on unfertilized
land, though many farmers produce more than
twice that amount. Charles Trigg has produced
an average yield of twenty-five bushels to the
acre from his entire crop, Average yields of
from eighteen to twenty bushels to the acre on
practically all the sand soils of Northern Indiana
may be secured if a reasonable application Of
fertilizer is made.
The best results have come from applications
of 200 to $50 pounds of a fertilizer containing
from ten to twelve per cent phosphOric acid and
from eight to ten per cent potash, On clay and
clay loan soils coWpeas respond well to applica-
tons of phosphoric acid alone. but potash is
greatly needed on these sand soils. A $50 pound
application of fertilizer with contents as given
aboye seldom fails to increase the yield Of cow
peas from eight to ten bushels TO the acre.
The most remarkable story of successful
cowpea farming is that Of John Rose, Three
years ago he bought an eighty acre sand farm in
Starke County, Indiana. and because the place
was considered about the most worthless sand
soil in the county he got a deed to it for twenty
dollars an acre, Neighbors told him that he
would starye to death on it.
But Pose has proved not only that he is able
to keep Himself and his family out of the poor
house. bIt also that a sand farm will afford a
good living. the eowpea crop is the basis Of
his success,
The first year he was on the farm he planted
etCHCS aSlCo " bicGAC5Es ~ :ICdS. lAlIllCuSl
he was ;.ot well acquainted with the nsw crop
he produced and sold $3.50 worth of seed from
the tWenty-acre feld-a gross return of $3.50
an acre. This did not include the straw, which
was kept for feed. By utilizing this feed for
stock and getting the manure back on the land
these sand soils are being improved more rapidly
1t there are any two elements that these sand
soils need more than others they are nitrogen
and humus. When eowpeas are grown on the
land and the straw is fed to live stock and the
manure is returned to the soil, it takes only a
short while to create q suitable condition for
W%eternelons and cucumbers, Two Or three
acres Of these crops on the farm permit a better
distribution of farm labor and greatly increase
the income, From seventy-fve to a hundred
dollars an acre is often secured from cucumbers
and melons.
Alfalfa has been tried On sand soils in many
different sections, Some trials have resulted
in profitable crops. while others have brought
failure, Study Of the treatment Of different
fields reveals no cause for failures that cannot
be met in an economical way, Lime. phosphor-
US, potassium and incubation are all needed.
The writer visited several fields that were very
poor because they had not been we'll fortified,
Wherever good fertilization haa been given,
yields Of three and four tons to the acre have
been secured.
Profitable utilization Of sand soils depends
Upon crop adoption. It is absolutely useless to
attempt to grow corn, wheat. oats or grass hay
IN an economical way until two or more legum-
lslous crops have been grown. Grain crops were
tried ten or more years ago. and failed, In fact,
eight or ten years ago a man was considered
unfortunate who had to pay the taxes on a sand
farm. Now men WHO own sand farms are, in
many instances. getting larger returns than
neighbors Who farm better grades Of soil,
By starting with cowpeas. SOY beans or vetch
a profitable rotation may be established in four
or five years, After two or more leguminous
crops have been grown on the land it may be
probably put to corn for one year, but 40 more,
Every crop planted should have phosphoric acid
and potash, and the latter will be expensive if
not impossible to purchase next spring unless