The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1914-03-19


80, If he wants to farm well ana pro
"tably. anu farming by tenants,
"rttticcd in tho south, has resulted Ia
uhhinS the land down. instead of i'm
proving H. You should start with -.
wcil-planncd rotation Of crops on the
whole farm, ana 10 not imagine That
I any particular fertilizer mixture Is
going To make tho land rich per-
hihncntiy You must restore the vast
eli humus TO the land. ana must 90
i 'his In y systematic way, and not de
lend solely on fertilizers to make sale
crops, while nes iccting the general
( Improvement Of the lard. As to the
methods for doin;; this. you can get
my DOCK, Practical Farming" from
y, Z. McCiurg & Company. Chicago.
! III, for sl.31, ana that viii tell you
more about farming than could write
/ al twenty long letters
| HOrdcauA Mixture.
Halifax County: "Wiu You kindly
advise nae ii the Bordeaux mixture.
| "hlch you advise for tomatoes can bo
/ prepared ut home. and how? Of If not
/ prepared mt home, where il can be got
/ Ten! notice that the foliage OF my
| chesapeake strawberries seems entire
Z ~ dead but the central bud. which YOU
can INA by scratching down among
/ the dead leaves. while the Early Ozarks
/ ana others have an abundance OF leaves
! only slightly frost stained Is this a
/ pecuharity OF the Chesapeake. or the
| fault of this particular bed? Would
! an application of sodium nitrate help
them, and when should 4, be applied
Ny vito asks about asparagus, whcth-
! or to use seed or roots ana what will
De the best variety here You can
make bordeaux mixture as have here
! toforc described in The Tinics-Dis-
patch. Stake live pounds OF fresh lump
/ lime in cask. and when s!akcd add
! water enough TO make twenty-five gal
! IONS In another cask dissolve five
pounds OF copper sulphate in hot
! water, and make that twenty 1--WE gal
| Ions Then pour the two together
Into THIRD cash slowly. stirring II all
/ the time Then It is ready to strain
into the spraycr and should always
! he used freshly made OF course. YOU
! can make Il smaller quantity in same
! proportions The sudden coming OF
I cold weather after the mia January
seems 10 have affected the Chesapeake
! here too worse than other othr straw
/ berries. But they will come out all
| right. After growth begins some nj
I trate of soda alongside when the leaves
! are dry will help II the berries are only
Tor nome use. But for shipping IL ia
1 apt TO make tho berries soft. grow
asparagus from seed rs have de-
/ scribcd. right where | wish Il To stand
/ and can get II earlier than by trans
planting roots. The Palmetto will suit
/ your locality well and Is more resist
ant to disease than others
Another Letter From Gloucester.
II notice in your page In The Times
| Dispatch that YOU warn the truckers
4 10 be sure 10 get pure stock OF the
{ irish Cobbler potato. as there are q
! great many mixed lots. Now / EXPECT
to plant few, and am anxious to get
: the best seed but how am | TO do it?
/ We order Cobblcr, and tho scedsmen
and commission men take pay for and
| say they send Cobblcr of the main
grown stock. Is there any way the
+ average farmer can tell before he
/ plants the seed II they are pure OF
not? Most OF the farmers here use I;
, fertilizer called per cent It
/ ana!EZcs '-G-d You see that 1t is
I higher In the expensive nitrogen and
! comparatively low In potash Our
{ growers use this on potatoes peas
corn. watermclons and everything.
am thinking OF using on potatoes a fer
/ tilizcr about 3-S-lO. which / have an
idea viii not only be better. but cheap
| er What do YOU think of II for our
soil here? In lower Gloucester We have
! two kinds. light ana dark soil The
! light soil Is sandy and the dark more
, stin. The dark soil is decidedly bet
! ter FOR truck and all crops we grow
tomatoes for canning. Can you tell
/ ne how the tomato seed we buy from,
the sccd-houscs are saved? Arc they
! saved with any degree Of care and Sc
/ lection or are they just washed out
from the refuse OF the canning fac
! tories. II seems 10 me that they
| cannot do much selection and sell
| them as low "a they do. 1t would paw
/ 10 give three times tho ordinary price
/ for carcfuily selected seed. Please re
/ ply in The Times Dispatch" / do not
I believe that any one can get now n
/ perfectly pure lot OF Irish Cobbler po-
/ tatoes from Maine. There are some
/ cleaner than others. but somehow
! there seems to be mixture everywhere
| was q Judge or the vegetables at the
great show in Baltimore in November
/ ana there were prizes for the best
| pecks OF Irish Cohbler potatoes. and
| quite ii number OF samples were shown.
and out Of the lot We found but two
samples OF pure Cobbler, and these
may have been selected by some one
who knew Cobbers well. ana did not
! Indicate that the lot they came from
| were all pure as the sample pecks
! Some of the leading secdsmen are talk.
/ ing special pains to get pure stock
and YOU had best set Il guarantee
! of purity. Where one grows early no
tatoes 1t would pay to clean out a lot
for seed. Plant a late crop from cold
| storage seed, and then watch the
growth. and mark all hills that make
white flowers and take them OUT sen
arately. Tor these are The mixtures
In this way YOU may he able to clean
out "a stock for yourself The Beauty.
with pinkish ewes and skim is earlier
than the Cobblcr and = good cropper
/ Then you can Gull out. too. the black
shank that is found in all Maine pota-
toc2. and get healthy stock The
so-calied per cent fertilizer is used
here too and | have tried IL Oh pota-
toes and do not like it. II is good
i.tt
spinach and kalc. but the ammonia is
too nigh for potatoes and the potash
too low. Your 3S-i0 VIII DO far bet
ter FOR potatoes and cheaper. 1t wili
also be better for tomatoes. | use :,
2-S-lC on tomatoes ana give them a
side dressing OF nitrate Of soda if they
seem 90 need more growth. The lead
ing seedsmen OF reputation do care
fully select and breed tomato seed. hut
thcrc IS vast amount OF low priced