The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1914-02-05
WITH THE FARMERS
BY Prof. w. F. MASSEY.

crimson clover, and this turned under
for cotton, and acid phosphate used
heavily on the cotton and the clover
sown again among the cotton and the
mature gotten out on 1t In winter vnd
turned for corn again and the rotation
| repeated. Have n field set apart as
| permanent pasture and get IL In good
grass and maintain the x lass by an
nual topdressing of bone meal and
keep all weeds mown off. and you will
not be Obliged to pasture your arabic
| land. The fertilizer mixture suggested
| can be made for $40 n ton.
Varieties of Tomatoes.
Have you found any tomato earlier
! than the Benny Best or as early? The
Earl!ana grows too rough here. but the
Bonny Best Is only q few days later
Which kind of picking cucumber have
you found best? What is the best way
to grow them for fall piclSling?'
have found the Langdon strain OF Ear
Llama earlier by "a week than the Bonny
Best, and also smooth You have
probably been growing the old strain
OF Earliana. I3onny Best is Il better
tomato. but does not give an early
crop all at once Ike the Earliana
The best cucumber for late planting
for pickles Is the Davis Perfect. II is
! longer than the White Spine, but, Of
course. for pickles you will cut any of
them when about two or three inches
long. The old Long Green Is good, but
prefer the Davis Perfect. The Bon
NJ Best IL Il good early tomato. but to
keep UP a supply you should SOW some
of the larger and later sorts like Sue
cess. Greater Baltimore and Brimmer.
! Plant cucumbers In well manured hills
four feet By five. Plant In July for
pickles.
Sowing Grnss In Spring.
Can i successfully SOW grass and
clover seed when sowing spring oats
| In February or March? l have heard
that oats are not good crop to seed
with i have heard the same thing re-
pcatcd year after year. and yet ] have
| had as good stands OF grass and clover
sown with spring oats as / ever had in
any other way. When ! was nanag-
Ing large stock farm and growing
no grain to sell. but everything To feed,
grew winter oats. sown In spring, for
in our climate these do better than
the northern spring oats, and, sowing
no fall grain, / was obliged to seed
down with the oats, and ] never made
"A failure in doing SO. With freshly
prepared land 1t is reasonable to sup
pose that the grass and clover Will
grow off better than when sown in
spring on fall grain. II had been
growing wheat, would have sown ms
grass seed in the fail. But / had rs
neighborS who sowed with wheat in
the fall. The notion that oats are not
good nurse crop for grass doubtless
came from the North. where spring
conditions differ from ours Sow
plenty OF seed and you will find il all
right TO SOW on oats In spring. The
nIai' reason for most OF the failures
is lack OF sufficient seed. II pays bet
ter to COW n peck OF Red Glover seed
and get perfect stand than to
ten pounds or less and get n thin
stand.
Reinforcing Manure.
II asked the editor OF farm paper
! II IL would not be a good thing to mix
either acid phosphate or the pulver-
lied phosphate rock with manure. He
replied that while these might DO some
good, the best OF all things to mix with
the manure is land plaster would
like 10 have your opinion on this mat
terF have already stated my opin-
ION in regard to the proper reinfuce-
ment OF manure, but II will do no harm
TO repeat il here. Plaster, the sulphatc
OF lime. does have ii good effect when
mixed with the manure. in pre-
venting the loss of ammonia But
II adds nothing OF special value TO
The manure, and, hence, does not re-
iniorce IL and make II more effccting
as crop producer. The Ohio Station
has done the most careful work in this
Z
little ns forty pounds of the pulver-
izcd rock or OF acid phosphate added
10 ton of manure dii very greatly in
crease the efficiency OF tho manure
when compared with manure without
this treatment; In fact, nearly treblcd
the crops.
IL was found that the acid phosphate
made tie greatest increase in the ell
citncy OF the manure but that the gain
from the use OF the pulveriZed rock
was made at smaller cost Plaster
was formerly used altogether for the
saving OF the manure, but now the
rock or the acid phosphate are used,
ana those who keep up with the adj
vance no longer use plaster. The ed-
tor 10 whom you applied has simply
not kept up with the procession
used plaster twenty-five years ago. but
have not used any for more than TWEEN
" years, and would regard It's use In
the manure as u waste OF money. when
we can get the same preserving results
from acid Phosphate and at same time
add TO the manure what 1t Is usually
lacking in. Acid phosphate carries
about 80 per cent of plaster. and also
furnishes phosphorus Then the mix
ing Of raw pulverized rock with the
manure brings the phosphoric acid
IT contains into availability. and 1t
adds larger percentage OF phosphorus
than the acid phosphate.
a FoPtfiiZer Mixture.
II wish you would tell me what YOU
think of the following mixture for
corn. IT has done we'll for me- and I
have made IL at q cost OF $3.50 per
ton. cash: Six hundred pounds of cot
ton seed meal, 200 pounds of dried
blood. 100 pounds Of kainit, 500 pounds
Of acid phosphate, to make Il ton.
expect to use a large amount the COM
ing season and would be glad to have
your opinion|' Your mixture will run
about 3 per cent nitrogen, 1888 per cent
phosphoric acid and per cent potash
1T is fairly good combination. but If
YOU Will use it OH corn and leave out
small piece of similar land and use
no fertilizer on 1t. you can ascertain
as have what the cost of the increased
crop has been: and ] think that you
will find. az l have found that II does
not pay to depend on Il complete ferti-
lizer mixture for corn. What is need
ed Is a systematic rotation OF crops
that VIII put q crimson clover crop on
the land to turn under for corn
and on this to spread all the manure
made the n T. "A I'm at 10