Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1915-03-19


That tho Soil Was Perfectly Wet.
on vines run TO leaf your soil is rich in
nitrogen.
-. II trees do not thrive. onions
seem soggy and tomato vines lack t
liness OF stalk the soil needs potash
"6 III your tomatoes. melons. grain
md cotton fail to set plenty of seed
and fruit %phosphoric acid is called for.
~. II you expect TO take from your
land a crop rich in leaf. as lettuce. in
crease the proportion of nitrogen in
your fertilizer.
IS. If potatoes or onions are desired
provide plenty of potash.
10. If abundant corn. wheat, cotton
bolls. melons. peaches. stra wberries OF
tomatoes are wanted see to the phos.
phoric acid
Sam made use of what he had learn
ed In planting and ~culdvating bis
crops. He watched them closely, and
If it seemed to him that any of them
were not doing well he began to hunt
and study out the cause.
Although he had fortified all of the
farm to some extent before blowing,
be worked manure into the burrows
when he planted his cotton and tried
to give everything he planted the food
it demanded to do its best. He found
out that one good way to apply this
food was to sprinkle it on the surface
Of the ground around the plants and
work 1t in gently with hoe or rake.
Sam made a top application of this
kind to his cotton when it was well
advanced in the summer The soil of
the contest acre had been well fertiliz-
ed In the beginning, but Sam didn't
want that corn 10 lack for any of the
elements 1t needed to make two big.
long ears to each stalk and sometimes
three. He waited until it vas just
about ready to silk Their he went to
town and bought 400 pounds of fer
tilizer. He bad this mixed to suit him
self. for he had figured out just what
he thought the corn needed-so much
nitrogen and so much nhosphoric acid
With this fertilizer he went over each
row of the acre. s~prinkled it around
the stalks and worked it into the soil.
Fine as the corn was before. it now
showed still further Improvement In
a few days it was in full silk, and II
seemed to leap up on receiving the
stimulating food around its roots. But
Sam wasn't through with the acre yet.
Every now and then he went owe II
with a pillow, just skimming the u
fece to break up the crust that com
menced to form. One month it was
unusually dry, and the young farmer
had a chance to see the good effect of
this work. His corn kept its dark
green color. and by scratching down
two inches. just underneath the dust
mulch. he found that the soil was per
fectly wet.
Fagan's corn across the fence vas
burning and whiting in the sun. Sam
climbed over the fence n day and
examined the soil. He found it baked
hard on top. and when he took his
knife and dug a little hole he had to
go nearly six inches before he found
the slightest moisture.
That shows what conserving the
moisture viii do" he said to himself
as he went back to his field. i've
plowed this acre a good many times,
but it's been easy work and didn't take
long to do it. because it's in good con
dltion. may be mistaken, but l be
lieve I'm going to make a lot of corn
at mighty little cost on this patch"
Late in the summer, when the corn
was almost made and when other
farmers had long ago laid by their
corn. Sam gave his contest acre a final
blowing and sowed black eyed peas
broadcast among it as he did so. He
had done his best. and 1t remained to
be seer whether other boys in his state
could beat him.
But If Sam Powell was through with
the one acre be wasn't through work
by any means. In fact, he didn't have
much time to think about the contest
(To Be Continued.)