The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1916-03-20
FLORIDA FARM
NOTES AND WORK
q 9. <. MeouarrIa


layed, particularly in the staple crop
section. Farmers who have not prop
erly prepared their lands are recon-
mended to sow their seed in such
way as to insure good termination.
On newly plowed land it is abso-
luteiy necessary that at planting time
a roller or some tool be used that
will pack the soil so as to get normal
conditions for seed termination. If
this is not done poor stand is apt
to be obtained. Farmers using drills
for planting can weight the roller of
the drill so as to pack the soil after
planting. This win help to GER
tain degree, to get a better germina-
ton than if this packing were not
practiced.
If there is any evidence required to
prove the contention in this work that
all breaking of the land for spring
planted crops should be done in the
fall, conditions now prove this con-
tention to be correct. The men who
had their land broken deep and sub
soiled last fall, and planted to win
ter cover crop, same being ploWed I'M
der now, will get full crops while
those who have delayed the proper
preparation are sure to suffer unless
the weather conditions improve very
much by ample rainfall between now
and the month of July.
Frequent shallow cultivation will
have to be practiced at very early
stage not only to preserve moisture
already in the soil but to assist the
capillary system in it's ability to get
moisture from the lower stratas that
have not been touched by the pillow in
the breaking process. Our farmers
should realize to a greater extent than
they do that the cultivation of the
crops with the right tools at frequent
intervals is about as good as an APP
plication of commercial fertilizers in
that this cultivation puts the soil in
a condition to enable the plant not
only to get all the moisture necessary
but to get the natural fertility that is
in the soil by the aeration the soil
gets, thus promoting the micro organ
ism of life in the soil which are there
for the purpose of breaking down the
plant food to supply the growing
lcrops.
In going over the state it is pain
Iful to see the slipshod methods of soil
preparation practiced by some of our
farmers from whom we would expect
better work. Large fields are in evil
dence in almost every section of the
state where at least rs per cent Of
the remains of last years crop, in the
shape of hay, corn stalks, and other
trash lie on the top of the plowed LAND
| instead of being under by the use O..
the proper breaking tools. The farm
er is depending, to large extent. on
this rough material that should b
plowed under in the soil, to provide
humus to make the soil more holding
and also to give the desired sanitary
soil condition which is so necessary II
mamimun crop production.
Quite number of our farmers havt
adopted the method of selecting SEED
for next years crop IN the field, par
ticularly seed corn, also a few have
been selecting cotton seed, but our
cotton growers, as a rule, do not real
ize the Importance of this field selec-
ton of seed for next years crop. The,
are, however, lining up a good dea
better than they have done in tn,
past, and we think this year will Sc,
a good deal of this work being don,
in the cotton fields at the prope.
time.
The selection of the best type O
cotton, however, is quite differen
from the selection of seed corn, Il
that the whole cotton plant should b,
selected and marked bv some mean
so that when the picking time come
the bolls on that particular stalk vii
be got by themselves, and if there ar
not enough of them to make it wort
while taking to gin in a special 10
they can be easily hand ginned il
spare times at home.
The cotton farmers could easily i'm
; prove their crop, and under Dol
weevil conditions we want to empha
size the necessity of our cotton farm
ers paying more attention to this see,
selection.
The stalks selected in the feel,
should be along the lines of earIines
| and thrifty condition of the plant, an
what the cotton grower would know
as a high grade cotton plant in ever,
way. The earliness is one Of the mos
important factors that we must ge
; If we are to combat the boil weevi
successfully, also the immunity of tn
plant to rust and other diseases tina
: affect the crop. IF our cotton grow
, ers would only realize what can b
done along this line there is no doub
that in a very few years every farme
: would have a strain of cotton tina
f would meet all his requirements.
Of course we realize that in tn
cotton belt there are so many renter
: that could not assume the responsi
bility of work of this nature, particu
larry in the colored sections. The Ian