Evening star., 1916-06-04

Two farms owned by John I. Wis
hard. near Hagerstown. are examples
that had been scarcely able to pay
interest on the money invested. His
farms border on Conocheague creek
and are composed of slate land for
the first farm in 1907. and the second
in 1911 He lined. drained and fertil-
lied at once and more than doubled
his yields. Since then his yields and
Before this, clover could not be grown
on the farm. He has been growing
seventy bushels of oats. more than
seventy-fve bushels of corn and from
| $50 to 300 bushels of potatoes per acre,
by using from 225 to 1000 pounds OF
| fertilizer per acre. BY feeding twenty
| head of steers each winter. he provides
| organic matter and additional plant
food for the soil, This season he is
| planning to do more top-dressing. both
on his wheat and meadows. Since the
other factors of production are taken
car of, he believes that heavier ap-
plications of fertilizer will be more
| profitable He smiles at the farmers
| who predicted that he would starve on
the farm. which he bought in 1907 and
! is now demonstrating to the same
| farmers how they can increase Their
| Yields by following his methods,
| In answer to the question. rs it pos
sible to produce as much as S2,oot
worth of vegetable products annually
! from an acre of ground?" Director I
| G. Johnson of the Virginia truck ex-
pertinent station states that a few OF
| the gardeners and truck farmers IN
Virginia frequently produce this value
per acre, and that in some instances
| the value goes as high as $4,000 per
acre With two and three crops year
one acre can be made to produce one
| half acre of lettuce. one quarter acre OF
| spinach. one-quarter acre beets. one
81 har ~
| of parsley and one-half acre of egg
| plants.
! I'm order to produce these crops
| proftaby it is necessary, first, that the
| ground should be in the very best con
! dition: second, it should receive liberal
applications of stable manure. 1t Is
customary to use from fifty to one hum
dred tons of stable manure per acre
| per annum. In addition to the stable
| manure large quantities of commercial
| from two to three tons per acre OF
| high grade fertilizer to push these
crops" said Director Johnson. The
real secret of success of this line OF
| farming depends, first, on knowing
| how. and, second. on the man who is
| really pushing the work.
! Not the number of tomatoes which are
set on the vines but the number which
| you are able to market counts in growing
| tomatoes Quality, maturity and earllness
| are essential for success. Most soils VII
grow toma toes when they are we'll drained
and supplied with plenty of organic mat
ter and sufficient plant food. Soils fol
| toma atoes should be sweet and hold moist
ure we'll. Thirty tons of tomatoes pei
acre We're raised last year by one srowe1
| and sold to a canning factory by one
| eastern farmer He applied 1000 pounds
per acre of high-grads commercial ferti-
| lizer Eastern farmers use from 1000 t.
| 1000 pounds of fertilizer per acre to rals'
l y, hnSt nj
| Is drilled In with the attachment on tn
| grain drill or distributor just before set
| ting the plants. This gives the plant az
early start. provides for normal hevei
opnlent Of the roots and makes quick ma
| turity possible. Care in cul'ivating ant
harvesting is also necessary to insur'
| quality.
| Digging his potatoes with a gas engine
| Is what Isaac Harrison a successful po
| tato grower Of Cream Ridge. y. j.. ha
| tried and found successful. He use
! horses to pull the digger, but by usln
the gas engine on the digger is able t.
| harvest his crop with two instead of fou
horses Mr.. Harrison's yields have bee
| high each year. averaging over go bush
| els per acre From 1000 TO 1.'ho pound
| of high grade fertilizer are used by hin
| per acre Several other farmers nea
Cream Ridge are planning T" try out th
| same use of the gas engine TO harFei
| their crop this season.
| The value of harnEard manure va
ries according to the way il is treated
according to the Ohio experiment sta
ton In one test Just announced il
bulletin 2sS manure that was untreat
cd was worth $50 per ton. and Whc,
treated with acid phosphate at the rat
of forty pounds to the ton and KEEP
under cover was worth 81 50 The eN
neriment station explains that manur
lis not well balanced fertilizer. an
that the addition of acid phosphat