The Wilmington morning star., 1940-10-28
GRAIN PLANTING
CALL IS ISSUED
Seeding Periods In Coastal
Plain Section Extend From
Oct. Is To Nov. Is

Better late than not at all, but dc
it nov or not at all this year, saws
d. c.. Blair, Extension agronomist
of N. c.. State college, with regard
to planting small grains for feed
and winter cover crops.
This especially applies to farmers
of the Piedmont section. Blair
pointed out that, except for rye
which may be planted safely as late
as November 10, this week is the
last call" for seeding small grains
west. of Raleigh. The best small
grain seeding periods in the Coastal
Pain are: October Is to November 10
oats and barley, November 1 to 10
for wheat, and November 1 to Is
for rye.
"A good general rule is to sow
small grains late enough in the fall
to avoid injuries due to warm
weather, and early enough to avoid
those due to cold," the agrononist
said.
Very early sown grain may be
killed outright by heat or drought,
and the latter has been the cause
of much damage to the crop plant
ed early this year Early-planted
grain also is likely to be attacked
in the fall by rust, OF by the He's
sian fly in the case of wheat. Then
again, if planted too early the grain
will attempt to make seed in the fall
and be killed by cold"
"On the other hand, late-sown
grain may be killed by a cold snap
just as it is coming up, as it is
much more tender at this time than
later. This happened in many fields
last year. Another danger from
late seeding is that the plant may
be pulled out of the ground by the
freezing and heaving of the soil be-
cause it did not have enough mild
weather to develop a good root sys-
tenn. Should it escape these DAM
ages, it may be killed by severe
freezes because it did not develop
enough leaves to protect the crown
properly"
Not Trying To Discourage
IN,o-o fl,o,a ol,eo,1,,%,o-. - .,soLt
appear that Blair is trying TO dis
courage the growing of small grains.
Such is certainly not the case, he
said. This discussion of the best
planting dates is merely to help
farmers avoid trouble he declared,
adding: 1T is especially important
that every family grow at least a
few acres of wheat this fall in view
of the conditions caused by the Eu-
ropean war"
Blair points out that wheat is a
staple human food; it is an import
ant poultry feed: and it can be used
to feed other kinds of livestock. The
Agricultural Conservation program
enables any farmer to grow three
acres of wheat per family, or ten
acres per farm, or his usual acreage
whichever is the larger-without
deduction from his Triple-A pay
ments.
Continuing, the extension special
list said: "When properly grown on
good land. wheat should yield at
least 20 bushels, per acre. Wheat
and the other small grains usually
make better yields in the Coastal
Plain than on comparable soils in
the Piedmont and Mountain sections.
Despite this advantage, the small
grain acreage in the Coastal Plain
has been relatively small in recent
years.
Obstacles Are Removed
"There have been two important
reasons for this: First, small grains
do not fit well into a share-crop,
cotton-tobacco, system of farming;
second, and machinery for harvest
ing and %threshing has been scarce.
However, now that the production Of
cotton and tobacco is restricted UNI
der the AAA program, almost every
farmer has land available for small
grains which do not mature in time
to plant corn, cotton or tobacco.
Also, the small combines doing GUS
tom work give any farmer an OPP
portunity to have his grain harvest
ed and threshed easily and cheaply."
Discussing the needs of the Pied
mont and Mountains, Blair asserted:
about 100000 ere of wheat, oats,
rye and barley have been harvested
annually in the western half of the
state. There is a great iced for
improvement in the weld of these
crops. The average yields per acre
of 10 to II bushels of wheat, 20 to
rs bushels of oats, Z to 10 bushels
of rye, and 20 bushels of barley are
too low to permit any profit. Many
farmers produce double or treble the
average yields, and any farmer can,
by following reasonably good met
hods, make SO percent above the
average"
In conclusion, the extension agro-
nomist offered free publications on
small grains to any farmer who
writes to the Agricultural editor, N.
C. State college, Raleigh, for Exten-
sion Circular No. PAP, Growing
Small Grains in the Coastal Plain,"
Extension Circular No. 24S,
Small Grains for the Piedmont and
Mountains"