The Wilmington morning star., 1940-10-21
FARMER BECOMES
GOOD SCOTSMAN
/ Brantley Speight Learned
Value Of Good Seed While
Student At State

.orino of 1935 J. Brantley Speisht,
: ,an of l.. C. and nephew of M. c.
, n.ncle Oscal) returned from N. C.
s..to college with a four-year edu-
eation in farm crops.
E-,on that time until the present,
.he speisht farms-z5O acres in the
wiotprvilIe section, about 100 miles
+ron Greenville -. have developed
;,to one of the outstanding agricul.
-,,,ral enterprises in North Carolina.
With the development of the farm
inc operations has been the develop
. ment of young Brantley -Speight as
one Of the farm leaders of Eastern
Caroind.'
= While at State college, Brantley
learned the value of pure seed. He
was A member of the college crops
iudoiDe team which went to the In
tpnatfonal Seed Judging contest in;
the fall of 1884. When he returned
+. tome he started the production of
certified seed in cooperation with
tbe \. {. Crop Improvement as
sociation. Brantley was instrumental
in having the association hold its
annual meeting in the Pitt county
seat. Greenville. last spring, and the
association honored him with a vice
presidency.
The senior members of the agri-
cultural Speights did not resent
Brantleys progressive seed produc-
ton ideas. That's what they sent
him to college for-to learn how to
do better job of farming. The
hrothers-M o. and L. Chad al
WAYS farmed together, even to the
extent Of keeping a joint bank -ac-
count They took Brantley into the
partnership. Now that Brantley is
married and has a vivacious 4-year-
Old daughter, Rachel, he has a mod
eln little bungalow between, and
about equal distance from the homes
of his father and his Uncle Oscar.
Brantley is producing a score or
more Of different varieties and types
Of certified seed. This was the third
year he has conducted tobacco
variety tests for L. T.. Weeks, EX-
tension tobacco specialist of N. c.
State college. He also cooperates
with Weeks in tobacco fertilizer
tests. and with the Extension plant
pathologists in blue mold control
demonstrat ions. Last year thou,
sands of farmers from Pitt and other
nearby counties came and saw his
convincing tests which proved that
the dreaded tobacco plant bed dis
Ease can be successfully controlled
with the fumigation and spray treat
ments recommended by State col
lese. He produced strong healthy
plants in 300 square feet of his
1000 square feet of plant beds, leav-
ing the other 900 square feet un-
treated for comparison.
Young Speieht also is helping DIR.
Paul Harvey of the State College
Experiment station develop an
adapted corn hybrid for North Caro-
lima. This year he grew q hybrids
and three standard varietieS in
demonstration, the hybrids being
selections from N. C. State college,
and the Tennessee, Louisiana, and
Florida Experiment stations.
He also is cooperating with DE-.
Gordon X. Middleton, research agro-
nomist of State college, in testing
some of the N. C. Experiment sta
TONS new varieties Of oats. wheat
and barley, and in multiplying seed
OF the best selections
In all of his work Brantley works
closely with R. R. Bennett, Pitt
county farm agent of the Extension
service OF course, A. D. Stuart,
State college seed specialist and
secretary Of the Crop improvement
association, is a frequent visitor
ana counsel on the Spei2ht Farms.
Included in the 300 acres of crop
land on the 55G-acre Speight Farms,
bfantley this year produced between
loOO and LOO bushels of certified
cotton seed from 60 acres of Coker
-O0, Strain 1, and Coker 100. Strain
cotton. The cotton made better
ulan bale of lint to the acre. De-
spite dry season. he also grew
ABOUT 1000 pounds of seed from 15
acres of Kobe lespedeza.
Tobacco seed was saved from s.
VVO plants bagged on so acres of the
following varieties: Gold Dollar, Vir-
5.nla Bright Leaf, Bonanza, and
4. "hlte Stem Orinoco, all of whlch
We're certified; and Mammoth Gold,
i Yellow Mammoth ard AGO. which
We're handled exactly like the varle-
'ueS which the Crop Improvement
association recognizes for certlf1ca-
ton.
Brantly also produced certltlea
SoSDean seed from 35 acres OIL
woods Yello%. Then, he is trying
10 establish the source of pure soy
'edh seed of the Herman variety
which was developed at N. c. State
eoliege but which has become n:1Xed
elsewhere in the state. He also har-
NeSted to 6 acres of crimson clover
ior seed, and this is up for certifica-
ton.
All tVDeS of modern cleaning har-
"estine and treating machinery are
" De found on the Speight Farms.
piahtley plants all of the crops on
'he farm from certified seed and
''s some left over for sale.
MIS-. Speisht has a flock OF 200