The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-04-17
Carolina
Farm Comment
BY F. H. JETER

BY r. H. JETER
One good result coming to North
Carolina Agriculture out of this
war is that the people of the Sand
hills have found two new crops.
Last season, when the late cold
killed most of the peach crop in
that section, some of the orchard
lists turned to peanuts and sweet
potatoes. They learned about the
two crops because they had been
urged to grow them as. war
measure. The two crops did well
on the deep sandy soils and, &C
cording to reports by good farmers,
they are there to stay. One man
went so far as to say that his sweet
potato crop paid him better than
did his tobacco. That's saying a
lot, because tobacco is recognized
as the States No. / money crop.
1t was the crop that kept us 60
ing during the depression and it
is the crop that will be planted
100 per cent of its farm allotment
in 1914, whether food crops are
planted or not. Many hardheaded
Carolina farmers say that they in
tend to plant their full ac-eages to
tobacco this season but they doubt
seriously that full acreages of
other crops can be planted due to
a lack of labor.
The peanut crop, like tobacco,
is troublesome to raise, to harvest
and to market but it's product is
body needed in our war economy
and it is to be hoped that Sandhill
growers plant more this season.
Reports indicate that the peach
crop has about been ruined again.
This condition may be spotted but
it is a fact that the growers will
not have the peaches that the great
bloom of the early spring indicat.
ed.
Oil cops are needed bad. I have
heard it said that peanut oil is used
by the boys in the ai1planes to
cook up a little food while making
long, lonesome trips over middle
Europe or over the unchartered
seas of the Southwest Pacific. Pea
nut oil burns with little smoke and
residue. 1t is also used for many
other purposes and is in great de-
mand. The State goal cannot be
reached unless new growers make
increased paintings and some in.
teresting tests have been conduct
ed by farmers in Cumberland,
Hoke, Scotland, and Moore
counties. Much of this research
was done in Sandhill territory and
will be of value to all owners OF
sandy lands.
The men making the tests found
that in this new peanut territory,
the Virginia Bunch variety made
much better acre yields than did
the N. c. Runne-. and the White
Spanish when all had received the
same proper fertilization. When the
old-fashioned custom of applying
landplaster was not followed, how.
ever, the Virginia Bunch failed
much more completely than did
the other two varieties. Improved
Spanish variety yielded high in all
the tests made, even exceeding the
Virginia Bunch at two locations.
The only drawback about this is
that seed of this particular variety
are not available for 1914 plant
ings. The North Carolina Expert
ment Station has developed this
new Spanish variety and plans to
have enough seed on hand in 1915
to allow distribution to growers
who may want to try it out.
On the basis of all the facts
gathered in tests made last season,
growers in the new peanut terri
tory will do well to try the Virginia
Bunch. The crop should have a
top dressing of rs pounds of
muriate of potash just when the
plants are coming through the
ground and at least 400 pounds
per acre of landplaster at the time
the plants begin to bloom. This
seemed to be the best fertilizer
treatment for the Virginia Bunch.
Other varieties should have
about 400 pounds of dolomitic lime
stone in the row before planting,
then the rs pounds of muriate of
potash applied on top of the row
just as the plants come through.
Do not apply this potash when
the plants are wet, however, as
the tender foliage will be Destroy
ed. The use of such a peculiar
fertilization for peanuts is rather
difficult to explain but few people
know anything about the crop any,
way. We do know that if the nuts