The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1946-03-19
Gerard Farms Leading In
Testing County's Soil
For Crop
BY BELL KEZIAH
Star CORRESPONDENT


Agent J. 2. Dodson recently made
the statement that he had found a
great increase in the small grain
crop in Brunswick county this year.
Practically all farmers are grow
ing some grain, some of them are
going in for it heavily and in practi
cally all cases the crop is looking
better than it has ever been known
to look at this season Of the year.
''You should see the small grain
on the S. A. Gerard farms on the
Seaboard Air Line railroad in North
West township said the county
agent and Leroy Mintz, soil con-
servationist for the Lower Cape
Fear Drainage District. Both of
these are acknowledged experts on
farming and soils.
The Gerard Farms
The Gerard Farms is nation
wide farming organization. They
grow everything, the nature of the
crop being more or less dependent
on the soil and climate Of any given
area. Ten years or so ago they
leased the widely known George
o. Gaylord farm and other farm
ing lands DIN North West township.
Experiments seem to have shown
this farm and the climate best
suited to small grain and such
crops have become the main effort.
The Gaylord and other lands in
that section of North West are just
as well adapted to truck and other
crops. The labor situation had to
be considered, however. Small
grain can be handled almost en-
tirely by machinery with mini
mum Of labor. So, the Gerard
Farm Chain goes in for small grain.
Leo F. Medlin is manager of the
Brunswick county farm and the
main office is in Baltimore.
A Pretty Sight
"That grain is pretty sight"
said Dodson. "Yes.' said Mintz,
they have about 400 acres of it
and it really looks beautiful. l."
II understand they, have sown
lespedeza on about half Of the 400
acres,'' said Dodsoa. He added,
after that small grain is harvest
ed and the lespedeza begins to
come into its own there will be
more potential hay than Maud
Muller ever saw"
'.'On the 200 acres Of small grain
where they did not sow lespedeza
they planted about half in vetch.
On the other half they will plant
soy beans after the combines har-
vest the grain. The small grain in
itself is not so much of soil
builder. That lack will be made up
for by the lespedeza, the .vetch and
the soy beans. 1t certainly is a
pretty sight when you see 400 acres
producing two great crops year
and at the same time giving back
much to the land,' said Mintz.
Valuable Experiments
For several years the Gerard
Farms has been conducting ex-
periments with grain, valuable both
to themselves and to great num-
Der of other Brunswick farmers,
with whom they did not mind
sharing.
All of the leading varities of
small grain have been painstaking-
ly tested on the farm in North West
township. Naturally, the object Of
this testing was to find varieties
best suited for soil and climate in
the coastal section. Their findings
have been cheerfully passed on to
other farmers who desired to know.
Also to county agents and others
interested in small grain growing.
other Grain Growers
By chance the reporter happened
on another fellow who is interested
in small grain, almost before the
soil conservaNoaist and county
agent were out of sight. This was
j. j. Ramsauer, who with his son,
Joe, Jr., manages the. beautiful
Pleasant Oaks Plantation on the
River Road between Southport and
Wilmington.
Pleasant Oaks Plantation is
owned by B. F. ADAMS, chairman
Of the board of directors of the
Atlantic Coast Line railroad When
he is not busy with the railroads
affairs at the office in New York,
Mr.. Adams likes nothing better