The Wilmington morning star., 1946-07-08

ana poultry business. ACCORDING &c
Troy Mcknight of Mt. Airy. route
l. Surry county. it's an easy matter
to sc; most of your feed from
crops grown on the home farm.
MT. Mcknight bought 20 pigs about
so days ago. They weighed about
IS pounds each, and nov each pig
will average about 140 pounds each.
This gain was made largely on
good pasture of Ladino clover
ard orchard grass.
In other words. the animals gain
ed an average of 95 pounds in so
days which is much over the &C
eepted average gain Of a pound a
day. To be exact. it is a gain OF
one and nine-tenths of a pound a
DAY. The pigs had all the succulent
grazing that they could consume.
and then the lct was fed four
pounds of wheat bran and II and
a half bushels of corn each day.
This made rs bushels of corn and
200 pounds Of the bran for the en-
tire lot during the so days. M.
Mcknight said il was about the
cheapest pork that he ever pro-
duced.
Extra Ton
Norman Teer of Durham county
has cut more than a ton OF extra
hay an acre from a five-acre pas
ture which he seeded last Septem-
Der to orchard grass, herds grass,
and Ladino clover. To be certain
that he had plenty of feed for his
10 cows. he also seeded a supple
mentary pasture of barley, oats.
vetch, and crimson clover. Mr..
Teer says that this supplementary
pasture furnished all the grazing
that he needed for eight to ten
cows kept on the five-ac-e field
from the first of March until the
first of June.
Tyrell county farmers have
been greatly pleased with the
seedlings of vetch and oats which
they planted for hay last fall. T.
H. Blake of Columbia, route 2,
has been planting this kind of hay
mixture for seven years, and, this
spring, he cut an average of 2 IL
tons of good hay per acre from 8
IL acres. Before the hay was cut.
Farm Agent H. H. Harriss visited
the farm and says that the growth
stood an average of four feet high.
At places it was high enough to
hide a man standing upright in the
field.
Used Vetch
The seeding was made last fall
on the first of October when Mr..
Blake planted one and one-hal1
bushels of oats and IS pounds OF
vetch seed an acre. 1t is best, he
said. to use only this much oat
seed so that the growth might bet.
ter support the vetch. Corn has
been planted on the stubble and,
thus, a double supply of feed will
be grown on this 3 IL acre plot.
Another very interesting field
demonstration was conducted in
Tyrrell county this spring when c.
E. Morris of Columbia, route 2,
tried out the difference in spacing
Irish potato paintings on the row
He used at the rate of 1900 pounds
per acre of a 6-8-6 fertilizer under
the crop, planting Cobbler seed
on March 4. Plots were then laid
off and the seed pieces spaced nine
inches apart on the row; II inches
apart; and IS inches apart.
Quickest Growth
Observations made on April %
showed that the seed pieces plant
ed nine inches apart were showing
the quickest growth, with the II
inch spacing next. All of the plots
were harvested on June a., and,
where the potatoes had been plant
ed nine inches apart, the crop
produced $50 bushels of U. S. No.
Is; but they were small and
would have been penalized had
there been too many of this size
offered on the market. The feath-
ering also was at least 20 per cent
greater than Of the other two
plots.
Where the potatoes had been
planted r. inches apart, they pro.
duced 276 bushels of U. S. No. Is
and 20 bushels Of U. S. No. 2's. The
tubers from these plots were all
of good quality and size.
High Yield
Where the planting was IS inch
es apart on the row, the yield was
236 bushels of U. S. No. Is, and
10 bushels of U. S. No. 2's per
acre. The tubers here were larger
than where they were planted u
inches apart, and the color of the
skin indicated that they were more
mature than were those harvested
from the other two plots. However.
there was no difference in feath-
ering.
As a result Of his demonstration,
Mr.. Morris said that II inches
seems to be the best distance apart
for planting early Irish potatoes
in that section. Higher yields and
a better quality were obtained and
the tubers Were very uniform, OF
4 medium-large size and Of high
quality. The 12-inch spacing yield
ed Is bushels more per acre than
where the seed pieces were spac-
ed nine inches apart and 40 bush
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