THE OKLAHOMA FARMER, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 12, 1910.
t\\
•* GENERAL
AGRICULTURE
ANY PROBLEM IN CENERAL AGRICULTURE WILL BE DISCUSSED IN THIS DEPARTMENT .
THE HAPPY FARMER.
The farmer was in days gone by
An object of compassion.
He said "by gum" and joked "Old Si"
Becauso it was the fashio.n.
He held, while following the plow.
Unto his own devices,
While we were worrying as to how
To eat at city prices.
The farmer now has corn and oats,
And meat and eggs and cider;
His sphere of influence, one notes.
Each year is growing wider.
He lets "us city fellers" grin
At "Rubes" and lives in clover
While we go broke for food in tin
Diluted and warmed over.
—Washington Star.
CHANGING SEEDS.
(E. J. Reed.)
The opinion of the farmers of a single
school district and the reasons for such
opinions would fill a volume. I don't
expect, in this short article, to give a
review of all of these, opinions. I will
merely mention a few of these opinions
and hope to find the reason for some of
these opinions.
Occasionally we find persons so em-
phatic in their belief concerning the
changing of seeds that they are trying
to create an idea among farmers that
seed must be changed and new seed
mixed with the old so as to prevent
inbreeding. Now, it seems to me that
farmers are getting pretty well along
in science to be talking about inbreed-
ing of plants. Imagine how much in-
breeding there would toe in a crop of
wheat, for instance. The grains from
a single head would of course be re-
lated. But the heads of an entire bun-
dle are not apt to be very closely re-
lated." If you are inclined to dispute
this, allow your imagination to follow
the grain through the entire process of
harvesting, threshing and seeding.
Note how the single sheaf is collected
from a long strip of land. Heads that
grew side by side may find their way
into separate sheaves and these
sheaves be set in separate shocks to he
hauled in separate loads. Then in
threshing, hauling, fanning and seed-
ing the grain is as thoroughly mixed
as if mixing were the intention of the
work.
I have taken you through thl" thresh-
ing process to show how little of in-
breeding is apt to occur in a field of
grnin. The opinion is certainly far
fetched and is merely a supposition, re-
sulting from a loss to know how to
better account for a falling off of crop
yield and a deterioration in the qual-
ity of grain.
I have known a great many farmers
who started in to raising some pure
breed of corn. They would find it nec-
essary to buy new seed in three or
four years as theirs would be run out.
The new seed would bold up the stand-
ard for a few years until it would, in
turn, run out. Now, the reason for this
running out is partially from p">or cul-
tivation and mostly from poor selec-
tion. The corn may have been injured
from poor drainage and by the dry
weather following. Then deep cultiva-
tion cuts our corn yield short, but it
is often thought that new seed is need-
ed. Well-bred corn is usually a little
rough, as rough corn has a tendency to
he deeper grained. Common farmer*
The Mission
Of those corpuscles In your blood
that have been called " Little
Soldiers," is to fight for you
against the disease germs that
constantly endanger your health.
These corpuscles are made
healthy and strong by the use of
Hood's Sarsaparilla.
This medicine is a combination of
more than 20 different remedial agents
in proportions and by a process known
only to ourselves and it has for thirty
years been constantly proving its worth.
No substitute, none "just-as-good."
select the smooth ears for convenience
in husking. I.ittle Judgment is us-j in
selecting cars as to size, length or
sliape. The thickest and longest ears
are usually selected, and the car? that
are true types of the breed are often
fed. These long or thick ears get their
size from their cob. When such co n
is planted the tendency is toward bU
cob and shallow grain. The seed h is
run out again and new seed must be
procured.
We see the same thing in wheat
The seed runs out and new seed is pur-
chased. It is simply because of pooi
seeding, poor drainage, non-grading of
grain before sowing, and poor care of
grain in sheaf or bin. The seed of po-
<atoes vlll run out and a new start is
necessary. It is because you plant the
potatoes that are too small to use and
do not follow up with any goo'i method
of culture.
So it goes with everything. Rut I
want to ask why it is that one farmer
will start out with a good strain ot
corn and in a few years will he pro-
ducing about twenty bushels of corn
per acre that will shell about fifiy
pounds, while another will start at the
same time with the same strain of
corn and at the stated time will be
raising forty to sixty bushels of coin
per acre that wll' shell sixty to six-
ty-five pounds per bushel and on the.
same ground? Why will one man run his
wheat yield down to five bushels and
another keep it up to eighteen to thtr-
tv bushels? Why will one man raisa
fifty bushels of potatoes per acre and
another man from like seed raise two
hundred fifty bushels? One man's seed
has run out and he needs new seed
Why doesn't the other man need now
seed? It is simply because he has fol-
lowed a good method of farming. Why
has the other man's seed run out*
Because he has followed a poor mcth >1
of farming.
I will leave the subject with you and
proceed to another feature of the sub-
ject. Men are often disappointed with
the first crop after procuring new
seed. The second crop !s usually mo-a
satisfactory. The reason given for this
is that plants, like people and animals,
must become acclimated upon change
of country and they must also become
adapted to the soil. The fact that this
disappointment is apt to occur upon
using new seed is a point often pro-
duced against the practice. If you
find it necessary to buy new seed, it is
advisable to get it from some locality
where soil and climate conditions are
similar to your own.
Bales
In a Steady Stream
The bales "keep a comin' " with a
Munger System Gin. So do the ginner's
profits No stop between bales ; no break-
downs or delays by reason of fault of mate-
rial or machine. The wonderful Munger
System means a steady, even run that swells
the profits at the end of the season. This
feature can be had only in the
Munger
The Perfect System
The Munger System invites the pat-
ronage of the grower by close ginning and by
saving and raising the class of wet and dirty
cotton that other systems cannot handle.
Choice of Munger, Pratt, Winship, Smith
andEagleGins. FulllineofEngines,Boil-
ers and cotton-working machinery.
Plans and estimates free.
Catalogue on application.
CONTINENTAL CIN COMPANY
Atlanta, Ca. Dallas, Taiaa
Birmingham, Ala. Mamphla, Tann.
Charlotte, N. C. Brldguwatar, Maaa.
(For aiport)
( AddrvM ial**aofTle  nrarnt you.)
low down on the stalk as possible; bear
in mind that early maturity is an im-
portant factor in all regions of north ol
central Iowa. The joint of the stalk
that the ear is produced from has an
important bearing on early maturity. It
is a well established fact that all va-
rieties of corn, that produce the ear
high up on the variety are late in ma-
turing, while a variety that produces the
ear lower down, say the fourth to sixth
joint from the ground, matures earlier
under the same soil and climatic condi-
tions.
FOR BETTER SEED CORN.
Many individual farmers have awak-
ened to the importance of securing a
higher grade of corn by planting better
seed and giving the crop better cultiva-
tion. Nearly every farmer has the
means at hand to grow his own seed
and make improvement from year to
year, it is a good place to get the best
seed corn available for use in your cli-
mate. T)o not mow the seed corn too far
north or south. On most farms the.
quality of seed begins to determine after
the first crop. This is the farmer's
fault. -It is the best policy to have
a seed corn plot—a plot in which the
seed corn for the next year Is grown.
First select an acre or a half acre
for nursery or seed patch. This seed
patch should be isolated from other
fields to be planted to corn Plant the
best seed obtainable and of a variety
suitable to the locality in which you live.
Give this seed patch extra care in the
way of cultivation; pull or cut away all
suckers, and before the plants biooiii cut
off or detasel all inferior stalks. Al-
low none but well developed pltints to
bloom and fertilize the growing crop It
is important that this be attended to
before the plants bloom. From this seed
patch select the finest ears to pl.int the
seed patch the following year. Select
ears of good form; ears that are v ell
filled from tip to butt; ears that ma-
ture earliest to transmit the quality of
early maturity.
Ears should be chosen that grow a9
FARMERS' INSTITUTES.
•lohn C. Elliott, state superintend nt of
farmers' institutes, has given out dates
for twenty-one gatherings in January
and February, as follows:
Noble, Perry, Jan. 24; Pawnee. Pawnee,
Jan. 25; Osage Pawhuska, Jan. 27; Wash-
ington. Bartlpsville, Jan. ?8; Nowata,
Nowata. Jan. 29; Rogers, Claremore, Jan.
SI; Craig. Vinita, Feb. 1; Ottawa. Miami,
Feb. 2; Mayes, Pryor Creek, Feb. 3;
Wagoner, Wagoner, Feb. 4; Muskogee,
Warner. Feb. 5; Delaware, Grove, Feb.
7; Adair, Westville, Feb. 8; Cherokee,
Tahlequah, Feb. 9; Okmulgee, Okmul-
gee, Feb. 10; Cre^k, Sapulpa, Feb. 11;
Tulsa, Broken Arrow, Feb. 12; Sequoyah,
Sallisaw. Feb. 14; LeFlore Spiro, Feb.
15; Haskell, stigler, Feb. IS; Oklahoma,
Oklahoma City, Feb. IS and 19.
VINELESS SWEET POTATOES.
Vineless sweet potatoes, so-called, are
not very well known, though they have
been grown in som parts of the South
for many years. The place of origin of
this variety is somewhat in dispute,
and the probability is that it was inde-
pendently originated by at least two
men. One report seems to give satis-
factory evidence that it was found in
18X4 on the plantation of George Har-
vey, near Columbus. Miss., in a field of
the old-fashioned "yam" sweet pota-
toes. By 1893 this variety had been
written up for most of the leading ag-
ricultural papers by C. C. Tj. Dill of
Dillhurgh. Miss., according to his own
statement.
Another report of the origin of a vine-
less sweet potato which seems authen-
tic was given in the Atlanta Weekly
Constitution for December 26, 1893. In
an article in that issue by A. G. Paddle-
ford of Edwards, Miss; he states that his
'father. T. D. Paddleford, found the strain
In 1865 in a field of the "old-fashioned
long-vine yam." The particular hill from
which the variety was propagated had
very short and "heavily set vines, with
the leaves set close together on the stems,
was "exceedingly productive and had
potatoes large in size and splendid for
table use." The potatoes were found to
be set close around the stem or root,
forming a cluster. The vines measured
two or three feet long when fully grown
and covered the ground with a densa
shade. The article goes on to state that
during the succeeding year the new
strain outyielded the parent variety bp
more than one-fourth, was much earlier
and easier to cultivate. It was then
named the "Bunch Yam."
Whatever may have been the origin ot
this variety, the following seems cer-
tain: It is a mutation or "sport" from
the old-fashioned yellow yam, and It re-
semoles that variety in flavor, character
of tubers and shape of foliage.
1 hese "vin,eless" or "bunch" ."swftet
potatoes have been tested at the Texas
agricultural experiment station, and the
following statements represent the con-
clusions reached from these tests: The
value of this type of sweet potato is es-
tablished beyond question, the same as
that of the bush lima bean. There Is.
however, only one strain which can be
indorsed. There are two other strains
which have not proved as productive,
and many of the partial failures reported
are attributed to these having been used
instead of the one good strain.
The foliage of these two inferior
strains is much less dense and the stems
of the leaves are not nearly so long nor
so heavy as those of the strain Indorsed.
In one of these two strains not recom-
mended there is a wide range of vari-
ability in vines, tops nnd tubers. One
lias foliage of small size and less dense
on the vine than the other, the vines
measuring from four to eight feet. The
tubers of one are just like those of tho.
parent variety, while those of the other
are reddish yellow and resemble very
much the pumpkin type. The strain rec-
ommended is the only "true vineless
sweet potato." Its vines are two to four
feet long, with heavy dense foliage.
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of the best English strains In
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In breeding: these fine hounds
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stamp for catalogue. T. B.
Hudspeth, 8ibley, Jackson Co.,
Mf
Mo.