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4 THE SOUTHERN WORLD, SEPTEMBER 15, 1882. Weed Corn. Now in the time to select seed corn for next year’s planting before the crop Is remov ed from the field. A careful farmer wishes to select, not only the kind of ears he will plant, but the characteristics of the stalk itself. When the selection is deferred until near planting time and then made from the mass of corn in the crib, it is, of course, im possible to know whether an ear was pro duced by a two-eared stalk, or anything in reference to the size or height of the stalk. It is a good idea to go over a corn field, even as early as at silking time, for the purpose of marking the stalks whose proportions, pro lificness, time of silking, etc., promise to meet the requirements of the standard de termined upon in the mind. But the actuul selection, gathering and separation of the ears intended for seed should be done in the field in advance of the general harvest of the crop. This work should be entrusted to no one, but should be the peculiar work of the proprietor. The points of merit may be thus stated. The stalk should be of medium height, straight, large and rather flat at the base, (with good brace roots) and tapering from the base upwards. There should be two ears, as nearly equal in size as may be, set rather low down, with foot-stalk of mod erate length, the shuck covering the ear closely, and the ears well turned downward. Even the tassel should not be overlooked; it should be full and perfectly formed. Every point of excellence desired should be sought in the stalks and ears selected on a principle precisely analogous to that followed by the stock or poultry breeder. In order to do this successfully, there should be, as already hinted, a well considered definite standard of perfection in the mind which should be strictly adhered to os far as possible. Of such stalks as, on the whole, come up to this standard os nearly as may be, the ears may be gathered by simply cutting the stalk above and below the ears and hanging the selected ears on an adjacent stalk until convenient to carry to the barn, when they should be put in a place to themselves until near planting time, when a further and final selection should be made with reference to their appearance after removing the shucks. This is no fancy or theoretical plan, but eminently practical, and was followed by the writer for years with very marked re sults in the improvement of his corn, so that neighbors from far and near came to liis crib—willing to exchange two bushels of good corn for one selected from the bulk. R. Sowing Wheat, A large portion of the Cotton States is not specially adapted to the growth of this most valuable of all bread grains. In the South ern portion—south of 32° latitude—it is not generally advisable to sow wheat at all, even for a home supply, because the yield is too uncertain to allow of profitable or satisfac tory production—one year with another. There must be a limit to diversifying crops,— a point beyond which it is not wise to go, in endeavoring to produce all that we con sume, however necessary the article may be to our comfort or subsistence. There are really but few articles of prime necessity that we cannot produce with greater or less certainty and with the number that may thus be grown with fair degree of certainty and profit, there will be no difficulty in suffi ciently diversifying our crops, without re sorting to those that are uncertain. A prominent and very intelligent and suc cessful farmer of Burke county, writes as fol lows of wheat: “I may have asked you something in reference to ‘Nicaragua wheat’ —something that has grown up with ‘chills and fevers’ and become acclimated like a Mexican or his Mustang. My locality is too malarial for wheat. A healthy country for fine wheat When well drained and old enough to ’get changed,’ this soil might grow wheat—not now, to any profit And besides, weevils are into it before it is har vested from the field. If I make a few bushels, as soon as threshed it must be made into flour orshlpped. Can’t keep it without trouble. I have estimated it is worth $2 a bushel to make wheat here. Swamp wheat or Nicaragua flint might withstand the cli mate and insects.” The writer of this ex tract cultivates a large farm and grows per haps a greater variety of crops than any far mer in that section of the State. But he calculates closely,soon finds out which crops pay best, and confines himself to such. Yet, there are farmers who prefer to grow wheat in a small way in those unfavorable sections of which we have been speaking. Such have generally been most successful when they have selected some high, well' drained laud, with comparatively light sur face soil and a good clay at a few inches depth. Rich soil is not the best as it in duces a too succulent and rank growth of straw which is thereby more liable to rust. It is better that the soil be of medium fer tility and that it be well fertilized with a goodammoniated fertilizer, containing full proportions of the three most important ele ments, phosphoric acid, ammonia and pot ash. The time of sowing and variety sown are imi>ortant, especially the latter. By common consent the period of a few weeks immediately following the usual time of the first killing frost of a given locality, is the most suitable seed-time—giving good re sults oftener than when any other period is selected. The object in deferring until frost has occurred, is to avoid the fly, though this purpose is not always accomplished, as this insect frequently depredates extensively throughout mild winters. Dallas wheat seems now to find most favor as a hardy ruit-reeisting variety. It doer have rust, and not unfrequently, but the injury is generally by no means so severe as in the case of other varieties. Good crops have been harvested of the Dallas wheat when several other varieties near by and enjoying precise ly similar conditions, have failed. The Dal las is not a very early wheat - which is some what against it—but the straw is so stout and stiff that it resists rust better than other good varieties. It makes a good milling wheat—producing good family flour. In general, the best rotation for wheat is to follow any clean cultivated crop. In the lower or doubtful region, cotton lands is by all odds better than corn land. Wheat does well after oat stubble provided the latter has been turned over early in the season and es pecially well after an early crop of peas. In the northern part of the cotton belt cotton is too late maturing to enable the farmer to sow wheat at the right time, and a very con venient and proper resort it has to the clover field on which a crop of clover has been turned in pretty early or cut off and the stubble or second crop turned in promptly or grazed off. Whatever the character of the previous crop, the ground should be put in the very best condition by plowing and repeated har rowing (if necessary) and the seed put in with a grain drill if anything like a large area is planted, followed by a roller to com pact the soil. Now is the time to prepare the land and secure seed and proper fertili zers, so that everything may be in readiness when the proper time arrives for sowing. R. Is there a Rust-proof Wheat T Season able Suggestions and Criticisms. Editor South err World.—(1.) You have given us in your valuable paper, something about wheat for the South. I see you are very patient and accommodating with your sub scribers. Will you be kind enough to give us a little more on the same subject. Is there a “rust-proof wheat?” I don’t mean a so called, but sure enough “rust-proof.” I saw at the exposition a very fine wheat, grown near Augusta, Georgia, said to be rust-proof. If you know of any wheat that is really rust-proof please state where it can be had and at what price. What is rust? Is it an insect? Is it de veloped and fostered by the season, toil or what ? I have written to Hon. T. F. Rainey in reference to this wheat. I want to get in the seed of an early wheat, but from what you say I judge its earlineas is its chief, if not only, recommendation. No wheat has been grown in this section, Dallas county, to my knowledge for years, but it use to do well. I have one more query and two sug gestions. (2.) Do you know anything of the "Planet Junior Cultivator?” It is a single-horse harrow like concern and is highly recom mended for cultivating very young plants. I have never seen one. Some of your cor respondents speak of using single-horse cul tivators. ' I would like for some of them to tell us the “pros and cons” about them. We have the two horse cultivator with four plows, but we need something suitable to the cultivation of cotton or com as soon as it is out of the ground. Now for the sugges tions : First, to your correspondents. When one writes of an experiment tried, he should be careful to state the character of the soil. If sandy, whether red or gray. If prairie, whether black, shell or yellow. This is al most universally neglected, but of the great est importance, as any one will see after a momenta reflection. My second suggestion is to you, Mr. Edi tor, if you will not take it as presumption. An agricultural journal is valuable for the suggestions as to farm work it makes. Sug gestions which I am likely to improve to my advantage, are those made at or just be fore the proper season. For instance—sug gestions as to corn or cotton planting are not in season in the rummer, but in winter or early spring. If you would have some one adopt something new or out of the old rut in refference to shearing sheep, you will publish in the spring. You see the point I know, if it has a point. I suppose I am not unlike most men, I read to learn, I take your paper with a view to learning. You and hundreds of others are my teachers; if you want me to be an apt pupil, give me the lesson just before the thing is to be done. I have in my drawer hundreds of clippings from papers, things that struck me at the time and I thought when I read them “well that’s a good idea, I’ll cut It out and try it at the proper season;’’ and when the proper season came I have forgotten the whole thing. If I had time to look over my scrap book every week or so I would not forget so easily, but this I don't do and the lesson is lost. I have in mind now a journal whose editor is known far and wide in the South. His thoughts are valuable, his selec tions are excellent, but he is the most out of season man I ever read after. In the dead of winter he will give you something about hiving or robbing bees. In the spring when the farmer is busiest about his young grow ing crop, this editor will read him a lecture or give him a valuable suggestion about gin ning cotton or housing corn. But may be I'm wrong, possibly I am running in a gang by myself about this matter. If so, I beg your pardon for the suggestion. I have given you an idea of the way the thing strikes me. If its wrong, don’t blame me for I was “brung up" that way. My teacher carried me through “Aggers” begin ning with enumeration and addition and so on through the book. He didn’t give me a lesson in subtraction, then skipped to frac tions. I have always rather liked his method. W. B. Crumpton. Shield’s Mill, Ala. Akbwer and Comments: (1.) There was a variety of wheat grown for several years by Mr. C. D. Black, Campbellton, Georgia, and called “Nicaraugua wheat” which was dis tributed to a very limited extent by the Georgia Department of Agriculture. Ac cording to the experience of Mr. Black, after five or six years trial, and of those who re ceived small packages of the Nicaragua as above, this variety has not been known to rust at all. But Mr. Black informed the writer that his wife begged him to quit growing it as it made such “poor flour,” and that he gave up fls culture several years since for that reason. The mills could not make a good flour from it. We see no rea son why the quality of resisting rust—which is a vegetable fungue and attacks only the stalk and blades of the wheat—should nec essarily be associated with an inferior, flinty and dark colored grain as is the case with the Nicaragua. In other words, we cannot see why the wheat plant may not have peculiar hardness and stiffness of straw, and at the same time produce a first-class milling flour. The circumstances in regard to the Nicaragua, very naturally suggests the propriety of experimenting with this seed with the view to improve the quality of the grain without diminishing the capacity to resist .rust The Nicaragua has also a very heavy, long and rough beard. Several years ago, Maj. R. H. Hardaway, of Thom- asville, Ga., undertook to breed out the long beard; and after repeated trials we learn that he succeeded in developing from this long bearded wheat a variety having no beard. We have heard nothing further from his ex periments, nor the conclusion at which he arrived. The result as stated, however, is only an additional proof of what may be done by persistent and intelligent effort in eliminating defects and preserving excel- encies in cultivated plants, and is sugges tive. It is well settled that nut is not an insect, but a species of fungus, propagated by aporea or a kind of infinitessimally small seeds which float in the smallest breeze and sur- vive from season to season. It is also pretty generally understood that local atmospheric conditions are the prime agents in develop ing the fungus. These conditions are heat and moisture, whereby a tender succulent stage of the plant is induced, which is fa vorable for the lodgement of the spores and their certain development. This condition is also induced by moist rich spots, or bot tom lands, even in dry weather. There is no reason to believe that any ap plication to the soil—such as suggested by our correspondent—will have any effect in preventing rust. The “Bill Dallas" and Early Red May wheat are two of the most approved varieties. Neither is absolutely rust-proof, but the Dallas has a very strong, tough straw and yields a good crop of plump grained wheat even after the blades and straw have been at tacked by rust, and the Red May is very fine. (2.) We know nothing by personal observa tion of the “Planet Junior Cultivator.” Will some of our readers enlighten us by their experience in the use of the one-horse culti vators, suitable for the very early cultiva tion of young corn and cotton? We heartily endorse and emphasize the first “suggestion” of our correspondent. To the second “suggestion” we have this to reply: We endeavor always to be season able in our articles—having due regard to the season. There are topics, however that are always in season. But our correspond ent should remember that a “new idea" will occur to a farmer which he wisely keeps to himself until he has put it into practice., If successful and he is so inclined, he writes an account of it for his agricultural journal,' and it appears in print two or three weeks or more after the season has passed. If he defer his writing until the next sea son, the novelty will have worn off, and with it the desire to communicate his dis covery to the public. So it is better to write while the fever is on—even if out of season —than not to write at all. Moreover, many of us write best when the “spirit is on us,” and it cannot always be coaxed either as to time or subject. After all our correspond ent’s point is “well taken” and its soundness cannot be gainsaid. We would suggest the practice of preserving files of agricultural papers for future reference. They are now generally folded with reference to conven ience of filing and binding. We take occa sion also to recommend the keeping of a •liary (every day is the meaning) in which the work, thoughts, future plans and pur poses, weather, etc., are to be faithfully en tered. Such a diary we kept for many years, on the farm, and found it invaluable. Loose scraps in heterogenous mixture, do not an swer so well as a well arranged, faithfully kept diary. R. INQUIRY COLUMN. HARVESTING PEA-NUTS OR GOOBERS (?) Editor Southern World—Please let us know the best mode of gathering goobers or pea-nuts, and the best implements to use. Is there no improvement on the negro and the hoe? 1 am pleased with The Southern World, and would be glad to have it weekly. Hugh Davis. Marion, Alabama. Answer: We are not aware that any im proved harvesters, if there be any, have been used in Georgia. Perhaps some of our Tennessee, Virginia, or North Carolina friends can give the information desired. Pea-nuts and goobers—for they are not the same—are both grown in Georgia to a con siderable extent for hogs, but very few for market, and the hog is the Georgia pea-nut harvester. On our own farm we only har vested enough for aeed for our own planting, and our practice was to run the wing of a sweep under each side of the rows, so as to loosen the hold on the plants, then lift out the vines with a spading or digging fork, turn them over to dry in the sun and when dry haul to the barn, where the nuts were picked off at leisure. Those remaining in the ground after pulling up the vines, were left for the hogs. R. OPPOSED TO BERMUDA. Ed. Southern World—I have seen many inquiries recently in your paper as to where Bermuda grass roots could be had and for cultivation, etc. I can supply from my front lota car load of roots, and will give anyone a handsome chromo that will take them (the roots) and will guarantee they will never re gret but once that he took them. As for cul tivation, it don’t need any—mine has flour ished and is extending in spite of all I can do. I have had it pulled up and spaded the ground and raked out the roots and salted it down, but now the grass is as thick as the hair on a dog’s back, and still growing over walks, up feuce posts, and everywhere that it is not wanted; it roots out the brick bor ders around my flower beds, chokes my roses to death, and I fear will be the death of me. Inclosed I send you some nice sprigs that will grow beautifully, if you will only cover them with dirt. Send on your men for roots, I can stock your State and have enough left for the balance of mankind. I think it is an invention of the devil and comes direct from Hades, as I have never been able to get down to the other end of a root yet. Covington, Tenn. % Bermuda. Comment.—Our correspondent seems to ' have experienced a rough time with Bermu