.JULY 1, 1915 



559 



get wheat to feed their chickens now tliat wheat is 

 sellins at $1.50 per bushel. I might have linown, 

 too, if I had stopped to think. Any way, Incubator 

 Jolinson, who is uiiglity good authority on chickens 

 and their troubles and needs, mentioned in his cir- 

 cular tliat every one ought to plant a little patch of 

 feterita for chicken feed and save the high-priced 

 wheat, and I guess we have had 1000 letters about 

 it in the last six weeks. 



As usual. Incubator Johnson is absolutely right. 

 Feterita is just made on purpose to feed chickens. 

 It is the ideal chicken feed in every way. It is a 

 better-balanced ration than corn or wheat. Chickens 

 will eat it greedily, and will thrive on it. It cannot 

 hurt the chickens in any way. It is just the right 

 size for them to eat ; and if you want to you can 

 throw it to them in the head and make them scratch 

 it out. It will keep all winter like wheat or corn. 



The best thing about it is that anybody can grow 

 it in any part of the United States. I don't suppose 

 there is a state in the Union where you cannot grow 

 feterita. It is as early as the very earliest hardiest 

 field corn. It will mature easily in from 75 to 90 

 days of summer weather. It will yield more than 

 field corn ; even under unfavorable conditions it will 

 make a good crop where field corn would make an 

 absolute failure. 



It will stand more drouth than any other crop I 

 ever saw. Down in Oklahoma, in the dry weather 

 they made a good crop with it with only five inches 

 of rain for the entire summer, and only one inch of 

 rain between planting and heading. 



It should be planted in rows like field corn — just 

 about the same distance in the rows — that is, one 

 seed to ever>' five or six inches in the row. This may 

 look thin, but it is the best way to plant it. If you 

 sow it thick it will make very little grain and lots 

 of fodder; but if you get about one good stalk every 

 six inches in the row, and the rows three to four 

 feet apart, every plant will make one big head and 

 three or four small ones, and a big head of it means 

 about a pound of grain. 



It should be planted later than field corn. This 

 would mean anywhere from the middle of May to the 

 first of June according to your climate. If you are 

 in the habit of planting field corn about the middle 

 of May, then wait until about the first of June to 

 planfthe feterita, or until the ground and weather 

 are thoroughly warm. Don't plant it too deep. It 

 should be planted shallow — never more than an inch 

 deep. 



It should be cultivated just like field corn or sweet 

 corn, or any other similar crop. It can be hoed or 

 tended with a horse. 



It heads very rapidly, and is ready to harvest in 

 August or September. The best way to do is to go 

 through with a knife and cut the heads off and carry 

 them out just as you would ears of corn. Pile them 

 up in a corn-crib or granary, or some such place, 

 where they will be dry, and they will keep just like 

 ear corn. The fodder is as good as corn fodder, and 

 can be cut and shocked the same way. It makes 

 splendid cow feed. Vou will need about five pounds 

 of seed per acre, although some people get along 

 with as little as three pounds. It depends on how 

 careful you are in planting it. 



It is somewhat similar to kaffir corn, but is better 

 on account of its earliness, heavy yield, and its ex- 

 treme drouth resistance. It will stand more drouth 

 than kaffir corn, will make a heavier yield, and on 

 account of its earliness can be grown much further 

 north or northwest. It is better than shallu or 

 Egyptian wheat for the same reason. It is earlier 

 and heavier yielding than milo maize, and is much 

 better than field corn, because it will stand much 

 more drouth and will do better in small patches. It 

 will grow on any soil, no matter how thin, but will 

 make the best yield on fairly rich soil. 



Here is what a customer in Oklahoma has to say 

 about feterita : 



" Well, Mr. Field, I guess T know just about as 

 much as any farmer about feterita. It is the best 

 all-around crop ever planted in Oklahoma. I have 

 raised three crops of it. It will average about 50 

 bushels to the acre, one year after another, but I 

 think 100 bushels or more can be grown on one 

 acre under favorable conditions. The main thing is 

 to plant it very shallow; Vz inch is plenty deep. It 

 is the best crop a lazy man ever planted. It will 

 yield more without rain or cultivation than any oth- 

 er crop you can plant." 



CASSAVA, DASHEENS, AND PAPAYA. 



On page 471, June 1, our good friend 

 Thompson wonders if their manioca is iden- 

 tical with our cassava; and at the time he 

 wrote that letter he very kindly sent me a 

 package of cuttings of their manioca. They 

 were at once turned over to my good neigh- 

 bor HaiTison, who lives close by our Flori- 

 da home. Here is what he says about them : 



3f. A. I. Root: — The feterita is as tall as I can 

 reach. Nearly all has headed. Another papaya is 

 turning yellow. The canes that came from Africa 

 have begun to grow. Five leaflets are in sight, and 

 one is three inches tall. I will see to transplanting 

 when they are ready and we have a good shower. 

 We are enjoying the abundance of little yellow pear 

 tomatoes. C. L. Harrison. 



Bradentown, Fla., May 26. 



In regard to the pear-shaped tomatoes 

 mentioned above, permit me to say that the 

 finest tomatoes we grew last summer here 

 in Ohio — in fact, it seems to me the finest 

 tomatoes I ever tasted — were some yellow 

 pear-shaped tomatoes. The vines ran all 

 over the garden like cucumber- vines ; and 

 under the stimulus of plenty of manure 

 tliey produced tomatoes almost as large as 

 small hen's egg's. They just made the 

 ground yellow. I took some seeds down to 

 Florida, but they did not grow as large nor 

 as fine as they do here in Ohio. 



Below is a letter from a good brother in 

 regard to the papaya fruit in Cuba, etc.. 



Mr. Root :■ — I have read for some time with inter- 

 est all you have written about your Florida farming. 

 In the April 1st and May 15th numbers you mention 

 the papaya, which, being so common here, I wonder 

 if we could not give you some ways to use this ex- 

 ceptionally fine fruit that you have not tried; at any 

 rate, there will be no harm done in telling what we 

 do with it. 



Of course, when ripe you know how fine it is, 

 eaten like any northern cantaloupe, with salt or 

 sugar according to the taste. Before it is ripe, and 

 while still quite green, or, rather, all green in color, 

 peel and slice the meat and prepare as you would 

 an apple for sauce, adding some lemon or lime juice 

 or other fruit juices if you prefer ; but with the 

 lemon the sauce thus prepared can hardly be told 

 from the real apple article, and in pies is very fine, 

 or, made into shortcake, equally good. When well 

 ripe, if peeled and the meat run through a colander, 

 then handled same as pumpkin, it is hard to tell the 

 difTerence. We have had many tourists come here 

 who would discover a pumpkin in their rambles, and, 

 of course, want a pie; and after they had carried the 

 pumpkin to the house we would substitute the papa- 

 ya without their detecting the substitution. 



Our trees must grow larger than yours. I have 

 seen them here 25 or 30 feet high, and a foot 

 through at the bottom. This morning in riding 



