AUGUST 15, 1916 



755 



HIGH-PRESSURE GARDENING 



GKOWING FIELD CORN IN FLORIDA. 



T liolfl ill my liand an ear of corn tnat is , 

 about the handsomest, all thiniis considered. 

 1o me, of an}? ear of corn I ever got hold 

 of. On paae 627, July 15. I made mention 

 of three or four ears on the stalk of corn 

 in my Florida garden. 1 wrote Wesley, 

 when it was liard enough to ship, to send 

 me an ear by mail, and here it is. The seed 

 was procured of the Kilgore Seed Co., 

 Plant City, Fla. Here is what their cata- 

 log says about it : 



ruBAN OR HAVANA YELIiOW FLINT. 



This corn will make under all kinds of adverse 

 weather oonditions. Small ears, small grain, and 

 one of the hardest of all flint corn, and one that 

 withstands weevils better than any other variety. 



Tlie corn is a deep yellow. The kernels 

 are perfectly smooth, as hard as flint, and 

 as shiny as if they had been varnished. It 

 looks somewhat like our old-fashioned 

 Yankee corn, but the kernels go rather 

 deeper. Tf I understand it correctly, it is 

 so extremely hard and flinty that the wee- 

 vils cannot easily bite into it. The corn 

 v/as planted after digging a very nice crop 

 of potatoes. Tf we gave it any fertilizer 

 at all. it was only a very little. The ground 

 liad been, for several seasons before, a part 

 of our poultry-yard, and that probably ex- 

 plains why there are three and even four 

 ears on a stalk. You will recall that Pro- 

 fessoi" Rolf advised me to plant corn and 

 Vehet beans after digging my potatoes. 

 T!ie Velvet beans were inoculated so they 

 miglit gather nitrogen and benefit the 

 ground. Now, tlie fatt that I have succeed- 

 ed in getting a fine crop of beautiful corn 

 from the little piece of ground that had 

 been a poultry-yard, or a part of one, does 

 not amount to much. From a late issue of 

 tlie JIanatee River Journal T clip tlie fol- 

 lowing from a description of 



A " 500-ACRE CORN-FIELD." 



Five hundred acres of corn in Manatee Cnunly, 

 in one field, under one fence, and belonging to one 

 ^rm, is the record up to date, so far as we have 

 1 ecn able to learn. 



We have seen many fields of fro.m ten to forty 

 acres, and have information that there are some 

 coiilaining seventy-five acres, and one or two of a 

 hundred and fifty; but for a South Florida county 

 to have one field with five hundred acres of good 

 corn in it is somewhat of a revelation. 



In much of this corn a fine stand of Velvet 

 lieans will le seen, the bean-runners very often cov- 

 ering the stalk ,so as to hide it entirely, and the 

 si'ound a perfect mass of vines. The value of beans 

 as a stock food is well known, and is also highly 

 recommended as a cover crop. 



At the estimated yield of forty-five bushels to the 

 acre (and, mind you, that was a much lower esti- 

 mate than that made by experienced corn-men from 

 northern states, the crop would run twenty-two 



thousand five hundred bushels; and at the price of 

 ninety cents per bushel would bring to the owners 

 the sum of $20,250. In addition to this income, 

 in a county where " they " say we can't raise corn, 

 Scally & Knight will turn several hundred head of 

 <attle on the fodder and grass to fatten for the 

 market. 



There is no mention in the above of the 

 variety of corn used for this great corn- 

 field. It may be the same as the corn I 

 have just been talking about, the Cuban, or 

 it may not. It is true that corn has been 

 grown more or less in Florida for years 

 past ; but until just recently nobody seems 

 lo have discovered any such possibility as 

 mentioned above; and I would warn peo- 

 ple in the North, who think they can go 

 down to Florida and raise corn like the 

 above, and get such yields, that these are 

 probably the exception, not to be secured 

 except by an expert under the most favor- 

 able circumstances. When we can grow 

 not only our own hay but our own corn 

 down in Florida, without sending up to 

 Ohio and away out west for it, we certainly 

 are forging ahead. 



Below is Wesley's report of my garden 

 up to Aug. 3 : 



T am sending the ear of corn. It will not be 

 ready to " house " before the first of September or 

 last of August. The pieplants died during the 

 month of .June, as it was so hot. The Velvet beans 

 have covered the whole place. We are having plenty 

 of rain now. I keep the ditches all open so that 

 the water doesn't stand on the place at all. The 

 sweet potatoes are doing nicely. I keep all of the 

 big weeds out of the Velvet beans. 



Manatee, Fla., Aug. 3. Wesley Welch. 



I am sorry to know our pieplants have 

 died; but I was told wlien 1 planted them 

 that they would not be likely to stand the 

 summer, and that I would have to replace 

 with new plants every fall. It seems clear 

 that the Velvet bean interferes but little or 

 none at all with the corn, but T was assured 

 all around that such was the case. One 

 reason Wesley speaks of the big weeds is 

 because I found big weeds towering away 

 up above my head the year before, right 

 where that beautiful corn is now maturing. 



lOlSON IVV ; A REMKIIV. 



Mr. A. I. Root: — I notice under head of Health 

 Notes, March 1, remedies for poison ivy, etc. I 

 liave ac<idpntally learned that salty meat grease is a 

 sure cure for poison ivy. Applied three times a day 

 for two or three days, it always cures. 



Montgomery, Ala., Mar. 6. J. M. Cutts. 



Thanks, my good friend ; but do not poi- 

 son-ivy troubles usually "let up" in "two 

 or three days," even if nothing is done but 

 lo let it alone? 



