A B C OF FLORIDA TRUCKIA'G 129 



as the weevils are the greatest enemy to the com crop and 

 this variet}' is too hard for them to do much with. It is 

 a very large eared kind with long narrow grams that run 

 about twenty-four rows to the cob. It makes two good 

 ears to the stalk. Hasting's Prolific, Cook's Prolific, Hick- 

 ory King, Golden Dent and White Dent are all good varie- 

 ties. 



BEGGARWEED. 



This is a valuable forage crop, also a great soil re- 

 storer. Some farmers claim it is even more valuable as a 

 fertilizer than cow peas or velvet beans. Beside.s these 

 advantages it has another, which is a very important one, 

 in that it doe's not have to be replanted, for when once es- 

 tablished in the soil it comes up annually without further 

 attention. Beggarweed does not interfere with any other 

 crop which )'ou may care to plant, as it is easily kept down 

 by cultivation and can be totally destroyed by two years' 

 successive pasturing. This plant is a rank feeder, its long 

 roots reaching down deep into the ground and bringing up 

 fertilizing elements which were too deep for the other plants 

 to reach and depositing them on the top soil, when it sheds 

 its foliage in the fall. There is plenty of land in Florida 

 which five years ago would not yield over ten bushels of 

 corn to the acre, really not paying for the labor and seed, 

 but now, when planted in beggarweed, easily yields twenty- 

 five bushels to the acre with very little if any other fertilizer. 

 Hogs, cows and other stock fatten on it when nothing else 

 will bring them out. They will even refuse all other kinds 

 of food when they can get beggarweed. It is usually planted 

 in the northern and central portions of the State in May 

 and June ; in the southern part, from March until May. 

 One thing to remember is that it will not germinate until 

 the soil warms up. It requires from five to eight pounds of 

 seed to plant an acre. It is sown broadcast and harrowed in. 



