Saturday, July 9, 2011

North Carolina Farm Report From February 1942 Issue of The Southern Planter

No Cotton Nor Tobacco
Most central North Carolina farmers who live from their own land usually grow cotton or tobacco. Not so with G.H. Purvis of Hemp, Route 1, Moore County. Mr. Purvis grows chickens and he has 8,000 of them on his farm right now. Of this total, 5,500 are White Leghorns for egg production and the others are Barred Rocks kept for broiler production. Before he began to sell off some of his broilers and to cull non-laying hens, he had 11,000 birds.
The project is a family enterprise and all the work is done by Mr. and Mrs. Purvis and their three children. Harold, 15, is a member of the High Falls 4-H club; Eva Mae is 12 and helps her mother, while the baby is Gilbert, only six, but a great help at watering and feeding time. These five do all the work on the 208-acre farm, including the cultivation of 65 acres of land. There are no tenants or hired hands and county Agent E.H. Garrison says this is one of the best examples of a successful farm family enterprise that has come under his observation.
State Canning Winners Named
Mrs. Guy Robinson of Vale, Lincoln County, is North Carolina’s quality canner for 1941 according to results of a contest recently closed by Mrs. Cornelia C. Morris of the home demonstration staff. Mrs. Robinson won the first prize and $20 in cash for her entries of a meat, a vegetable, and a fruit.
Second award and $15 went to Miss Hazel Sherman of Yadkinville, Yadkin County; third prize and $10 to Mrs. J.N. Martin of Sanford, Route 1, Lee County; fourth prize and $5 to Mrs. Gilbert Inman of Waynesville, Route 1, Haywood County; and fifth prize and $2 to Mrs. M.L. Killebrew of Rocky Mount, Route 2, Edgecombe County. Home Demonstration Club members in 37 counties entered the contest and 1,222 women submitted 3,666 jars of canned goods to be judged.
Winter Peas Pay Off, Says Lucama Farmer
L.F. Watson of Lucama, Route 1, Wilson County, knows that Austrian winter peas plowed under will improve the soil. Here’s why: He planted 7.3 acres of the peas in the fall of 1940 to complete his soil building quotas under the AAA program. The seed bed was well prepared, the seed were inoculated and an excellent growth was obtained. This growth was turned under during the second week in April, 1941. Corn was planted. Only 200 pounds of 0-10-6 fertilizer was used under the corn and no side dressing of nitrate was applied. Where the peas had been turned under, the corn yielded 65 bushels to the acre, and in an adjoining field, where exactly the same treatment was given except no peas had been plowed under, the yield was 51 bushels of corn an acre.
Mr. Watson says one can draw his own conclusions, but as for him, the extra corn was worth the trouble of handling the legume.
Seeds for Food for Freedom Gardens
H.R. Niswonger and Lewis P. Watson, Extension horticulturists [at N.C. State, Raleigh], have arranged with wholesale seed dealers throughout North Carolina to package, and sell a collection of approximately 26 pounds of vegetable seeds at a lower cost than if the seeds were purchased separately. These packages will be known as the “Food for Freedom Garden” collection and will contain varieties carefully selected as to adaptation and growth in the different parts of the State.
The seed in the package, if planted and cultivated properly, will supply enough fresh vegetables for the average farm family of five persons and a surplus for canning. There are 22 vegetables in the collection and each was carefully considered by the two horticulturists before being recommended for the package. If North Carolina gardeners buy these recommended packages, there will be no shortage of vegetables in the State in 1942.

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