Part 5

The resulting growth seems almost magic for in a few weeks both the buckwheat and cow-peas are in bloom and the growth becomes so rank and dense that it is difficult if not actually impossible to progress far into the field afoot. Just before the seed ripens this growth is rolled down, cut up with disc and plowed under. The buckwheat adds humus and the cow-peas, (another legume), both humus and additional nitrogen. After this has been thoroughly worked into the soil and a perfect seed-bed again formed fall has arrived and the ground is seeded to oats.

The Final Rotation Crop

Oats serves a double purpose;--provides to a certain extent a winter protection against the porosity caused by alternate freezing and thawing and its decay renders the soil mellow and easily worked.

During the winter a top dressing of stable manure is applied at the rate of fifteen tons per acre and the oats and manure are plowed under just as early as the soil can be worked the following spring. The manure furnishes nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus in quantities which with that already furnished by the rotation crops, makes a properly balanced plant food.

Again it is worked and with spring tooth and disc harrows and rolled until it forms a pulverized seed-bed and after being marked into rows and cross marked, it is again ready for Kellogg Pedigree Plants.

We Practice and Recommend Spring Planting

We practice what we preach by setting our plants in the spring exclusively (during April or May) as we have found through many years of experience that spring setting gives surest results in the North. In the Southern States plants may be set with success either in the spring or fall.

Kellogg Pedigree Plants,--Yearlings

Every spring the fields which have just produced plants are plowed at the close of our shipping season and put through our crop rotation process. This thoroughly renovates the soil and supplies in proper proportions nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, the essential elements of plant food together with an abundance of humus, the medium through which plants feed. It is what might be termed a regenerative process because it actually renews or rebuilds the soil.

It is impossible to find any plants on the Kellogg farm more than one year old except in our testing and experimental beds, and the mother plants in our propagating fields. In digging plants for shipment all mother plants are thrown out. Only their offspring,--strong, sturdy, young runner plants, are used in filling orders. This assures Kellogg customers young blood, full of life and stamina. When such plants are set in the customer’s field or garden, growth is rapid and vigorous.

Answering an Appeal for Moisture “When Nature Refuses”

During periods of drouth, our Skinner Irrigation System is relied upon as crop insurance. It’s value is not limited to furnishing moisture to Kellogg Pedigree Plants alone for it is just as frequently used in supplying moisture to our rotation crops.

Like the good Samaritan of Sacred History, it brings water from the nearby stream and applies it soothingly to the thirsty plants in the form of gentle, mist-like, refreshing rain which thoroughly saturates the ground to their very root tips. If drouth prevails at seeding time, its near-natural-rainfall insures prompt germination of seed which is necessary to a successful crop. It likewise is depended upon to furnish an uninterrupted supply of moisture ‘whenever Nature refuses’. Often it is the only means of saving the crop.

This system enables us to furnish Kellogg Pedigree Plants with moisture throughout the growing season, insuring unhampered and unchecked development both of plant and root systems.

With this dependable substitute for natural rainfall, the intense and prolonged drouth of 1921 (the most serious in many years) was not the serious matter with us which it otherwise would have been.

There is also another way in which our Skinner Irrigation System serves our customers, for it gives us an increased production of thousands of plants per acre. As the size of our plant crop bears a direct relation to the prices of Kellogg Pedigree Plants, you can readily see that this increased production is an important factor in enabling us to quote the low prices given on Page 66 of this book.

Hoeing, Cultivating and Removing Blossoms

Our propagating fields are hoed and cultivated repeatedly during the growing season and all blossoms are removed as fast as they appear. We remove the blossoms from the everbearers just as late as we possibly can, but during the fall they blossom so profusely that this would require a small army. At that time however, they are firmly established and have a fully developed root and crown system and are therefore not unfavorably affected by these late blossoms and the few berries which develop.

Spraying

Dangerous insects and dangerously contagious plant diseases are strangers on the Kellogg farm. As precaution against any possible attacks by pests however, Kellogg Pedigree Plants are sprayed frequently during the growing season with Bordeaux mixture, arsenate of lead and lime-sulphur. This prevents the possibility of contamination of any nature.

Mulching

Our plants are mulched for winter to the extent that we are able to obtain material for mulching. The mulching is applied after the first heavy freezing in the winter. This protects the ground against alternate freezing and thawing. The mulching is removed in the spring before the plants are dug.

Digging

Every Kellogg Plant is freshly dug at time of shipment in the spring and practically every plant is packed and on the way to the customer within twenty-four hours after it is dug. We never dig plants in the fall and hold them in storage over winter for spring shipment as we do not believe in this practice and do not have any storage facilities of this nature.

Packing for Shipment

In packing Kellogg Pedigree Plants for shipment, we use only the highest grade sphagnum moss containing a proper amount of moisture. Larger orders are packed in wooden crates. Smaller orders are either wrapped in heavy moisture-proof paper or packed in strong corrugated cartons. Our packing methods are the most scientific and our containers the highest quality we can obtain.

Kellogg Pedigree Plants are tied into uniform bunches of 25 plants, each bunch containing a label bearing the name of the variety. We never furnish less than 25 plants of any variety, nor can we furnish plants except in exact multiples of 25; that is,--25, 50, 75, 100 and so on. By adopting this uniform size, our counting and bunching department is able to develop the highest efficiency.

Resulting Superiority