THE STRAWBERRY SEPTEMBER 1907 



at his gate every day of the year save the 

 Sabbath. Domestic science has entered 

 the farm home and sanitary conditions and 

 health have followed. Music and art and 

 literature contribute the richest of their 

 great gifts to the farmer and his family, 

 and no other man in town is so fortunate 

 as he who has a rural friend the hospitality 

 of whose home is open to him! 



The Strawberry believes that under 

 such conditions it is only a question of 

 time when the abandoned farm in this 

 country is to be a thing of the past. From 

 men and women who are engaged in 

 strawberry growing all over the country 

 come the most enthusiastic reports of the 

 enjoyment they are finding in their work. 

 It combines profit and pleasure so per- 

 fectly as to insure their continuing in it 

 and possibly expanding their fields to 

 commercial importance where the work 

 was begun with only the home supply in 

 mind. And we have no doubt that this 

 same fine spirit of optimism extends to 

 every branch of soil culture and animal 

 husbandry, for we find the same cheering 

 word in all the magazines and papers. 

 devoted to the soil and to life in the coun- 

 try. Even the townsfolk are catching this 

 spirit, and the back yard is being trans- 

 formed into a miniature farm, often with 

 such success as to make the professional 

 have a thought for his laurels. 



So we may confidently look forward to 

 an end of the abandoned farm difficulty. 

 New York, with her great cities and ex- 

 panding industries, ought to be the ideal 

 state for the farmer, especially for the 

 truck and fruit farmer. Those 12,000 

 farms no doubt soon will be inhabited 

 and with a more intelligent, more pro- 

 gressive and happier people than ever 

 dwelt upon them before. The isolated 

 farm shut out from association, remote 

 from markets and unscientifically culti- 

 vated, never could compare with what 

 we are having today in many sections and 

 soon shall have all along the line — farms 

 that are conducted with the intelligence 

 with which an industry of large impor- 

 tance is managed, and so situated that 

 the farmer may enjoy all the comforts and 

 social advantages of his city fellow. The 

 Golden Age of the Soil is just beginning! 



'^ <^ 



THE Fifteenth National Irrigation Con- 

 gress which meets in Sacramento, 

 Cal., September 2 to 7, is a gathering 

 which will attract a great deal of attention 

 throughout the western half of the conti- 

 nent, the purposes which it serves being 

 to draw attention not only to the necessity 

 of irrigation, but to the methods of re- 

 deeming vast tracts of unwatered land 

 that exist in the Western states, a matter 

 of much more than local importance. 

 It has a bearing of the greatest economical 

 importance to the nation at large. The 

 four prime objects of the congress in the 

 official statement are to "save the forests, 



store the floods, reclaim the deserts and 

 make homes on the land." 1 hese are 

 objects that command universal interest, 

 and it is hoped the congress is to be con- 

 trolled by the element that looks disinter- 

 estedly in the direction of the public good. 

 Too often in the past the land-grabber 

 has been able to defeat positive expression 

 by the congress when he did not have the 

 power to secure just the results he him- 

 self sought. He should be forced to step 

 down and out. 



Save the Fertility in Weeds 



RECENTLY' the Minnesota Experi- 

 ment Station has issued a bulletin 

 (No. 65) that is so suggestive we 

 publish the following extracts from it. 

 Of course, our readers will understand 

 that they must see to it that the plowing 

 under of weeds be done before the 

 weed seeds have become matured, as to 

 do so after the seeds were in a condition 

 to propagate their kind would be some- 

 what on the order of planting dragon's 

 teeth to multiply and destroy you. The 

 bulletin says: 



On many farms weeds have been one 

 of the causes of a decline of fertility. In 

 most of the weeds there are larger amounts 

 of nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash 

 than are found in a corresponding weight 

 of grain. When a poor stand of grain and 

 a rank crop of weeds are harvested the 

 soil is robbed of more fertility than if a 

 heavy crop of grain had been produced. 

 The weeds are harvested with the grain 



and the weed seeds sold from the farm 

 with the grain, or rather given away as 

 dockage, which results in a loss of fertility 

 from the land. The stronger feeding 

 weeds appropriate the available plant food 

 which belongs to the grain crops. Weeds 

 are also capable of feeding upon cruder 

 forms of food than are the grains, and 

 when the weeds are harvested along with 

 the crop the stock of available plant food 

 is reduced. 



If weeds could be plowed under before 

 seeds develop, and left to rot, the fertility 

 would not be lost, and the weeds would 

 be useful in preparing the way for the 

 more delicate feeding grain crops. With 

 a good system of green manuring this can, 

 in part, be accomplished, and the weeds 

 be used as a soil-digesting crop. The fact 

 that some weeds take more fertility from 

 the soil than an average grain crop may 

 be observed from the following table, 

 which gives the pounds of the three plant 

 food elements per ton of material, and 

 also the amount removed in an average 

 acre of wheat. 



Ni- Phns. Pot- 

 troiren Aciit iish 

 Llis. Lbs. U)s. 



Wheat, 20 bus. , with straw 35 20 35 



Mustard (entire plant) . . 65 26 37 



Pigeon grass 35 20 45 



Wild barley 40 20 40 



Wild oats 30 18 30 



On some farms the soil is compelled 

 to stand the drain of two or three com- 

 peting weed crops, which, with the scant 

 grain crop, results in the loss of a larger 

 amount of total plant food than if a heavy 

 yield of grain were produced. When 



Send For Our Stove Book 



WHY NOT GET THE BEST and SAVE FROM $5 to $40 ? I ^^ 



You kniiw that there nnist he a bitr 

 dllTereiire lietween the ^'actory price 

 and the dealer's price on a good stove 

 or ranj^e. 



Why not save that differpnfo and 

 keep that extra prnrit In yi>iir inn-^et/ 



Yon know that there iniit^t he a big 

 dltTerence between a strictly high- 



prade stove, made of the best materi- 

 als by expert workmen. and a "cheair' 

 stove made of scrap Iron by Inferior 

 workmen. 



"Why nut pret the best you can find- 

 especially when you can buy It at the 

 actual factory price! 



That's exactly what we offer you : 



**J<. ^ifhJ^KWy^€K^: 



Oireet to >^u 



TPADE.-MAPK PEGISTEQEO 



A stove or Range of the highest quality at actual Factory 

 Price on 360 Days Approval. 



You cannot secure anywhere a bet- 

 ter stove or ranpre than the Kuhiuiazoo 

 —no matter liow much extra yon pay. 

 "W'e guarantt-e that, under a $20,i 00 

 hank bnnd and trive you 360 days in 

 which t" prn\e It j.iiirt^elf. 



(Uir tlrst idea Is to make the best 

 Btovesandrani.'estliatliumanskllland 

 experience ami honest workmanship 

 can produce from the best procurable 

 materiala. 



1 liat'3 why we use only the hiphest 

 graile pip iron, and a better prade of 

 steel than anv otlicr stove manufac- 

 turer In the United States. 



That's « hy we employ the most 

 Bkllled workmen In the business, and 

 maintain fine of the best enulpped, 

 most modern stove factories in the 

 world. 



And that's why the Kalamazoo line 



has become so famous as fuel-savera, 

 as good bakers and unlck heaters; and 

 why they last so long and give such 

 good satisfaction. 



At the same time our system of nian- 

 ufacturlnpand selling direct is such 

 that we save y on $n, eiu, PM and 1 n some 

 casesasmnchas$4Uon e\ ery iiiirchase. 



You cannotgetabetterat any price. 

 The Kalamazoo is as gof>d a stove or 

 mnpeas man can make — and you save 

 from 20 to iO'/o in bnylnp it. 



And don't forpet: you pet your 

 money hark if it Is not in every way 

 exactly as represented. 



We pay the freight 



and ship all Kalamazoos blacked, 

 polished and ready f<)r Immediate ust. 

 Any man can remove crating and set 

 them up. 



Send Postal Today For Catalogue No, 348 



Compare Kalaiim 

 amazoo Prices \\H\ 



i,>iiallty and Kal- 

 ■titers- and save 

 your money. Our line isconiiiiete. em- 

 bracing stoves antl ranges of all kinds 

 for all domestic purposes— for the 



home, si-hool, church, halls, lotlge 

 ruiuns, etc. Hotel ran^jes for restaur- 

 ants, boarding houses. clubs and camps. 

 (Jas stoves and ranges for cooking 

 and heating— all sold at factory prices. 



KALAMAZOO STOVE COMPANY, Manufacturera, Karamazoo, Michigan. 



Original "Direct-to-user" Manufacturer. Beware of imitators. 



Kalamazoo Rnyal Steel 

 Hantre. out- of many styles 

 — exi'cptionally ec<)nomi- 

 cul ol fuel. 



All our cook stoves and 

 ranges are enulpped with 

 patent oven thermometer, 

 wJiich saves fuel and inakes 

 baking' and roasting; easy. 



Kalamazoo Radiant Base- i 

 Burner. Positively the 

 best bargain evero'ffered 

 In a heating stovo. 



Pa«e 182 



