80 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



hundred pounds nitrate of soda. This would be broadcasted 

 and worked in with the Acme harrow. We would then sow 

 one bushel per acre of early black cow-peas and work them 

 in either with a Breed's weeder or a light-toothed harrow, fol- 

 lowed by a roller. We would not touch the field again until 

 the 1st of August, when we would go through and sow, as a 

 venture, twelve pounds of crimson clover over the acre. 

 The chances would be two to five that few of the seeds would 

 sprout on top of the ground among the cow-pea vines, but 

 we would take the chance. The field would then not be 

 touched till the following spring. The cow-pea vines will 

 be killed by frost, and fall to the ground. In the spring, as 

 soon as the soil would permit, we would go on with the 

 Cutaway harrow and chop and cut the soil and vines as 

 thoroughly as possible. This would require at least four 

 workings with the Cutaway, running in difierent directions. 

 If the soil were deep enough to warrant it, we would then 

 plough as deeply as possible, and not turn up the subsoil. 

 After leveling the ploughed field with the Acme, we would 

 plant the potatoes in rows three feet apart, using the 

 Robbins potato planter, ourselves riding behind, to see that 

 every piece was properly dropped, I think, however, it 

 would pay to plant by hand, in which case we would make a 

 wide, deep furrow by going both ways Avith the plough. 

 We would drop from six hundred to eight hundred pounds 

 of the high-grade fertilizer to the acre in the furrow. For 

 seed we would use, from our present experience, either 

 Orphan or Carman No. 3, which varieties seem to be par- 

 ticularly well suited to our soil. Three days after planting 

 we would begin work with the Breed's Aveeder or a light 

 cultivator, and keep the surface of the ground thoroughly 

 stirred up. As the plants appeared above the ground, we 

 would cultivate at least twice a week with the two-horse 

 Iron Age cultivator. This machine straddles the row, and 

 every tooth is under immediate control of the driver. At 

 first we would put the teeth down three or four inches deep, 

 but as the plants grew we would gradually lift them until 

 they merely scratched over the top of the ground. When 

 the plants were about six inches high we would fasten boxes 

 on either side of the pole of the cultivator, with holes in the 



