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// you are planning to build the Readers' rp titj f" 1 A T? T^ T? XT AT 4 f i 7T\T1? 

 Service can ojten give help Jul suggestions 1X1X1/ uAIVLiLiN ivl A u A i 1 i\ Xj 



A P E I l , 1 9 i> 



A Practical Inexpensive Greenhouse 



Not cheap, mind you, but inexpensive. That means you will get a 

 house 25 feet long and 10 feet wide, that has a complete iron frame 

 and made first class in every way throughout. You won't be con- 

 stantly bothered with broken glass, and the heating plant will not cut 

 up any pranks. 



The house complete will cost you but a few hundred dollars — and 

 if you want to, considerable can be saved by having your local 

 mechanics erect it. We will send you complete plans, which they can 

 readily follow. Write for Circular 49, which fully describes the house 

 and gives the price of the materials alone, all ready to bolt and screw 

 together without any fitting. Or if you prefer we can give you the 

 price, erected complete by us. 



Lord and Burnham Co. 



1133 Broadway, New York Boston and Philadephia 



POTATOES 



WITH THE 



Watson — High Pressure 



— Automatic— including Agitator and Strainer Cleaner — Sprays 40 acres 

 daily — State experiments show gain of more than $75 per acre by using the 

 WATSON. Booklet FREE. 



FIELD FORCE PUMP CO., 48 11th St., Elmlra, N. T. 



TO FLOWERLOVERS 



SPECIAL OFFER FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY 



ADAMS' Handy Little Seed Book full of valuable information, large 

 packet of the choicest pansy seeds and a year's membership in the 

 Flowerlovers' Club ; 50c in value for 10c postpaid. 



t^Adam^MMhoZ HENRY SAXTON ADAMS, Wellesley, Mass. 



Genasco 

 Ready Roofing 



Trinidad Lake asphalt is the backbone of Genasco. It 

 is the greatest weather-resister known. It makes Genasco 

 cost a little more, and makes it worth it because it lasts so 

 long. 



When you don't have leaks, damage, repairs, and re- 

 newals to pay for, you have real roof-economy. 



Get Genasco — the worth while roofing for every building on the farm. Look for the hemisphere 

 trade-mark, and you'll get the roofing backed by a thirty-two-million-dollar guarantee. Mineral and 

 smooth surface. Write for samples and the Good Roof Guide Book. 



THE BARBER ASPHALT PAVING COMPANY 



LARGEST PRODUCERS OF ASPHALT AND LARGEST 

 MANUFACTURERS OF READY ROOFING IN THE WORLD 



PHILADELPHIA 



New York 



>an 



Fr, 



ancisco 



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icago 



FERTILIZERS 



Crops for Green Fertilizers 



WINTER vetch, as well as all legumes which 

 remain growing over one winter, form a 

 much larger root system than annual legumes, 

 and, as the bacteria which obtain the nitrogen 

 from the air live only in the nodule colonies on the 

 roots, biennial and perennial legumes are therefore 

 much more efficient in nitrogen gathering than are 

 annuals. The grain ripens in the latitude of New 

 Haven the last of June or the first of July, depending 

 upon the season. Where a thick stand is obtained, 

 winter vetch makes a very good cover crop for the 

 orchard, but on many soils in Connecticut a perfect 

 stand and luxuriant growth are difficult to 

 obtain. 



The better practice both in the field and in the 

 orchard is to leave the plant on the ground until 

 summer, and then plow under the entire crop for 

 green manure. Chickens can be turned in in the 

 spring and will thrive on the plant, but pigs and 

 sheep do not appear to care a great deal for it. The 

 most popular practice, where the crop is to serve 

 both the purposes of a winter cover and pasturage 

 for pigs, sheep and chickens, is to plant rye or oats. 

 Rye grows thicker, is more resistant to cold, and 

 will, therefore, benefit the orchard by keeping 

 available nitrogen in the soil, although, of course, 

 it does not add nitrogen to the soil. Stock, however, 

 seem to find oats more palatable than rye. How- 

 ever, plant winter vetch if it will thrive; but if it 

 does not produce luxuriant growth, plant rye in its 

 place. 



As to the red clover being superior to alfalfa, 

 the latter is, in my opinion, as easy a crop to grow 

 as mammoth red clover in most places in Connecti- 

 cut. Clover will thrive on land where the table 

 water is nearer the surface than will alfalfa. For 

 alfalfa the water should not come within ten feet 

 of the surface, for the roots when they reach the 

 table water stop growing entirely. Practically 

 all New England lands, where not overlying beds 

 of limestone, are acid, and from 1,000 to 1,500 

 pounds of fine ground limestone rock must be 

 applied to correct the acidity. All bacteria need 

 slightly alkaline soils, and while this is more- 

 essential for alfalfa than other legumes, neverthe- 

 less luxuriant crops of even the annual legumes 

 cannot be secured on acid soils. 



Perhaps the best way to obtain a good stand of 

 alfalfa is to sow about a pound to the acre with a 

 previous crop, such as clover, soy beans, or crops 

 of this nature, and thereby inoculate the land with 

 alfalfa bacteria before the alfalfa is seeded. It is 

 not economical to be stingy with alfalfa seed, for 

 thin places cannot be patched up, and if a full 

 stand is not obtained it is better to plow under and 

 reseed. It is difficult to get red clover to grow 

 by seeding it into thin grass, but it is almost impos- 

 sible with alfalfa. 



The annual legumes, as soy beans and Canada 

 peas planted with oats, can be planted any time 

 in the spring after all danger of frost has passed, 

 and will mature in August or a little later, depend- 

 ing upon the luxuriance of the plant growth. If 

 peas and oats are planted too late the oats do not 

 grow well on account of the hot weather, and hence 

 do not make a good shade and support for the 

 climbing peas. As these annual legumes remain 

 on the land such a short time it is quite likely that 

 they use up more nitrogen from the soil in com- 

 parison with what they put back than do the 

 perennial legumes. For this reason, all other 

 things being equal, the perennials should be given 

 preference as a fertilizer crop. 



Connecticut. E. M. East. 



