302 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER. 
May  7 
The  Virtues  of  Crimson 
Clover. 
It  Bringrs  Health  to  the  Peach  Trees. 
G.  H.  M.,  Viola,  Delaware. — Hide 
where  you  will  through  Kent  County, 
Delaware,  and  you  will  note  many  plots, 
large  or  small,  of  Scarlet  Clover,  grown 
partly  for  soiling  or  the  silo,  but  prim¬ 
arily  for  the  purpose  of  enriching  the  soil. 
Some  of  our  agricultural  Solomons  have 
told  us  that  one  bushel  of  Scarlet  Clover 
seed  properly  sown  would  improve  our 
lands  more  than  a  ton  of  first-class  com¬ 
mercial  fertilizer,  and  judging  from  ap¬ 
pearances  many  of  our  farmers  are  try¬ 
ing  the  experiment.  During  the  summer 
of  1890  1  decided  to  give  this  clover  a  fair 
test  on  my  own  grounds,  proposing  to 
sow  the  seed  at  the  rate  of  12  pounds  per 
acre  in  my  peach  orchard  and  among  my 
growing  corn.  I  selected  a  block  of  1,000 
Mountain  Rose  peach  trees,  eight  years 
old,  that  had  borne  in  succession  three 
heavy  crops,  and  although  they  had  re¬ 
ceived  a  moderate  dressing  of  bone  meal 
and  muriate  of  potash  each  year,  and  also 
in  the  spring  of  1890,  yet  the  growth  of 
new  wood  plainly  showed  exhaustion  and 
it  was  evident  that  some  change  must  be 
made  in  the  fertilizers  supplied  I  sowed 
the  clover  seed  in  August,  harrowing  it  in 
with  an  ordinary  spike-tooth  harrow,  and 
by  April  20,  1891,  the  ground  was  covered 
with  a  heavy  growth  of  clover,  in  many 
places  two  feet  high,  before  any  heads 
appeared.  All  this  green  mass  was  plowed 
under — and  a  difficult  job  it  was,  for 
although  this  clover  has  no  tap  root,  its 
surface  roots  are  very  dense.  The  plow 
was  followed  by  the  roller  and  four  weeks 
later  a  Cutaway  harrow  was  run  across 
the  furrows,  cutting,  tearing  and  thor¬ 
oughly  mixing  the  whole  mass.  Up  to 
that  time  the  trees  had  looked  in  bad 
condition,  showing  pale,  yellow  foliage 
and  only  feeble  growth  ;  but  almost  at 
once  a  change  took  place  ;  the  foliage 
became  dark  and  a  vigorous  growth  of 
wood  was  started,  and  maintained,  matur¬ 
ing  and  ripening  in  proper  season,  and, 
last  but  not  least,  the  soil  was  much 
lightened,  so  that  in  every  respect  the 
final  results  were  satisfactory.  Hence  as 
a  stimulating  change.  I  shall  continue 
occasionally  to  sow  Scarlet  Clover  in  my 
orchard,  but  shall  not  discontinue  the  use 
of  bone  meal  and  potash. 
As  proposed,  the  clover  seed  was  sown 
among  the  growing  corn,  at  the  last 
working  (a  shallow  harrowing);  by  May 
10,  1891,  it  was  in  full  bloom  and  a  heavy 
crop  was  cut,  providing  a  very  large 
quantity  of  provender  which  was  keenly 
relished  by  horses,  mules  and  cows. 
The  stubble  was  plowed  at  once  and  fod¬ 
der  corn  sown  in  rows  of  suitable  width 
for  convenient  tillage.  The  condition  of 
the  soil  was  a  surprise  to  me:  there  was 
a  fluffiness  or  spongy  feeling  about  it 
that  I  have  observed  only  in  new  land 
containing  much  humus;  in  fact,  I  am  not 
sure  that  I  robbed  the  soil  of  any  very 
valuable  substance  when  I  took  away  the 
green  growth.  The  growth  of  fodder 
was  enormous  and  of  a  dark  green  color, 
showing  abundant  supplies  of  nitrogen. 
As  a  result  of  this  experiment  I  sowed 
all  my  corn  fields  last  July  with  the 
clover,  and  I  now  have  a  fine  prospect, 
though  the  growth  is  not  so  far  advanced 
as  at  the  same  date  last  year.  I  have  ap¬ 
plied  a  dressing  of  freshly  slaked  lime, 
and  shall  plow  the  clover  under  and  plant 
with  corn  again  by  the  10th  of  May;  with 
a  favorable  season  I  expect  an  increased 
crop.  Some  of  my  friends  contend  that 
this  course  can  be  pursued  indefinitely 
and  with  increasing  fertility.  I  observe, 
however,  that  the  second  sowing  does  not 
thrive  as  well  as  the  first,  and  I  think  it 
must  require  a  renewal  of  some  elements 
of  fertility  which  its  own  growth  ex¬ 
hausts,  to  produce  successive  good  crops. 
As  I  propose  sowing  my  corn  ground  a 
second  time  this  summer,  I  shall  apply 
with  the  seed  a  fair  amount  of  dissolved 
animal  bone  and  muriate  of  potash,  hop¬ 
ing  thus  to  secure  another  fine  growth  of 
the  clover. 
Marking:  the  Sheep. 
F.  H.  Valentine,  New  Jersey. — In 
answer  to  L.  D.,  page  253,  when  I  was  a 
boy,  the  farmers  who  kept  sheep  used  to 
mark  them,  after  shearing,  with  lamp 
black  mixed  with  oil,  and  put  on  with  a 
common  paint  brush.  The  lambs  were 
also  marked  at  the  same  time.  Some 
used  a  cheap  red  paint  for  the  purpose. 
If  the  flock  is  marked  in  this  way,  either 
with  letters  or  figures,  care  being  taken 
to  make  the  characters  all  on  one  side  and 
of  good  size,  a  flock  can  easily  be  looked 
over  without  handling  the  animals.  As 
this  method  was  largely  used,  I  presume 
it  was  not  considered  injurious  to  the 
wool,  and  it  is  certainly  more  humane 
than  branding. 
H.  M.  F.,  South  Bloomfield,  N.  Y. — L. 
D.  can  mark  his  sheep  on  the  hip  or  fore¬ 
shoulder  with  any  number  desired  by 
having  a  set  of  pewter  types  with  han¬ 
dles  of  iron.  The  numerals  should  be  2% 
to  3  inches  long.  From  the  nine  digits  and 
the  cipher  0,  all  required  numbers  may 
be  printed  on  the  newly-shorn  sheep 
with  Venetian  red  and  boiled  linseed  oil. 
I  have  kept  a  record  of  the  we  ght  of  each 
fleece  by  this  method,  and  by  this  means 
was  able  to  sort  out  and  sell  my  lightest 
shearers.  Ear  tags  are  used  now  by  all 
standard  Merino  breeders. 
“  Suppose  the  Soil  Needs  Potash  P” 
Joseph  Harris,  Monroe  County,  N.  Y. 
— In  The  Rural  New-Yorker  for  April 
16,  I  alluded  to  a  Wisconsin  nurseryman 
who  could  get  stable  manure  for  the 
hauling  and  who,  nevertheless,  wanted 
to  try  “chemicals.”  He  wanted  some¬ 
thing  that  would  make  his  nursery  trees 
grow  vigorously  in  spring  and  summer, 
but  which  would  not  continue  to  force  an 
over-luxuriant  growth  in  the  autumn 
months.  To  enable  them  to  stand  the 
winter  it  is  necessary  that  the  buds  and 
branches  should  be  thoroughly  matured. 
I  told  him  to  try  nitrate  of  soda  and 
superphosphate.  Nitrate  will  stimulate 
growth  early  in  the  season,  while  one  of 
the  characteristic  effects  of  superphos¬ 
phate  is  to  induce  early  maturity. 
“  But,”  asked  the  editor  of  The  Rural 
New-Yorker,  “  suppose  the  soil  needs  pot¬ 
ash  ?”  Very  true.  And  suppose  it  needs 
lime  or  soda  or  magnesia  or  sulphur  ? 
Plants  will  not  grow  without  lime  or 
magnesia  any  more  than  they  will  with¬ 
out  potash.  I  assumed  that  an  intelligent 
nurseryman  who  could  get  stable  manure 
half  a  mile  away  for  nothing  would  use 
it  with  a  liberal  hand.  And  if  so,  then 
his  land  is  not  deficient  in  potash. 
A  poor  sandy  farm  from  which  hay, 
straw  and  potatoes  are  sold  and  where 
nothing  but  “  phosphates”  had  been  used 
as  manure,  would  soon  lack  potash,  but 
land  on  which  stable  manure  is  freely 
used  is  seldom  deficient  in  it.  It  is  true 
that  even  on  such  land  potash  may  do 
good  on  some  crops,  but  unless  I  had 
money  to  throw  away  I  should  seldom 
buy  a  fertilizer  containing  potash  for 
such  crops  as  wheat,  barley,  oats,  rye, 
corn  or,  I  think,  for  potatoes,  beets, 
onions,  carrots  or  turnips. 
The  weak  point  in  all  our  talk  about 
fertilizers  is  that  we  know  so  little  about 
the  special  wants  of  particular  crops. 
For  instance,  judging  by  the  old  experi¬ 
ment  of  Lawes  &  Gilbert  on  English 
beans,  made  over  40  years  ago,  it  is  quite 
probable  that  potash  may  be  a  profitable 
fertilizer  for  our  ordinary  fieffi  beans. 
But  to  this  day,  so  far  as  I  know,  the  ex¬ 
periment  has  not  been  made. 
Probably  I  do  not  make  my  meaning 
clear.  What  we  want  is  some  crop  that 
will  pay  well  for  heavy  potash  manuring. 
If  beans,  peas,  vetches,  clover,  etc.,  are 
such  crops,  then  by  selling  nothing  but 
the  seed,  which  contains  comparatively 
little  potash,  we  could  soon  make  our 
land  rich  in  potash.  Animals  take  little 
potash  from  the  food  eaten.  It  is  prac¬ 
tically  all  returned  to  the  land  in  the 
manure. 
Which  May  Remind  You. 
Ur  to  this  time  the  following  varieties 
of  strawberry  have  been  planted  at  the 
Rural  Grounds :  Van  Deman,  E.  P.  Roe, 
Auburn,  Gillespie,  Leviathan,  Princess, 
Latest  of  All  (an  English  variety),  Belle 
Bordelaise,  Brunette,  Princeton  Chief, 
Iowa  Beauty,  (second  trial.  This  is  im¬ 
properly  called  Childs)  ;  Street,  Swindle, 
Gen.  Putnam,  Wentzell,  Yankee  Doodle 
and  Arkansas  Traveler ;  all  planted  be¬ 
side  other  kinds  for  comparison . 
Among  raspberries  recently  planted 
we  have  the  Royal  Church,  which  Mr.  C. 
A.  Green  believes  to  be  the  most  valuable 
new  red  of  the  age  ;  Superlative,  a  new 
red  of  high  promise  ;  Mineola  and  Cham¬ 
pion . 
Among  gooseberries,  we  have  the 
Columbus  and  several  promising  seed¬ 
lings  not  yet  named. 
Among  blackberries  and  currants  there 
seems  to  be  nothing  new . 
The  following  is  a  list  of  now  potatoes 
which  were  planted  April  18  in  a  sandy- 
loam  soil  of  low  fertility,  enriched  by 
liberal  applications  of  farm  manure  and 
fertilizers,  strictly  in  accordance  with 
the  Rural  Trench  System  :  Woodbury’s 
White,  Snowdrop,  Restaurant,  Quick’s 
Seedling,  Koshkonong,  Pink  Rose,  Halo 
of  Dakota,  Molly  Stark,  American  Won¬ 
der,  Ideal,  Hampden  Beauty,  Eureka, 
Mount  Carbon,  Advance,  Freeman,  second 
year,  Rockland  Prize  and  several  other 
kinds  not  yet  named . 
Jacob  C.  Bauer,  of  Judsonia,  Ark.,  is 
the  originator  of  the  Van  Deman  Straw¬ 
berry  and  his  method  of  introducing  it  is 
one  that  may  be  commended  to  those  who 
print  all  the  favorable  things  they  can 
collect,  and  not  one  of  the  unfavorable 
reports  that  may  be  made  regarding  it. 
Mr.  Bauer  sent  a  dozen  plants  of  the  Van 
Deman  to  each  of  27  experiment  stations, 
and  in  his  circular  the  station  reports  are 
given  alike  whether  good  or  bad.  For 
instance,  the  Alabama  (Auburn)  Station 
(Continued  on  next  page.) 
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The  Importance  of  taking  a  good  Spring  Medi¬ 
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We  also  manufacture  the  Celebrated 
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BE  HAPPY  WHILE  YOU  LIVE,  FOR 
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1892. 
fsEEjjl 
:ATAL00w 
For  Over  Thirty  Tears 
we  have  always  had  very  pleasant  dealings  together,  the 
public  and  myself,  and  I  again  have  the  pleasure  of 
presenting  to  them  my  Annual  Vegetable  and 
Flower  Seed  Catalogue.  It  contains  .the  usual 
1892/ 
immense  variety  of  seed,  with  such  new  kinds  added 
as  have  proved  to  be  real  acquisitions.  Raising  many 
of  these  varieties  myself,  on  my  four  seed  farms, 
and  testing  others,  I  am  able  to  warrant  their  fresh¬ 
ness  and  purity,  under  such  reasonable  conditions  as  are  con¬ 
tained  in  my  Catalogue.  Having  been  their  original  intro¬ 
ducer,  I  am  headquarters  for  choice  Cory  Com,  Miller  Melon. 
Eclipse  Beet,  Hubbard  Squash,  Deep  Head,  All  Seasons  and 
'  Warren  Cabbage,  Etc.,  Etc.  Catalogue  FREE  to  all. 
a.  a.  II.  GREGORY  as  SON,  Marblehead,  Mas*. 
