< 
NEW YORK, JUNE 27 , i89i. 
PRICE, FIVE CENTS, 
$ 3.00 PER YEAR. 
HENRY STEWART. 
ENRY STEWART has been a contributor to agri¬ 
cultural periodicals and editor of two for nearly 80 
years. He was reared on a dairy farm of which his 
mother undertook the entire management and there he 
learned the lessons of perfect cleanliness and neatness in 
the dairy which have never been forgotten. These early 
associations led him in after years to make dairying his 
favorite pursuit, in connection with the rearing of sheep. 
After graduating at a college, he went to Europe to study 
medicine, and spent five years in the largest hospital in 
England as a student and assistant surgeon. Giving up 
this profession, he studied civil and mining engineering in 
England and France until his 25th year, spending con¬ 
siderable time in traveling through Europe during his 
vacations, giving much attention to European agriculture 
and the various agricultural schools. On his return home, 
he purchased a farm in Michigan, where he was also 
engaged in railroad engineering for a short time. Leaving 
the West, he returned to the East with his only son, and 
settled for a short time in Pennsylvania, where he estab¬ 
lished a dairy and sheep farm. He then removed to Brook¬ 
lyn, while his son completed his education, and 
then he lived for several years at Hackensack, N. 
J., near New York, where he undertook the re¬ 
storation of one of the poorest farms in that State, 
making of it in the course of a few years a fertile, 
successful and profitable butter dairy farm. Dur¬ 
ing this time a long and laborious course of ex¬ 
periments in feeding cows, in the management of 
milk and cream and the making of butter was 
carried on, and the nature and character of milk 
and its products were investigated. The results 
of this work are given in his American Dairyman’s 
Manual. 
Mr. Stewart’s first contributions to agricultural 
literature were made to the Country Gentleman, 
to which paper he still occasionally contributes. His 
articles attracted the attention of the publishers 
of the American Agriculturist, who offered him 
the position of agricultural editor, which he 
accepted in 1870, and retained for 12 years. He 
soon after became the agricultural editor of the 
New York Times, which position he now fills. 
About 15 years ago he became a contributor to 
The Rural New-Yorker, in whose columns his 
articles still appear. For the past five years Mr. 
Stewart has been a resident of Western North 
Carolina, where he has a large tract of mountain 
forest land, comprising scattered farms, which he 
cultivates with the object principally of improv¬ 
ing the common, imperfect methods of culture 
practiced by the mountain farmers, and in that 
salubrious and pleasant climate recuperating his 
health which suffered from the prevalent malaria 
of his New Jersey home. 
Mr. Stewart is the author of The Sheperd’s Man¬ 
ual ; Irrigation for the Farm, Orchard and Garden, 
and The Culture of Farm Crops, in addition to 
his Dairyman’s Manual. He is now in his G2nd 
year, but, having never lost one day by sickness 
during his whole life, he is still robust and able to 
do his usual work on the farm as well as to comply with 
the constant demands upon his pen. 
Only after repeated solicitations would Mr. Stewart 
consent to the publication of his picture. It does not do 
him justice at all, as the engraving is made from a small, 
imperfect photograph, the result of home amateur work. 
Mr. Stewart is of a peculiarly retiring disposition. In¬ 
stead of pushing himself forward or seeking public recog¬ 
nition, he has persistently shrunk from it. His work has 
been a work of true love. The writer of this note well 
remembers that when Mr. Stewart first began to write 
for The Rural New-Yorker he insisted that his name 
should not appear. Indeed, during his twelve years’ con¬ 
nection with the American Agriculturist the fact was 
quite unknown to the mass of its patrons and the same 
may be said as to the New York Times. 
It is the opinion of The Rural New-Yorker, that Mr. 
Stewart, through his experiments, studies and writings, 
has done more for American agriculture (using the word 
in its broadest sense) than any other individual in the 
country, and this has been due to his thorough early 
scientific training, and to his never-ceasing perseverance 
an I energy, which have enabled him wisely to conceive 
and direct his farm practice through life. 
CHEMICALS AND CLOVER. 
GRASS, GRAIN, WHEAT AND POTATOES. 
New Jersey Competes with the West. 
Two years ago we had quite a little to say about the 
fertilizer farmers near Cranbury, New Jersey. We were 
curious to know how these farms have prospered with 
continued heavy dressings of fertilizers and little stable 
manure. Those who practice mixed husbandry and de¬ 
pend upon large quantities of stable manure for growing 
their crops are confident that fertilizers will not do well 
in time of drought—that stable manure is of itself an aid 
in dry weather, not only supplying water directly to the 
soil, but acting as a mulch as well. As this year has been 
the driest for some time, we were enabled to judge of the 
connections between farming with chemicals and drought. 
For the benefit of newer readers we will briefly review the 
practices In this section. 
Four crops are grown, potatoes, wheat, grass two years 
and corn. The potatoes are planted In drills with over 
1,500 pounds of high-grade fertilizer to the acre. The 
potato ground Is plowed and seeded to wheat in the fall. 
with Timothy and clover added in the spring. After two 
years of grass, what stable manure is made is hauled out 
in summer and put on the sod. This is plowed in the 
spring and the ground is planted to corn to be followed 
the next spring by potatoes and so on through the rota¬ 
tion. The theory of this system of fertilizing is that the 
heavy dressing of potato fertilizer will not only produce a 
profitable crop of potatoes, but will leave enough fertility 
in the soil to maintain the wheat and grass. The stable 
manure and clover sod are used for the corn because that 
is the great scavenger of the farm, better able to appropriate 
the coarser manures than any of the other crops. It has a 
longer life, a better digestion and a stouter heart than any 
other crop in the rotation. As little stock as possible out¬ 
side of the work teams, is kept, and no particular pains 
are taken to incr ease the amount of stable manure. 
Trusting Their Money to Potatoes. 
Mr. D. C. Lewis is the pioneer of this unique system of 
farming, and his farm is about the best illustration of the 
possibilities of chemical manuring. He has 100 acres, in¬ 
cluding woodland, pasture and house lot. This year’s 
potato field contains 17 acres and it would trouble farmers 
in any part of the country to show a more promising field 
of equal size. On this one field there were applied, this 
spring 107 bags or 21,400 pounds of high-grade fertilizer, 
costing considerably over $450 in cash. In former years, 
the fertilizer was all applied at planting, but this year a 
portion was reserved for the first cultivating. It was put 
on with the drill and Immediately cultivated in. Mr. 
Lewis believes that this second dressing not only gives the 
potato roots a better chance to grow and stretch out for 
their food, but that it gives a better distribution of the 
fertilizer for the wheat which is to follow. The potato is 
the best crop on which to use the fertilizer for several 
reasons. It is a heavy feeder and needs its food in a solu¬ 
ble form, as the growth of the tubers Is made in a com¬ 
paratively short time. When well cultivated through the 
growing season this crop leaves the soil in fine condition 
for wheat seeding. The fertilizers give smoother and bet¬ 
ter flavored potatoes than those grown with stable man¬ 
ure and no other crop would pay back the original cost of 
the fertilizers and leave a profit besides. 
For these reasons Mr. Lewis is not at all afraid to shovel 
the fertilizer on to the potato ground. His land grows 
stronger and stronger with each round of the rotation, yet 
he has not yet reached the limit of his fertilizing. He ex¬ 
pects to work up to 2,000 pounds per acre and 
make a profit on the increase. He Is convinced 
that most failures with fertilizers are due to the 
fact that not enough was used. He is willing to 
trust his soil with $50 worth of soluble fertilizers 
per acre, confident that he will get every penny of 
it back with higher interest than he can obtain 
from any other investment. 
There was hardly a weed to be found in this 17- 
acre field, so thoroughly and carefully had the 
crop been cultivated. Most of it was planted with 
the Aspinwall planter, a few rows only of choice 
seed being planted by hand. There has been quite 
a little discussion this year as to the relative profit 
of hand or machine planting, and many have 
stated that the planter gave too many “misses.” 
In Mr. Lewis’s field, however, the hand-planted 
rows are more uneven than those that were ma¬ 
chine-planted. This year for the first time, Mr. 
Lewis has used Breed’s weeder and the Buckeye 
riding cultivator. He gives these tools full credit 
for the splendid condition in which his soil is 
found. The weeder was kept continually at work 
until the vines were so high that leaves were torn 
off in running the tool through the rows. The 
whole 17 acres were “ weeded ” in \% day with a 
fast-walking mule. The Buckeye cultivator is 
now at work in the field, lightly stirring the entire 
surface and slightly ridging up the rows, till the 
ground is as mellow and fine as an ash heap—all 
ready to absorb the moisture sent by the lightest 
shower. With this Buckeye cultivator a man can 
ride over the entire field in 2 % days, doing more 
and better work than four men could with one- 
horse cultivators. Every tooth of the cultivator 
is under Immediate control of the rider—no jerk¬ 
ing, twisting or striking is possible. Mr. Lewis 
indorses Mr. Terry’s idea of prepar.ng a mulch by 
lightly stirring the surface soil. In farming with 
chemicals, good culture and the conservation of 
all possible moisture Are of the utmost importance. Where 
the ground is fine and open, the soluble fertilizers will 
make use of the smallest quantities of water. The potato 
beetles are plenty this year. They are fought with Paris- 
green and water—a two-wheeled sprinkler drawn by one 
horse will run over the entire field in two days. Farmers 
are interested in the use of the Bordeaux Mixture to pre¬ 
vent blight and are prepared to try it at an indication of 
the disease. 
Wheat and Grass at a Second Table. 
After the potatoes have eaten all of the fertilizers they 
need the wheat and grass come to the table. There is food 
enough left to provide a full meal and they are not at all 
bashful about appropriating it. Sometimes a light dress¬ 
ing of fertilizers is put on the grass in the spring, or, when 
the season promises to be dry, a little nitrate of soda is put 
on the wheat to induce a rapid growth early in the season, 
but in the great majority of cases the fertilizers left in the 
ground by the potatoes provide ample food for one crop of 
wheat and two of grass. And such wheat and grass as 
these fertilizer fields can show this year I The wheat 
promised an average of over 30 bushels per acre and the 
grass will certainly cut 2% tons. And this without an 
ounce of stable manure and with no other fertilizers than 
HENRY STEWART. Fig. 177. 
