S38 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
TULY 18 
CHEMICALS AND CLOVER. 
( Concluded) 
A Review of the Matter. 
Several reasons have induced us to write 
an extended report of the system of farm¬ 
ing with chemicals. It is a new thing to 
most of oar readers—unique and striking. 
It is quite popular nowadays to say that 
Eastern farm lands are “running out,” 
and that because a limit has been reached 
in the free, rich lands of the far West, 
wheat production has also reached its 
limit. Most agricultural writers seem to 
have settled upon the belief that the wheat 
product of the country east of the Alle- 
ghanles cannot be perceptibly increased— 
1, because the soil is too poor or worn out, 
and, 2, because other crops—fruits, vege¬ 
tables, etc.—will pay the farmer better. 
The facts are that wherever chemical fer¬ 
tilizers have been judiciously used the yield 
of wheat per acre has increased. The 
Genesee Valley in New York State was 
once the greatest wheat producing region 
in the country. While the great bulk of 
our wheat supply now comes from the 
country west of the Mississippi, the yield 
in the Genesee Valley is greater in quantity 
and greater per acre than it ever was, 
though the production of fruits, vegetables 
and dairy products has increased flfcyfold. 
This is due to improved agricultural 
methods in which chemical fertilizers have 
played an important part. But the wastes 
of meat production have done much to 
keep up the fertility of the Genesee Valley 
and there are thousands of acres where 
meat can be made only at a loss. Accord¬ 
ing to the majority of our agricultural 
writers such lands are worthless in an at¬ 
tempt to increase the wheat product be¬ 
cause wheat growing and stock keeping 
must go together—wheat must be the 
servant and retainer of farm animals. But 
is this so ? 
Certainly the farms we have described at 
Cranbury do not show it. Here we have 
farms usiDg only the manure from one 
animal on 10 or 12 acres growing stronger 
and more productive with each round of 
the rotation. That 100-acre farm described 
in previous articles, produces wheat, corn, 
grass and potatoes—the crops that are sup¬ 
posed to belong, by right of location and 
natural adaptability, to the West. We 
have never heard of any 100 acre farm in 
the West, where stable manure is used in¬ 
stead of the fertilizers used by these New 
Jersey farmers, that produced anywhere 
near the amount of these four staples that 
are grown on this New Jersey farm 1 That 
farm’s products this year will sell for but 
little less than 14 000. We shall be pleased 
to learn of any stable manure farm of equal 
size that will sell half that amout of these 
four staples. These are strong statements, 
but they are made with confidence. Farm¬ 
ers may well ponder them. Science is 
rapidly freezing the “old rut” over. The 
man who sticks inside it until the crust 
hardens over him is beyond the help of love 
or legislation. This “ chemical and clover” 
farming is one of the best illustrations of 
the possibilities that lie within the reach 
of the American farmer, that our history 
can show. Ht re are farms that were in cul¬ 
tivation when Washington made New Jer¬ 
sey “the battle path of the Revolution” 
and called upon the loyal farmers to supply 
his starving troops with food. If there is 
any truth at all in the accepted theories of 
“soil exhaustion” and the absolute neces¬ 
sity of live stock keepiDg to maintain fer¬ 
tility, this should be the last soil in the 
country to compete with the rich lands of 
the West with scarcely 40 years of cropping 
behind them. Yet they are doing it suc¬ 
cessfully. It is a mighty object-lesson— 
this careful application of the principles of 
science in agriculture. 
Creed of the Chemical Farmer. 
This may be stated in a few words: 
“ Supply a full meal of the cheapest ma 
nure to the best plants of the crops that 
suit your market and farm! ” Cnemlcal 
fertilizers are cheaper than stable manures 
for several reasons: 
1. Meat making does not pay, and the 
cost of hauling and spreading city manure 
is too great. 
2. The plant-food in chemical fertilizers 
is more available and better suited to the 
wants of the potato plant than that in stable 
manure. It costs less than the grain that 
must be fed to stock to give stable manure 
any value. Strong clover sod, with chemi¬ 
cals fed directly to the soil, gives better, 
cleaner and cheaper manure than clover hay 
and grain fed to farm animals. 
3 . On compact, level soil fertilizers are 
as permanent as stable manure. No rain 
can wash them so far into the soil that the 
roots of a clover plant cannot follow and 
capture them. Without clover they might 
be lost: with clover, never. 
It is well enough for farmers everywhere 
to figure the cost of clover hay acd grain. 
Use the manure that shows the greatest 
difference between its price and the pi ice 
of its product. 
A “full meal ” means all the crop can 
be induced to appropriate, and, in the 
Cranbury rotation, enough for the wheat 
and grass also. A potato plant cannot kill 
Itself by over-eating. It cannot take more 
food than it can digest, but it must have 
enough to eat or it will be stunted and in¬ 
ferior. It is bel ter to give too much than 
too little, for the residue is as safe in the 
soil as it is in the barn. Anything that 
stimulates the growth of clover is a good 
thing. Its very growth and root develop¬ 
ment help the soil. Feed enough of what 
the plant needs and never let it stop growth 
while there is water enough to make the 
manure available. Prof. Yoorhees of New 
Jersey tells of a farmer who has grown rye 
on one field for five successive years. He 
fertilizes each year with only potash and 
phosphoric acid and plows under the weeds 
to furnish nitrogen and organic matter. 
He sells all his grain and straw and claims 
profitable and increasing crops. That soil 
and that crop do not need more nitrogen, 
but in a rotation it would be needed and we 
would like to try the effect of a heavy d ise 
of complete fertilizer on the rye. It is well 
known that there is a difference in the 
yielding capacity of different varieties of 
potatoes. The chemical farmers watch the 
new varieties and try to plant those that 
have the power to use up the greatest 
amount of fertilizer. With every 15 pounds 
of dry matter the potato combines 45 
pounds of water and makes a bushel. Any 
increase In its ability to appropriate fer¬ 
tilizers and grow more or larger tubers 
means a like increase in Its ability to turn 
more water into a salable product. The 
potato grower has greater need of hunting 
for new and more vigorous varieties than 
any other farmer. The same is true to a 
less extent of wheats, but Timothy and 
clover cannot be improved upon, the first 
because the market demands it, and the 
second because Nature never made any¬ 
thing better for doing the same work. 
A Few Conclusions. 
The best farm for this system of chemi¬ 
cal farming would seem to be one level or 
nearly so, with a portion, at least, of natur¬ 
ally good potato soil. 
The best way to start such a system 
would be with the potato crop, using at 
least 1,000 pounds of fertilizer per acre, put¬ 
ting all the stable manure on the corn and 
broadcasting some fertilizer on the wheat 
and grass. The more fertilizer used, the 
cleaner and more careful the needed culti¬ 
vation. Where the soil is kept constantly 
stirred and loosened, a very light shower 
will show an effect on the plants at once— 
quicker than if stable manure is used. Too 
much of the stable manure applied to soils 
is found in thick, hard lumps as useless 
for plant food as so much wood until 
soaked through by abundant water. 
A system of chemical farming must in¬ 
clude some crop that is largely water, 
which makes a quick growth, sells at a 
good price, and can give a large cTop per 
acre and utilize most of the nitrogen in the 
fertilizer. With the majority of farmers, 
potatoes will fill this place better tuan any 
other crop. 
Chemical farming will pay In any local¬ 
ity where the cost of chemicals and clover 
sod is less than that of the manure made 
from clover or other hay and grain. The 
common objection to chemical farming 
grows out of the fact that this comparison 
of manure cost has never been fairly made. 
Chemical farming without clover will fail. 
What the farmer wants to study out is 
the compirative cost of the nitrogen, pot¬ 
ash and phosphoric acid in stable manure as 
compared with their cost in the fertilizer. 
Hundreds of farmers now realize that it 
pays them to sell their whole grain and buy 
waste or by-products like bran, shorts or 
oil meal. The chemical farmer has gone 
even further and found that it pays him to 
sell his nitrogen, potash and phosphoric 
acid—combined with water— in the finished 
state, and buy them dry in the crude state. 
We are on the eve of a wonderful develop¬ 
ment in scientific farming. Dliven by 
ambition, by scientific investigation or by 
poverty, farmers are coming nearer and 
nearer to the truths that underlie a ration¬ 
al and profitable treatment of the soil. The 
faith that one inch added to the tillable 
depth of one acre of land is worth more 
than the whole suxface of five new acres, is 
the rock upon which American agiiculture 
must fasten itself. There is hope and pros¬ 
perity in the future for the farmer who 
will be true to his farm. No naturally 
good land within reasonable distance of a 
market need ever be turned out as a pau¬ 
per or helpless cripple. 
A LONG ISLAND FAIR. 
[RURAL SPECIAL REPORT.] 
The25th annual fair of the Queens County 
Agricultural Society was held at Mineola, 
Long Island, on June 17 and 18. The 
weather for the last six or eight wreks had 
been very trying to vegetation, only two or 
three light showers having fallen in all 
the time, and those not enough to wet the 
ground scarcely two inches deep, so that the 
display of fruits and vegetables was not 
up to those of previous years, though the 
exhibit of strawberries was very creditable, 
taking into account the dry and excessively 
hot weather of the previous week during 
which the thermometer registered 93° to 
98° in the shade. Most of the fruit shown 
was grown by parties who grow for their 
own use, only two who grow for market 
being on the list. The largest growers did 
not care to attend, as they say the pre¬ 
miums offered do not pay for their loss of 
time. 
Of the strawberries shown the Sharpless 
attracted the most attention, and next 
came the Jersey Queen, both being of large 
size. The value of the Sharpless is greatly 
lessened by Its irregular ripening. The 
berry of best quality was the Mineola. 
Though not so large as the Sharpless, it is 
a large berry, and ripens evenly. No other 
new berries of any great merit were ex¬ 
hibited though two or three promised 
well. _ 
Cherries were well represented ana 60 
were currants and gooseberries. Of the 
currants a seedling found on the farm of the 
late Nathaniel Hallock, of Ulster County, 
bids fair to be a leading variety. It has 
never been boomed, but parties there are 
quietly planting acres of it. Its merits 
seem to be that it is as large as the Cherry 
with longer clutters and the fruit is more 
evenly distributed along the limbs, so that 
the ripe fruit can be more easily gathered 
with less liability to be crushed. With me 
it has outborne the Fay. On younger 
plants the clusters are long (10 to 14 on a 
bunch often) and the fruit is of a mild acid 
flavor. I think it an acquisition. 
The display of vegetables was good. The 
potatoes were of fine size for market. The 
beets, cauliflowers, cabbages, peas and 
beans were in great quantities. 
The show of flowers was, as usual, large. 
The amateur class have fairly crowded 
out the professional in quantity and al¬ 
most in quality. This is In a measure 
due to the reduction in the value of 
the prizes In the professional class, while 
no reduction was made in the amateur 
class, and there are few or no professionals 
who are enthusiastic enough to spend two 
or three days in getting up an exhibition 
for a $5 prize. They must get a money in¬ 
ducement or they will not exhibit. Much 
discussion among the fruit and vegetable 
growers indicated that if more liberality 
was not shown they would make no show 
in future; for they say that horses absorb 
all the premiums. 
Agricultural implements were well rep¬ 
resented in all classes of labor-saving ma¬ 
chines. Prominent among them were 
three or four road machines which the re¬ 
cent ditcussions on improved roads brought 
forward. 
The attendance was slim. The main at¬ 
traction seemed to be the horse trots, and 
at all times 75 per cent of the visitors could 
be found in the grand stand, watching by 
the hour to see a lot of drivers get the ad¬ 
vantage of one another in a start, then two 
or four minutes of excitement and a repe¬ 
tition of the jockeying performances. 
Now are the managers justified in not 
giving toe people whatthey want and what 
they pay their money for? 
“True, ’tis, ’tis a pity. Pity’tis ’tistrue” 
that a gr. at majority of the visitors lounge 
through the hall glancing at a few of the 
exhibits and go to the race track and stay. 
When 8re we to have agricultural fairs 
that will pay? I would go a good way to 
see one. H-K. 
One cent will mail this paper to 
your friend in any part of the United 
States, Canada or Mexico, after 
you have read it and written your 
name on the corner. 
DO YOU LIKE ICE CREAM? 
OF COURSE YOU DO. 
Well, then, If you have no Ice-Cream Freezer, 
or a poor one, read this. 
Ice cream well made is a wholesome re¬ 
freshment. Almost every farmer nowadays 
has his own ice, and he can spare a little 
milk and cream now and then. Ice is cheap 
this year anyway. In fact the farmer who 
does not pro¬ 
vide ice cream 
for his fami¬ 
ly at least 
once a week, 
does not live 
up to his priv¬ 
ileges. The 
R N.-Y. has 
tried about 
every kind of 
freezer made, 
and finds this 
one to be a 
perfect im 
plement. We 
offer only the large four quart freezer. 
Price, $3. Given for only one new yearly 
subscription at $2, and four trials at 25 
cents each. For sale, to our subscribers 
only, at $2. 
5 Years Free. 
NOW TAKE PICTURES 
WITH 
THE KODAK CAMERA. 
Anybody can Work It. 
A 5-YEAIlS’ SUIi SCRIPT ION FREE. 
Everybody has heard of the famous and 
efficient little Kodak Camera with which 
anybody can quickly learn how to take 
photographs of anything under the sun ; 
landscapes, babies, sweethearts, cousins, 
uncles, animals, flowers, trees. boats and 
birds, etc. We havr 
arranged to offer tb 
Kodak in two ways 
as a premium for 20 
new subscriptions at 
$2; and also in our 
list of premiums for 
the largest clubs to 
be announced later. 
Price, $25; or given for five subscriptions at 
the club price of $1 50 and $18 additional. 
US?" To each purchaser at $25 we will 
give a 5 YEARS’ subscription to The 
Rural New-Yorker .JgH 
Descriptive circular of the Kodak will be 
sent on application. Send for it and learn 
what a really wonderful little apparatus 
this is. 
Horticulturist's 
Rule-Book. 
It contains, in handy and concise form, a 
great number of rules and recipes required 
by gardeners, fruit-grow* rs, truckers, flor¬ 
ists, farmers, etc. 
By L H. BAILEY. 
Editor of “ The American Garden,” Horticulture 
of the Cornell Experiment Station and Professor 
of Horticulture in Cornell University. 
CONTENTS. 
Injurious Insects, with preventives and remedies. 
Fungicides for plant disease®. FI<nt diseases, with 
E r*-venlives and remedies Injuries from mice, mb¬ 
its, birds, etc. with preventives and remedies. 
Waxes and washes lor gratting and for wounds, 
cements paints, etc. 
Srf.d Tables - Quantities required for sowing given 
areas. Weight and size of se us Longevity ot seeds. 
Time required for seeds to germinate. 
Planting Tabi es : Dates for sowing seeds in differ¬ 
ent latitudes. Tender and hardy vegetables. Dis 
tances apart for planting. 
Maturity anb Yields: Time required for maturity 
of vegetables; for bea-ing of iruit plants. Average 
yield of crops 
Keeping and storing fruits and vegetables. 
Propagation of Plants- Ways of grafting and 
budding. Methods by which fruits are propagated. 
Stocks used for fruits. 
Standard Mkasures and Sizes: Standard flower 
pots standard and legal measures. English meas¬ 
ures for sale of fruits and vegeta ies. 
Quantities of water held in piDes and tanks f ffect 
of wind m cooling glass roofs. Per cent, of light re¬ 
flected from glass at var.ous angles of Inclination. 
Weighis of various varieties of apples per bushel. 
Amount of various products yielded by given quan¬ 
tities of fruit. Labels. 
Louden’s rules of horticulture. Rules of nomen¬ 
clature. Rules for exhibition. 
Weather signs and protection from frost. 
Collecting and Preserving : How to make an Her¬ 
barium Prese-vlug and irintlng of flowers ant 
other parts of plaots. Keeping cut flowers. How to 
colit ci and preserve Insects. 
Chemical composition of Fruits and Vegetables 
Seeus ana Fertilizer ; Soils and Minerals. 
Names and Histories ; Vegetables which have dif¬ 
ferent names in England and America. Derivation 
of names of vai i us rrults and vegeiab.es. Names of 
fruits and vegetables in various languages. 
Glossary. Calendar. 
Price, in pliable cloth covers, only 50 CENTS. 
THE RURAL PUBLISHING CO., 
Times Building, New York. 
