59o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
AUG. i5 
three-quarter blood, but so prepotent is this breed that 
the high-grade animals can hardly be told from the full- 
b’oods. There Is a good market for large, active, well 
shaped Clydesdale grades. As with other large breeds, 
mistakes are frequently made in breeding the stallions to 
small or inferior mares. This is a blunder that cannot be 
rectified. Only the best large mares should be used for 
this breeding. _ 
‘‘MY BEST CROP OF WHEAT!” 
HOW CAN I DUPLICATE IT f 
An Indiana Man Tries Fertilizers. 
The best crop of wheat I ever raised, till this year, was 
on tl ree acres raised about six or seven years ago, which 
yielded 100 bushels from the three. I used no manure or 
fertilizer of any kind. Two acres were corn stubble, sown 
broadcast, right on the ground, without any preparation 
as soon as the corn had been cut, and plowed in with a 
corn plow, and then harrowed over to smooth It. The 
other acre was potato ground. It was so weedy that I 
plowed It and sowed it broadcast and harrowed the seed 
in. It was Lancaster wheat. The only special condition I 
know of was i,he fact that it had been an old pasture for a 
number of years previous to the corn crop and was there¬ 
fore rich. I would try to duplicate it by making a piece 
of ground rich either with fertilizer or barnyard manure. 
The best harrow we have here is the spring tooth; we have 
no disc harrows. 1 never used a drill much, have generally 
sowed broad cast, and think now that broadcasting is as 
good as drilling. I have bought a Buckeye seeding drill 
this year, however, because I intend to sow fertilizer with 
all my wheat from now on. Some of the best wheat I see 
every year is sown broadcast. 
In my rotation wheat follows oats, com or potatoes. 
Potatoes are perhaps the best antecedent crop and com 
the next best. I never have used fertilizer on wheat; but 
intend to use 160 pounds per acre hereafter. I am satisfied 
from what I have seen in The R. N.-Y. and elsewhere that 
it will pay. I have used stable manure on wheat with 
good results. The best way is to top-dress at any time 
after the ground is plowed, either before or after the wheat 
is sowed; but before it comes up. The greatest trouble I 
find is to spread it thin enough by hand. If it is too thick 
the wheat grows too rank and goes down too soon. 
We raise the Lancaster, Poole, Mediterranean Hybrid 
and Fultz. The last three are the best for yield; but the 
Lancaster is a good variety, for it is a sure crop even if 
not quite so large as the others, and always briDgs the top 
price. I have not tried any new varieties except the six 
kinds The Rural sent out last fall, and they had a poor 
chance, so I cannot make much of a report, but I think 
most favorably of the Willits. I’ll try them again. I 
have eight acres of wheat this year that is probably the 
best crop I have ever raised, but it is not thrashed yet. 
There is no doubt that it will go 35 bushels or more per 
acre. It was drilled in on corn stubble; it cost me but 
one day’s work to put in the eight acres. The corn was 
well tended and the ground was mellow. It wasn’t 
touched with plow or harrow, but the wheat was drilled 
in as soon as the corn was cut. 
I see in one of the papers that Mr. Terry advised two 
young farmers to work their ground by plowing, rolling, 
harrowing and drilling some 15 times. It seems to me 
that if a man’s ground needs all that work to produce a 
crop he had better, as Horace Greely used to say, “ run 
away from it. S. M. 
Harlan, Ind. 
A Western New York Crop. 
The best crop of wheat I ever grew was in 1882. The 
soil was a strong gravel inclined to clay, but with some 
limestone in it. The crop was so wed after early potatoes, 
that were planted upon a clover sod with some stable 
manure. The wheat was fertilized, 150 pounds to the 
acre, and was of the Clawson variety: 1% bushel of seed 
was sown with a drill upon September 2. The yield was 
36% bushels per acre. 
The harrow to be used depends upon the soil and its con¬ 
dition. Upon clay ground the disc or pulverizing harrow 
with spring tooth and roller is the best; on loamy or 
sandy-gravelly land the spring-tooth and fine chisel-tooth 
are preferable. 
1 prefer the Farmers’ Favorite drill because it is easy to 
adjust, easy of draught, and has an excellent force feed 
phosphate attachment. 
Wheat follows barley, oats and beans here mostly. I 
have just harvested a field of wheat after beans planted 
upon a Timothy sod with stable manure. The seed was 
sowed on September 22, 1890, with 100 pounds of Bradley 
fertilizer, and I think the yield will be 30 bushels. 
I use fertilizers, but not more than 200 pounds per acre. 
I think that they pay, especially upon wheat, particularly 
if it is late sown. They also pay upon oats and barley un¬ 
less the land is very warm and quick. 
I use all the stable manure I can make and think it is 
better for the wheat to apply it on the preceding crop or 
even the second preceding one. For instance, the field might 
be heavily manured for beans, corn or potatoes followed by 
oats or barley and then wheat. 
Some manure is applied directly to the wheat. The 
best results are obtained if it is plowed under. If spread 
upon the surface it causes the seeding (clover and Timo¬ 
thy) to form too rank a growth. 
The Clawson variety suits me best. I have tried the 
Mediterranean Hybrid and Martin’s Amber. The wheat 
crop here is above the average this year and about a week 
ls-ter than usual. It is not all harvested yet. 
To insure the best crop of wheat, there is no preparation 
equal to the old-fashioned summer fallow, but I do not 
call to mind a single field in fallow for wheat in this vicin¬ 
ity. One of the nicest preparations for the crop is to sow 
peas in the spring and follow with wheat. There are about 
500 acr-s sown to peas within a radius of five miles of 
Batavia on contract for the Batavia Preserving Company, 
and as they are cut in June and July there is ample oppor¬ 
tunity to prepare the land for wheat, and the peas leave 
the soil in a moist, friable condition. I know of one crop 
of wheat sown after peas in the fall of 1889 that yielded 
25% bushels to the acre without any fertilizer and upon 
rather poor clay land. These peas pay us from $20 to $40 
per acre. We cut them with a mowing machine with an 
attachment fastened to the cutter bar, that lifts the vines 
up, thus permitting the knives to cut the vines. We draw 
them in the vines to a machine that thrashes them. A 
good load of vines will yield about 700 pounds of gTeen 
shelled peas. J. w. burke. 
Genesee Co., N. Y. 
A Fertilizer Farmer’s Crop. 
The best crop of wheat I have grown—an average o' 37% 
bushels per acre—was grown after potatoes, to which 1,000 
pounds of potato manure had been applied, and 300 
pounds of high-grade complete manure were applied to 
the wheat at the time of seeding. I don’t consider the use 
of the harrow of much consequence in preparing for the 
seeding of wheat. The ground is usually prepared with 
the cultivator and smoothed or leveled with the Thomas 
smoothing harrow. I use the Empire drill and like it be¬ 
cause it has a positive feed and distributes the fertilizers 
equally. 
I follow potatoes with wheat, and sometimes grow 
wheat after wheat, and wheat after corn occasionally. I 
use fertilizers and know they pay, for without their use I 
could not possibly secure one-half a crop. I do not use 
yard manure on wheat; it is all applied to the corn on 
sward. 
I am sowing Deitz Longberry and like it very well. It 
is a hardy variety and suits our millers. I am now sow¬ 
ing a new variety—the Rochester Red—and am pleased 
with it. I believe I shall sow no other this season. Under 
certain conditions it would pay me to sow rye and plow it 
under for potatoes; it might also pay to sow clover, and 
plow that also under for the same crop. D. c. lewis. 
Middlesex Co., N. J. 
HELP FOR THE TIRED. 
With such a simple arrangement as is shown at Fig. 
213 in the kitchen, the tired wife may have all the water 
she wants at a moment’s notice, without the necessity of 
going out in the cold, or any over-exertion by carrying It. 
A zinc-lined box is mounted on heavy brackets at the top 
of the kitchen, or, still better, on the floor of the attic. 
The heavy pipe shown leads from a spring or well into it, 
or it may be made very large in the attic and supplied 
from tne eaves. If the well be depended upon a force 
pump will be needed. When water has risen in the box 
to a certain level it flows out of the surplus pipe shown. 
The pipe running to the sink comes out of the bottom of 
the box and can drain off all the water it holds, when it 
will at once fill again. 
On a large scale, supplying the whole house, the plan is 
an excellent, but costly one. To fix for the kitchen alone 
is simple and attended with little expense. A five gallon 
can in which castor oil came, can be bought at a drug 
store for 10 cents. The housewife will gladly wash it clean. 
Then a little work, a few feet of galvanized pipe and joints 
and a Dorrowed pipe wrench will complete a job which 
may save a doctor’s or undertaker’s bill and the most 
precious member of any American home. 
Fairfield Co., Conn. Hollister sage. 
A GOOD WORD FOR WEEDS. 
Am I a friend to weeds t Most certainly. Weeds are 
simply plants of secondary value. The hardy plantain 
which grows in my path where no other plant will, and 
keeps my shoes from the mud, is valuable. The goose 
grass which flourishes close to the University barn on the 
edge of the pasture, where the cattle tramp, in going to 
and from their stables, does what no other plant—“ weed 
could do so well—furnishes good pig pasture and prevents 
degradation of the soil. The old mother hog likes it bet¬ 
ter than the Blue or Orchard Grass a few yards farther on 
in the field and therefore, so do I. 
The authorities of Ithaca have the burdocks cut one 
week before “ Commencement; ” what satisfaction later 
to know that they have caused two blades of burdock to 
grow where one grew before! Just as the proud parents 
arrive In September with the new crop af freshmen, Time 
(Irishman) goes forth with his scythe and the harvest be¬ 
gins. The September rains fall and where there were twos 
there are now threes and fives and sevens ! 
Some roadsides and vacant lots which have been farmed 
after this city fashion for forty years are getting to be 
very fertile. Some time our grandchildren will bless the 
memory of the city fathers for preserving a little fringe of 
fertility around the borders of our classic city, and for 
making six burdocks grow where only one grew before. 
The plantain, the goose grass, the burdocks and a thous¬ 
and other second-class plants in neglected places, In places 
where Ignorance and greed have possessed the land, are 
doing a great work that a first-class plant could not do 
under the same circumstances. 
Are weeds of any value to land where there is no crop ! 
That Is, are second-class plants of any value where there 
are no first-class f Not a doubt of it. Plants do not add 
mineral matter to the soil, but second class plants do pre¬ 
pare the plant food for the first-class. Many plants can 
digest “ tough nitrogen” and make it tender for the dainty 
cereals. The village burdock can do this and even more ; 
it can, without the aid of farmer or fertilizer a^ent, bring 
to the surface from the lower depths valuable food. Soils 
were primarily rocks; second-class plants have played a 
prominent, if not the most prominent part in making it 
possible for first-class plants to attain to their present 
perfection. 
What would be the effect, as regards fertility, of culti¬ 
vating the land thoroughly clean all the time ? That is 
what we are trying to find out. The first effect noticed 
is to sen i the plant lood and some of the finest of the soil 
with it into the bottom of Cayuga Lake. We have some 
very small fields fenced in with tight board fences and 
with these and the larger plats it is hoped that this ques¬ 
tion may be answered in time. 
The preacher said last Sabbath that ‘‘we should never 
have a realizing sense of our existence, that is, we should 
never know that we lived, unless we had met with forces 
which resisted us.” The more second-class forces there 
are to be resisted, the more first-class forces will be born. 
The more second-class plants we find present the more 
first-class ones will the soil be capable of producing. The 
earth would soon become uninhabitable if it produced 
none but the first-class plants of man’s sowing. 
On all those vast uninhabited areas and in all the bor¬ 
ders and corners and washed and shaded places, in all the 
interstices where penuriousness has skimped the seed, 
ignorance made bad choice and slothfulness delayed I 
would “ walk backward ” and pray earnestly for a mantle 
of weeds to cover the shame and nakedness of Mother Earth. 
Cornell*University Experiment Station. I. p. ROBERTS. 
CHEMICALS AND CLOVER. 
Strengthening a Neglected Farm. 
Among the many letters called out by the articles on 
the above subject is the following from a Massachusetts 
subscriber : 
“The articles on chemical manures I was much Inter¬ 
ested in. I hope the writer will tell how the clover and 
chemical manures are used together to get the best results. 
I want to know, as I suppose many others do, how a neg¬ 
lected farm can be brought up by clover and chemical ferti¬ 
lizers. Will the writer of Chemicals and Clover on pages 
512 and 538 tell us whether we plow the clover in as a 
manure ? I do not quite understand the idea yet.” 
The chemical fertilizers and sod are not used in the same 
season, but each fills a place in the rotation. Starting 
this rotation on the farm described in these articles, the 
potato ground would be plowed and fertilized heavily with 
chemical manures in the drill. The potatoes would be dug 
early, and the ground fitted for wheat and seeded with 
that grain and Timothy. In the spring, clover would be 
sown on the wheat land. After the wheat crop had been 
harvested, two years’ crops of grass would be cut. After 
haying, the second year, all the stable manure on the place 
would be hauled out and spread over the grass sod. This 
causes a large second crop to grow, die and rot down. In 
the spring the whole mass of grass, manure and sod, with 
what other manure had been made on the place, would be 
plowed under and fined up for the corn crop. The next 
year, after the corn, the ground would be again planted in 
potatoes, with another heavy dressing of fertilizer. The 
clover sod and the fertilizer do not come exactly together 
therefore—there is one season between them. The corn 
plant feeds on the sod and the manure plowed into the 
ground. The substance it leaves in the soil is not unlike 
the manure made by an animal fed on hay. The animal 
takes a portion of the nutriment in the hay to make growth 
and sustain life or provide milk or perform work. What 
is left of the food passes away as manure in much the 
same condition as the grass and sod that have been acted 
upon by the heat, frost, water and the roots of the corn 
plants. By adding grain to the hay fed to animals, more of 
the nutriment is passed away in the manure which is con¬ 
sequently made richer; and by adding soluble chemicals 
to the decayed sod the plant-food for the potatoes Is per¬ 
fected. Much of the objection that some farmers have for 
chemical fertilizers arises from the fact that they do not 
stop to consider that the elements that make stable man¬ 
ure “rich” are precisely the same as are found in fertiliz¬ 
ers. Nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash are the sub¬ 
stances that give value to both. The solid parts of stable 
manure are undigested food, the forces that have acted 
upon them being little or no stronger than the air, heat, 
cold and moisture that work over the sod in the field. The 
plant food in liquid manures is digested and ready for im¬ 
mediate use. So is that in high-grade fertilizers, being 
found either in naturally soluble compounds or in sub¬ 
stances that have been acted upon by powerful acids. The 
decayed sod, therefore, is stronger than manure made from 
hay, while the chemicals are more soluble than the undi¬ 
gested grain in the stable manure. 
