668 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
October 7 
have dairies, and while hauling their corn, feed the 
cows the cobs fresh from the cutters, and they now 
get the richest milk made more cheaply than in any 
other part of the year. Sweet corn, as raised here, is 
found to be much like a flock of turkeys in their 
extreme youth—tender, weak and easily discouraged. 
It often fails to “come,” or comes very irregularly. 
Like the doubtful Christian of whom the appreciative 
brother remarked that in good times Seth always 
appeared to have a “strong holt” on grace, but he 
“ never seemed to have much laid up for a contrary 
spell,” so this crop only appears to do its best when 
man and Nature combine to provide for it a “soft job” 
by giving it clean cultivation, warm and mellow 
ground, and burning skies. g. s. p. 
Winslow, Me. 
SOFT PHOSPHATES IN AN ORANGE GROVE. 
NOTES FROM THE FIELD. 
On page 635 “C. L. M.” asked about the value of crude 
Florida soft phosphates for use in orange groves. 
His plan was to grow two crops of cow peas each year 
and turn them under, using a ton to the acre of phos¬ 
phate rock and a quantity of tobacco stems. His 
theory was that the cow peas would supply the nitro¬ 
gen, the rock phosphoric acid and the tobacco stems 
potash. The following comments are sent by Florida 
farmers: 
We have no authentic data telling of cases where 
soft phosphate applied alone to an orange grove gave 
satisfactory results. Where it has been mixed with 
chemicals, making a complete fertilizer, supplying 
nitrogen from sulphate of ammonia or nitrate of soda 
and potash from sulphate of potash, the results have 
been satisfactory. To sum up the matter, our obser¬ 
vations are that where phosphate has been used alone 
the application has not been repeated, but when 
used in conjunction with chemicals it has. 
Editor Florida Agriculturist. e. o. painter. 
Banish the Plow from Orange Roots. 
It seems to be a question between soft phosphates 
and the more costly superphosphates. The character 
and condition of the soil of the grove would settle 
that question with me. If it was fairly good and the 
drainage all right, I would use the soft phosphates, 
because the constituents of the soil and a free circu¬ 
lation of water and air in it, would give the best con¬ 
ditions for rendering the fertilizers available as plant 
food. If, unfortunately, the soil was not very good 
and the drainage was bad, or the soil good and the 
drainage bad, I would use superphosphates. C. L. M. 
says the soil of his grove is a dark brown sand, well 
supplied with humus, and producing very high- 
flavored oranges. So far as reported, I should say the 
soft phosphates would do their best in such a soil. I 
have heard them uniformly well spoken of, as judged 
by the results, and think they will be largely used in 
this State. C. L. M. plows under annually two crops 
of cow peas. I would banish the plow from the grove 
after the trees were of sufficient size to occupy most 
of the area with their roots. Being -surface feeders, 
it is not good practice to fertilize and cultivate to 
produce trees with a good system of roots, and then 
destroy many of them by plowing peas under. I have 
seen fine, thrifty groves nearly ruined by plowing. 
Besides, it is claimed by experienced growers that 
the peas benefit the soil most by rotting on the sur¬ 
face, and that plowing them under green makes the 
soil sour. I would give them a good going over with 
a Cutaway harrow when they were ready to be 
plowed under, and replant. I think the seed sown 
would like this treatment quite as well, and the 
orange trees much better. C. L. M. will please ac¬ 
cept my thanks for the hint of tobacco stems for 
mulching strawberries. They make a good mulch, 
containing potash and nitrogen, and making a very 
good insecticide, where it would be likely to protect 
the plants and fruit and greatly benefit the cultivator 
financially. o. e. heath. 
Shade is a Florida Fertilizer. 
I cannot speak on this matter from personal exper¬ 
ience, though I came near being one of the unfortu¬ 
nates who can ; but after careful consideration of the 
matter, instead of experimenting, I used fertilizers that 
had a recognized value. Several persons in this 
vicinity, however, did try the soft phosphate to their 
regret, using from one to three tons per acre on their 
orange groves, and their united verdict, as well as that 
of those who noticed the effect—or rather lack of 
effect—is that it had no value whatever. In fact, 
some of them have sacks of the soft phosphate yet 
lying in their sheds, not considering it of sufficient 
value to be worth the trouble of applying it to their 
land. No doubt the phosphate has some value, but it 
is locked up too fast in an insoluble form for availa¬ 
bility. The necessary chemical changes must be made 
before it is applied to the soil. 
C. L. M.’s idea with regard to cow peas and tobacco 
stems is very good, especially as regards the tobacco 
stems, which doubtless give more value for the cost 
than any other fertilizer. They also contain other 
valuable elements besides potash. He will probably 
abandon the cow pea vine idea in a few years. I sug¬ 
gest that he would probably find it in line with his 
best interests—the well-being of his grove—to haul as 
much truck as possible on it and let it decay on the 
surface. He wi:l thus avoid making his land sour by 
plowing in green pea vines. Then let him fertilize 
liberally with a complete fertilizer of recognized value, 
or he might use blood and bone with sulphate of 
potash—three of the former to one of the latter. The 
great advantage of a mulch is that in this climate, 
shade is a fertilizer ; mulching is Nature’s method of 
enriching land. Further, cattle add nothing to the 
chemical value of hay or straw by eating it; the land 
would be benefited quite as much by applying it as a 
mulch before it has passed through their digestive 
organs as after. sherman adams. 
Phosphate Good for Peas, Anyway. 
I have had no personal experience in the use of the 
soft phosphates on orange trees, but cow peas are a 
perfect success and produce all the nitrogen required 
for almost any crop. There are soft beds of sulphate 
of lime or gyptum, and my opinion is that the great 
effect produced on peas and on orange trees is from 
that source. Our State chemist says that parties often 
send him samples of the sulphate of lime, thinking it is 
the phosphate, and he has simply replied that it was 
not of any value as a phosphate. A soft bed of the 
sulphate underlies a part of my garden, and from it I 
have taken out large bones. john craycraft. 
BRUSHING UP THE OLD FARM HOUSE. 
The pictures shown on pages 665 and 667 give a first- 
rate illustration of what can be done to improve the 
appearances of some of our farm houses. The build¬ 
ing shown is that of the Rhode Island Experiment Sta¬ 
tion at Kingston. Director Flagg’s letter, given be¬ 
low, will tell something of what was done to bring 
about the change, and it seems to us that this improve¬ 
ment in appearance is one of the most interesting ex¬ 
periments we have yet seen recorde i. It is wonderful 
how much a neatly kept dooryard adds to the comfort 
of farm life and to the value of the farm. One of the 
comic papers recently had some burlesque pictures 
showing how to weed out anarchy. The plan was to 
catch an anarchist, give him a good bath, cut his hair 
and shave him. and then deck him out in a high hat 
and good clothes and put him into an anarchists’ 
meeting. His friends would not know him in his new 
dress, and would take him for a “bloated bond¬ 
holder,” and fall upon him—either killing him or 
driving him out of their ranks. Nobody will be 
killed for fixing up the farm house grounds, but the 
property may thus be driven out of the unsalable list: 
The Work that Made the Difference. 
The farm house, as shown in the picture, taken soon 
after the farm was purchased, was surrounded by a 
pasture, and the only approach for a team was over a 
cart-path across three pastures and through three 
pairs of bars, or gates. Tne foreground of the cut 
shows the rocky character of these pastures, and 
gives one a good idea of the roughness of the way 
from the public road to the house, but conveys no hint 
of the mud, hub deep, which formed certain portions 
of the private way during the spring months. One of 
the first permanent improvements was to lay out a 
driveway from the highway to the farm buildings. 
The loam was excavated to a width of 15 feet and 
sufficiently deep to admit of putting in a stone foun¬ 
dation 12 inches thick at the sides and 18 inches in 
the center. Tne surface was covered with small or 
broken stones, and then with six inches of earth. 
The walls around the farm buildings and the interior 
division walls were used for this purpose, and nearly 
a mile and a half of stone walls found such a burying 
place. As a strip of land 10 feet or more wide is 
usually occupied by a wall, and weeds and bushes 
are harbored by it, about an acre and three fourths 
of good land was made available by the removal of 
the walls, and the greater convenience and economy 
of cultivation are items of great importance in the 
long run. The removal of the walls around the house 
made the fence of no use, and it was quickly con¬ 
signed to the lumber pile, and then the overgrown 
Arbor-vitass which flanked the east and west sides of 
the narrow yard were dug up and removed. A “bank 
wall ” around the west end of the house (at the left of 
the picture) formed the boundary of the yard on that 
side. The new driveway was located about 50 feet 
away from the house at that end, and the lawn was 
made by filling in and grading the intervening space. 
About all that was necessary in front and at the east 
end was thorough, deep plowing and the removal of 
such stones as appeared above the surface. A gravel 
walk was laid out with a natural, easy curve from the 
road in front to the front entrance, then around to 
the side door, past the well and to the road in the 
rear of the house. After the grading had been fin¬ 
ished a coat of stable manure was applied and well 
worked in, and the surface made fine by harrowing 
and rolling. A dressing of fertilizer was applied and 
the grass seed sown as specified in the report of “A 
Trial of Lawn Grasses,” on page 213 of our Fifth 
Annual Report. I could hardly give any just esti¬ 
mates of the cost of the work which wrought the 
change around the farmhouse, as it was done in con¬ 
nection with the road work ; but to my mind the im¬ 
provement in appearance exceeds the cost by 50 per 
cent. chas. o. flagg. 
R. N.-Y.—In the experiment with lawn grass seed 
trials were made with Rhode Island Bent alone, Ken¬ 
tucky Blue grass alone, and also each grass mixed, 
with White clover. The manuring was the same all 
over the lawn. The seeds were sown in the spring. 
Several light dressings of nitrate of soda were given 
during the summer, and in the fall a light cover of 
coarse stable manure was put on. As a result it was 
concluded that the best lawn will be formed by usiDg 
the two grasses named in about equal proportions by 
weight. The W’hite clover did not improve the sward 
—in fact, it was a disadvantage. 
EXTRACTED BUTTER STILL SELLING. 
A year or so ago there was a good deal of talk in 
the papers about the butter extractor—a machine 
that takes the butter directly from the milk, dispens¬ 
ing with all pans, churn, etc. We had a good deal to 
say about it, but recently several parties have written 
to ask if butter is still made hi this way, and if it can 
be sold, as but little has been heard from the extractor 
of late. The following notes are from persons who 
have used it for several years. 
We are still well pleased with the butter extractor. 
For our business we could not get a machine that 
would suit us as well. We have no trouble in selling 
the butter, for it is good, although it lacks a high 
flavor. We ship our milk and use the extractor only to 
work up the surplus, but if we were i unning a butter¬ 
making creamery, we would not put in an extractor to 
make the butter. A. G. corwin & co. 
Tioga County, N. Y. 
We have used the butter extractor continuously for 
three years, and are well satisfied with the results. 
We believe it to be both a practical and economical 
device for making butter, and our product ranks with 
any sold in this section of the country. 
Henrico County, Va. e. y. williams. 
THE GROWER’S SHARE—WHERE IS IT? 
The grapes, packed in 5-pound baskets, and with the 
card, a facsimile of which is given herewith on the 
covers, were selling from the commission-house at 10 
cents per basket. How much does the grower get ? 
a new choice white grape. 
MOORE'S DIAMOND. 
FROM THE FRUIT FARM 
OF 
King & Robinson, 
Cayuga Lake, P. O. Address, Trumansburg. N. Y. 
Thoroughly ripe, and guaranteed to be as 
good all through this package as on top. 
We would like to know ho w m ich of this g ies to the 
grower after freight and commission charges and cost 
of package are taken out. There can’t be much ; we 
doubt if there is enough to pay for the labor. At this 
price a single vine must yield an immense crop to pay 
interest on t.ie ground it covers. How much can a 
vine yield ? We have told about big records of cows, 
sheep, pigs and acres of land as well as men and 
women and hens. Now for grape vines. W. H. 
Schwerk, of East Otto, N. Y., makes this statement: 
I raised from my four-year-old Niagara grape vine this season 105 
bunches of grapes which weighed 46 pounds. Can any of the readers 
of The Rural beat this? If so I would like to hear of them. 
Some of our California friends may beat that, but 
what vineyard with conditions similar to that of Mr. 
Schwerk’s single vine can do so ? 
Grasshopper Remedy. — I tried one of the remedies 
for grasshoppers mentioned by The Rural — the 
“ bran and arsenic.” I placed it several years ago in 
spoonfuls around many young trees that were being 
denuded by myriads of young “ hoppers.” I could 
see no result—no dead grasshoppers, no diminution in 
their numbers, no disappearance of the bran, They 
are more plentiful this season than ever before here, 
and much damage has been done to vegetation. Many 
young trees will be killed by sun-scald, there being 
no leaves to protect the trunks from the sun. Others 
will be winter-killed, owing to the second growth 
that usually follows the stripping. B. B. 
