1894 
249 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
must rely mainly on corn forage. It is from the seeds 
in the droppings of the horses that the better grasses 
spring. To get a good and even pasture from such a 
proceeding is simply out of the question. Simply har¬ 
rowing in grass seed in such a field without applying 
fertilizers, and even with them, can at best result in 
but very partial success. A liberal top-dressing with 
manure from stock fed on hay, would bring about 
better results. 
If the field in question belonged to me, I would 
plow it at once, and then give it a heavy dressing of 
lime to neutralize the acidity commonly found in 
“ old fields” and to hasten the decomposition of the 
Broom sedge sod. Early in May, I would harrow the 
ground once, broadcast a liberal supply of muriate of 
potash, fine the soil as much as praticable, and immedi¬ 
ately plant to a quick maturing corn, using a complete 
fertilizer in the hill. With a moderately fair season, 
the old field would run a winning race with new 
ground. The corn should be cut and removed as early 
in the fall as possible, the ground plowed, top-dressed 
with a fertilizer rich in phosphoric acid, lightly seeded 
to Virginia winter oats, and heavily with Orchard 
grass; the first week in the succeeding March, seed 
with Medium clover. From the moment the corn 
is planted, the ground sees no more rest, feed is pro¬ 
duced in rapid succession, while, on the other hand, 
the soil is improved at every step. 
With sufficient rain C. B. might make such a suc¬ 
cess that he would conclude to put the reclaimed field 
to better use. If, however, he be determined to make 
a permanent pasture of the field, instead of Orchard 
grass and clover alone, he should sow a mixture 
which he can buy prepared composed of Meadow Fox¬ 
tail, Meadow Fescue, Orchard grass. Red Top, Meadow 
Oat grass, Kentucky Blue grass, English Rye grass, 
Alsike clover. Red clover, and Creeping bent grass. 
Two to three bushels of this mixture are required for 
an acre. The cost is from 33.50 to $5.25, according to 
the quantity used. The above is probably the best 
and quickest plan to get the field in permanent grass 
of good quality, though I would recommend a varia¬ 
tion in case the object were to get the best possible 
returns from the field. j. c. sbngeb. 
Ore Banks, Va. _ 
The Hay For One Cow. 
J. E. J., SparMll, N. Y. —Tee R. N.-Y. has given 
much valuable information about dairies. Will it now 
tell us something about how to care for one cow ? We 
have a cow about six years old, weighing, probably, 
more than 1,200 pounds— a large cow. We are feed¬ 
ing 30 pounds of hay and six pounds of feed daily. 
Timothy hay (not extra) worth 30 cents; feed two 
parts corn meal, two parts middlings, two parts lin¬ 
seed meal, four parts coarse bran, worth seven cents. 
Her feed costs daily 37 cents. What would Mr. Henry 
Talcott say to that ? Would it pay to make a small 
silo ? If so, how large ? Would one-half acre of corn 
be enough for 1 cow, 100 hens and 1 horse ? The 
horse has no work, and very little traveling to do. 
The cow has given, since calving October 10, 1893, 
5,000 pounds of milk. We use six quarts (about 13 
pounds) daily and make the rest into butter. Have 
made 122>^ pounds to March 31, 1894. 
Ans.—W e have had a good deal of experience in 
feeding hay that costs one cent a pound to a family 
cow. It doesn’t pay. It is the dearest food you can 
buy. We would gradually cut the hay feed down to 
15 pounds a day, and increase the grain feed to 10 or 
12 pounds. Watch the cow and change the amount of 
grain as she seems to need it. The point is to decrease 
the cost of the hay or bulky fodder. We have succeeded 
in doing this with oats, rye, corn, millet, pumpkins 
and cabbage. With a fair-sized garden spot, we 
always follow early crops like peas, radishes, etc., 
with sweet com—planting between the rows of peas 
when the latter are just coming into bloom. In this 
way, the corn is several inches high when the pea 
vines are pulled. If you like, another row of corn can 
be sown where the peas formerly grew so as to grow 
between the first sown corn. Cut the first sown for 
fodder before it fully ears, and the latter will grow two 
feet or more in height before frost. Or, instead of sow¬ 
ing the second corn you may work up the soil fine and 
broadcast turnips between the rows. We also plant 
corn between rows of potatoes and secure a fair yield 
of fodder. As for cabbage, they are stuck in any¬ 
where after an early crop. The secret of growing 
these second fodder crops successfully is to supply 
plenty of manure or fertilizer and to keep the ground 
well stirred. It is often necessary to water such plants 
as cabbage when set so close. These things may be 
done in a garden, but one will need a larger area to 
provide food enough for a cow. It is usually possible 
to hire a piece of waste land near a town of any size. 
The writer found two acres of such land so poor that 
the owner would charge no rent for it. It was broken 
up and planted to corn with 400 pounds of corn ferti¬ 
lizer per acre. The result was a good crop of stalks 
and ears. The next spring the ground was plowed 
early and sowed to oats with more fertilizer. These 
were cut before they came to a full head, and cured 
like hay. The ground was again plowed and sweet 
corn sowed in drills. This gave a fine crop of fodder. 
We do not believe a silo would pay you. If you can get 
two acres of good ground, have it plowed at once and 
sow oats with at least 300 pounds per acre of a good 
fertilizer. Cut the oats when the heads are soft 
enough to squeeze in the hand, and cure just like hay. 
Then have the ground plowed at once and broadcast 
more fertilizer. You can now sow either sweet corn 
or millet. The sweet com will be safest as the millet 
requires a very fine seed bed and you might not get 
that on your oat stubble. Cut the sweet corn before 
frost, cure it in the usual way and put in the barn 
when fully cured. You can then have the grouod 
worked over with a harrow and sowed to wheat or 
rye. Rye starts earlier for a spring feed or pasture, 
but wheat makes the better hay. You can feed the 
horse on the oat hay. Cut up the sweet corn and put 
in a tight barrel. Pour boiling water over it and 
cover tight. This will give you the next thing to a 
silo; the steamed stalks with a little grain hay and 
the grain ration will keep the cow io fine condition. 
Feed the cabbage, pumpkins, tomatoes, etc., from the 
garden during the fall when pastures run short. In a 
general way, the above is one method we have found 
useful in reducing the cost of the fodder ration. With 
good culture and plenty of fertilizer any land may be 
made to yield two good forage crops and every part of 
the garden will yield one crop for the house and 
another for the barn. 
Nitrate of Potash Is Worth More Than Nitrate of Soda. 
A. A. B., Riverside, Mich. —Is saltpeter such as we 
buy from druggists ever used as a fertilizer ? What is 
its value for such purposes ? How does it compare 
with nitrate of soda for that purpose ? What is the 
difference between the two anyway ? I can buy salt¬ 
peter for six cents per pound in barrel lots. Will it 
pay as a fertilizer at that price ? Is it sometimes 
spoken of as nitrate of potash, that is, are they one 
and the same ? 
Ans. —Saltpeter or nitrate of potash is very seldom 
used as a fertilizer, because it is worth much more for 
making gun-powder. An average analysis of nitrate 
of potash as found in the market would show about 
133^ per cent of nitrogen and 46 per cent of potash, 
while nitrate of soda contains about 16 per cent of 
nitrogen and 36 of soda. In other words, one is a 
combination of nitrogen with potash, while the other 
is nitrogen combined with soda. The soda, while 
necessary to the growth of plants, will not take the 
place of potash, so that nitrate of soda is valued, for 
fertilizing, only for the nitrogen it contains. A ton of 
average composition contains 320 pounds of nitrogen, 
worth at the sea coast, as compared with other ferti¬ 
lizers, cents a pound, or $4(5.40 a ton. Thenilrogen 
in the nitrate of potash is worth the same. At 133-^ 
per cent there are 270 pounds to the ton which, at 143>^ 
cents, will be worth $39.15. At six cents a pound, a 
ton will cost $120, which means $80.15 for 920 pounds 
of potash, which is altogether too much. In one ton 
of muriate of potash, costing here about $45, and 1,700 
pounds of nitrate of soda, costing about the same, you 
will have more nitrogen and potash than in the nitrate 
of potash costing $120. You cannot afford to use the 
latter. This is a good illustration of what is meant 
by “agricultural value” of chemicals. The nitrate of 
potash has a value for powder making not possessed 
by the nitrate of soda or muriate either alone or 
mixed. We cannot, therefore, compare them on the 
basis of the cost of nitrogen and potash alone, and the 
farmer cannot afford to pay more for nitrate of potash 
because that form of fertility is worth more for making 
powder. 
Latest About the Idaho Fear. 
J. H. S., Hancock, Md. —1. What does The R. N.-Y. 
think of the Idaho pear? 2. What is the best late 
winter pear ? 
Ans. —1. The Idaho pear, as The R. N.-Y. was the 
first to state in print, is of excellent quality—better 
than Bartlett when well grown. Its shape is some¬ 
what like that of Duchess. How and where it will 
succeed away from Idaho, we cannot say. It does 
not succeed at the Rural Grounds. 2. The best early 
winter pear is, in our opinion, Anjou. The best late 
winter pear is Josephine de Malines. 
Two Kinds of Ashes. 
J. P., Portage la Prairie, Manitoba. —I can get all the 
wood ashes I wish by drawing them two miles. Less 
than two miles away all the garbage of the town is 
burned. Thousands of loads of good manure and all 
the dead horses and cattle are taken there and burned. 
Which is better for my garden, the wood ashes or the 
others ? 
Ans.— The best results will follow the use of a mix¬ 
ture of the ashes. The wood ashes will yield potash, 
while the garbage ashes contain a good deal of phos¬ 
phoric acid. 
THE MAPES MANURES. 
Send for Pamphlets, Price Lists—MAPES COMPANY, 143 Liberty Street, New York. 
Experience of Eight Years with Mapes on Apple and Pear Orchards, Etc. 
WILMER Atkinson, editor and proprietor of the Farm Journal, has used the Mapes Manures for many years on his farms. Under the heading “ Orchards,” in 
the Farm Journal, January, 1894, Mr. Atkinson writes : “ We are often asked what kind of fertilizers to use in the orchard, and perhaps as good an answer as we can 
give is, use Mapes Manures, for this is the kind and only kind we have used in our young thirty-acre orchard since it was planted eight years ago. The trees are 
vigorous and healthy, are now coming into bearing, and the past season we cut three tons of Timothy hay per acre off of a part of the orchard, and we have not used 
a ton of stable manure from the beginning. While pure, fine-ground bone and muriate of potash are splendid fertilizers for all orchards, and we can recommend them, 
but in Mapes Manures we have something ready-mixed ; we know what we are getting, and they are good enough for us. We have found these manures equally good 
for grass, potatoes and corn as for orchard trees.” 
The Mapes Fertilizers Head Both Lists of Fertilizers Reported in the Year 1893 by the Connecticut Experimental Stationc 
[From Connecticut Farm {Hartfc/rd) March 3, 1894 j 
It will be difficult for the careful and unprejudiced reader of the Experiment Station reports, not to be impressed with the remarkable high standard maintainea 
by all the Mapes goods. In Part 1, lately issued, of the Connecticut Station Report for 1893, the analyses of 61 “Nitrogenous superphosphates” and 76 “special 
manures ” show that Mapes heads the list in both classes, in being found to have the highest valuation, as figured by the Station as compared with the cost to the farmer. 
[From the New England Homestead, March 8,1894.] 
As to the quality of the goods of The Mapes Formula and Peruvian Guano Company, analysis shows them to be unexcelled for farm, fruit or garden purposes. 
The analyses of 61 nitrogenous superphosphates and 76 special manures by the Connecticut State Experiment Station, show that Mapes heads the list in both classes 
in being found to have the HIGHEST VALUATION COMPARED TO THE COST TO THE FARMER. 
Top=Dressing in Spring Old or Worn Out Meadows or Pasture Lands, Lawns. 
Farmers in all sections are claiming that they can make HAY GROWING PROFITABLE with the Mapes Top-Dreseing Manures. Some of the most successful 
farmers are using twenty tons and upwards per year of the Mapes Grass Top-Dressing, for bringing up and sustaining their grae^a lands. They prefer to TOP-DRESS 
rather than plow up and seed to grass. It pays dairy farmers to top-dress. 
