222 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
March 30 
Which Field for Potatoes ? 
0. P. W., Wellsburg, W. Va. —I have a clover 
field that has been very heavily covered with 
stable manure—from a covered yard—the past 
fall and winter. The soil is a loose loam with 
stiff clay subsoil. Another field has a loose lime¬ 
stone soil, with a heavy, Blue grass sod. Neither 
field is plowed yet, but I expect to plow both 
fields this spring and plant one to potatoes. 
Which one is best ? I am told that a heavy sod is 
not good for potatoes, and that fresh, strawy 
manure is injurious. 
Ans.—W e would, from choice, select 
the field that has not been manured, for 
the potatoes. In some sections, excel¬ 
lent crops of potatoes are grown on a 
clover sod. In our own practice, sod 
ground is always planted to corn with 
the supply of manure added. Potatoes 
follow the corn, with fertilizers. This 
gives us the best results though, of 
course, it is not recommended for all, 
since some potato growers do not grow 
corn, and do not use fertilizers, but 
depend on clover for the chief source of 
fertility. If we were to farm without 
corn or fertilizers, we would probably 
plant potatoes on clover—plowing it in 
the fall and cross-plowing in the spring 
—using the manure on some other crop, 
say, the wheat. 
A Fertilizer Mixture for Corn. 
Subscriber, Middletown, Conn.— The inclosed for¬ 
mula of fertilizer is to be used for corn at the rate 
of 800 pounds per acre on fairly good land. What 
is the analysis of the mixture, as we wish to see if 
we have figured it out right ? If it can be im¬ 
proved, make suggestions : 
Pounds. 
Cotton-seed meal. 2,000 
Nitrate of soda. 1,000 
Fine bone. 2,000 
Acid phosphate. 2,000 
Muriate of potash. 1,000 
Total. 8,000 
Ans. — Figuring these substances at 
average analyses, this fertilizer will 
analyze as follows : 
Pounds. 
Nitrogen. Plios. acid. Potash. 
60 
40 
400 
240 
'566 
700 
540 
per 
cent of 
2,000 cotton-seed meal. 140 
1,000 nitrate of soda... 160 
2,000 fine bone. 70 
2,000 acid phosphate. 
1,000 muriate potash. 
8,000 370 
This represents over 4% 
nitrogen, 8% per cent of phosphoric 
acid, and nearly seven per cent of pot¬ 
ash. That is a good corn mixture. The 
cotton-seed meal and bone, supply or¬ 
ganic nitrogen, and the nitrate of soda 
gives soluble nitrogen for the young 
crop. You have also done wisely in 
selecting both bone and acid phosphate 
(which is rock treated with acid). On a 
clover sod you would not need so much 
nitrogen, but for average soil, that mix¬ 
ture ought to give good results, and we 
doubt whether you can cheapen it much, 
as cotton-seed meal is now a cheaper 
source of organic nitrogen than tankage, 
dried blood or fish scrap. 
Trouble with Grass Seed in an Orchard. 
Subscriber, Newfane, N. T.—l have had trouble 
in seeding a 10 -acre apple orchard, on warm, dry, 
gravelly loam—surface soil somewhat worn-out; 
subsoil gravelly and excellent. The 25-year-old 
trees, 40 feet apart, have made an excellent growth, 
are quite thrifty, and shade two thirds of the 
ground. I have sowed Timothy and Red clover 
twice, with barley on winter wheat in the spring; 
sowed one-half early, and the other one-half 
three weeks later, and once sowed three-quarters 
in the fall. I phospliated all crops, and all made 
a poor catch. Last spring I plowed, sowed buck¬ 
wheat July 5. This spring I could make a fair 
seed bed for grass by thoroughly harrowing it. 
I never tried grass seeding without a grain crop. 
It is too warm for a good Timothy crop, and I do 
not like it for the orchard, only to check growth. 
But I wish a light sod for sheep or cattle a few 
years to enrich the soil. What would you sow, 
and, if this spring, with or without a grain crop ? 
Can Orchard grass be killed easily ? 
ANSWERED BY RROF. I. P. ROBERTS. 
These questions lead one to suppose 
that the land upon which the orchard is 
growing, has received, at some time or 
other, liberal applications of farmyard 
manures, which usually are dispropor¬ 
tionately rich in nitrogen, or that the 
subsoil is unusually rich in the same ele¬ 
ment. The too rapid growth of the trees, 
is, without doubt, due to one or both of 
these causes. From the character of 
the land, I would judge that the nitro¬ 
gen has gone into the subsoil and is being 
used by the;trees, while the surface is 
deficient, It u is probable that the seed¬ 
ing fails because the trees and the crops, 
one or both, rob the young plants of the 
seeding, of both moisture and nourish¬ 
ment. The shade, also, is very detri¬ 
mental to some of the plants sown. The 
suggestion is made that the orchard be 
divided into two parts by a movable 
fence, one to be kept under cultivation 
during the summer, with no applications 
of manures or fertilizers of any kind. In 
this section of the orchard, a few of the 
trees might be headed back severely, in 
order to see if it would not produce 
greater fruitfulness. This experiment 
ought to be continued for at least two 
years. The rest of the orchard, be it the 
(Continued on next page.) 
$U£cdlancou£ gUintisinfl. 
In writing to advertisers, please always mention 
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\V. Atlee Burpee <fc C’o., I’lillnda, 
THE STANDARD OF QUALITY. 
What 
When i To Plant 
How 
Our Catalogue for 1895 contains more 
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D 
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4 
