1895 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
295 
it be true, as I understand M. Girard to say, that by 
cutting the tuber we get no more potatoes than from 
the same seed uncut, but only scatter them over more 
ground, the economy of heavy seeding is apparent. I 
am satisfied that this intensive culture will produce 
much larger crops per acre than we have been accus¬ 
tomed to, and there seems no reason why, in favor¬ 
able seasons, we should not expect to equal the French 
farmers, and obtain 500 and more bushels per acre. 
It will be interesting to observe what influence the 
selection of seed from the most vigorous hills, exer¬ 
cises upon the crop. lockwood myrick. 
Allegheny County, Pa. 
WHERE WILL CRIMSON CLOVER LIVE? 
Not a Success in Indiana. 
Experience with Crimson clover in widely scattered 
districts, shows this spring more than ever, that this 
useful plant has rigid climatic limitations. In the 
vicinity of Indianapolis, it did not seem to suffer in 
the fall from sharp frost, as much even as Medium 
clover. But this spring, the stand is ruined. I walked 
over a field last week which was sowed in corn last 
August. I saw it after it was well up, and it seemed 
fairly promising for so dry a summer. But now, just 
about half of the plants are dead ; I could brush them 
off with my foot, 
cury keeping very close to zero all the time except a 
thaw January 6, which caught cold and left much of 
the ground covered with a coating of ice which re¬ 
mained till the middle of March. The snow went off 
early in March, and the ground has kept freezing and 
thawing ever since, but the frost has not been out of 
the ground at any time. It will be seen that the 
clover has had an exceptionally hard time of it, but 
at this time (March 23), though very small, it is bright 
and green, and seems to be growing some when the 
ground thaws deep enough to let it. It seems so 
small that it is doubtful whether it will amount to 
much this year ; but I shall try it again, hoping for 
more favorable seasons another year. It has certainly 
lived in good condition so far through the most trying 
winter we have had for many years. F. hodgman. 
Kalamazoo County. 
I have made some inquiries around the neighbor¬ 
hood about Crimson clover, but failed to find any one 
who had ever seen any. But I had read so much 
about it in The R. N.-Y., that I resolved to risk a dol¬ 
lar on it anyhow. So I got one peck of seed, and 
sowed a part on sandy soil and a part on clay. That 
on the light soil, seemed to do best. That on 
the clay came up all right, but did not make quite 
so much growth, and once in a while a stalk was 
killed. I had three acres of Medium clover near by 
SOME PLOW POINTS. 
A plow is a three-sided wedge. The power neces¬ 
sary to drive it through the soil (the draft) depends 
upon the shape of the wedge (the amount of twist in 
the moldboard) ; the size of the chunk to be split (the 
depth of the furrow) and the kind and condition of 
soil. The friction on the moldboard is equal to that 
on both bottom and landside. The friction on the 
moldboard cannot be avoided or lessened beyond hav¬ 
ing the steel as hard and smooth as possible ; but the 
friction on the bottom and landside can be largely 
done away with by hanging the plow on wheels, and 
having all the bottom and side pressure carried on 
greased spindles. This is done in properly constructed 
and properly managed sulky plows, and thus one-half 
the draft is lessened in the same degree as would be 
observed between the draft of a sled and a wagon on 
bare ground. 
In common hand plows, the bottom pressure or fric¬ 
tion may be lessened by getting the team as near the 
plow as possible. It is true that the longer the traces, 
the steadier the plow will run; but if the landside 
and point are long, we may get the team back where 
they can do a good deal of lifting, and still have the 
plow run steadily. We should choose a hand plow 
with a short beam and a long bottom ; in sulky plows 
one which is so 
and the root slip¬ 
ped out of the rot¬ 
ten bark. Two 
fields near will be 
plowed this spring 
one owner said 
that his looked 
well till we had a 
sleety snow that 
covered it with 
ice and killed it. 
Another said, “It 
just naturally 
froze to death. Oh, 
it isn't worth a 
cent here ! ” 
It may succeed 
near the lakes 
and coasts, but its 
isotherm, if as 
high as New York 
City, must quickly 
drop down as low 
as Cincinnati and 
stay south of the 
Ohio River. It 
may run abruptly 
north on the West- 
ern plains even to 
Montana. 
In sowing Crim¬ 
son clover seed 
this spring, I 
sowed most of it 
on frozen ground 
early in March ; 
and much freezing 
and thawing fol¬ 
lowed ; but not 
having rain as 
usual, the ground 
AUTOMATIC STOVEPIPE FEEDERS. Fig. 94. AUTOMATIC BOX FEEDER. Fig. 95. THE HOUSE COMPLETE. Fig. 96. 
arranged that 
both the bottom 
and side pressure 
is carried on 
wheels. The 
harder the mold- 
board of a plow, 
the easier it will 
“scour,” and the 
less friction there 
will be ; also the 
easier will it break 
if there are solid 
stones to be en¬ 
countered. T h e 
same may be said 
of plowshares. 
When steel shares 
are used, and no 
stones are found, 
it is well to have 
the shares temp¬ 
ered hard by heat¬ 
ing to dull red 
after sharpening 
and plunging in 
water. If there 
are stones in the 
land, the shares 
should be softened 
by being allowed 
to cool slowly 
after sharpening. 
They will then be 
so soft that when 
they become 
dulled or battered 
by running 
against stones, 
they may be sharp¬ 
ened in the field 
didn’t heave and 
honeycomb as it usually does, and the seed was not 
well covered. I left a strip, however, unsowed ; on 
April 3, I run a light harrow over part of this strip, 
and sowed it immediately. I then sowed part of it 
on the nicely-cracked ground ; so I have three wings 
to my experiment—yes, four, since I sowed part of it 
ahead of the harrow. When harrowing wheat, the 
ground should be very dry—better after dinner on a 
the latter piece, and as far as 1 can tell, it is nearly 
all killed. Of course I cannot tell yet what the crop 
will be, but I can see no reason why there should not 
be a crop of Crimson. The Experiment Station of 
this State thought that it could not be grown here. 
My neighbors are all watching it with eager interest. 
I have a neighbor, a well-to-do farmer, who says that 
he is glad I tried it, so that he could £ee how it 
by drawing out 
with a hammer and hand anvil. When a plow is 
started without any trouble in the spring, it gener¬ 
ally means that it was given a coat of tallow when it 
was put in the shed in the fall. When we see a man 
spending valuable time in the spring scouring a plow 
with a brickbat, we wonder if he is the same fellow 
who used it the previous fall. j. m. drew. 
drying day—and the harrow light and teeth bright, or 
the wheat will be pulled up. e. h. c. 
Carmel, Ind. 
From Three Points in Michigan. 
1 sowed about two acres to Crimson clover last sum¬ 
mer ; a part of it was sowed among corn and cultivated 
in August 2, and a part among corn after cultivating, 
and left on the surface. The rest of it was sowed on 
oat stubble August 7. The stubble was dragged over 
twice with a spring-tooth harrow, the seed sown, and 
then it was harrowed again. It was a very dry time, 
and remained so all the fall. The first rain we had 
after the seed was sown, was September 4, and then 
only enough to lay the thick dust in the road. Sep¬ 
tember 6, we had enough rain to start the seed, and we 
had several light showers during the following week. 
The clover came up so late that it made but a very 
small growth. On the oat ground, a thick crop of 
volunteer oats came up which completely overshad¬ 
owed the clover, and covered it during the winter. 
The early part of the winter was very mild, but 
January and February were unusually cold, the mer¬ 
worked, because he did not 1 ke to try any new thing 
till he knew whether it would succeed. We have 
artesian wells at the city, about five miles distant 
He says that he wished some one would bore for one in 
his neighborhood, so that he could see how it works. 
Grand Traverse County. f. a. f. 
September 5, last, I sowed upon a patch of about 
five square rods of sandy loam, 10 miles west of Grand 
Rapids, 1 % pound of Crimson clover seed. It came 
through the winter all right, until March 1, soon after 
which a thaw took the snow off from a little ridge on 
the west side of the plot. About March 15, cold 
weather, two degrees below zero, killed all the clover 
on the ridge. The rest of the plot has come through 
all right. c. f. c. 
Ottawa County. 
The R. N -Y.’s experiment with two acres of Crim¬ 
son clover, has proved a failure. The hard blizzard 
of late winter, killed Crimson an l Red clover alike— 
except a small strip of the former. We will give full 
particulars next week. Of course we shall try it 
again, and we hope all who have failed with it this 
season will do likewise. 
THE PEAR-TREE PSYLLA. 
This formidable enemy of pear culture will doubt¬ 
less extend its destructive work over a wide territory 
the coming season, and cultivators of this fruit should 
be prepared to meet it promptly, or their orchards 
will be seriously injured, if not completely ruined. 
As the warm days come on, eggs will be laid about 
the bases of the terminal buds, and in the creases of 
old bark. As soon as the leaves begin to open, these 
eggs will hatch, and the young insects will begin to 
suck the sap from the axils of the leaves, and stems of 
the forming fruit. Unless active measures be taken 
at this time to destroy the psylla, in 30 days most of 
the fruit will drop off, and what is left will be worth¬ 
less, and the trees will be seriously injured at the end 
of the season, 
The treatment is to spray with kerosene emulsion 
as soon as the leaves begin to open. This should be 
thoroughly done to destroy the first brood ; if this be 
done, they will give comparatively little trouble for 
the rest of the summer. The following formula I have 
found effective : one-half pound of hard soap, one gal¬ 
lon of water, two gallons of kerosene. Dissolve the 
