1895 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
391 
18 inches apart in the vow, are expected to make, and 
do make, under favorable conditions, beds from two 
to three feet in width, in five months from planting - . 
Their numbers are multiplied sometimes more than a 
hundredfold ; as the top must have a corresponding 
root growth to support it, it may be readily seen that 
large supplies of soluble plant food are necessary, 
and, like a true Prohibitionist, it always takes water. 
A deep and thorough pulverization of the soil, mak¬ 
ing it loose and light, allows the air to penetrate it ; 
this is always laden with more or less moisture, which 
comes into contact with the soil, which is cooler than 
the air, is condensed and retained for the uses of the 
plant. But in many soils, this is not sufficient under 
such conditions as prevailed in many localities during 
the past season. 
In August, 1893, I plowed under a part of a field 
from which I had taken a crop of strawberries, and 
sowed rye upon it. The growth was heavy, and 
about May 1 , 1894, I plowed this rye under, and 
rolled the ground, compacting this mass of green 
vegetable matter beneath some 10 inches of soil. 
The ground was then planted to strawberries, which 
grew finely, being fed by the moisture supplied by 
the decomposing mass of vegetable matter trans¬ 
mitted through the roots of the rye which nearly 
filled the soil. The surface soil to the depth of two 
inches, became so dry that no roots formed upon the 
plants until the rains catne, when they quickly rooted, 
and better beds than these rows made are seldom seen. 
Another section of this strawberry field was plowed 
and seeded to clover and turnips in August, 1893. 
Both grew well, and in November over 200 bushels of 
fine turnips were taken off, leaving the smaller ones. 
Both the clover and turnips grew finely in the spring, 
and when the latter were in full bloom and from two 
to four feet high, the whole was plowed under, the 
ground rolled and planted to sweet corn about June 
1 , after which time no rains fell to wet the ground 
one inch in depth. The corn was slow in starting, 
and many hills were deficient in plants ; but its after¬ 
growth was most luxuriant, and the wonder of 
passers-by, as most corn fields were in a parched and 
dying condition. The results were that we sold 
from this plot of 1 % acre, 16,000 well-filled ears of 
fine quality, which brought us $167, to which add the 
value of 400 bundles of stalks, and 365 bushels of 
turnips, and we have a total of $240 from the 1% acre. 
Why this result? What did this vegetable matter 
supply besides moisture? Nitrogen, the most costly 
of all our fertilizers. These leguminous plants are 
nitrogen-catchers, storing it up in the soil during 
their growth to stimulate the growth of succeeding 
crops. \\ e must not lose sight of the fact, however, 
that we must supply potash in the form of wood 
ashes, or the salts of potash, muriate or sulphate, and 
phosphoric acid in ground bone, or something equiv¬ 
alent to it, if our soils are deficient in these mineral 
elements. So far as my experience goes, I have al¬ 
ways found that crops of all kinds respond to the 
application of potash, both in quantity and quality ; 
as it deepens the color and improves the quality of 
our berries and fruits. From these experiments and 
others that I have made, I conclude that we may ob¬ 
tain our nitrogen cheaper than to buy it in commer¬ 
cial fertilizers, at the same time that we obtain the 
humus or vegetable matter necessary, whose mechan¬ 
ical effect upon the soil in its decomposition makes 
soluble and available the mineral elements contained 
in it. 
In plowing under green crops, always do it when 
they are green and full of moisture, and press the soil 
down upon them so that they may decompose and not 
become dry, in which case they would be an injury 
instead of a benefit. w. f. taker. 
Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 
A STEEL THREE-HORSE EVENER. 
The trouble with all the three-horse eveners lately 
illustrated in The R. N.-Y., is that they are too heavy 
and too much trouble to arrange or use. 1 have used 
one a great oe.il which I have had for years, and any 
blacksmith can make it for a little money. It was 
patented, but the patent has long since expired. It is 
good, simple, cheap and handy. It is shown at the 
left in Fig. 123. To make it, use a piece of steel three 
inches by five-eighths, draw it down so that the upper, 
long end will not be over five-eighths by one inch, and 
make a half inch hole into which weld a hook as 
shown. The lower, short end should be about two 
inches by five-eighths, with a half-inch hole to take 
the bolt of the small clevis ; or a heavy hook may be 
welded in to take the ring of an evener. The evener 
should be about 7>£ inches between holes, and one- 
third the way from the short end, a half-inch hole 
should be made to take the pin of the clevis, to attach 
to the plow or load. Two or three holes may be made 
here, so that the work of the horses may be varied to 
give either the advantage. 
The middle horse draws from a singletree attached 
to the hook on the upper, long end, of the steel evener. 
The outer horses draw from a long evener attached to 
the lower, short end of the steel evener. The advant¬ 
ages of this evener are that it is lighter. The two 
singletrees on the ends of the long evener balance 
each other and, in turning at the ends of the field, by 
bearing down on the plow handles, the plowman can 
lift all clear from the ground. The middle horse’s 
wliiffletree and traces are about six inches above the 
others, so that they never tangle. 
At the right in Fig. 123 is shown a front view of the 
whiffletrees as attached to the steel evener. If it be 
desired to use this on a wagon, put a block three 
inches thick under the hammer strap, and let the 
draw bolt be long enough to go through this to the 
A STEEL THREE-HORSE EVENER. Fig. 123. 
tongue with a nut below, and put the small clevis on 
top of the block under the hammer strap with the 
draw bolt through the clevis. This will let the long 
evener lie flat on the tongue, and work very nicely. 
The whole cost of this evener will not be over 75 
cents, and any one can make the long evener for the 
outside horses to draw from, at home. 
_ J. S. WOODWARD. 
MARL SHOWS FOR FIFTY YEARS. 
HELPS BOTH MANURE AND FERTILIZER. 
It has occurred to me that, as bearing on D. J.’s 
question, page 201 , as to the value of marl as a ferti¬ 
lizer, a little history may be of interest, especially as 
one fact outweighs any quantity of theory. The im¬ 
mediate locality where I was born in Shiloh, Cumber¬ 
land County, N. J., was some 60 years ago probably 
as good an illustration of thoroughly exhausted and 
worn-out land, so-called, as it is possible to imagine, 
i he farm land had ceased to produce anything ap¬ 
proaching a paying crop; the land owners had cut and 
marketed all their available timber, and so dark was 
the outlook that it was the general consensus of 
opinion among thoughtful men, that the country must 
be abandoned, and a move made to the new lands of 
the West. In fact, all the young men who could find 
the means, had already gone, and the older ones were 
getting ready to go, being kept only by the impossi¬ 
bility of selling their farms, since no one cared to buy. 
But just at this juncture, one or two men began to try 
marl, and within two or three years, every one was 
hauling marl, and there was no further talk of aban¬ 
doning the country. 
lo-day, that locality is second to none in fertility, 
and u Shiloh land ” is a synonym for the very highest 
of agricultural possibilities. The marl used here has 
been chiefly shell marl, which does not contain as much 
phosphoric acid as the analysis given by The R. N.-Y. 
(only about 1)4 to 2 per cent), but more carbonate of 
lime (as high as 15 to 20 per cent). In later years, 
large quantities of the “ clay marls,” which at first 
were thought worthless, have been used with good 
results. The most marked results of the use of mad, 
have been the permanent improvement effected by it. 
As illustrating this, the year I was 50 years old, I was 
visiting the old homestead. Father said to me, “Flow 
long do you think marl will last ? ” On my replying 
that I might guess, but that it would be only a guess, 
he said, “ Let us take a walk across the middle or¬ 
chard.” We did so i this was about the first of June, 
and the orchard was in Timothy and clover. After 
going slowly across, he said, “ Well, do you notice 
anything especial about the grass ? ” I replied that I 
thought I did ; that between every other row of 
trees, the grass seemed to be a little better—a little 
ranker—not much, but enough to be noticeable. 
“ Well,” said he, “ those rows were mailed the year 
you were born, and th'e alternate rows left so as. to 
see whether marl would really do any good ; since 
then all fertilizers have been applied uniformly to tthe 
whole field.” This shows the s&ong point of marl— 
its lasting effects. 
Indeed, I am fully convinced that the men who 
have seen marl make of tlflit whole section of the 
country, “a new land” are right when they say that 
when marl is applied to poor land “ ft never entirely 
forgets it.” This marl had to be hauled an average of 
over three miles, and I know of plenty of farms that 
have been brought from poverty to high tilth, with 
marl hauled 10 miles. These facts seem to me to 
show clearly that the theoretical value of our mails is 
entirely underestimated. 
No man could afford to haul a fertilizer from four 
to ten miles that had an intrinsic fertilizing value of 
only $1.50 per ton. The assumption on which this 
low valuation is estimated, is that the potash in marl 
is not soluble, and hence cannot be appropriated by 
the plant. Here, however, the recent investigations 
of Passerini afford an explanation of the continued 
effects of the potash marls. He finds that the nitrates 
when applied to soils, largely increase the proportion 
of soluble potash. The superphosphates have the 
same effect, though in a less marked degree. This 
corresponds exactly with the observed behavior of 
marl application. Marl, when first applied, does not 
seem to produce much, if any, immediate effect; but 
in the second crop, it begins to show, and when an 
application of manure (either barnyard manure or 
fertilizer) is put on, it seems to do twice as much good 
as before the marl was applied. It is rendering the 
potash soluble, and a large amount of potash is then 
stored up in a form that will keep—it cannot be 
leached out, for it is rendered soluble only as the 
plant uses it. If this view is correct (and that it prac¬ 
tically is, is proved by tens of thousands of acres in 
New Jersey) the marl referred to by The R. N.-Y., is 
worth nearer $7 per ton than $1.50. 
There is another point about marls that, in my 
opinion, has been overlooked, and that is that the 
silica contained in t^iem is largely (in some cases run¬ 
ning as high as 86 per cent) soluble. All plants with 
woody stems, need considerable silica, and there is 
always enough of it present ; but when it is in the 
insoluble form, a plant can no more digest or appro¬ 
priate it than it can gravel stones. Most of our soils 
contain very little soluble silica. r. it. 
Millville, N. J. 
R. N.-Y.—In the answer referred to on page 801, 
Prof. Voorhees simply gave the station value of a 
ton of marl as compared with other fertilizers—that 
is, allowing the reg%lar valuations for potash and 
phosphoric acid. Undoubtedly the chief reason for 
the good effects of the marl on light soils is found in 
the discussion about the movement of water in soils 
now going on in Primer Science. The addition of the 
marl improved the mechanical structure of the soil, 
and increased its capacity for holding water. 
A BARN WITHOUT BEAMS. 
In The R. N.-Y. of May 18, the plan of a barn with¬ 
out beams is very good, but I send a plan of my fath¬ 
er's barn which, in some respects, 1 think I would 
prefer (see Fig. 124). If 8 x 8 beams are used, for 
pieces A A and 13 B, 6 x 8 should be usad. B B are 
morticed into the purlin plate ; but the purlin plate 
does not have to be framed for rafters, as they rest 
upon a flat surface, and are nailed, or pinned to the 
same with wooden pins. w. A. b. 
Millington, N. J. 
WHAT THEY SAY. 
Notes on Spraying.—As the ingredients used in 
the various mixtures for spraying fruits and vegeta¬ 
bles, are poisonous in their nature, besides being very 
hard to w - ash from the hands of those mixing and 
using them, it is advisable to protect the hands with 
a good pair of India rubber or, better, buckskin gloves. 
I have known very painful and annoying sores to come 
from contact of the poison with slight abrasions of the 
skin of persons working at the pumps. Getting weary 
of carrying a knapsack sprayer around on the back, I 
have rigged mine to a seat board on a cart, and find it 
