394 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
.Tune 8 
Benefits of a Mulch. 
W., Blair County, Pa. — I have read 
with much satisfaction the first article in 
The It. N. Y. of May 18. After the count¬ 
less questions and theories to which our 
artificial plans of soil culture give rise, 
we take hold of what is firm, sure and 
unchanging when we apply to Nature 
herself for an account of how she grows 
every year, wherever man or beast or 
fire do not interfere, such sure and lux¬ 
uriant produce from the soil. This, too, 
does not deteriorate, but, on the contrary, 
benefits it, by the shelter and the ali¬ 
ment which the annual carbonaceous lit¬ 
tering of fall affords, and by the services 
of deep-searching roots, and of the con¬ 
stant surface mulch in retaining moisture 
and favoring the heajthful and nutritive 
quality of the soil. Man often defeats 
his own aim by running counter to Na¬ 
ture in efforts at soil culture ; but Na¬ 
ture, if not thwarted, never fails of suc¬ 
cessful growths. She is, therefore, a 
sure teacher, and her lessons are every¬ 
where open to study, as though displayed 
upon a blackboard. 
Transplanted Onions. 
J. S., St. Michaels, Md. —I raised 
some onions last year by setting out 
plants, and found it not so tedious as 
planting sets, and far more satisfactory 
in results. None go to seed as is the 
case with sets. It took one man one day 
to set 5,000 plants. The White Victorias 
are not so much inclined to grow thick 
necks as the Prizetakers and with me 
yield better. I manured the ground 
heavily with fine, hogpen manure, 50 
loads to the acre, about 200 pounds to 
the load. I then plowed and made it 
level and as fine as possible. I marked 
out the rows 20 inches apart, deeper than 
wanted, and scattered high-grade fer¬ 
tilizer thickly in the marks ; when plant¬ 
ing, I drew earth enough into the marks 
to make the plants set on a level, or a 
little below the surface of the ground. 
In about a week or 10 days I began to 
cultivate shallow, and continued to do 
so at intervals, t>?ll the bulbs were about 
grown ; never let the ground crust. I 
find that the grass that puts up after the 
cultivation ceases, shades the bulbs and 
k< 3 <eps the sun from turning white onions 
green. Whether it is advisable to plant 
large areas this why cm- not, I am not 
prepared to say ; it depends largely upon 
the help one can obtain. 
Three Crops in Twelve Months. 
J. C. S., Ore Banks, -Va. —By the time 
this reaches the oflice of The R. N.-Y., 
I hope to have finished plowing under 
about 14 aeres of Crimson clover, all of 
which came through our rigorous winter 
in good shape. In spots, it grew so rank 
that I was afraid we would have trouble 
turning it under. This was cut and con¬ 
verted into prime hay. To the disgust 
of some who believe in eating all of their 
pudding, I left the stubble very long. 
Now there is nothing novel in the above, 
but we are continually hearing and read¬ 
ing about land that is too new, too loose 
in texture, to grow elover. The Crim¬ 
son clover in question, however, was 
raised on land, part of which early in 
May, 1894, was still covered with virgin 
forest, and not a foot of which had been 
cleared six weeks prior to that time. 
This makes the third crop the land has 
produced in rather less than 12 months— 
first a fine crop of corn, next a big lot of 
monster turnips, and now the Crimson 
clover, the bulk of which goes back to 
the soil for the benefit of another corn 
crop to enable me to get the land into 
better tilth. 
In this connection, I am reminded of 
the queries of E. B., page 345, regarding 
cow peas and clover. This is what I 
would do, not only with an eye to 
immediate, but ultimate greatest profit. 
As soon as possible after the oats are cut, 
I would plow the land, but harrow only 
once, unless very cloddy. Next, if I 
could at all afford it, I would broadcast 
a few hundred pounds per acre of some 
form of potash, sow the cow peas only 
moderately thick, then harrow them in 
for dear life, making the soil as fine as 
possible. "With any sort of season at all, 
the peas will make a rapid growth, soon 
form a perfect mulch, and on examina¬ 
tion the soil under the vines will be 
found soft and friable, almost like an 
ash pile. Early in September, I would 
sow no less than 15 pounds of Crimson 
clover seed to the acre broadcast over 
the vines. In a week or two the leaves 
on the pea vines will begin to grow 
beautifully fewer and fewer, until at last 
the bare stems are left, presenting quite 
a contrast to the recent luxurious and 
rampant foliage. These bare stems, 
nevertheless, are of immense value to 
the young clover, and will induce a 
growth altogether disproportionate to 
their apparent worth. I would be glad to 
have The R. N.-Y. in its promised re¬ 
peated trials of Crimson clover, take an 
armful of rubbish, limbs, twigs, or roots, 
even tin cans if preferred, and scatter 
them loosely over a small space, and it 
would indeed surprise me if before the 
end of the year, it could not inform us 
that this indifferent protection made 
itself manifest in more vigorous growth 
of clover noticeable at a distance. For 
years, I have tried Crimson clover in 
every way I could conceive, except one 
(to be tried this year), and found that 
with me the two p’s, potash and protec¬ 
tion, give the best results. Opinions 
differ, but I myself would not turn in 
the hogs and then plow under the pea 
vines. Plowing is worth something. 
Better spend the time in double extra 
preparation of the land for wheat and 
winter oats. The season may prove to 
be one. as is so often the case, that E. B. 
will be glad if he can make only ordi¬ 
nary preparation for these crops. 
A Spraying Estimate. 
E. C. G., Penn Yan, N. Y.—One barrel 
of Bordeaux Mixture, 50 gallons, costs 
36 cents. Three men and a team can 
mix and apply eight barrels per day, 
which will thoroughly spray once from 
100 to 150 trees, according to size. Labor 
can be figured at the common price in 
each locality. I paid $1 per day. The 
Bordeaux Mixture cost $2.88 ; labor $4, 
a total of $6.88, or 6.88 cents per tree. 
For potato blight and beetles, I use a 
Bordeaux Mixture the same as the above, 
except that I use one pound of Paris- 
green to 50 gallons. I tried one-fourth 
pound to the barrel and the beetles fat¬ 
tened on it. 1 then gave them one pound 
to the barrel, and it cleaned the vines of 
them. 
Wyoming County, N. Y., Bean Culture. 
F. II. M., Perry Center, N. Y. —Beans 
will grow on any land, but the richer 
the soil, the larger the crop. I think a 
mucky loam would be my choice, well 
plowed and thoroughly harrowed. I 
would prefer a good coat of barnyard 
manure drawn and spread in the winter. 
Beans should be planted from June 1 to 
15. Most of those grown in this locality 
are Marrows ; they seem to do the best 
here. Some plant them in checks 28 
inches each way ; some with planters 
with fertilizer attachments, putting them 
in rows 28 inches apart, and some with 
a one-horse planter without phosphate ; 
the last is what I use. The cultivating 
is quite essential ; it should be done the 
first time as soon as possible without 
covering them, in order to keep the 
weeds from getting the start; they must 
not be cultivated when they are wet. 
The Planet Jr., and the Syracuse culti¬ 
vators take the lead in this vicinity. 
The best time to harvest them is just 
after the pods turn white, and before 
they dry up ; the crops here are gathered 
with harvesters. The one manufactured 
by F. W. Miller, of Caledonia, N. Y., is 
considered the best. The harvesters 
save a great deal of hard laoor—and 
from a quarter to a third of the time. 
Cost of Spraying Considered. 
C. E. Chapman, Tompkins County, N. 
Y.—A competent person must be em¬ 
ployed, or the work will be a failure. 
Persons who are capable of making and 
applying Bordeaux Mixture properly, 
are smart enough to command more 
wages than the common farm or day 
hand. I would expect to pay something 
for skill. To do rapid work, and reach 
the tops of the trees, one of the larger 
and more expensive machines would be 
required. The location, whether level 
or on a hillside, the trees, whether large, 
untrimmed, high and old, or young, 
small and cared for, would make a big 
difference. The amount of work to be 
done would have an influence. On small 
jobs, much time would be spent in travel¬ 
ing. The spraying should be done at a 
particular time, and that is limited so that 
the sprayer cannot cover much territory, 
and he must charge more than if he 
could have a steadier job. 
This work comes in the planting sea¬ 
son, when a farmer's time is valuable, 
and neglect of other crops will cause 
great loss later in the season. He might 
make much more planting potatoes than 
working by the day ; therefore, the 
sprayer will probably be of some other 
profession. 1 have never been able to 
do as much work in an hour as some 
writers profess to be able to do. Some 
men might half do it, spend but little 
time in making the mixture, hit a part 
of the foliage, and get through the job 
in a manner not conducive to good re¬ 
sults, if working by the tree, acre, or job. 
Others would be so slow in motion, un¬ 
handy with the machine, and fussy that 
one could not afford to hire them by the 
day. Two good men, using a good pump, 
McGowen nozzle, to avoid delay by clog¬ 
ging, and a team ought to spray 150 
average size trees per day. The material 
would cost about five cents per tree for 
Bordeaux Mixture and Paris-green. 
The two men and team could earn $4 
at other work, and should have five or 
six at this, for labor and use of machine. 
This would make at least $13 per day, or 
8% cents per tree per application. I 
think, if the men did good work, they 
would have to keep at it to average that 
much per day, and get accustomed to 
the work. It is doubtful whether any 
average price which would be fair to 
both parties, can be given by an outsider 
who knows nothing of the existing con¬ 
ditions. 
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3 GREATEST THINGS IN AGRICULTURE. 
Crimson Clover, Cow Peas and Winter 
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before purchasing seed. A. N. BROWN, Grower 
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easy to buy, easy to take, 
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