February  2G,  1916. 
their  crops  better  from  year 
F.  E.  ROBERTSON. 
15he  nURAL  NEW-YORKER 
for  the  selected  high-yielding  strain  of  oats  of  the  sonal  pride  in  makir 
variety  desired.  This  method  of  seed  selection  does  to  year, 
not  take  much  time,  and  is  very  interesting:  in  fact, 
it  is  the  only  method  that  will  eventually  lead  to 
the  securing  of  high  yielding  strains  of  oats. 
SOWING  PLUMP  SEED.— Simply  by  following 
the  commendable  practice  of  vigorously  milling  the 
seed  oats  with  a  view  to  eliminating  the  small  and 
chaffy  kernels  one  should  be  able  to  at  least  main¬ 
tain  his  yield  and  grow  the  same  variety  year  after 
year.  However,  plump  seed  may  be  borne  on  natur¬ 
ally  low  yielding  plants,  hence  this  practice  will 
never  accomplish  what  seed  selection  will  accomplish. 
TREATING  FOR  SMUT.— During  the  past  twO 
years  oat  smut  has  prevailed  generally.  Any  farm¬ 
er  who  in  this  day  neglects  to  treat  his  seed  oats 
at  once  becomes  a  menace  to  his  neighbors  and 
320 
ing.  Just  imagine  the  working  of  a  160-acre  farm 
with  four  old  mares  that  cost  all  together  §120  and 
raised  colts  besides.  I  do  know  that  such  old  mares 
sometimes  raise  colts — such  as  they  are.  But  I  also 
know  that  it  makes  a  pretty  busy  job  for  the  old 
mares.  Then  there  D  the  Question  of  old,  second¬ 
hand  tools  and  machinery.  If  I  should  hire  Mrs. 
F.  C.  J.  to  work  for  me,  and  should  hand  her  an 
old  broom,  worn  pretty  well  down  to  a  stub,  to 
sweet  the  sitting-room  floor,  I  should  expect  to  see 
a  look  of  injured  innocense  at  least.  But  most 
amusing  of  all,  was  the  lady's  judgment  that  I  have 
not  “been  through  the  mill."  My  wife  and  I  started 
with  a  joint  capital  of  about  $600,  and  we  have  not 
made  enough  to  brag  about  since.  But  I  guess  that. 
I  have  not  “been  through  the  mill”  after  all.  At 
least  I  have  never  been  pulverized  or  crushed.  I 
have  always  fought  clear  of  that.  I  have  a  suspi¬ 
cion  that  it  would  be  unpleasant,  and  so  I  always 
advise  others  against  getting  into  a  position  where 
they  are  liable  to  be  crushed  or  ground. 
,T.  GRANT  MORSE. 
Sweet  Clover  in  New  York 
I  HAVE  been  reading  the  article  on  Sweet  clover 
by  O.  F.  Jensen  of  Iowa  on  page  73.  At  least 
three-fourths  of  it  is  very  favorable  to  the  Sweet 
clover  grower,  and  will  more  than  please  those 
who  are  already  in  the  business;  also  those  who  in¬ 
tend  to  try  this  greatest  of  all  legumes.  But  there 
are  two  points  in  his  letter  that  are  directly  the 
opposite  of  our  experience  here  in  New  York  State, 
both  of  which  may  be  attributed  perhaps  to  the 
difference  between  the  soil  and  climate  iu  the  two 
States.  He  says  that  “Experiments  at  the  Station  have 
shown  that  as  a  hog  pasture  Sweet  clover  is  not  as 
good  as  Alfalfa. 1  This  does  not  agree  with  our  ex¬ 
perience  here  In  New  York.  In  fact  the  reverse  is 
true  aere-  It  has  been  shown  here  that  it  out¬ 
classes  Alfalfa  as  a  pasture  for  all  stock.  Then 
again  he  says  that  “Sweet  clover  is  not  an  ideal 
hay  crop  and  there  Is  no  reason  for  growing  it  as  a 
hay  crop  where  either  Alfalfa  or  Red  clover  can  be 
successfully  grown.  It  is  harder  to  cure  than  Red 
clover  or  Alfalfa  owing  to  its  large  succulent  stalks. 
At  the  most  only  two  cuttings  a  year  can  be  ob¬ 
tained  and  two  tons  of  hay  per  acre  is  a  fair  yield. 
As  a  hay  crop  alone  Sweet  clover  is  not  to  be 
recommended  under  conditions  where  other  legumes 
can  he  grown." 
According  to  our  experience  here  in  New  York 
State,  Sweet  clover  is  an  ideal  hay  crop,  so  ideal 
thet  when  a  farmer  gets  started  with  it  and  his 
stock  of  all  kinds  got  accustomed  to  it  he  does  not 
want  any  other  forage  on  his  farm,  either  as  hay 
or  pasture.  And  why  should  he,  when  it  produces 
more  to  the  acre  than  any  other?  We  all  know  that 
it  contains  more  protein  and  is  therefore  more  nu¬ 
tritious  than  either  Alfalfa  or  Red  clover  which 
rank  second  and  third,  and  at  least  three  times 
more  than  Timothy.  It  can  be  cut  three,  and  some¬ 
times  four  times  in  a  season,  with  an  annual  pro¬ 
duction  of  about  four  tons  per  acre  of  the  best  hay 
in  the  world,  but  must  he  cut  with  six-inch  stubbles 
each  time  except  the  last,  and  must  be  cut  before 
blossoming  for  best  results.  If  cut  with  a  reaper 
without  a  hinder  and  turned  once  or  twice  it  is 
easy  to  cure.  Stock  of  all  kinds  prefer  it  to  any 
other  forage,  and  will  not  bloat  from  its  use.  This 
cannot  be  said  of  Alfalfa  and  Red  clover.  Of  course 
all  admit  its  superiority  for  enriching  the  land,  and 
as  it  will  grow  on  any  land  and  never  fails  to  do 
its  duty  either  as  hay  or  pasture,  without  regard  to 
weather  conditions,  why  encourage  the  use  of  Alfal¬ 
fa,  Red  clover  or  other  legumes,  when  we  can  have 
something  better  and  something  that  will  grow  with¬ 
out  plowing,  fertilizing,  lime  or  inoculation? 
Schenectady  Co.,  N.  Y.  a.  bloom xngdaee. 
Oat  Production 
Some  Commendable  Practices 
CARELESS  CULTURE. — Few  farm  crops  are 
grown  as  carelessly,  and  with  so  little  system, 
as  the  oat  crop  in  the  Eastern  States.  To  a  certain 
extent  in  fact  the  oat  crop  has  fallen  into  ill  repute. 
Production-cost  statisticians  are  showing  us  that 
the  costs  of  this  crop  exceed  its  value,  hence  as  a 
profitable  crop  it  has  no  place  in  our  farm  rotations. 
As  a  matter  of  fact  when  we  east  up  accounts 
against  a  majority  of  our  farm  crops  the  margin  of 
actual  profit  is  so  small  that  the  whole  proposition, 
aside  from  growing  and  selling  Timothy  hay,'  as¬ 
sumes  a  discouraging  appearance,  in  spite  of  the 
fact  that  we  are  still  saving  money  in  our  farming 
operations.  The  oat  crop  has  never  been  allowed  to 
occupy  its  rightful  “place  in  the  sun.”  It  has  been 
a  handy  crop  to  fill  in  where  some  other  crop  would 
not  do  well,  and  incidentally  serve  as  a  godmother 
to  the  young  hay  crop.  Take  any  section  of  the 
country  and  make  inquiry  of  the  farmers  as  to  what 
variety  of  oats  they  are  growing.  It  will  not  bN 
difficult  to  find  a  dozen,  so-called  varieties.  Y  ; 
only  does  the  lack  of  standardized  varieties  of  oats 
prevail  in  most  communities  but  a  majority  of  V  > 
farmers  are  forever  changing  their  seed  from  ye  ’ 
to  year  in  the  belief  that  by  so  changing  better 
crops  may  be  secured,  or  in  other  words  they  re¬ 
peat  the  all  too  common  expression  “my  oats  have 
run  out.”  And  this  condition  exists  iu  spite  of  the 
fact  that,  some  of  their  neighbors  have  grown  the 
same  variety  of  oats  without  change  for  25  years. 
Very  little  practical  work  has  ever  been  done  in 
the  matter  of  seed  selection  and  community  stand¬ 
ardization  with  the  oat  crop.  By  following  a  few 
simple  practices  any  farmer  may  improve  the  yield¬ 
ing  powCi  c"  his  oat  crop,  or  at  least  maintain  its 
yielding  power  so  that  it  will  not  he  necessary  nor 
desirable  to  change  the  variety. 
OAT  SEED  SELECTION.— By  far  the  best  meth¬ 
od  to  improve  the  oat  crop  Is  by  seed  selection. 
Bearing  in  mind  that  practically  every  oat  plant 
in  any  field  is  an  individual  with  ihe  power  to  pro¬ 
duce  an  average,  low,  or  high  yield  and  that  this 
quality  is  transmitted  from  parent  to  offspring  it  is 
plain  that  if  the  low-yielding  types  are  eliminated 
and  the  high  yielding  types  saved  that  increase  in 
yielding  power  must  result,  just  as  surely  as  the 
elimination  of  the  low  producing  cows  in  the  dairy 
will  result  in  .i  higher  producing  dairy.  Further¬ 
more,  since  there  is  practically  no  cross-pollination 
taking  place  as  between  different  oat  plants  or 
varieties,  there  is  little  danger  from  this  source 
of  contamination  from  low-yielding  types.  With 
this  principle  in  mind  one  has  only  to  pass  through 
the  oat  field  and  pick  the  desirable  heads  of  oats 
preparatory  to  planting  the  seed  from  each  head  of 
oats  ip  a  short  row  the  following  season.  One 
might  pick  500  heads  in  August,  t  hese  could  be 
shelled  by  hand  in  Winter  and  culled  so  that  the 
same  number  of  oats — say  60  kernels — would  he 
saved  from  each  head  and  placed  temporarily  in 
small  envelopes  until  planting  time.  The  seed  bed 
she, rid  be  in  the  midst  of  the  oat  field,  and  the  rows 
would  he  about  five  feet  long  and  10  inches  apart. 
In  each  row  the  seed  from  one  head  of  oats  would 
he  sown-  In  August  following,  a  marked  difference 
will  be  apparent  as  between  these  different  head 
rows.  Some  will  be  markedly  superior  to  the 
others.  About  25  of  the  best  rows  should  be  har¬ 
vested.  tied  in  small  bundles,  and  stored  away  for 
the  purpose  of  planting  the  second  year  in  25  dif¬ 
ferent  rows,  ‘using  the  same  amount  of  seed  in  each 
row,  in  order  to  make  further  selections.  From 
these  25  rows  of  high  yielding  oats  about  five  may 
be  selected  and  these  will  be  the  parent  seed  stock 
Selecting  Oat  Heads.  Fig.  93 
should  be  so  branded.  Always  there  will  be  some 
who  forget  the  method  recommended  for  treating 
seed  oats  with  formalin,  lienee  this  brief  reminder. 
The  spores  of  the  oat  smut  fungus  being  carried 
over  from  year  to  year  on  and  under  the  chaffy  part 
of  the  oat  kerne1  <  vu  he  effectively  reached  only 
by  a  gas.  For  this  purpose  lormalin  has  proved 
both  cheap  and  effect:-,  Diluting  one  pint  of  40% 
strength  formalin  in  40  g.iHo; .  ■  cf  water  gives  us  a 
quantity  of  solution  sufficient  1  >  treat  about  50 
b’--1'°ls  of  seed.  By  placing  tlu  oats  on  a  clean 
fMv./  alternately  sprinkU^g  and  shoveling  the 
pile  over  until  the  oats  a r>  thoroughly  wet  this  part 
of  Fie  operation  is  completed.  Then  turn  the  grain 
bags  wrong  side  out  and  after  sprinkling  these  lay 
them  over  the  pile  of  seed.  Then  cover  the  whole 
pile  with  blankets  and  canvas  in  order  that  the 
formaldehyde  gas  may  escape  from  the  formalin 
and  being  thus  confined  for  three  to  four  hours  will 
destroy  practically  all  of  the  smut  spores  ou  the 
seed  and  in  the  bags.  After  treating,  the  blankets 
are  thrown  back  and  the  pile  shoveled  over  to  dry 
out  sufficient  for  sowing.  The  ease  with  which 
this  work  is  done  and  the  very  low  cost  per  acre 
should  attract  the  most  conservative  farmer. 
FERTILIZATION. — The  most  important  tiling  to 
consider  in  growing  any  crop  is  good  seed.  The  lib¬ 
eral  use  of  fertilizers  will  make  the  crop  yields 
larger  only  temporarily.  Fertilizers  will  r ever  take 
the  place  of  high-yielding  seed.  But,  If  fertilizers 
are  to  be  used  it  has  come  to  he  now  very  generally 
recommended  that  the  one  best  fertilizer  to  use  for 
the  oat,  or  grain;  crop  is  acid  rock-phosphate,  250  to 
Ground  Bone  and  Culture  for  Sweet 
Potatoes 
I  would  like  to  have  your  advice  in  regard  to  using 
bone  as  fertilizer  for  sweet  potatoes.  I  have  been  told 
of  some  who  have  used  it  with  fairly  good  results.  Or 
is  there  anything  you  can  recommend  to  take  the  place 
of  potash,  as  they  tell  us  fertilizer  will  he  very  high 
and  the  percentage  of  potash  very  low,  this  year. 
Millville,  N.  J.  L.  M. 
WE  have  had  no  experience  with  ground  bone 
used  alone  as  a  fertilizer  for  sweet  potatoes. 
As  sweets  need  potash  and  as  bone  does  not  furnish 
this,  it  would  not  in  normal  times  be  considered  a 
good  material  to  use  year  after  year.  However,  I 
do  know  of  one  instance  several  years  ago  where  it 
was  used  with  very  good  results  at  the  rate  of  600 
pounds  per  acre.  This  was  drilled  in  the  same  as  is 
ordinarily  done  with  complete  fertilizer. 
Personally  we  feel  that  potash  is  too  high  at  pres¬ 
ent  for  agricultural  use.  We  are  planning  to  use 
some  of  the  2-8-0  fertilizer  for  sweet  potatoes  on  one 
small  field  next  season.  For  the  rest  we  think  we 
have  a  better  plan.  The  hulk  of  our  sweets,  or  con¬ 
siderably  more  than  100.000  are  being  put  in  with 
manure  and  the  manure  is  in  Ihe  row  now  (Dec. 
13).  The  story  of  why  we  are  doing  this  may  prove 
helpful  to  L.  M.  as  well  as  to  other  sweet  potato 
growers. 
Three  years  ago  we  tried  out  a  number  of  experi¬ 
ments  on  sweet  potatoes  for  the  control  of  stem  rot. 
One  theory  we  worked  on  was  that  stem  rot  de¬ 
veloped  worse  where  plants  had  been  injured  by 
burning  from  fertilizers  and  also  from  drought. 
Even  with  proper  precautions  in  applying  fertilizer 
there  is  almost  always  some  burning.  Usually  it 
is  not  enough  to  do  serious  damage,  but  still  might 
he  sufficient,  to  cause  stem  rot  to  develop.  The  use 
of  manure  was  considered,  but  when  used  in  the 
Spring  it  often  remained  in  the  bottom  of  the  ridge, 
a  dry  punky  mass  that  caused  plants  to  suffer  from 
Oats  Grown  in  Separate  Rows.  Fig,  94 
300  pounds  per  acre.  This  re  lorrmendation  will 
hold  for  most  sections  in  the  East.  On  the  average 
dairy  farm  where  one  year  in  five  an  application  of 
farm  manure  is  made  there  should  be  no  need  to 
apply  nitrogen  fertilizers  to  the  grain  crop.  On  the 
other  hand  phosphoric  acid,  the  one  element  most 
deficient  in  our  soils,  gives  excellent  results  ou  the 
grain  crop,  and  is  relatively  cheap. 
STANDARDIZATION  AND  SEED  PRODUC¬ 
TION — With  a  view  to  growing  choice  seed  oats 
worth  from  75  cents  to  $1  per  bushel  it  should  not 
he  difficult  for  several  farmers  in  any  neighborhood 
to  agree  to  grow  the  same  variety  of  oats  and  then 
by  some  simple  means  improve  this  variety  by  seed 
selection.  With  ‘standardization  of  varieties  and  a 
plan  for  seed  improvement  the  growing  of  oats  iu 
the  Eastern  States  may  yet  become  profitable  for 
those  farmers  who  work  together  and  take  a  per- 
