Z>’hc  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
548 
and  the  United  States,  Argentina  dressed  beef  is 
free  to  go  to  the  better  market,  fn  this  country  it 
is  competitive,  if  it  is  really  competitive  at  all,  only 
with  the  lower  grades  of  domestic  dressed  beef.” 
It  is  due  in  part  to  our  former  large  non-beef  eat¬ 
ing  population  that  beef  prices  have  not  been  greatly 
depressed.  Of  course  this  is  only  one  factor,  as  il  is 
Known  fact,  that  the  receipts  of  cattle  at  our  leading 
slaughter  centers  have  greatly  decreased  during  the 
last:  year.  According  to  the  best  records  there  lias 
oeen  a  shortage  in  the  six  Western  packing  centers 
of  380,000  head  since  Tan.  1,  1014,  in  comparison 
with  the  same  period  of  one  year  ago. 
ARGENTINE  CONDITIONS.— It  now  becomes 
quite  apparent  that  had  the  tariff  not  been  removed 
this  last  Fall  we  should  receive  this  Spring  the 
record  prices  of  the  Industry.  As  it  is.  these  prices 
have  simply  been  postponed  until  the  excess  foreign 
supply  has  been  consumed,  which  cannot  he  very 
long  under  the  present  enormous  demand.  Argen¬ 
tina  and  Australia  are  the  two  recognized  sources 
of  supply,  yet,  besides  furnishing  this  beef  which 
comes  to  the  United  States,  they  are  also  called 
upon  to  supply  the  European  market,  formerly  sup¬ 
plied  by  us.  Let  me  quote  again  from  the  U.  S. 
Bulletin  No.  581 :  “Cattle  in  Argentine  are  not  more 
numerous  than  they  were  five  years  ago.  and  per¬ 
haps  they  are  less.  That  country  cannot  increase 
its  beef  supply  permanently  until  the  slaughter  first 
ceases  to  increase,  or  lessens  sufficiently  to  give  its 
herds  liberty  and  time  to  increase.”  This  was  the 
situation  in  Argentine  last  Fall;  since  then,  instead 
of  decreasing  the  slaughter  as  it.  seemed  necessary, 
the  slaughter  has  been  greatly  increased,  due  to  the 
much  higher  prices  obtained  at  the  farms  and  randi¬ 
es  since  the  United  States  markets  were  thrown 
open.  These  prices,  while  perhaps  not  as  high  as  we 
obtain  here,  have  been  so  much  higher  than  com¬ 
mon  that  it.  has  tempted  the  iarmers  to  turn  off 
much  of  their  breeding  stock  for  beef,  which  natur¬ 
ally  hurts  the  supply  of  the  future.  According  to 
the  best  figures  the  slaughter  of  steers  in  the  pack¬ 
ing  centers  during  the  last  year  has  increased  03%, 
that  of  veals  08%  and  of  breeding  cows  168%.  Does 
this  mean  anything  to  you? 
OTHER  PRODUCING  COUNTRIES,— As  for  the 
other  beef-producing  countries,  they  can  never  be¬ 
come  of  great  importance  to  our  country.  On  page 
201  of  flie  1013  Year  Rook  of  the  Department  of 
Agriculture,  the  conditions  in  the  country  and  the 
world  at  large  are  very  well  summed  up.  The  fol¬ 
lowing  two  paragraphs  are  a  copy  of  this: 
The  Question  of  producing  enough  beef  to  supply  the 
demand  is  nmv  recognized  as  one  of  world-wide  impor¬ 
tance.  There  is  at  present,  a  shortage  over  the  entire 
civilized  world.  Argentina,  which  once  loomed  large 
upon  the  horizon  as  a  rival  of  the  United  State's  in  the 
supply  of  beef,  proved  to  have  but  28, 766, 108  cattle,  ae- 
corrding  to  the  lfill  census,  or  fewer  rattle  than  were 
in  the  country  in  1008  when  20.116,02;)  were  enum¬ 
erated. 
The  I'nited  Kingdom,  which  formerly  depended  very 
largely  upon  the  United  States  to  furnish  its  imported 
beef,  lias  been  forced  to  look  to  Australia,  Argentina 
and  Canada  to  supply  this  commodity.  At  the  present 
time  Great  Britain  is  consuming  all  the  surplus  output 
from  these  countries,  and  an  additional  surplus  produced 
will  be  readily  absorbed  by  other  European  countries. 
The  probability  of  the  United  States  importing  much 
oeef  from  these  countries  in  the  next  few  years  is 
therefore  doubtful.  Imported  beef  must  come  from 
Mexico  and  Canada,  and  the  amount  which  may  be  con¬ 
tributed  annually  from  these  countries  will  probably 
not  greatly  exceed  the  present  imports  for  several 
years.  The  number  of  cattle  imported  from  Canada  will 
be  small,  for  there  are  not  many  more  produced  there 
than  are  necessary  for  home  consumption,  and  most  of 
those  are  sent  to  England. 
FUTURE  OPPORTUNITIES.— This  shows,  it 
seems  to  me.  that  we  need  never  look  for  much  low¬ 
er  prices,  and  while  they  may  not  for  several  years 
reach  a  much  higher  level,  I  do  believe  they  simply 
must  gradually  rise  to  a  limit  not  yet  known.  The 
outlook  for  the  beef  industry  seems  very  bright,  and 
those  men  who  start  in  now  are  the  ones  who  will 
have  the  foundation  to  reap  Hie  greatest  reward. 
This  is  true  whether  he  be  a  producer  of  purebred 
slock  for  breeders  or  simply  market  stock,  as  the 
demand  for  the  former  will  increase  with  the  price 
paid  for  the  latter.  As  beef  goes  higher  the  man 
producing  the  very  best  will  he  the  one  whose  stock 
will  most  readily  sell,  and  at  (he  greatest  profit. 
The  man  producing  the  poorer  will  wish  to  improve 
his  herd,  and  due  to  the  better  prices  will  feel  lie 
can  afford  a  purebred  bull,  and  thus  a  continually 
growing  market  for  the  purebred  stock  at  contin¬ 
ually  increasing  prices. 
The  next  article  of  this  series  will  he  “The  Oppor¬ 
tunities  for  Beef  Production  in  New  England.” 
New  Hampshire.  s.  r.  morrison. 
Rye  as  a  Green  Manure 
IN  a  recent  issue  of  The  R.  N.-Y.  was  a  request 
for  information  or  experience  with  rye  as  a 
green  manure  crop  to  plow  under.  Having  used  rye 
for  this  purpose  for  a  number  of  years,  and  having 
learned  something  about  the  crop,  I  will  pass  a  few 
thoughts  along  to  It.  N.-Y.  readers,  who  perhaps 
are  not  familiar  with  the  green  manure  possibilities 
of  rye. 
Some  say  rye  docs  not  return  anything  to  the 
soil  that  it  did  not  take  from  the  soil  in  growing. 
This  idea  probably  comes  from  the  fact  that  rye 
is  not  a  legume.  Now,  it  is  barely  possible  that  rye 
does  not  add  any  plant  food  to  the  soil  when  plowed 
under,  but  to  one  who  has  followed  the  practice  for 
a  number  of  years,  it  would  appear  that  rye  does 
add  much  to  the  soil,  that  it  does  not  take  from  it. 
Re  this  as  it  may  I  believe  rye  is  a  great  crop  to 
turn  under.  While  too  much  has  not  been  said 
about  plant  food,  of  late  years  in  all  our  farm  pa¬ 
pers,  institutes,  etc.,  too  little  has  been  said  about 
(lie  soil,  which  is  the  home  of  the  plant  food.  Com¬ 
mercial  fertilizers  contain  much  plant  food,  hut  un¬ 
less  they  are  put  into  a  suitable  soil  they  will  not 
accomplish  their  best  results.  And  so  rye,  I  believe, 
helps  the  soil  in  more  ways  than  one;  of  course  I 
prefer  clover  for  a  green  manure  crop,  hut  it  is  not 
so  easily  obtained  for  the  purpose  as  rye. 
The  writer  lives  on  a  rented  farm  in  Southern 
Michigan,  and  has  been  on  the  same  farm  for  11 
years.  As  the  rent  was  cash,  it  was  to  my  interest 
to  make  the  farm  pay  the  best  I  could  and  as  I  al- 
S.  J.  Lowell,  Worthy  Master  of  N.  Y.  State  Grange.  Fig.  195 
ways  believed  a  farmer  should  have  one  cash  crop, 
beans  or  potatoes  were  decided  upon  as  most  suit- 
aide.  Wheat  and  other  grains  may  lie  made  a  cash 
crop,  but  at  the  expense  of  the  soil.  Beans  or  po¬ 
tatoes  may  be  planted  so  late  it  gives  time  to  have 
a  large  green  crop  to  plow  under  for  them.  Some 
maintain  that  this  plowing  under  of  green  stuff  is 
a  poor  practice,  because  it.  makes  the  plowing  too 
late.  Tliis  objection  is  largely  ovei’come  by  properly 
fitting  the  soil  as  it  is  plowed.  This  soil  fitting 
proposition  is  a  much  larger  one  than  most  farmers 
realize.  Its  importance  is  second  only  to  that  of 
fertility. 
Tiie  following  rotation  has  proven  to  be  a  good 
one  here;  First  year,  corn,  with  rye,  sown  as  soon 
as  corn  is  cut;  second  year,  rye  plowed  under  June 
1st  for  potatoes;  third  year,  oats  on  potato  ground 
without  plowing,  oats  seeded  to  clover;  fourth  year, 
bay.  The  Winter  of  this  fourth  year  the  hay  field 
or  meadow  is  covered  with  manure  for  corn  again. 
Now  about  the  rye;  I  iike  to  sow  one  bushel  to 
I  he  acre  with  a  disk  drill  ou  the  cornfield,  without 
fitting  any  with  the  harrow.  In  plowing  under  the 
rye  1  use  a  sulky  plow.  The  field  is  carefully  in¬ 
spected  to  see  just  how  it  should  be  plowed,  and 
then  it  is  rolled  with  a  heavy  roller,  driving  exactly 
as  it  is  to  he  plowed.  This  crushes  (lie  rye  down, 
and  it  lies  flat  on  the  ground,  leaning  ahead  of  the 
plow.  The  jointer  on  the  plow  is  run  as  shallow  as 
possible,  and  yet  get  the  rye  covered.  No  chain  is 
used  to  roll  the  rye  under.  The  result  is  plain.  The 
rye  is  evenly  distributed  the  full  width  of  the  fur¬ 
row,  and  there  is  not  enough  rolled  up  in  any  one 
place  to  cause  it  to  mold  and  sour.  The  general 
April  1,  1910. 
practice  Is  to  set.  the  jointer  deep,  and  put  a  chain 
from  plow  standard  to  furrow  horse's  whiffletree 
ring.  This  causes  the  rye  to  form  in  a  compact  roll 
in  one  corner  of  the  furrow,  where  it  molds  and 
eventually  sours.  Rye  plowed  under  this  way  does 
not  prove  one  half  as  effective  as  it  does  by  the  roll¬ 
ing  method. 
When  rye  is  plowed  under  as  stated  above,  after 
being  rolled  there  will  be  some  of  it  quite  near  the 
surface.  This  will  bother  somewhat  with  a  spring- 
tooth  harrow,  etc.,  but  if  you  are  going  to  use  rye 
as  a  green  manure  crop,  by  all  means  get  some  disk 
implements.  The  disk  harrow  and  disk  planters 
make  pleasant  work  of  these  green  manured  fields, 
and  after  fitting  the  soil  with  a  disk  harrow,  and 
using  a  disk  planter,  any  tooth  cultivator  may  be 
used  lo  care  for  the  crop.  Rye  plowed  under  as 
stated  above  is  not  thick  enough  in  the  soil  to  sour 
it,  and  I  never  have  any  fear  from  that  cause. 
What  is  said  above  about  handling  green  rye,  is 
very  applicable  to  green  clover  or  any  other  green 
manure. 
As  stated  in  (lie  beginning,  this  is  the  eleventh 
year  on  this  farm,  under  about  the  same  rotation 
as  outlined,  and  now  the  writer  has  bought  a  farm 
and  will  move  on  to  same  in  the  Spring,  where  it 
is  expected  the  same  rotation  will  ho  worked  out. 
However  as  hogging  down  crops  has  been  success¬ 
fully  tried  on  this  place  lately  I  expect  to  hog 
down  the  corn  on  the  new  farm.  This  means  that 
the  rye  must  lie  sown  in  the  standing  corn  before 
the  hogs  are  turned  in.  In  closing,  one  more  thought 
comes  about  fitting  the  late  plowed  field,  whether 
it  is  to  lie  sown  to  beans,  potatoes,  buckwheat  or 
whatever  crop.  That  is,  the  com  pact  inf/  of  the  soil. 
For  tli is  a  heavy  roller  is  very  successful.  Under¬ 
stand,  a  heavy  roller.  So  many  of  the  new  steel 
rollers  weigh  only  000  or  700  pounds,  and  the.  pres¬ 
sure  per  square  foot  on  the  soil  is  very  light  indeed. 
Many  farmers  have  never  thought  about  this.  A 
good  roller  should  weigh  1500  or  1600  pounds  at 
least.  The  one  in  use  here  was  made  of  mower 
wheels  and  heavy  white  oak  plank  and  frame  stuff. 
The  weight  is  nearly  all  in  the  drums  themselves, 
which  makes  it  draw  very  easy,  as  the  weight  is 
not  on  the  axle  bearings.  It  weighs  1700  pounds. 
Yes,  it  cost  more  than  a  steel  oue,  and  is  icorth  more. 
Hillsdale  Co.,  Michigan.  l.  w.  weeks. 
The  “Paying  by  Check”  Game 
THEY  say  “live  and  learn."  We  have  been  do¬ 
ing  that,  and  here  is  something  new  to  us.  A 
little  over  two  weeks  ago  Percy  L.  Jewett  drove  into 
our  yard  in  a  two-ton,  or  more,  truck.  lie  wanted 
to  buy  apples.  We  took  him  into  cellar,  and  finally 
for  $1.75  per  barrel,  he  would  take  10  barrels,  or 
whole  lot.  We  put,  up  the  apples  and  helped  load 
them  on  the  truck  and  he  took  out  liis  check  book 
and  paid  me  that  way.  Why  did  I  do  it?  Well.  I 
will  tell  you.  This  young  man  belonged  here  until 
recently  when  he  married  and  went  to  Beverly  to 
live.  I  had  sold  him  before,  but  had  been  paid  with 
good  money.  My  son  was  not  at  borne.  If  he  had 
been  I  would  not  have  been  caught  so  easily,  for  he 
had  the  information  that  Jewett  had  passed  off  a 
number  of  no-good  checks  around  town.  1  endorsed 
the  check  and  gave  it  to  our  grain  man.  In  a  week 
I  received  notice  from  the  bank  that  the  check  was 
protested,  not  sufficient  funds.  The  check  did  not 
come  hack  to  me  hut  to  the  grain  man.  I  wrote  to 
the  Beverly  National  Bank,  upon  which  the  check 
was  drawn,  and  asked  them  if  Jewett  was  still  a 
depositor  or  doing  business  with  them  and  received 
the  following  letter  from  the  c.  shier. 
I  have  your  favor  of  the  3rd  in  •••  pence  to  the  pro¬ 
tested  cheek  of  Percy  L.  Jcweit  am  ,'ould  say  that  he 
has  not  deposited  anything  with  us  since  that  check  was 
protested. 
We  would  suggest  that  you  take  the  matter  lip  with 
him  ond  get  the  cash  for  the  amount  of  the  check  and 
fees,  or  if  you  cannot  get  the  cash  obtain  a  new  check. 
We  cannot  pay  a  protested  check  without  authority 
from  the  maker. 
It  is  very  easy  for  the  bank  to  say  see  him  and  get. 
the  money  or  another  cheek.  lie  keeps  well  out  of 
sight,  or  speeds  up  his  auto  when  he  sees  you.  so  I 
am  told  by  another  victim.  What  is  there  to  hinder 
any  scamp  from  working  this  same  game  over  and 
over?  When  his  funds  are  low  in  the  bank  give  a 
check,  allow  time  for  it  to  Lie  protested,  make  an¬ 
other  deposit,  and  escape.  I  cannot  understand  why 
a  bank  should  have  a  right  to  stamp  a  check  “can¬ 
celed,”  that  is  protested  for  insufficient  funds,  if 
the  drawer  is  allowed  to  he  a  depositor  right  along. 
I  understand  that  one  party  kept  having  the  check 
presented  to  this  hank,  and  drawn  by  the  same 
party,  who  finally  was  paid.  Now  we  have  no  such 
chance,  because  we  sent  the  check  back  through  an¬ 
other  channel.  w.  t.  wallis. 
Massachusetts. 
