Alfalfa  and  Clover  in  the  Orchard 
done  as  an  experiment,  and  at  first  no  greater  out¬ 
lay  should  he  made  than  one  is  willing  to  lose  if  the 
experiment  is  a  failure.  at.fked  c.  weed. 
Wayne  Co.,  X.  Y. 
however,  you  can  ferment  or  sweeten  it  before  if  is 
put  oil  the  land,  it  will  have  nearly  as  much  value 
as  an  equal  weight  of  manure.  The  best  way  to  use 
soil  of  this  sort  is  to  haul  it  out  of  the  low  places 
and  mix  it  in  long  narrow  piles,  using  about  125 
pounds  of  air-slaked  lime  to  the  ton  of  muck.  Scat¬ 
ter  the  lime  all  through  it  as  you  build  up  the  pile, 
dusting  the  lime  over  each  load  as  it  is  dumped 
from  the  wagon.  If  you  can  get  a  small  quantity 
of  stable  or  chicken  manure,  scatter  this  in  with 
the  lime  and  the  muck.  This  will  start  a  fermenta¬ 
tion,  which  is  what  you  want  to  break  up  and  sweet¬ 
en  this  black  stuff  so  as  to  make  the  nitrogen  avail¬ 
able.  If  you  can.  haul  this  soil  out  now  and  lime  it. 
then  let  it  stand  until  just  before  yon  want  to  seed 
to  buckwheat,  then  scatter  the  compost  as  you 
would  manure  and  plow  it  under.  Tt  will  pay  you 
in  addition  to  this  to  use  at  least  half  a  ton  per  acre 
of  air-slalied  lime  after  plowing  this  stuff  under, 
and  in  addition  to  this  we  would  use  ffOO  pounds 
per  acre  of  acid  phosphate.  Handled  in  this  way 
the  buckwheat  ought  to  make  a  fair  growth,  and 
you  can,  if  you  like,  scatter  a  mixture  of  Alsike  and 
lied  clover  in  with  the  buckwheat  so  as  to  have  a 
crop  to  carry  through  the  Fall  and  Winter.  You 
can  plow  this  under  the  following  year  if  you  like 
for  corn,  or  if  the  stand  is  good  leave  it  for  clover 
hay. 
Using  Muck  on  Poor  Land 
T  have  about  15  acres  on  which  I  intend  to  plant 
buckwheat.  The  soil  is  acid  and  in  need  of  lnimus.  At 
present  on  this  field  is  Timothy  in  poor  condition  with 
Cooking  Corn  Silage  by  Steam 
IN  regard  to  cooking  silage  in  the  silo,  a  number 
of  years  ago,  the  writer  took  up  this  matter  in 
an  experimental  way  and  built  a  concrete  silo,  cov¬ 
ering  the  top  with  a  concrete  roof,  so  as  to  make 
a  large  practically  air-tight  silo.  On  the  bottom,  f 
laid  a  series  of  perforated  inch  pipes,  through  which 
I  forced  the  steam  from  the  engine  the  night  after 
cutting  the  silage  the  day  before.  Be- 
~  fore  starting  the  next  day  cutting  on 
lop  of  the  silage,  I  laid  another  series 
of  pipes  smiilar  to  those  on  the  bottom, 
and  repeated  the  steaming  of  tin*  sec¬ 
ond  layer:  the  second  night,  this  was 
repeated  again:  the  third  another  ser¬ 
ies  of  pipe,  making  three  series  in  all. 
~«ali  Then  when  this  silo  was  tilled,  we 
Jjl|g  turned  the  steam  on  again  on  the  Imv- 
m 9  er  series  of  pipes  for  about  .'!< !  hours, 
S  continuous  cook  in 
a  silo  full  of  cooked,  or  what  might  bt 
■ff  called  canned  silage.  The  juice  in  tin 
corn  and  cornstalks  gave  off  an  odoi 
.g,  “*^1  similar  to  cooked  sorghum;  tin*  feed 
fSffptateu  was  sweet  and  had  a  wholesome  taste. 
* '  ’  Our  horses  took  to  it  ravenously,  in 
fact,  I  think  it  made  one  of  the  best 
How  It  Looked  in  the  Catalog.  Fig.  207 
weeds  of  which  wild  parsnip  leads  in  quantit 
Timothy  was  seeded  two  years  ago  and  never 
Ita.v.  1  have  practically  no  manure.  1  have  \ 
acres  of  wood,  and  there  are  plenty  of  leaves, 
think  it  would  help  to  draw  them  on  the  field V 
have  swamps,  one  in  pasture  where  the  wul 
were 
A  Market-gardener’s  S'/^-ton  Truck.  Fig.  208 
through,  and  one  in  woods  where  the  water  has  no  way 
to  escape.  Do  you  think  the  uniek  would  help  the 
Soil  if  placed  on  the  field?  The  field  is  on  a  hill,  not 
exactly  high,  and  is  easy  to  plow.  How  much  fertilizer 
shall  1  use  to  an  acre?  f.  s. 
Claveraek,  X.  Y, 
TllEltK  is  no  doubt  that  your  soil  is  sour,  and  in 
need  of  lime  and  soluble  nitrogen.  The  muck 
and  the  soil  from  the  woods  will  contain  consider- 
Tt  is  reported  that  a  South  Dakota  Farm  Bureau 
agent  worked  up  a  mail  trade  in  apples.  Tie  found  that 
bushel  crates  of  the  apples  could  be  delivered  through 
out  the  second  zone  at  a  cost  of  » >4  cents,  including  post¬ 
age  and  packing.  These  apples  were  sold  to  the  con¬ 
sumer  for  $1.<U  a  box.  the  grower  thus  received  &1  at 
the  point  of  shipment.  Before  this  plan  started  apples 
were  bringing  05  ceuts  a  box.  Another  year  it  is 
planned  to  continue  or  enlarge  this  business.  The  thing 
about  it  is  that  this  nmu  went  at  the  business  right  by 
making  a  reasonably  low  price  for  the  fruit.  The  great 
trouble  in  many  cases  is  that  whell  farmers  start  in  to 
develop  a  trade  of  this  sort  they  charge  loo  much  for 
the  goods  to  begin  with,  an  I  thus  people  will  not  buy. 
What  the  Tree  Produced 
