Efce  RURAL.  NEW-YORKER 
653 
the  smaller  but  more  hardy  Alsike  clover  should  he 
substituted  wholly  or  in  part.  Timothy  comes  next 
where  not  kept  too  long.  Last,  but  not  least,  is  Red- 
top.  It  will  grow  on  soils  too  poor,  too  wet  or  too 
dry  for  success  with  any  other  hay  crop,  and  not 
only  give  a  fair  yield  of  hay  but  a  thick  sod.  which 
brings  up  poor  soils  at  small  expense.  A  mixture  of 
two  grasses  like  Timothy  and  Red-top  gives  more 
hay  than  either.  Some  people  object  to  Red-top  be¬ 
cause  its  hay  brings  a  lower  price  than  Timothy.  It* 
cut  early  when  it  should  he,  it  is  as  good  as  Timothy, 
hut  it  is  too  often  left  to  get  woody,  hence  the  pre¬ 
judice  against  it.  It.  should  always  he  used  in  mix¬ 
tures  for  poor  soils.  I  believe  that  the  mixtures  of 
grass  seed  should  be  carefully  selected  for  each 
field  according  to  its  condition.  I  use  clear  Alfalfa 
on  the  best  soil,  a  mixture  of  Red  clover.  Alsike  and 
Timothy  on  the  next  best,  Timothy  and  Alsike  on  a 
third  grade  and  on  a  poor  sandy  soil  unsuited  to 
hay  growing  a  mixture  of  Red-top  and  Timothy  with 
a  little  Alsike. 
FERTILIZER. — The  use  of  fertilizer  on  potatoes 
is  increasing  very  fast  and  fastest  of  all  in  the  sec¬ 
tions  Where  potato  growing  is  most  specialized, 
Aroostook  Co.,  Me.,  Long  Island  and  Eastern  Vir¬ 
ginia.  The  use  of  potatoes  as  human  food  makes 
their  price  comparatively  higher  than  for  crops  used 
by  animals.  The  margin  of  profit  on  fertilizers  used 
is  greater  with  potatoes  than  with  most  of  our  other 
A  Fine  Crop  on  a  Well-tilled  Pasture.  Fig.  245 
potatoes,  using  2.10  pounds  of  a  good  fertilizer  in 
the  hills  at  planting  time.  lie  put  the  fertilizer  un¬ 
der  the  potatoes,  so  that  when  the  roots  commenced 
to  strike  down  they  found  good  feed  awaiting  them, 
lie  gave  them  good  thorough  cultivation  and  eare- 
i  illy  hoed  and  lulled  them  by  hand,  and  got  a  fine 
crop  of  potatoes  that  year. 
The  next  Spring  it  was  again  plowed,  thoroughly 
pulverized,  and  was  planted  to  garden  truck.  Such 
luscious  musk  melons  as  we  had  that  year,  cabbages, 
tomatoes,  both  early  and  late,  cucumbers  that  yielded 
so  that  it  looked  as  if  some  one  had  dumped  a 
bushel  basket  of  cucumbers  on  every  hill,  several 
loads  of  Hubbard  squash,  and  cauliflower;  every¬ 
thing  just  seemed  to  try  to  outdo  itself  that  year, 
lie  used  plenty  of  well-rotted  barnyard  manure  in 
the  bottom  of  the  hills  before  planting  the  seeds, 
and  put  it  into  the  holes  he  dug  to  set  the  young 
plants  into. 
The  next  year  after  plowing  it  was  sown  to  oats, 
seeded  down  with  clover  and  Timothy;  then  the  field 
was  rolled  smooth  with  a  two-horse  roller.  There 
was  a  good  yield  of  oats  and  the  seeding  looked 
fine.  The  next  year  there  was  an  enormous  crop  of 
hay,  the  hay  standing  higher  than  the  horses’  hacks 
at  mowing  time,  much  higher  than  the  hay  shown  in 
the  picture.  As  soon  as  the  grass  got  started  well 
after  haying  it  was  used  as  night  pasture  for  10 
head  of  cattle  for  the  remainder  of  the  season. 
Potato  Soils  and  Their  Preparation 
The  Story  Thoroughly  Told 
Part  II. 
OTATION  WITH  OTHER  CROPS. — The  appli¬ 
cation  of  the  old  saying  that  the  education  of 
a  child  must  begin  with  its  grandfather  is  true  with 
the  preparation  of  the  soil  for  potatoes.  New 
cleared  forest  land  is  the  best.  Our  present  soils 
often  show  every  degree  of  deterioration  from  that 
state.  The  best  way  to  grow  potatoes  is  in  a  regular 
rotation  of  crops,  as  they  seldom  do  as  well  when 
grown  continuously  on  the  same  field.  While  it  is 
possible  in  exceptional  cases  to  keep  up  the  supply  of 
organic  matter  and  available  fertility  there  is  dan¬ 
ger  that  the  yield  will  fall  off  on  account  of  other 
causes,  such  as  the  multiplication  of  potato  disease 
germs  in  the  soil.  There  is  strong  reason  for  be¬ 
lieving  that  crops  in  their  growth  throw  out  sub¬ 
stances  which  are  more  injurious  to  succeeding  crops 
of  the  same  kind  than  to  others.  One  of  the  best 
and  cheapest  means  of  restoring  organic  matter  is  by 
growing  hay  crops  which  leave  heavy  sods.  There 
is  a  strong  hut  mistaken  prejudice  against  Timothy, 
because  it  is  thought  to  run  out  land.  It  is  poor 
practice  to  plant  potatoes  after  a  meadow  allowed 
to  become  thin,  unless  plenty  of  organic  matter  in 
the  shape  of  stable  manure  is  added,  or  straw  plowed 
under  the  previous  Fall.  Straw  plowed  under  in 
Spring  may  fail  to  rot  in  a  dry  season,  and  so  do 
more  harm  than  good  by  opening  up  the  soil. 
USES  OF  HAY  PLANTS,— In  the  northeastern 
part  of  the  United  States  we  have  five  hay  plants 
in  use  for  rotation  with  potatoes.  Alfalfa  is  by  far 
(he  best  and  should  he  grown  wherever  it  is  possible 
to  grow  it  with  profit.  Unfortunately  there  are  few 
locations  where  it  can  he  grown  with  profit  after 
the  heavy  cost  of  the  special  preparation  necessary 
lias  been  met.  There  is  also  danger  that  the  heavy 
applications  of  lime  for  Alfalfa  will  cause  scab. 
Nexl  to  Alfalfa  in  value  comes  Red  clover,  with  its 
variety  the  Mammoth.  There  are  very  many  soils 
in  this  part  of  the  country  where  a  small  amount  of 
lime  will  make  the  difference  between  success  and 
failure  with  clover.  In  this  way  lime  becomes  one 
of  the  best  means  we  have  for  adding  organic  mat¬ 
ter  to  the  soil.  Different  soils  vary  so  much  in  the 
amount  of  lime  they  need  that  the  only  way  to  he 
sure  of  the  right  amount  is  to  experiment  by  ap¬ 
plying  different  amounts  per  acre  on  adjoining 
Strips.  For  example,  there  is  one  of  my  soils  on 
which  500  pounds  of  limestone  is  not  enough  to 
make  Alfalfa  succeed,  while  1,000  pounds  will.  The 
stand  of  Alfalfa  stopped  sharply  at  the  edge  of  the 
3,000-pound  strip.  On  another  similar  soil  800 
pounds  was  not  enough  for  clover  and  4,000  did  not 
bring  Alfalfa,  though  it  did  bring  clover.  All  hay 
crops,  even  Red-top.  are  more  certain  to  grow,  to 
live  longer  and  to  produce  larger  yields  of  hay  and 
heavier  sods  for  humus  where  lime  is  used.  In 
all  cases  where  Red  clover  is  not  sure  to  succeed 
crops.  There  is  often  found  among  farmers  a  be¬ 
lief  that  the  use  of  fertilizers  helps  to  exhaust  land. 
They  have  seen  land  go  down  where  small  quanti¬ 
ties  of  fertilizer  per  acre  have  been  used  without 
attention  to  keeping  up  the  soil  organic  matter. 
Both  are  valuable  when  used  rightly.  Each  can  do 
something  for  potatoes  that  the  other  cannot.  Neith¬ 
er  can  fully  replace  the  other.  Organic  matter  makes 
the  soil  more  wholesome  as  a  home  for  the  growing 
crop,  keeps  it  in, shape  to  supply  plenty  of  water, 
and  increases  the  supply  of  plant  food.  The  use  of 
fertilizer  is  to  supply  the  growing  crop  with  addi¬ 
tional  plant  food  in  a  form  so  easily  digestible  that 
it  will  use  more  than  it  otherwise  would  and  so  make 
a  larger  yield.  A  dairy  cow  can  give  a  fair  amount 
of  milk  on  hay  and  silage,  but  dairymen  find  that 
it  pays  to  add  a  ration  of  the  more  easily  digestible 
grain  feed.  daniel  dean*. 
Results  from  an  Old  Pasture 
THE  field  of  hay  shown  in  Fig.  245  contains  about 
two  acres,  more  or  less.  It  was  used  for  many 
years  for  a  cow  pasture,  until  finally  it  got  so  worn- 
out  that  it  was  bare  nearly  all  the  time,  so  my  hus¬ 
band  decided  to  plow  it  up  and  see  what  he  could  do 
with  it.  lie  plowed  seven  inches  deep,  cutting  the 
old  sod  into  narrow  strips  and  turning  it  under  well. 
Then  lie  dragged  it.  and  planted  it  to  potatoes. 
It  gave  a  fair  yield  of  potatoes  that  year.  The 
next  year  he  plowed  it  six  inches  deep,  worked  the 
ground  until  fine  and  soft,  and  again  planted  it  to 
The  next  Spring  it  received  a  good  top-dressing  of 
well-rotted  barnyard  manure,  applied  with  the  ma¬ 
nure  spreader.  That  year,  owing  to  (lie  extremely 
hot  dry  weather  it  did  not  yield  a  very  large  crop 
of  hay.  although  it  did  as  well  as  any  other  field. 
It  was  used  as  night  pasture  again  same  as  the 
year  before.  Early  the  next  Spring,  1014,  it  was 
again  given  a  good  top-dressing  of  the  rotted  barn¬ 
yard  manure  applied  with  the  spreader.  At  haying 
time  there  was  a  splendid  stand  of  Timothy  (as 
you  can  see  by  the  picture)  yielding  a  large  crop 
of  hay.  After  it  got  started  well  again  it  furnished 
excellent  pasture  for  11  cows  at  night  and  three 
calves  during  the  day.  Last  year,  1015,  it  was  used 
for  pasture  entirely,  and  splendid  feed  it  furnished 
all  the  season  through.  I  think  the  top-dressing 
with  the  well -rotted  manure  early  in  the  Spring  is 
the  best  encourager  for  bumper  hay  crops,  the 
spreader  breaking  it  up  fine  and  spreading  it  so 
evenly  over  the  ground  that  each  separate  plant 
gets  its  share.  On  another  hayfiekl  he  only  got 
part  of  it  top-dressed  in  the  Spring,  and  at  haying 
time  there  was  n  big  difference  in  favor  of  the  top¬ 
dressing,  which  showed  plainly  the  second  year 
also,  just  where  the  manure  spreader  went. 
Binghamton,  N.  Y.  c.-  h. 
Farming  plans  for  1016?  Many  of  them  must  be 
changed  on  account  of  the  hard  Winter  and  late  Spring. 
Another  argument  for  cover  crops.  The  fanner  who 
has  his  entire  farm  covered  with  rye,  vetch  or  clover 
can  do  about  what  he  pleases  with  it.  It  will  dry  out 
quickly  and  he  can  cut  the  crop  for  fodder  or  plow  un¬ 
der — as  he  likes. 
