768 
TZhe  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
to  succeed  well  every  year.  Alfalfa  will  pay  even 
for  one  year's  cutting.  It  it  not  very  hard  to  plow 
an  old  field,  and  reseeding  costs  not  much  more  than 
clover.  Willi  fairly  good  seasons,  it  will  last  from 
three  to  seven  years.” 
About  curing  Alfalfa,  Mr.  Mayo  has  little  to  say 
from  experience,  because  tlie  product  is  all  fed 
green  as  a  soiling  crop.  It  is  put  to  excellent  use 
in  keeping  up  the  Summer  milk  flow  of  his  well- 
known  Holstein  herd.  One  cow  at  time  of  this  in¬ 
terview  was  testing  93  pounds  of  milk  per  day  and 
another,  six  years  old,  was  giving  84  pounds,  on 
shredded  corn  silage  and  grain.  The  rich  Alfalfa 
forage  makes  the  very  best  of  feed  for  keeping  up  a 
heavy  flow  all  through  the  Summer.  He  has  about 
seven  acres,  which  is  considered  enough  for  the 
rotation  of  his  small  farm,  hut  more  land  has  been 
secured  and  he  will  plant  three  or  four  acres  addi¬ 
tional  to  Alfalfa  this  Summer.  Three  acres  of  it 
is  in  a  bearing  apple  orchard.  The  Alfalfa  grows 
close  to  the  trees,  which  have  a  thrifty  appearance. 
Mr.  Mayo  thinks  the  crop  positively  helps  the  trees 
because  of  the  nitrogen  it  adds  to  the  land.  The 
soil  of  all  (lie  fields  is  a  medium  sandy  loam,  the 
kind  that  produces  grass  well  for  a  year  or  two.  but 
which  needs  top-dressing  to  hold  well.  The  surface 
is  rolling,  and  the  subsoil  is  sandy  with  some  gravel. 
The  land  has  always  been  quite  liberally  manured. 
In  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Mayo,  Alfalfa  is  sure  to  take 
a  leading  place  as  a  soiling  crop.  Very  little  of  if 
in  New  England,  he  says,  is  made  into  hay,  and  in 
actual  practice  it  is  proving  worth  more  as  a  green 
feed  than  when  handled  in  any  other  way. 
G.  B.  F. 
The  Care  of  Late  Planted  Potatoes 
Planting,  Cultivating  and  Handling 
Part  II. 
DEPTH  OF  PLANTING. — In  any  case  the  tubers 
are  not  formed  in  the  soil  exactly  as  far  down  as 
the  seed  is  planted.  With  very  shallow  planting 
they  may  form  below,  but  are  generally  between  the 
seed  piece  and  the  surface.  Planting  deeper  does 
increase  the  depth  of  setting  to  some  extent.  The 
quest  ions  of  depth  of  planting  brings  up  that  of  level 
culture  and  ridging,  as  potatoes  to  lie  ridged  are 
generally  planted  shallow,  and  those  for  level  cul¬ 
ture  deep.  Most  potatoes  planted  by  hand  are  put 
i).  too  shallow  and  not-  many  planters  work  as  deep 
as  they  should.  I  like  to  plant  deep  because  it  al¬ 
lows  plenty  of  soil  stirring  to  kill  weeds.  There  is 
sure  to  be  some  ridging  by  the  cultivator  later,  by 
the  tools  working  the  soil  towards  the  plants, 
and  usually  a  light  horse  hoe  also. 
PLANTING  TOOLS. — Ill  specialized  potato-grow¬ 
ing  sections  like  Maine  and  Long  Island  most  of 
the  seed  is  planted  with  machine  planters.  Planters 
are  coming  more  and  more  into  use,  as  potato  grow¬ 
ing  becomes  more  the  leading  item  in  the  income  of 
farms.  The  farms  with  small  areas  in  potatoes, 
those  with  very  stony  or  steep  land,  and  southern 
regions  where  the  labor  is  cheap  and  not  likely  to 
handle  machine  tools  well  are  the  places  where 
band  planting  remains  the  main  reliance. 
ADVANTAGES  OF  PLANTERS.— The  cost  of  the 
machine  planter  and  the  saving  of  time  in  planting 
are  not  the  only  things  to  consider  in  buying.  A 
good  machine  puts  the  seed  down  into  freshly  opened 
and  cool  moist  soil.  This  prevents  the  freshly  cut 
seed  from  drying  out.  It  helps  to  prevent  rotting 
of  the  seed  in  Spring  when  late  blight  germs  are  in 
the  seed,  by  keeping  the  seed  at  a  temperature  too 
low  for  the  rot  germs  to  grow  well.  No  matter  how 
carefully  a  man  may  try  to  drop  he  is  sure  to  leave 
the  seed  iu  a  row  wider  than  that  left,  by  the  plant¬ 
er.  If  the  seed  is  only  in  a  space  of  a  single  inch  to 
right  and  left  of  the  line  through  the  center  of  the 
furrow  the  cultivator  teeth  must  hfe  kept  that  much 
farther  away  from  the  row,  or  injury  will  result. 
Careless  hired  men  often  drop  several  inches  on 
each  side.  I  had  that  called  to  my  notice  the  year 
I  bought  a  planter.  The  previous  year,  with  hand 
planting,  I  had  set  the  teeth  of  the  wheel  culti¬ 
vator  on  each  side  of  the  row  just  as  close  to  the 
row  as  they  could  he  run  without  injury  to  the 
plants.  With  the  machine  planter  I  found  that  I 
could  narrow  up  the  steels  over  an  inch  on  each 
side,  and  of  course  in  that  way  plant  the  rows  closer 
together,  getting  more  rows  to  the  acre  and  of 
course  better  yields.  Then  I  planted  the  rows  40 
inches  apart.  Now  with  larger  tops  from  richer 
soil  I  plant  only  35  inches.  Where  hand  planting 
in  hills  is  used  care  should  be  taken  to  drop  the 
seed  while  walking  in  the  direction  that  the  larger 
part  of  the  cultivation  will  be  given,  usually  the 
long  way  of  the  field.  It  is  much  easier  to  keep  the 
row  straight  going  ahead  than  to  keep  the  dropping 
right  on  the  cross  marks.  Another  thing  which  in¬ 
creases  the  yield  is  to  imitate  machine  planting  by 
only  opening  the  furrows  just  ahead  of  the  drop¬ 
ping  and  covering  right  after.  This  prevents  the 
soil  and  seed  from  drying  out. 
TYPES  OF  PLANTERS.— Machine  planters  are 
of  two  types.  One  has  a  platform  feed-wheel  and 
uses  two  men.  a  driver  and  a  second  man  to  regulate 
the  misses  and  doubles  on  the  feed-wheel.  In  11 
years  I  have  had  but  one  feeder  who  failed  to  get 
practically  100  per  cent,  stand.  The  picker  type 
planters  need  only  a  driver.  With  small  round  seed 
and  the  best  conditions  these  miss  not  over  five  per 
cent.,  but  with  cut  seed  or  rough  and  stony  land 
the  misses  may  reach  20  per  cent.  Either  planter 
should  have  the  seed  cut  as  blocky  as  possible  to 
feed  well. 
CAREFLL  PLANTING.— The  marketing  tools 
should  he  run  with  great  care  to  get  the  rows  straight 
for  hand  planting.  Every  crook  makes  a  place  where 
the  cultivator  teeth  will  do  some  damage  every  time 
through.  Often  it  will  pay  to  go  twice  in  a  row 
to  get  it  straight.  In  light  and  mellow  soils  a 
three- tooth  corn-marker  will  make  a  mark  deep 
enough  for  potatoes  if  shod  with  iron  points.  We 
are  often  deceived  as  to  the  depth  of  the  mark  by. 
looking  at  the  depth  below  the  earth  thrown  out 
at  the  sides  of  the  mark.  The  only  way  to  he  sure 
Vegetables  from  a  Run-down  Farm.  Fig.  280 
(See  page  770) 
of  t lie  right  depth  is  to  brush  away  this  dirt  and 
try  the  level  of  the  surface  with  a  straight-edge 
three  or  four  feet  long.  It  will  surprise  anyone  to 
see  how  shallow  the  mark  really  is  below  the  true 
level  of  the  surface.  For  stony  soils  a  small  open¬ 
ing  plow  is  better  to  get  depth  enough.  A  two- 
horse  biller  used  for  covering  makes  a  ridge  which 
is  fine  to  work  down  with  harrow  or  leveler  in  a 
few  days  to  kill  weeds.  This  must  not  he  delayed 
too  long,  or  the  sprouts  will  lie  damaged.  If  the 
soil  is  too  stony  for  that  the  covering  would  better 
be  done  with  a  hoe.  Right  there  is  where  the  ad¬ 
vantage  of  a  deep  mark  comes.  A  harrow  can  be 
run  over  the  deep  mark  without  tearing  out  the 
seed,  and  a  lot  of  weeds  killed.  With  soils  as  damp 
and  loose  as  those  of  Maine  it  may  pay  to  cover 
the  plants  with  a  ridger  when  they  are  several  inch¬ 
es  high,  but  I  have  seen  eases  in  central  New  York 
where  such  covering  in  our  drier  climate  resulted 
in  the  soil  baking  so  hard  that  the  plants  were 
nearly  all  killed.  daniel  dean. 
Mulching  Peaches 
EVERAL  growers  have  asked  recently  whether 
or  not  mulching  could  he  used  successfully  on 
peaches,  and  if  so.  what  was  the  best  procedure  in 
starting  and  maintaining  it.  This  is  not  an  easy 
question.  Of  course  most  people  would  say  at  once 
that  mulching  would  never  do  on  peaches,  and  that 
nothing  hut  tillage  should  ever  be  used  on  them. 
This,  moreover,  is  undoubtedly  the  best  general  ad¬ 
vice.  But  the  same  statements  were  formerly  made 
about  apples,  and  nothing  else  was  even  suspected  in 
the  case  of  citrus  fruits.  But  even  in  the  latter 
May  20,  191G. 
fruits,  during  the  past  Summer  the  writer  observed 
some  very  striking  examples  of  the  marked  super¬ 
iority  of  a  good  mulch  of  straw  or  other  plant  ma¬ 
terials  over  the  best  of  tillage.  It  would  not  be 
especially  surprising  therefore  if  we  should  find 
later  that  a  proper  mulching  practice  had  consider¬ 
able  value  even  for  peaches.  In  fact  we  now  know 
of  a  few  isolated  eases,  where  the  mulch  method 
has  been  used  with  success  on  peaches  for  several 
years.  At  the  same  time  we  are  not  yet  ready  to 
advise  it  generally.  The  peach  is  such  a  rapid 
grower  and  ravenous  feeder,  and  the  trees  are  usu¬ 
ally  set  so  close  together  that  it  is  generally  im¬ 
possible  to  get  enough  mijleh. 
It  should  he  realized,  morever,  that  there  is  some 
danger  from  fire  wherever  the  mulch  has  to  cover 
the  ground  so  completely  as  would  be  necessary  in 
the  case  of  mature  peach  trees.  We  believe  there¬ 
fore  that  most  growers  should  continue  to  use  the 
generally  approved  practice  of  tillage  for  the  great 
majority  of  their  peach  plantations.  If  anyone  feels, 
however,  that  mulching  would  he  desirable  and 
feasible  under  his  conditions,  he  should  first  try  it 
out  on  a  small  but  typical  portion  of  the  orchard 
before  extending  it  to  any  large  areas. 
In  such  cases,  a  good  way  to  make  the  change  and 
get  the  mulch  started  is  to  grow  a  good  cover  crop 
of  rye  and  vetch  or  their  equivalent.  In  the  fol¬ 
lowing  Spring  keep  this  cover  crop  mowed  imme¬ 
diately  around  the  trees,  and  allow  it  to  grow  in  the 
interspaces.  Then  cut  the  latter  about  as  the  rye 
is  beginning  to  blossom,  allow  it  to  dry.  and  then 
rake  it  up  around  the  trees.  It  should  not  he 
brought  too  close  to  the  trunks,  however,  and  it 
should  also  be  accompanied  by  some  efficient  pro¬ 
tection  against  mice,  as  they  will  even  attack  trees 
when  they  get  a  good  chance. 
In  the  later  handling  of  the  interspaces,  it  is  gen¬ 
erally  advisable  to  get  some  kind  of  a  perennial 
leguminous  crop  growing  there,  if  convenient  to  do 
so,  and  then  cut  if  as  often  as  necessary  and  add 
it  to  the  mulch.  Alfalfa  or  possibly  Alsike  should 
be  useful  for  this.  It  is  also  probable  that  Hairy 
vetch  might  be  of  some  service  in  this  way.  if  enough 
of  it  is  allowed  to  go  to  seed  each  time  before  cut¬ 
ting.  In  general,  however,  most  of  the  mulch  on 
peaches  is  likely  to  have  to  come  from  outside 
sources,  especially  as  the  trees  near  maturity. 
Fenu.  State  College:  j.  r.  stewart. 
It.  N.-Y. — It  is  understood  that  a  "mulch”  means 
any  organic  covering  like  manure,  straw,  leaves  or 
“anything  that  will  rot,”  left  on  the  soil  under  the 
trees  to  decay. 
Handling  Manure  for  the  Greenhouse 
I  haw  been  much  interested  in  recent  articles  on 
phosphates.  I  have  been  in  the  habit  of  hauling  a 
quantity  <>f  horse  manure  and  piling  it  lip  in  a  flat-top 
pile  to  rot  for  use  in  greenhouses  and  garden.  I  level 
and  tramp  each  load  down,  then  spread  three  or  four 
buckets  of  acid  phosphate  to  make  the  compost  strong 
in  phosphates;  then  I  sprinkle  a  little  land  plaster  on 
to  prevent  loss  of  ammonia,  and  am  mul.v  for  another 
load  of  manure,  and  so  oil  until  pile  is  high  enough. 
If  I  find  it  is  getting  dry  T  add  water.  Do  you  con¬ 
sider  this  good  practice,  and  is  there  any  danger  of  the 
acid  phosphate  reverting  to  an  insoluble  form  if  pile 
is  unused  for  some  months?  Will  the  land  plaster  in¬ 
jure  the  acid  phosphate  in  any  way?  Could  I  handle 
my  compost  in  any  better  way?  J.  n.  r$. 
Lansdmvne,  Fa. 
I1IS  method  of  handling  the  manure  is  right. 
The  addition  of  the  acid  phosphate  will  bal¬ 
ance  the  manure  well,  as  most  manure  is  deficient 
in  phosphoric  acid.  -The  land  plaster  will  not  set 
the  ammonia  of  the  manure  free,  nor  will  it  cause 
the  acid  phosphate  to  revert  and  become  less  avail¬ 
able.  The  plaster  is  a  sulphate  of  lime,  very  dif¬ 
ferent  in  its  effect  from  lime  itself.  The  lime  will 
make  a  chemical  combination  with  the  superphos¬ 
phate,  as  was  fully  explained  in  the  recent  articles, 
and  in  this  way  the  phosphate  will  become  less 
available.  The  lime  will  also  act  to  set  free  some 
of  the  ammonia  in  the  manure.  We  use  the  lime 
when  making  up  a  compost  of  muck  because  of  this 
very  action,  since  it  starts  a  fermentation  and  makes 
the  ammonia  in  the  muck  more  available.  In  the 
ease  of  the  horse  manure,  however,  these  ferments 
will  go  on  thoroughly  without  the  need  of  lime  and 
thus  lime  should  not  be  used  with  the  manure.  The 
land  plaster,  however,  would  not  have  the  effect  of 
combining  with  the  superphosphate  except  to  a  lim¬ 
ited  extent.  It  would,  however,  act  to  save  some  of 
the  ammonia  in  the  manure  which  might  otherwise 
he  lost.  The  plan  is  a  good  one.  The  only  sugges¬ 
tion  would  lie  to  add  a  quantity  of  sulphate  of  pot¬ 
ash  if  it  could  be  obtained  at  a  reasonable  price. 
Manure  of  this  kind  should  he  strongly  reinforced 
with  phosphoric  acid,  but  it  needs  also  additional 
potash  to  make  it  a  complete  fertilizer.  This  year, 
however,  the  price  of  potash  is  so  high  that  it  would 
hardly  pay  to  Imy  it  for  such  use. 
