855 
sure  more  labor  is  required  with,  the  dairy  cow, 
and  some  grain  must  be  purchased,  but  the  dairy 
cow  furnishes  employment  to  the  farmer  and  his 
hands  during  the  closed  Winter  season  when  he 
would  not  be  otherwise  employed,  and  the  pur¬ 
chased  grain  adds  to  the  fertility  of  the  soil. 
“Comparing  wheat  with  some  other  money  crops 
which  may  be  raised  in  our  climate  I  believe  that  it 
does  not  offer  the  possibilities  for  profit  making 
that  are  offered  by  such  crops  as  potatoes  or  field 
beans.  During  the  past  seasons  yields  of  40  bush- 
Ridding  the  Farm  of  Woodchucks.  Fig.  327  See  page  856 
els  of  field  beans  per  acre  were  not  uncommon  in 
this  State  if  the  fields  were  fertile  and  were  well 
cared  for.  It  is  my  opinion  that  wheat  will  con¬ 
tinue.  at  least  for  a  long  to  come,  to  be  a  pioneer 
crop  which  will  be  grown  where  land  is  very  cheap 
and  where  the  land  is  level  so  it  can  be  worked  in 
large  areas  by  machinery.”  e.  s.  brigiiam. 
Live-stock  and  Maintenance  of  the  Soil 
A  Safe  Ideal  of  Soil  Management 
Part  IT. 
RGANIC  MATTER,—1 The  use  of  manure  and 
crop  remains  as  sources  of  organic  material  in 
the  soil  must  take  its  place  of  other  treatments 
equally  important  when  in  tlieir  right  place.  The 
soil  is  a  congenial  or  an  uncongenial  home  for 
plants  according  as  it  fully  or  only  partially  meets 
their  needs.  Those  needs  are  not  adequately  stated 
in  terms  of  tillage,  manure,  humus  drainage,  etc., 
with  which  the  farmer  ordinarily  deals.  True,  those 
are  the  means  lie  uses  to  get  results,  but  the  results 
follow  only  in  so  far  as  those  treatments  meet  still 
more  specific  needs  of  the  plant.  The  real  things 
essential  to  plant  growth  are  (1)  food  of  ten  or  a 
dozen  different  kinds;  (2)  moisture;  (3)  heat,  (4) 
light;  (5)  air  (oxygen):  and  (0),  mechanical  .sup¬ 
port  for  the  larger  plants.  In  addition  there  is  an¬ 
other  factor  that  should  he  thought  of  in  this  same 
connection,  hut  which  is  negative  in  character. 
This  is  the  (7)  freedom  of  the  plant  from  inter¬ 
ference  by  insects,  animals,  disease  organisms  or 
poisonous  materials.  The  soil  should  he  viewed  as 
the  medium  through  which  these  essential  factors 
are  more  or  less  supplied.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
every  one  of  the  first  six  with  the  exception  of  light, 
is  directly  controlled  by  the  soil.  The  seventh  is 
to  a  large  extent  involved  with  the  soil.  Do  not 
cutworms,  many  forms  of  grubs,  root  borers,  flies 
and  beetles  spend  at  least  part  of  their  life  in  the 
soil  and  attack  the  plant  from  that  direction?  Do 
not  potato  scab,  wilt  diseases,  molds,  and  many 
other  diseases  carry  on  their  life  cycle  in  the  soil 
by  means  of  which  they  destroy  the  plant  either 
above  or  below  ground?  Is  It  not  possible  to  poison 
lhe  soil  for  plants,  as  it  is  possible  to  poison  food 
for  animals?  Who  would  say  that  such  poisoning 
of  the  soil  for  a  crop  may  not  occur  in  the  natural 
course  of  cropping,  manuring  and  poor  tillage  of 
the  soil  under  had  conditions?  A  productive  soil 
has  all  these  essential  factors  correctly  adjusted  for 
the  crops  that  succeed  best.  If  this  happens  to  he 
natural  we  say  the  soil  is  naturally  productive. 
If  it  responds,  as  is  usually  the  case,  only  after 
some  simple  treatment  it  is  stiU  a  productive  soil 
but  needs  a  little  doctoring.  But  if  it  requires  a 
lot  of  doctoring  and  the  treatments  are  difficult  and 
expensive,  custom  terms  it.  an  unproductive  soil. 
SCIENCE  AND  PRACTICE,— Farmers  treated 
the  soil  centuries  before  the  laboratory  and  the 
chemist’s  test  tube  and  the  biologist’s  cultures  were 
dreamed  of,  and  they  got  results.  Their  practices 
were  based  on  keen  observation  and  rough  reason¬ 
ing.  For  example,  Jethro  Tull  said  soil  tillage  is 
manure,  on  the  theory  that  the  roots  of  plants  take 
in  fine  particles  of  soil  bodily,  and  since  tillage 
Z fhe  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
fines  the  soil,  therefore  it  is  manure.  Now  he  hit 
a  good  mark,  hut  not  the  one  he  thought  he  was 
hitting.  It  has  taken  years  of  patient  investiga¬ 
tion  that  is  still  in  progress  to  determine  just  why 
tillage  is  usually  good  for  the  plant.  We  now  know 
that  tillage  is  not  always  good,  and  the  distinction 
is  to  be  found  in  the  changes  it  brings  about  in  the 
soil  directly  hearing  on  the  food,  moisture,  reaction 
and  others  of  those  essential  factors.  So.  too,  old 
Cato,  two  and  a  half  centuries  before  Christ,  point¬ 
ed  out  the  importance  of  draining  the  land,  but 
even  yet  we  have  only  a  partial  understanding  of 
the  ways  it  is  effective  for  good.  ,  And  the  com¬ 
mon  word  manure  comes  from  the  word  maneuver, 
or  to  manipulate  the  soil,  which  has  doubtless  con¬ 
nected  up  with  the  practice  of  adding  something  to 
the  soil,  as  the  early  Indians  added  fish  to  the  corn 
lulls  along  the  eastern  coast  of  America.  For  the 
same  reason  in  the  older  countries  the  use  of  com¬ 
mercial  fertilizers  is  called  manuring  the  land. 
Whether  he  will  or  not  the  modern  farmer  must 
look  further  than  his  immediate  practices  for  soil 
improvement.  To  be  wisely  selected  and  applied, 
he  must  know  something  of  the  relationship  be¬ 
tween  tillage  and  temperature,  drainage  and  soil 
ventilation,  plant-food  and  bacteria.  He  may  feel 
as  a  pioneer  in  the  field  of  steel  manufacture  re¬ 
marked  about  the  application  of  chemistry :  “This 
confounded  chemistry  will  spoil  the  steel  business 
yet.”  But  still  lie  must  go  on  “spoiling  farming” 
if  he  would  get  in  sight  of  steel  business  profits. 
SOIL  TREATMENTS  ARE  FEW  IN  NUMBER. 
— The  various  practices  by  which  the  soil  is  treat¬ 
ed  are  relatively  few  in  number  if  they  are  divided 
Sudan  Grass  Grown  in  Colorado.  Fig.  328 
into  groups.  Of  course,  there  is  an  infinite  amount 
of  possible  detailed  variation.  For  example,  what 
is  the  particular  element,  in  the  fertilizer?  With 
what  is  it  associated?  IIow  is  it  applied?  Is  the 
plowing  deep  or  shallow?  With  a  mold-board  or 
disk  plow  and  so  on  clown  the  line — those  are  mere 
details,  important  sometimes  to  he  sure,  hut  they  are 
still  details,  and  the  important  question  is  the  prim¬ 
ary  effect  the  treatment  is  to  have  on  the  soil  and 
the  plant,  It  is  of  no  consequence  to  worry  over 
whether  the  manure  is  spread  with  a  fork  or  a 
spreader  if  lime  is  the  really  big  need  of  the  soil, 
or  whether  lhe  lime  is  put  on  before  plowing  or 
after  so  long  as  it  is  put  on  the  soil  and  well  incor¬ 
porated  where  the  roots  are  to  feed.  The  point  is, 
the  common  practices  of  soil  treatment  have  small 
virtue  in  themselves,  and  are  to  he  measured  by  the 
way  they  get  at  the  underlying  essentials  of  food, 
moisture  and  proper  warmth.  These  important 
groups  of  soil  treatment  are  soil  moisture,  the  re¬ 
action  of  the  soil  or  its  supply  of  lime,  its  content 
of  organic  matter,  its  physical  condition  or  fineness 
and  looseness  in  soil  and  subsoil  to  a  depth  of  sev¬ 
eral  feet.  Just  here  it  is  worth  while  to  pause  a 
moment  to  remind  ourselves  yiat  the  plow  depth 
even  though  it.  be  ten  or  twelve  inches  is  not  all 
of  the  soil,  or  perhaps  even  the  main  part.  The 
character  and  condition  of  the  subsoil  is  quite  as 
important.  Three  feet  of  soil  in  first-class  condi¬ 
tion  should  be  the  ideal  of  every  farmer.  Below 
Ids  plow  must  be  his  drain  to  keep  the  water  out 
of  the  cellar — the  subsoil.  A  saturated  subsoil  is 
as  unhealthy  for  plant  roots  as  is  a  poorly  drained 
filthy  cellar  for  humans.  e.  o.  iippex. 
The  Care  of  Late  Planted  Potatoes 
Planting,  Cultivating  and  Handling 
Part  V. 
ROOT  INJURY. — Careful  tillage  in  the  first  six 
Weeks  or  so  after  planting,  or  until  the  plants  are 
six  to  eight  inches  high  seldom  has  harmful  effects 
unless  the  sprouts  are  broken.  Up  till  then  the 
feeding  roots  have  not  spread  out  through  the  soil 
much  to  he  in  the  way  of  the  tools  and  the  weather 
is  cool,  just  what  suits  the  potato.  Through  a  large 
part  of  this  time  the  young  plaut  has  been  sup¬ 
ported  by  the  supply  of  plant,  food  and  water  in 
the  seed  piece  so  cutting  part  of  the  little  roots  does 
not  at  once  deprive  it  of  part  of  its  nourishment. 
The  case  becomes  different  when  the  top  is  grown 
to  a  size  of  often  three  feet  or  more  across  and  the 
roots  have  spread  out  until  they  cross  and  recross 
between  the  rows.  Few  people  can  he  made  to  be¬ 
lieve  how  full  of  roots  the  upper  soil  becomes  in 
July  and  August.  There  is  one  sure  way  to  find  out, 
and  that  is  to  wash  out  the  roots  with  water  care¬ 
fully.  Many  are  found  running  along  within  an 
inch  or  so  of  the  surface.  To  make  it  worse  a 
large  part  of  the  feeding  roots  which  go  down  after 
water  and  plant  food  do  not  start  straight  down 
from  the  center  of  the  plant,  but  instead  drop  from 
the  long  horizontal  roots.  At  this  time  any  cultivat¬ 
ing  or  hilling  tool  will  cut  away  a  large  part  of 
the  root  system.  In  dry  weather  this  may  make  the 
difference  between  a  good  yield  and  a  failure.  It 
is  well  to  keep  in  mind  the  fact  that  if  a  tool  can 
kill  a  weed  it  can  also  kill  a  potato  plant.  When  we 
remember  that  all  or  practically  all  of  the  crop  of 
tubers  is  made  after  this  time,  we  can  see  how  im¬ 
portant  it  is  to  prevent  the  loss  of  any  part  of  the 
plant  that  will  have  to  do  the  work.  Both  roots 
and  leaves  are  needed,  one  to  get  material  from  the 
soil  and  the  other  to  work  it  up.  Carbon  dioxide 
from  the  air  is  used,  but  the  rest  comes  from  the 
soil.  The  soil  solution  is  taken  up  by  the  roots  and 
the  water  not  needed  is  given  off  by  the  leaves,  the 
solid  matter  remaining  in  the  plant. 
CAUSE  OF  TIP-BURN.— Now  if  we  cut.  off  part 
of  the  roots  in  a  dry  time  the  leaves  will  keep  on 
giving  off  water.  The  supply  has  been  reduced  in 
proportion  to  the  roots  cut.  The  potato  plant  is 
unfortunate  in  that  unlike  many  other  plants,  it 
does  uot  have  the  power  to  adjust,  itself  so  well  to 
changed  conditions.  Especially  it  has  the  had  habit 
of  keeping  up  the  same  rate  of  transpiration  of 
water  from  its  leaves  after  the  normal  supply  from 
the  roots  has  fallen  off.  This  may  be  in  humble 
imitation  of  many  of  the  human  race,  who  never 
seem  able  to  reduce  a  large  expense  account  to 
meet  a  reduced  income.  In  the  case  of  the  potato 
it  begins  to  use  up  some  of  the  water  iu  its  own 
tissues,  and  the  leaves  begin  to  dry  up  with  what 
the  scientists  call  tip-bum.  What  a  row  would  be 
started  if  a  farmer  found  an  enemy  cutting  off  half 
of  the  tops  from  each  plant  in  his  potato  field !  And 
yet  this  would  do  him  far  less  injury  than  his  own 
practice  of  often  cutting  off  half  the  roots.  A  man 
can  get  along  a  great  deal  better  with  his  expenses 
cut  in  half  than  with  his  income  cut  down.  It  is 
just  the  same  with  the  potato  crop.  I  have  seen 
fields  where  this  drying  up  caused  by  cutting  the 
r 
Homemade  Celery  Sprayer.  Fig.  329  See  page  856 
roots  late  came  so  near  killing  the  potatoes  that 
the  crop  was  not  worth  digging. 
DANGER  IN  HILLING  TOOLS.— Ridgers,  horse- 
hoes,  etc.,  require  more  judgment  iu  their  use  than 
any  other  tools  used  in  potato  growing.  With  some 
soils  and  climates  they  are  indispensable,  in  others 
they  are  the  cause  of  great  losses  to  the  growers 
who  use  them.  As  the  damage  done  to  the  roots  is 
out  of  sight  it  is  not  appreciated  by  the  growers, 
without  careful  study  of  the  results.  I  give  two 
such  instances.  A  neighbor’s  hired  man  had  not 
