Published  by 
The  Rural  Publishing  Co. 
333  VV.  30th  Street 
New  York 
The  Rural  New-Yorker 
The  Business  Farmer’s  Paper 
Weekly,  One  Dollar  Per  Year 
Postpaid 
Single  Copies,  Five  Cents 
Yor..  LXXV. 
NEW  YORK,  JULY  8,  1916. 
No.  4385. 
The  Great  Value  of  Cover  Crops 
An  Old  Farm  Restored 
IT  is  now  about  time  to  take  up  our  usual  talk 
about  cover  crops  and  green  manuring.  The  cov¬ 
er,  or  catch  crop,  lias  saved  many  a  farm,  and 
aroused  many  more  to  new  life  and  productive  pow¬ 
er.  'When  we  speak  of  a  cover  crop  we  mean  one 
grown  between  two  regular  farm  crops,  when  the 
land  would  otherwise  be  idle.  For  instance,  when 
corn  is  "laid  h.v”  or  when  cultivation  stops  you 
may  do  two  things  with  it.  One  is  let  it  alone.  The 
corn  matures  and  some  weeds  and  grass  come  in.  lmt 
after  frost  the  land  is  left  bare  and  idle.  During 
the  late  Summer  and  Fall  large  quantities  of  ni¬ 
trates  are  formed  in  the  soil.  These  are  very  solu¬ 
ble  and  will  he  washed  away  by  the  Fall  rains  if 
they  are  not  saved  in  some  way.  Then  when  this 
bare  ground  is  plowed  in  the  Spring  a  farmer  must 
pay  several  dollars  either  for  manure  or  fertilizers 
for  the  nitrogen  which  the  rains  have  washed  out  of 
the  Atlantic  slope,  and  so  we  begin  early  this  year 
to  talk  cover  crop  and  green  manuring. 
The  first  illustration  is  taken  from  South  Caro¬ 
lina.  where  .T.  S.  Wingo  of  Spartanburg  took  an  old 
farm  and  built  it  up  so  that  the  third  year  it  will 
produce  a  crop  valuable  enough  to  pay  the  original 
price  per  acre  for  the  land.  In  1914  this  farm  was 
badly  run  down.  The  fields  were  full  of  gullies  too 
large  to  drive  a  team  through.  Mr.  Wingo  calls 
himself  “an  ignorant  city  man.”  who  had  never  had 
much  experience  in  farming.  Yet  the  picture  shows 
this  years  wheat  crop.  This  grain  with  the  pork 
made  on  the  peas  which  follow  the  wheat  will  bring 
$45  per  acre.  Why  should  the  South  buy  so  much 
of  its  bread  and  meat  when  such  things  can  he 
done?  Mr.  Wingo  tells  how  he  did  it  in  the  follow¬ 
ing  : 
Restoring  an  Old  Southern  Farm 
In  the  Fall  of  1913  we  bought  a  farm  of  160  acres, 
greater  part  of  which  was  in  a  run-down  condition. 
period  of  throe  years,  producing  25  bushels  of  wheat 
and  safe  to  say  a  hale  of  cotton  to  the  acre.  I  only 
give  a  small  description  of  this  part  of  the  farm. 
We  have  other  fields  which  have  been  improved 
equally  as  well,  but  handled  in  a  different  way.  i 
wish  to  say  in  conclusion  that  300  days  spent  on  the 
farm  with  tlnn’ight  and  energy  displayed  in  the  right 
way  will  mean  success  to  any  farmer;  some  lime 
when  needed;  plenty  of  grain  followed  by  peas  and 
rye  for  cover  crops.  j.  s.  wingo. 
South  Carolina. 
Selection  and  Care  of  the  Mower 
Part  II. 
CARE  AND  ADJUSTMENTS.— No  machine,  no 
matter  how  carefully  made,  will  give  good  service 
for  an  extended  length  of  time  without  intelligent 
care  and  adjustment.  It  is  easy  to  blame  the  mower 
for  what  is  really  the  operator’s  fault.  By  a  study 
of  the  machine  in  connection  with  the  instruction 
Wheat  on  a  Run-down  Farm  in  South  Carolina,  Built  Up  With  Cover  Crops.  Fig.  364 
his  soil.  Now  suppose  at  the  last  cultivation  of  the 
corn  the  farmer  had  seeded  in  between  the  lulls  or 
drills  rye,  wheat,  clover,  vetch  or  turnips,  and 
worked  this  seed  in.  That  would  he  what  we  call 
a  “cover  crop.”  It  would  grow  in  the  corn  and 
after  that  crop  was  cut  it  would  cover  the  ground 
with  living  plaids  which,  even  after  frost,  would 
keep  alive  and  use  the  nil  rates  which  were  formed 
in  the  soil.  In  the  Spring  this  cover  crop  could  he 
plowed  under,  thus  saving  the  nitrates  which  would 
olherwise  he  lost,  hut  adding,  free  of  cost,  all  hauled 
and  distributed,  the  organic  matter  and  part  of  the 
nitrogen  which  you  could  supply  by  spreading  eight 
tons  of  stable  manure  per  acre! 
It  seems  incredible  that  by  spending  $2  more  or 
less  for  seed  on  one  acre  a  farmer  may  obtain  all 
hauled  and  spread  what  would  cost  him  at  least  $20 
if  he  had  to  buy  it  as  stable  manure!  Yet  a  little 
thought,  after  seeing  such  a  cover  crop  grow,  will 
convince  anyone  that  such  a  statement  is  conser- 
'  a  live.  This  thing  of  letting  the  soil  stand  idle,  or 
off  its  guard,  when  thieves  and  parasites  are  get¬ 
ting  in  their  best  work,  lias  cut  the  value  of  thou¬ 
sands  of  farms  in  two  and  ruined  many  fine  fields. 
We  must  remember  that  organic  matter  and  lime 
.•  re  the  two  her  iveds  of  our  soils,  particularly  oil 
Aften  going  over  the  place  and  allowing  the  renters 
to  select  fields  for  the  following  year,  r  took  in 
charge  a  five-acre  field  which  had  been  discarded 
and  had  grown  up  in  small  pieces,  with  large 
ditches  width  could  not  be  crossed  until  filled  in 
with  brush,  cane  pomace  and  dirt.  After  spending 
two  days  with  one  man  on  this  five  acres,  we  plowed 
up  with  turning  plow  as  deep  as  possible.  Then 
without  manure  or  fertilizer  of  any  kind  we  sowed 
in  rye  and  ran  a  disk  over  it.  Following  rye  we 
sowed  peas,  turning  the  vines,  and  planted  in  corn 
with  jieas  in  drill  between  rows  of  corn.  After  pull¬ 
ing  corn,  which  amounted  to  about  50  baskets  for 
the  five  acres,  we  turned  the  ground  in  early  Fall, 
leaving  all  pea  vines  and  cornstalks  on  the  ground. 
After  waiting  for  a  while  wo  used  COO  pounds  of 
•v —  2 — 2  fertilizer  and  sowed  this  ground  t<>  wheat 
in  the  latter  part  of  October,  1915.  With  a  good 
stand  of  wheat  in  March  I  used  200  pounds  of  soda, 
which  soon  proved  to  me  that  I  would  have  a 
splendid  crop  of  wheat.  I  have  learned  from  this 
experience  Unit  if  our  farmers  will  spoilt!  more 
time  in  cover  crops,  such  as  rye,  clover.  Soy  beaus 
and  peas,  they  will  not  find  it  necessary  always  to 
have  stable  manure.  The  picture  which  is  shown, 
gives  an  idea  what  may  be  done  within  the  short 
hook  learn  the  purpose  of  every  part  and  strive  to 
keep  it  in  the  best  possible  condition  for  doing  it’s 
work. 
'THE  (’UTTER  BAR  perhaps  lias  the  hardest 
work  to  do  of  any  part  of  the  machine  and  at  the 
same  time  is  in  the  most  exposed  position.  Its 
action  in  cutting  is  exactly  like  that  of  a  pair  of 
shears  and  like  the  shears  must  lie  kept  in  proper 
adjustment  to  do  good  wnrk.  If  correctly  adjusted 
each  section  will  pass  from  the  center  of  one  guard 
to  the  center  of  the  next  and  hack  to  its  starring 
point  at  each  revolution  of  the  crank  wheel,  the 
stroke  being  exactly  the  same  length  as  the  center 
to  center  distance  of  the  guards.  As  before  stated 
the  cutting  is  done  by  the  shearing  action  of  the 
section  in  passing  over  the  ledger  plate  of  the  guard 
and.  if  due  In  wear  or  other  cause,  they  do  not 
register  in  the  center  of  the  guards,  the  full  cutting 
edge  of  the  section  will  not  he  used,  the  machine 
will  not  cut  properly  and  the  draft  will  he  increased, 
(’hanging  the  length  of  the  pitman  will  remedy  this, 
or  unking  such  other  adjustment  as  the  machine 
provides  for  this  case.  Badly  worn  sections  give 
practically  the  same  result  as  those  that  do  not 
register.  When  made,  the  proper  angle  as  com¬ 
pared  with  the  speed  of  the  machine,  is  determined 
