7jhe  RURAL  NEW-YORKER  • 
lance  of  the  Soil  t,ie  sPring  is  increasing-  There  is  a  little  vetch  in 
the  oat  straw.  A  good  Fall  growth  is  produced  that 
may  lx*  pastured  or  plowed  under.  If  left  till  Spring 
SOFRT. — The  rotation  a  further  crop  is  secured  that  may  be  turned  un- 
number  of  green  ma-  der  as  a  manure.  Or  ii'  Timothy  were  added  with 
ill  for  farm  practices  the  oats  and  vetch  it  may  he  let  stand  as  a  meadow, 
crops  and  in  the  lack  the  vetch  taking  the  place  of  clover  for  the  first 
‘esults  with  green  ma-  year. 
.  where  a  rotation  of  A  PERSONAL  PROBLEM. — Every  farmer  must 
mployed.  were  as  fol-  study  his  own  rotation  and  market  situation  to  de- 
potassium  and  lime  term i lie  to  what  extent  lie  can  put  in  green  manure 
from  1*2  to  20  bushels,  crops  and  get  manurial  value  out  of  regular  crops, 
ere.  Where  hay  is  a  prominent  part  of  the  , rotation  it  is 
NPRE  CROPS? — The  desiral.de  to  turn  the  sod  while  it  is  still  thick  and 
953 
nurial  crop  is  undesirable  for  several  reasons.  Ma¬ 
turity  means  the  transfer  Of  the  elaborated  mate¬ 
rial  from  the  roots  to  lop  rather  than  a  large  total 
gain  in  the  plant.  In  the  lirst  half  of  the  life  of  a 
plant  the  roots  exceed  the  tops.  In  the  latter  half 
the  reverse  is  lime.  The  object  is  to  get  the  mate¬ 
rial  deep  in  the  soil  and  the  roots  develop  deeper — 
some  of  them — than  we  can  plow.  When  the  plant 
is  approaching  the  blossom  stage  it  is  pretty  well  on 
to  ifs  maximum  yield.  P.ut  don't  necessarily  wait 
for  this.  Fifteen  inches,  a  foot,  six  inches  of 
growth  is  worth  more  than  it  is  usually  given  cre¬ 
dit  with.  A  large  woody  growth  turned  under  is 
slow  to  decay  and  breaks  contact  with  the  subsoil. 
It  may  also  seriously  exhaust  the 
soil  moisture  of  the  succeeding  crop. 
~ -  FERTILIZERS  OX  BREEN  MA- 
iXFRE  CROPS. — A  word  about  the 
use  of  fertilizers  on  green  manures. 
We  are  in  the  habit  of  saving  them 
for  the  cash  crops.  For  nitrogen 
this  is  perhaps  warranted.  But 
even  here  as  well  as  for  the  min¬ 
eral  elements — phosphorus  and  po¬ 
tassium  and  lime — it  is  usually  bet¬ 
ter  business  to  put  them  on  the 
green  manure  crop.  Each  pound  of 
nutrient  in  the  fertilizer  may  be¬ 
come  the  basis  of  !)“>  pounds  of  or¬ 
ganic  matter  in  the  crop,  with  the 
double  gain  later — namely  from  the 
organic  matter  and  from  the  return 
of  the  plant  food-  Fertilize  the 
green  manures.  e.  o.  fippix. 
A  Good  Start  with  the  Planter.  Fig.  366 
Sheep  as  Manure  Spreaders 
WAIT  until  we  change  that 
subject  to  permanent  pas¬ 
tures.  Readers  have  heard  and  read 
considerable  about  manure.  Some 
talks  at  farmers’  institutes  have 
had  the  word  in  every  sentence,  un¬ 
til  farmers  have  referred  to  insti¬ 
tutes  as  “annual  manure  conven¬ 
tions.”  The  substance  is  till  right, 
but  we  have  had  a  surfeit,  and  the 
.scope  of  tin's  talk  will  be  not  to  les¬ 
sen  the  knowledge,  hut  to  alleviate 
the  mental  and  physical  strain  in 
connection  with  i(. 
At  the  price  of  meats  and  cost  of 
labor,  the  most  valuable  parts  of 
a  place  now  are  (lie  Blue  grass 
pastures.  The  fields  in  mind  arc 
not  ordinary  ones  which  have  patch¬ 
es  only  here  and  there,  that  have  a 
hard  time  making  a  show  in  Spring, 
that  grow  more  weeds  than  grass, 
or  are  so  thin  that  the  soil  shows 
through,  but  fields  where  the  set  is 
thick  as  a  lawn,  with 
The  Breakdown  in  a  Busy  Time.  Fig.  367 
a  carpet  of 
a  vegetation  always  over  the  surface 
for  a  mulch,  that  must  he  dug 
through  to  find  the  soil,  flood  fields 
like  these  seldom  come  spontane¬ 
ously,  unless  from  new  ground 
which  has  been  let  alone  until  seeds 
present  and  transported  have  a  few 
years  to  themselves,  but  good  pas 
Btures  can  he  nurtured  both  in  the 
making  and  later,  until  one  acre  is 
■SS^.vSS  worth  five  of  the  average  perman- 
There  are  many  ways  to  arrive 
in  this,  hut  the  wool  grower  is  the 
best  fitted  to  make  them,  and  the 
man  who  can  realize  the  most  from 
them.  'When  the  writer  was  yoting- 
1  -Ty.i .  er,  with  some  practically  barren 
dirt,  and  knew  no  better,  he  gath- 
jt&jMto&M'  ered  all  the  waste  straw  and  trash, 
fed  in  stables  and  yards,  ignored 
any  thought  of  economy  of  labor, 
used  a  nice,  smooth,  strong-handled 
fork  many  days  in  the  year,  and 
wasted  precious  time.  Now  the  other  extreme  fol¬ 
lows.  All  the  manure  possible  is  carried  to  the 
place  it  belongs  by  the  animals,  and  all  waste  vege¬ 
table  material  is  left  there  also  after  plans  to  han¬ 
dle  ir  as  little  as  can  he  helped. 
Formerly  we  took  the  stock  as  far  as  we  could 
from  the  primitive  way,  but  are  now  hack  near  na¬ 
ture.  Primitive  animals  fed  on  Summer’s  excess 
during  Winter,  ami  hunted  the  best  location  to 
pass  fhe  night.  Man  has  been  at  a  good  many 
pains  to  see  there  is  no  excess,  and  too  much  of  his 
education  has  been  against  suitable,  labor-saving 
Conveniences  for  Filling  Spray  Tank.  Fig.  368 
ii  '  <£$851 
B  f.T.  .  ' 
