976 
Sfce  RURAL.  NEW-YORKER 
July  15,  1916. 
General  Farm  Topics 
When  to  Sow  Sweet  Clover 
I  read  with  a  great  deal  of  interest 
the  Hope  Farm  man’s  experience  with 
Sweet  clover,  and  frankly,  I  am  sur¬ 
prised  that  he  got  any  Sweet  clover  at 
all,  for  it  would  have  been  a  hard  matter 
t<>  go  at  it  in  a  more  ont-of-the-ordinnry 
manner.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  very 
little  short  of  a  miracle  for  anyone  to 
make  a  success  of  Sweet  clover  sown  in 
the  Fall.  Sweet  clover  is  strictly  a 
biennial  and  must  make  enough  growth 
the  first  eeaasou  to  carry  it  through  the 
Winter  and  enable  it  to  make  a  seed 
crop  the  second  season,  and  when  sown 
in  the  Fall  it  very  seldom  makes  enough 
growth  to  carry  itself  through  the  Win¬ 
ter.  Our  experience  has  been  that  there 
is  very  little  hope  of  a  crop  with  Sweet 
clover  sown  later  than  June.  Also  it  is 
very  unusual  and  in  fact,  practically  un¬ 
known,  to  get  a  good  stand  from  seed 
sown  with  the  hull  on.  In  our  experi¬ 
ence  we  seldom  get  more  than  eight  to 
10  per  cent,  germination  on  unhulled 
seed.  We  always  insist  on  the  customer 
using  clean,  solid,  hulled  seed,  which  has 
been  well  rubbed  in  the  bulling,  or  else 
scarified  after  hulling.  Willi  such  seed, 
you  can  get  about  95%  germination,  and 
often  better  than  that,  and  you  can  get  a 
good  stand  with  eight  to  10  pounds  per 
acre.  1  note  you  are  going  to  sow  some 
Sweet  clover  in  June,  and  I  sincerely 
hope  you  are  using  hulled  seed.  While 
you  are  getting  good  results  from  your 
Sweet  clover,  you  are  not  getting  one- 
third  the  results  you  would  get  if  you 
sowed  earlier  in  the  season,  and  used 
hulled  seed  so  you  would  get  a  good 
stand.  This  is  certainly  a  wonderful  and 
valuable  crop,  and  especially  so  for  your 
Eastern  hills. 
People  have  been  sowing  the  Sweet 
clover  in  the  Fall  because  they  confused 
it  with  Alfalfa.  They  knew  Alfalfa 
Would  do  well  if  planted  in  the  Fall,  and 
supposed  Sweet  clover  would  do  the  same, 
hut  there  is  a  big  difference  in  the  two. 
Sweet  clover  is  a  biennial,  while  Alfalfa 
is  a  perennial.  A  perennial  can  he  sown 
at  any  time  of  the  year,  Spring  or  Fall, 
while  a  biennial  must  be  sown  early 
enough  in  the  season  to  get  a  fairly  good 
growth  before  Winter,  or  sown  so  late 
in  the  Winter  that  it  will  not  germinate 
at  all,  but  will  start  the  next  Spring  and 
call  the  next  year  the  first  year. 
HEN  BY  FIELD. 
R.  N.-Y. — We  find  much  conflict  of 
opinion  among  the  Sweet  clover  men  re¬ 
garding  this  matter  of  seeding.  We  tried 
it  as  a  cover  crop,  hut  put  the  Alsike  seed 
iu  so  as  to  make  sure  we  would  have 
something.  The  unhulled  seed  was  slow 
to  start,  and  even  now  we  found  some 
of  it  coming  up.  Some  of  our  authorities 
advocate  sowing  the  unhulled  seed  in  De¬ 
cember  or  late  Winter.  It  seems  to  us 
most  reasonable  to  seed  in  early  or  mid¬ 
dle  Summer — using  the  scarified  seed. 
With  so  many  different  opinions  it  is 
evident  that  a  farmer  must  settle  it  for 
himself. 
The  Pictures 
Every  year  we  have  letters  from  people 
who  ask  where  they  can  buy  a  small  hand 
separator  or  thrasher.  Many  of  them 
raise  small  quantities  of  grain,  and  either 
want  to  handle  it  with  great  care  by 
hand,  or  else  they  live  in  a  community 
where  but  little  grain  is  used,  so  that  the 
large  separators  are  not  available.  A 
small  size  separator,  worked  by  foot 
power  was  formerly  made  in  Vermont, 
hut  we  have  not  heard  of  it  in  recent 
years-  The  picture  at  Fig.  372  is  en¬ 
graved  from  Bulletin  No.  29S  of  the 
Ohio  Experiment  Station.  This  little 
homemade  thrasher  is  used  in  separating 
the  grain  from  small  lots  of  experiment 
rows,  where  it  is  necessary  to  make  accur¬ 
ate  measurements  or  weights.  The  con¬ 
trivance  is  a  homemade  affair,  and  it  is 
easy  to  see  how  it  is  constructed.  It 
might  be  useful  to  some  of  our  people, 
who  raise  only  a  small  quantity  of  grain, 
although  it  would  look  like  small  business 
to  our  large  farmers. 
The  picture  at  Fig.  376  was  taken  in 
Canada,  in  a  section  where  a  large  part 
of  the  fruit  picking  is  done  by  Indians. 
They  handle  the  job  at  piece  work,  either 
at  so  much  a  basket,  or  they  will  contract 
to  pick  all  the  fruit  on  a  given  area.  The 
Indian  woman  and  her  son  shown  in  the 
picture  are  picking  plums.  It  is  said 
that  these  Indians  make  good  workers, 
stick  to  the  job  and  do  the  work  well, 
and  arc  very  useful  in  the  orchard.  It 
will  he  a  hard  problem  this  year  for  many 
fruit  growers  to  handle  their  crop  profit¬ 
ably,  and  many  farmers  are  looking  about 
hunting  for  new  classes  of  workers.  Last 
year  there  was  much  the  same  trouble, 
but  prices  were  low,  and  large  areas  of 
fruit  were  left  unpicked.  This  year  the 
chances  are  for  better  prices,  hut  the 
picker  problem  will  still  be  a  puzzle  on 
many  a  farm* 
The  picture  at  Fig.  373  shows  a  good- 
sized  man  at  work  with  a  hand  cultiva¬ 
tor  in  a  crop  of  beets.  It  is  evidently  a 
hot  day  with  the  sun  shining,  ami  the 
weeds  are  growing.  Some  people  are 
willing  to  pay  .$20  or  more  for  a  set  of 
exercises,  designed  for  the  purpose  of  re¬ 
ducing  their  flesh  and  hardening  their 
muscles.  We  might,  suggest  that  getting 
right  out  in  the  sun  and  pushing  this 
hand  cultivator  till  day,  would  have  a 
rattier  vanishing  effect  upon  the  fat,  give 
good  appetite,  and  make  a  thorough  citi¬ 
zen  out  of  any  man  who  could  hold  him¬ 
self  down  to  the  job.  Instead  of  paying 
out  money  for  a  set  of  exorcises,  lively 
exercise  on  this  cultivator  would  put 
money  in  a  man’s  purse  rather  than  tak¬ 
ing  it  out.  Probably,  however,  it  would 
not  he  quite  as  fashionable  as  the  polite 
exercises  advocated  by  the  gentleman  who 
has  the  lessons  to  sell.  Ever  since  the 
world  began  it  has  been  more  to  the 
liking  of  the  average  human  being  to  ex¬ 
ercise  in  the  shade,  and  especially  while 
lying  down  under  a  tree,  than  to  get  out 
into  the  sun  and  sweat  at  useful  work. 
Everbearing  Strawberries 
The  accompanying  photograph,  see  Fig. 
374,  of  a  pot-grown  plant  which  was  set  out 
early  last  November,  was  made  June  18, 
1916.  The  plant  now  is  about  10  inches 
tall,  and  21  inches  in  diameter,  and  when 
the  picture  was  made  showed  promise  of 
more  than  a.  hundred  fruits  this  crop. 
At  this  rate  this  variety  (Superb)  should 
be  worth  planting  for  Spring  use  with¬ 
out  regard  to  the  possibility  of  later 
fruits*.  The  berries  ripen  about  with 
Brandywine,  and  are  about  the  same  size. 
Progressive  in  the  same  soil  is  not  very 
satisfactory.  II  has  the  merit  of  being 
about  a  week  earlier,  hut  the  Spring  crop 
is  lighter  and  the  berries  tend  to  be  small¬ 
er.  It  ripens  about  with  Clyde.  This  is 
our  second  season  with  Superb  and  we 
have  no  experience  with  such  large  plants 
but,  judging  from  last  season’s  results  we 
should  have  two  or  three  ripe  berries  a 
week  from  each  such  plant  all  through  the 
latter  part  of  Summer  and  early  Fall. 
The  soil  where  these  berries  are  growing 
would  class  as  a  heavy  garden  loam. 
The  basis  of  it  is  a  stiff  blue  clay,  but  it 
is  very  well  filled  with  humus,  so  that  it 
does  not  hake  much  even  when  puddled- 
Wayne  Co.,  N.  Y.  Alfred  c.  weed. 
The  Chemistry  of  Hay  Preservation 
In  this  country  there  are  practically 
only  two  classes  of  plants  used  for  dry 
Winter  fodder,  the  grasses  and  the  clo¬ 
vers,  since  the  use  of  corn  is  incidental 
to  the  use  of  the  grain.  Both  of  these 
are  dried  slowly  at  a  certain  stage  of 
growth.  Just  what  happens  in  this 
process  is  not  known.  We  know  that  if 
the  crop  is  cut  too  early,  or  if  dried  very 
fast,  the  product  is  not  as  good  as  when 
cut  properly  and  dried  slowly,  hut,  on 
the  other  hand,  a  late  cut  or  a  very  slow 
drying,  give  a  poor  result. 
We  do  know  that  the*  chemical  changes 
are  very  comidex,  and  are  far  more  than 
the  mere  loss  of  water.  Were  it  only 
that,  lmy  and  warm  water  would  he 
grass  again.  In  the  minute  cells  of 
which  the  tissues  are  built  up  there  is 
an  unstable  and  complex  condition  which, 
in  both  plants  and  animals,  we  cull 
“life.”  When  this  ceases,  the  cell  con¬ 
tents  re-arrange  themselves  in  simple 
forms,  among  which  we  find  bodies,  like 
the  sugars,  which  are  very  good  food  for 
some  of  the  simplest  forms  of  life,  such 
as  the  yeasts  and  the  moulds,  as  well  as 
numberless  bacteria  and  other  “germs.” 
Incidentally  some  pleasant  odors  are  set 
free;  the  "new-mown  lmy”  smell  is  large¬ 
ly  due  to  the  body  named  “coumarin”  be¬ 
cause  it  was  first  recognized  in  tonka 
beans.  But  what  good  this  coumarin, 
tied  up,  as  it  is,  with  glucose,  is  to  the 
live  tonka  bean  or  the  live  grass  or 
Sweet  clover,  is  not  known. 
The  practical  problem  is  to  carry  out 
the  drying  process  as  quickly  as  is  con¬ 
sistent  with  the  changes  which  make  up 
a  proper  "curing,”  and  reduce  the  water 
to  a  point  where  "germs”  cannot  live. 
This  is  easiest  in  the  case  of  the  grasses; 
they  are  made  up  of  a  hollow  stalk,  with 
hard  knots,  and  rather  thin  leaves  part¬ 
ly  clasping  the  stalk,  as  can  be  better 
seen  in  wheat,  for  (aside  from  militia 
traditions),  straw  is  merely  a  large  hay. 
So,  also,  are  bamboo  fish  poles;  the  bam¬ 
boo  is  a  giant  grass,  and  the  stem,  the 
pole  as  we  know  it,  shows  just  how  grass 
is  built,  without  a  microscope.  But  the 
case  of  the  clovers  is  different;  they  have 
more  fleshy  leaves  and  woody  stems. 
There  are  many  of  the  tribe,  the  locust, 
for  instance,  which  are  trees.  These 
leaves  are  not  fastened  by  their  whole 
width  clasping  the  stalk,  like  a  grass 
leaf,  but  by  a  rather  small  stem,  and  if 
this  joint  gets  too  dry.  the  leaves  will 
mostly  stay  in  the  field  and  only  the 
stems  get  into  the  mow.  But  if  the 
leaves  remain  too  moist,  they  wilt  swiftly 
rot,  that  is,  germs  will  eat  them.  More 
than  this,  the  clover  leaf  should  die  rath¬ 
er  slowly,  but  if  it  gets  wet  again,  the 
Sugar  and  similar  bodies  formed  will  soak 
out. 
Furthermore,  as  the  grass  and  clover 
leaves  die,  they  may  take  up  oxygen  from 
the  air  rather  rapidly.  There  are  bodies 
there  which,  the  checks  and  balances  of 
"life”  gone,  practically  start  to  burn  up, 
and  this,  and  the  life  of  germs  on  the 
drying  leaves,  produces  considerable 
heat.  Even  if  it  does  not  get  enough  air 
(Continued  on  page  978.) 
are  certain  if — 
you  first  cleanse  seeds  of  smuts  by 
._  the  most  scientific  treatment,  as  recom- 
mended  by  the  U.  S.  Department  of 
Agriculture — ■ 
This  powerful  disinfectant  destroys  grain 
smuts  and  fungus  growths.  It  prevents 
flax  wilt,  also  scab  and  black-leg  on  po¬ 
tatoes.  Rids  stables  and  chicken  bouses 
of  disease  germs  and  flics.  No  up-to- 
date  farmer  should  be  without  a  supply 
of  Formaldehyde — the  best  bears  the 
Perth  Amboy  Chemical  Works  label — ■ 
35  cents  in  pound  bottles  at  your  dealer 
with  complete  directions.  Big  illustrated 
hand-book  sent  free  on  request. 
PERTH  AMBOY  CHEMICAL  WORKS 
100  WILLIAM  STREET  NEW  YORK  2 
mato,  Cabbage  and  Celery 
DUO.  Semi  fur  list.  WM.  RILEY.  Turresdale.  Phila.,  Pa. 
C  l/\/  C  FT  Builds  Worn  Out  Soil.  Has 
™  *  higher  protein  content  than  alfalfa. 
I  \i  E?  Write  for  nrfec**  and  information 
vLUVtK  E.  Barton.  Box  29,  Falmouth,  Ky. 
Sweet  Clover 
Practically  pure.  While  or  Yellow.  Scarified. 
O. M. Scott.  &  Sons  Co., 530  Main  St., Marysville, O. 
“PHOSPHATES  and  HONESTY” 
Dr.  Cyril  G.  Hopkins’ 
reply  to  Prof.  Brooks 
and  The  Rural  New- 
Yorker.  Youhave  read 
a  great  deal  on  one  side 
of  this  question — write 
'for  Bulletin  186  “Phos¬ 
phates  and  Honesty,” 
and  get  the  whole  dis¬ 
cussion. 
“THE  FARM  THAT  WON’T 
WEAR  OUT” 
A  description  of  the 
Permanent  Fertility 
Method  that  supplies 
Phosphorus  at  a  cost  of 
$1.00  per  acre  per  year. 
Write  as  far  bee  copies 
of  these  booklets. 
FEDERAL  CHEMICAL  CO. 
No.  12  High  St.,  Columbia,  Tenn. 
DON’T  TRY  TO  RAISE 
III  Till  CA  Without  Inoculat- 
ULlHLlH  ing  the  seed  with 
WHY  risk  failure  when  McQueen’s 
Inoculator  will  put  hundreds  of 
nitrogen  nodules  on  every  plant  ?  Alfalfa 
must  become  inoculated  to  insure  a 
stand.  The  sure  way  is  treatment  with 
McQueen’s  Inoculator.  Simply  moisten 
the  seed  and  mix  in  the  Inoculator, 
which  is  a  dry  powder  swarming  with 
millions  of  vigorous  bacteria. 
$1  Per  Acre-Size  Package,  Postpaid 
Shipment  made  by  return  mail.  Satisfaction 
guaranteed.  Order  Alfalfa  and  Vetch  Inoculator  now. 
McQueen  Bacteria  Co. 
Box  190  -  Baltic.  Ohio 
RIHI1FR  TWINF  Farmer  agents  wanted. 
QlliULI)  I  IT  I  lib  @et  our  samples  and  prices. 
TJlEo.  HURT  &  SOJNS  -  Melrose,  Ohio 
maloney's  TREES 
Fruit.  ami  Ornamental  Uvea,  vines,  nhrubrt,  etc.,  true  to  nnmo  In 
email  or  lurnr**  lots  nt  wbulvMil©  pl*ic©£.  Glow/*  uml  KiinrarUood  by 
the  larirest  Nursery  In  N*w  York.  Write  for  bii?  free  catalog. 
MALONEY  BROS.  &  WELLS  COMPANY.  BOX  27,  DANSVILLE,  N.  Y. 
ALFALFA 
AMERICAN  NORTHERN  GROWN 
Our  Full  Book  tells  bow  to  succeed  crowing 
Alfalfa  on  any  soil  or  climate  cast  of  the  Mia- 
auurl  lliver:  bow  to  sow;  how  to  harvest;  what 
to  do  (o  retain  a  perfect  meadow.  We  refuse 
to  handle  Turkestan  or  “Dwarf  Alfalfa,’’  our 
seed  is  all  American  grown,  guaranteed  99% 
pure.  We  can  fund  ah  No  hr  a  ska.  Idaho  or  Utah 
uud  Grimm  seed  ut  very  moderate  prices. 
■  |  r ■  i  ri  we  Lave  the  Genuine 
HLrilLrn  Grimm  well  as  Hnu- 
Kon’u  great  now  Slbortuu  varieties.  Samples 
and  prices  upon  request. 
WING  SEED  CO.,  Dox  333  .Mechanicsburg.O. 
GRIMM 
VEGETABLE  PLANTS 
By  Mail  or  Express  Prepaid.  Leading  vnrb«lb»K  (M  IIBAflK,  CKL- 
BKY,  tun. IK ’WIWPIl  1*1. i \  I  S .  I.argf  in*  final  I  lut.H  at.  reason- 
able  priest.  I’irM  ridss.  |.lauts  uml  siilv  ilellnry  |?tiitratstec<l. 
STRAWBERRY  PLANTS 
For  A <1 K )IH t  mill  Fall  jituuiiug*.  Ilumier  uml  I'ot-erown  plants 
(lint  will  In- nr  fruit  urxl  iiuuiiirr.  Alio  RitfllKRIlf,  ItLACK- 
III.KKY  1-l.l.VIS.  1-ltl'lT  TU I  I  OIINAMliNTAI.  TKfc.ES, 
sriKIRS.  CittaloQU,'  free. 
Harry  1..  Squires,  Remienburg,  N.  Y. 
GRIMM  ALFALFA 
99.60  Pure.  Also  ordinary  Alfalfa. 
O,  M.  Scott  &  Sons  Uo.,  330  Main  SI..  Marysville,  0. 
Celery  Plants V,ooo-  Cabbage  Plants 
51  ncr  1.000.  All  kinds  of  Each.  Nice,  stocky  plants 
and  Plenty  of  them.  ROMANCE  SKKI*  AND 
1‘J.A  NT  If  A  KM,  C  HUGOS  &  SOU,  Clieswofd,  Delaware 
Cabbage,  Beets,  Celery  Plants  ^TootHs-lo 
per  10.000.  Tomato  Plants— $1.1 iO  per  1,000.  Sweet 
Potato  and  Pepper  Plants  $1.50  per  1.000.  Cauli¬ 
flower  Plants--#.’. 50  pel  1,000.  j.  C  SCHMIDT, Bristol,  Pa. 
Late  Cabbage  Plan  ts  f»J.  *«£  «»»« 
or  over  85  cts.  pur  1,000.  DAVID  RODWAY,  Hardy.  Del. 
g  Are  as  large  as  small  oranges.  This  and  the  three  other  Van  Fleet  hybrid  ij 
H  strawberries  are  marvels  in  size,  beauty  and  productiveness,  with  the  true  = 
E  wild  strawberry  flavor. They  cover  the  wholeseason,  from  earliest  till  latest  =: 
Lovett’s  Pot  Grown  Strawberry  Plants  1 
=  Planted  in  summer  or  autumn,  produce  a  crop  ot  berries  the  following  June.  My  booklet  on  Pot  Grown  — 
—  Strawberries  tells  all  about  them;  how  lu  prepare  the  ground,  and  cultivate.  It  shows  the  “Edmund  Wilson”  = 
—  in  natural  size  and  color,  and  accurately  describes  with  truthful  illustrations  the  Von  Fleet  hybrids  and  a  — 
^  score  ot  other  choice  varieties,  including  the  best  Everbearing  Strawberries.  IT’S  FREE.  If  you  would  — 
have  btggei  and  heller  Strawberries  than  you  have  ever  had  before,  plant  Van  Fleet  Liybrids. 
=r-  Far  thiety-cipbt  years 
—  a  Strawberry  Specialist 
J.  T.  LOVETT,  Box  162,  LITTLE  SILVER,  N.  J.  g 
