RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
families — corn  being  the  otlier.  “Rye  and  Indian’’ 
mixed  composed  the  bread  of  households  in  north¬ 
ern  Pennsylvania  and  northern  Ohio  settled  mainly 
by  emigrants  from  New  England.  Rye  bread  is 
sweeter  than  wheat  bread,  but  dries  up  quicker, 
soon  gets  hard,  and  has  to  be  baked  oftener  to  be 
enjoyed  at  its  best.  Mixed  with  one-half  finely 
ground  cornmcal  it  makes  an  excellent  bread  that 
will  not  dry  up  sooner  than  wheat  bread.  The 
ground  is  prepared  for  raising  rye  the  same  as  for 
raising  wheat.  j.  w.  ingham. 
Pennsylvania. 
Protecting  Late  Lettuce 
MANY  market  gardeners  in  New  Jersey  are  find¬ 
ing  it  especially  advantageous  to  plant  an 
extra  late  field  of  lettuce,  and  protect  it  from  the 
first  light  freezes  for  higher  prices.  The  first  frosN 
of  early  Fall  do  not  injure  lettuce,  neither  do  the 
light  freezes  severely  injure  it.  However,  when  a 
heavy  crust  forms  on  the  earth  at  night  some  form 
of  protection  is  essential. 
A  very  popular  method  is  to  cover  the  lettuce  with 
a  coat  of  salt  marsh  hay.  This  material  has  special 
advantages  over  other  kinds  of  hay.  It  settles 
snugly  about  the  plants  and  stays  where  it  is  put ; 
besides  that  this  hay  is  perfectly  soft,  and  smooth ; 
never  cutting  or  tearing  a  leaf  of  the  developed  let¬ 
tuce.  Another  very  popular  field  method  is  to  cover 
the  bed  with  unbleached  muslin  suspended  over  a 
frame.  This  is  shown  in  Fig.  434.  Every  12  feet  cross¬ 
wise  of  the  bed  a  12-inch  hemlock  hoard  is  stood 
upon  its  edge  and  staked  fast,  or  a  row  of  stakes  is 
driven  six  feet,  apart,  one  foot  high.  Every  six  feet, 
a  single  lath  14  feet  long  is  laid  from  one 
hoard  or  row  of  stakes  to  the  other,  stretching  over 
"bout  a  foot  on  each  side  to  afford  a  good  lap. 
These  shingle  laths  are  seen  in  tin*  picture  running 
to  and  from  the  reader.  They  are  supported  in  the 
middle  upon  a  stake  10  inches  high. 
Strips  of  unbleached  muslin  10  feet  wide  and  30 
feet  long  are  stretched  crosswise  of  this  “railing.” 
<  >ne  side  of  the  strip  is  tacked  fast  to  a  stationary 
shingle  lath,  while  the  other  edge  is  tacked  to  shingle 
lath  nailed  together  and  30  feet  long.  This  serves 
as  a  roller,  facilitates  the  work  and  helps  to  hold  the 
loose  edge  down  when  the  muslin  is  stretched. 
Many  will  say  that  a  single  layer  of  muslin  couldn't 
hold  out  much  frost,  yet  it  really  is  astonishing  to 
see  what  a  protection  it  is.  Another  point  which 
must  not  be  lost  sight  of  is' that  this  muslin  shades 
the  frozen  lettuce  until  it  is  thawed  out.  after  which 
the  muslin  may  he  rolled  hack.  The  freezing  itself 
is  not  what  usually  does  the  damage:  it  is  the  sun 
striking  the  frozen  foliage.  The  picture  was  taken 
last  November  on  the  farm  of  William  A.  Ash  5c 
Son,  Cumberland  Co.,  N.  .T.  ’  it.  w.  be  baun. 
A  Great  Plant  of  Sweet  Clover 
I  AM  sending  you  photos  and  sample  stalk  of  white 
Sweet  clover,  pictures  taken  June  20,  1910, 
when  just  beginning  to  bloom.  The  stalk  I  send  was 
cut  to-day,  August  7.  Seed  was  sown  February,  1913, 
on  Winter  wheat  in  mud  and  snow,  13  pounds  un¬ 
hulled  seed  to  the  acre.  This  part  of  the,  farm  was 
limed  seven  years  ago.  On  the  rest  of  the  field 
where  no  lime  has  ever  been  applied  the  stand  was 
thin,  and  the  plants  short  and  yellow  in  color.  I 
am  much  interested  in  that  plan  of  yours  as  ut- 
lined  in  “Hope  Farm  Notes,"  to  use  it  as  a  crop  to 
plow  down  in  young  apple  orchards;  in  fact  had 
planned  the  same  thing.  c.  i>.  young  kix. 
Cambria-  Co.,  Pa. 
R.  N.-Y. — The  sample  plant  of  Sweet  clover  sent 
by  Mr.  Yonuglvin  measured  107  inches  from  root  to 
tip.  A  crop  of  such  clover  would  give  an  enormous 
growth  to  plow  under  or  to  cut  and  use  as  a  mulch. 
Where  the  Sweet  clover  will  grow  in  this  way  it 
becomes  the  most  valuable  legume  that  can  be 
seeded.  Our  own  crop  seeded  in  oats  and  pens  ou 
top  of  the  ground  in  late  June  Is  coming  on  well. 
Another  Side  of  The  Farm  Bureau 
TIIE  article  by  E.  .T.  Rail'd,  on  page  1020.  on  “The 
Weakness  of  the  Farm  llurenn."  was  of  great 
interest  to  me,  and  while  the  author’s  ability  is 
self-evident,  in  this  matter  I  cannot  but  feel  that 
bis  judgment  is  at  fault.  His  statement  that  four 
out  of  five  farmers  know  and  practice  modern 
methods  mail  be  true  of  Pennsylvania,  but  in  Wis¬ 
consin  there  is  not  one  farmer  in  five  who  could  not 
receive  he  net  it.  from  a  very  ordinary  county  agent. 
With  this  frank  admission,  T  am  still  willing  that  the 
reader  should  look  up  the  relative  position  of  the 
two  States  from  an  agricultural  standpoint. 
While  il  might  he  easy  to  refute  some  of  Mr. 
Baird’s  arguments,  I  shall  rather  combat  his  posi¬ 
tion  on  the  question  by  giving  the  partial  results  of 
one  man’s  work  in  this  county.  We  are  unfortun¬ 
ate  in  having  no  county  agent,  hut  three  years  ago  a 
branch  of  the  State  Experiment  Association  was  es¬ 
tablished  here.  One  of  the  officers  elected  was  a 
middle-aged  retired  merchant,  who  had  bought  a 
Protection  for  Late  Lettuce.  Fig.  454 
farm,  and.  who,  while  he  continued  to  reside  in  th.» 
city,  was* actually  “farming  it."  We  will  call  him 
Mr.  White,  because  that  is  not  his  name*.  This  man 
had  no  special  agricultural  training  or  education 
aside  from  attendance  at  institutes  and  general 
reading  of  farm  literature.  What  he  lacked  in  abil¬ 
ity  and  education,  he  made  up  partially  by  interest 
A  Field  of  Sweet  Clover  in  Pennsylvania.  Fig.  455 
in  the  work  and  a  desire  to  he  of  service.  A  month 
after  his  election  he  shipped  in  a  car  of  pedigree  seed 
oats  and  sold  them  at  cost  to  farmers  tributary  to 
the  city.  The  sowing  of  these  improved  oats  has 
greatly  increased  the  yield  per  acre,  and  been  of 
direct  financial  benefit  to  t lie  county,  lie  has  helped 
growers  sell  the  oats  to  other  farmers,  both  in  and 
Packing  the  Peach  Crop.  Fig.  456 
out  of  the  county.  He  has  done  much  work  in  the 
introduction  of  Alfalfa,  a  new  crop  in  this  county. 
The  past  season,  when  the  seed  corn  situation  was 
very  serious  on  account  of  the  unusual  frost  of  Au¬ 
gust  .'10.  ho  enlisted  the  aid  of  the  various  county 
papers,  and  was  able  to  arouse  much  interest,  which 
culminated  in  a  county  meeting  addressed  by  o*.  * 
1125 
of  the  world’s  great  corn  breeders,  Prof.  R.  a. 
Moore.  Later,  a  large  amount  of  high-grade  see  I 
corn  was  purchased  co-operatively. 
During  Ids  three  years  in  the  work.  Mr.  Whip* 
has  written  hundreds  of  letters  and  done  clerical 
work  that  no  hank  would  expect  to  get  done  with¬ 
out  an  expenditure  of  several  hundred  dollars.  It  i-; 
needless  to  say  that  his  office  carries  no  salary. 
Among  other  things,  he  has  interested  the  authori¬ 
ties  of  two  States  in  fighting  a  serious  cattle  disease. 
Familiarity  with  the  work  of  Mr.  White  leads  me 
to  believe  that  it  has  been  of  several  thousand  dol¬ 
lars’  direct  benefit  to  the  county.  The  point,  that  I 
am  working  up  to  is  this:  that  if  this  man  of  ordi¬ 
nary  ability  and  limited  agricultural  training  could 
earn  so  mm  It  for  his  county  in  the  time  that  he 
could  take  from  his  own  farming,  how  much  more 
could  a  trained  worker  earn  for  a  county  in  giving  ir. 
all  his  time  and  effort?  If  seems  to  me  that  the  an¬ 
swer  to  this  question  is  all  the  answer  that  Mr. 
Raird's  article  needs.  observer. 
R.  N.-Y. — The  point  is — can  training  in  an  official 
position  fully  substitute  for  experience  and  plain 
sense  given  freely  as  public  service? 
Gracs  Seeding  Mixtures 
THE  Farm  Bureau  News  of  Rhode  Island  gives 
two  combinations  of  seeds  for  grass  in  New 
England.  On  the  better  class  of  soils,  well  manured 
or  fertilized,  the  following  is  suggested : 
Red  Hover  . 
Alsike  clover 
Red-top  .... 
Timothv  .  .  . 
Alfalfa' _ 
(Ter  acre) 
4%  lbs. 
3  lbs. 
7V*  lbs. 
15  '  lbs. 
1  lb. 
This  will  give  a  good  crop  of  clover  the  first  sea¬ 
son  and  a  crop  of  mixed  bay  the  second  year. 
On  the  lighter,  sandy ‘lands  Timothy  does  not  do 
so  wo'l.  and  other  grasses  tire  suggested  in  its  place. 
For  such  soils  the  following  may  he  used : 
(Per  acre) 
Red  clover  .  P>  lbs. 
Alsike  clover  .  ?»  lbs. 
Orchard  grass  . 9  lbs. 
Fted-top  .  5  lbs. 
Tall  oat  grass .  5  lbs. 
Alfalfa  .  1  lb. 
The  Orchard  grass  matures  early  and  can  bo  cut 
with  the  clover  to  make  good  feeding  hay. 
The  advice  to  use  at  least  two  kinds  of  clover  is 
good,  and  Alsike  is  a  good  companion  to  go  with 
Red.  Most  New  England  soils  are  sour — too  sour  to 
permit  a  full  growth  of  Red  clover.  Even  when  lime 
is  used  there  will  he  spots  throughout  the  field  still 
too  acid  for  Red.  hut  which  will  produce  Alsike,  and 
this  is  a  sound  argument  in  favor  of  using  that  va¬ 
riety.  As  for  the  advice  to  add  a  pound  of  Alfalfa 
seed  to  the  clovers  we  think  this  is  sound.  Of  course 
this  would  not  give  a  full  seeding  of  Alfalfa,  and 
this  is  not  the  best  way  to  seed  that  crop.  It  will 
give  a  little  Alfalfa,  however,  and  year  by  year 
help  to  fit  the  soil  so  it  will  produce  that  crop  well. 
All  New  England  farmers  should  work  and  experi¬ 
ment  with  Alfalfa,  though  it  is  our  conviction  that 
the  general  use  of  Alsike  clover  will  do  more  good 
to  most  farms  in  that  .section.  Remember  that  all 
this  advice  refers  first  of  all  to  Southeastern  New 
England  conditions. 
Late  Seeding  for  Sweet  Clover 
I  HAVE  several  acres  that  did  not  catch  when 
seeded  to  grass  that  I  am  thinking  of  sowing 
to  Sweet  clover  in  August  or  September,  then  plow 
the  clover  under  in  the  Spring  and  sow  to  buck¬ 
wheat  or  Spring  rye,  plow  that  under  and  sow 
to  Winter  rye  in  September,  1917,  as  I  have 
hut  little  money  and  no  manure.  Has  anyone  ever 
tried  this  scheme?  If  so  with  what  results?  The 
land  seems  to  lie  all  right,  hut  will  not  hear  very 
heavy  grass  at  present.  We  often  get  20  degree- 
below  zero,  hut  the  ground  is  generally  covere  l 
from  one  to  three  feet  with  snow.  Would  the 
Sweet  clover  winter-kill?  Common  Red  clover 
thrives  here,  but  the  seed  costs  too  much  to  use  t  > 
plow  under.  g.  m.  w. 
New  Hampshire. 
R.  N.-Y. — Judging  from  our  own  experience  thi : 
Fall  seeding  of  Sweet  clover  will  result  in  failure. 
Unless  the  Sweet  clover  can  he  seeded  early  enough 
in  Summer  (<»  make  a  good  growth  before  Winter  h 
will  fail.  We  would  not  advise  the  plan,  nor  would 
we  sow  Sweet  clover  much  later  than  the  middle  of 
June.  Early  Spring  or  late  Winter  is  best.  W- 
should  use  Alsike  clover  in  the  case  mentioned.  That 
will  give  a  fair  growth  for  turning  under  and  it  will 
more  than  pay  for  the  cost  of  seed. 
