986 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
August 12, 1022 
method, and it may well be briefly reviewed now. 
Mr. Clark’s ideas were quite radical as compared 
with the usual practice in his day. Instead of trying 
to fill the soil with organic matter, Clark's idea was 
to kill out all living growth, lie would start with 
an old sod or an old worn-out pasture or meadow, 
lie would usually work this up in the Spring and 
seed a crop of oats, using plenty of fertilizer. The 
oats were cut for hay. Then instead of plowing the 
stubble Clark started in with a disk or cutaway har¬ 
row, His objection to plowing was that the plow 
simply turned the old grass and weeds out of sight. 
They were not destroyed, but would work up once 
more into the new seeding and fill the grass With 
weeds and trash. The cutaway, instead of turning 
this stuff over, out of sight, chopped and threw it to 
the surface, where the sun and air will kill it out. 
Some farmers are nearly insane on the theory of 
stuffing the soil with organic matter. They are eager 
to plow under anything—weeds, roots, old sod— 
anything that will decay in the soil, even though It 
fill the land with noxious weeds while decaying. 
Clark was just as insane over the plan of killing or 
destroying all organic matter. He fought the old 
sod just as a farmer fights quack grass. Every few 
days, from July to September, lie chased that cut¬ 
away up and down the field. First one way, then 
the opposite way, and then “cornenvays." as lie put 
it. Whenever any green growth showed in that, field 
he went after it and chopped it out. He invented a 
new tool like a cultivator, with teeth curved like 
fish hooks, to reach in under the ground and rip out 
any roots which the cutaway did not cut off. The 
result was that every growing thing in that soil was 
killed out. It was like an ash heap or an onion bed. 
and so far as plant life was concerned as empty as 
the desert sand. That was before we knew very 
much about useful soil bacteria and the great need 
of humus. Clark cared nothing about either. His 
idea was to clean the soil absolutely of all plant 
growth, and thus destroy the weeds. Then he pro¬ 
posed to seed thickly to grass, get a quick start, force 
it with strong fertilizer, and feed it heavily year 
after year. 
WELL-WORKED SOIL.—As we have said, this 
consistent and thorough working made the soil like 
an onion bed, and then Clark worked to smooth it 
and make it level as a lawn. lie had a light tool 
for smoothing the surface, for he said that every 
hole and depression where the water would stand 
made a place where grass seed would be killed out. 
Early in September, just before a gentle rain, if 
possible. Clark seeded at the rate of 15 quarts each 
of Timothy and Red-top seed to the acre, with clover 
added in the Spring. He used a strong fertilizer, in 
some cases a mixture of equal parts nitrate of soda, 
fine ground bone and muriate of potash. S00 lbs. or 
more to the acre. Thus in brief the “Clark system" 
meant working a piece of sod ground Hi times or 
more, until all the weeds and old gi*ass were killed 
out. making the fine soil level, seeding heavily and 
feeding the crop about as you would feed a cow if 
you wanted to force her for a big record. 
CHANGES IN PRACTICE.—It is a fact that 
Clark cut and cured over six tons of hay to the acre 
on some of his meadows, and they remained pro¬ 
ductive for some years. Many farmers tried the 
plan, some with modifications and others as nearly 
following Clark as they could, but no one seehml 
able to equal bis yields. The labor required for fit¬ 
ting the land cost too much. In a wet season, like 
the present one. it would be absolutely imp* ssible 
to keep the land free of weeds and grass. The dis¬ 
cussion did induce many farmers to put more work 
on their grass seeding than ever before. That pays, 
because small seeds like grass and clover must be 
put into fine and well-prepared soil if we expect 
them to do well, and it is true that time spent in 
grading rough fields before seeding pays well. In 
general, however. Clark’s plan of destroying the 
organic matter in the soil before seeding has been 
generally abandoned. It is well enough to cultivate 
so as to kill out quack grass and weeds, but we 
believe that a good growth of clover. Soy beans and 
cow peas, or even rye, plowed under and well limed, 
is the best preparation for seeding down. 
Removing Large Limbs From Trees 
N OBJECT LESSON.—On one of the State 
highways in Ontario County, and not far from 
the New York Agricultural Experiment Station at 
Geneva, stands the witness shown in Fig. 424 to 
testify what may happen to him who removes large 
limbs from trees without regard to proper technique. 
Seldom is such a vivid object lesson given. In this 
ease the pruner cut from the upper side of the limb 
straight through as he would saw a log. and the re¬ 
sult was that before he got quite through the limb 
broke from its own weight and tore with it in its 
fall a strip of bark from G to 10 in. wide and from 
20 to 40 ft. long. 
A DANGEROUS LOSS.—Needless to say this is a 
catastrophe. If it were merely a question of the loss 
of the protecting hark the matter would not be quite 
so serious, but along with the bark comes the vital 
cambium layer, as inseparable as the pound of flesh 
and the drop of blood. Now the cambium layer is a 
An Example of Bad Pruning. Fig. JjSJf 
sheath of living cells just beneath the bark, extend¬ 
ing over the entire tree, and which is responsible 
for the growth of the tree. Each year it lays down 
on its inner side a layer of “wood cells" and on its 
outer side a layer of “cork cells" or bark. More¬ 
over. it is through this vital layer that the food 
materials manufactured in the leaves by the aid of 
the sun pass down to the roots and afford nourish¬ 
ment to those parts. And yet that is not all. The 
wood, deprived of its protection of bark and cam¬ 
bium tissue, is open to the ravages of fungi. Before 
the slowly growing cambium can bridge the gap left 
Proper Method of Hemorlng Limb. Fig. //So 
by the terrible wound some parasite may have en¬ 
tered and the entire tree started on its way to de¬ 
struction. Yet all of this could have been easily 
avoided had the proper technique been followed in 
removing these limbs. 
PROPER REMOVAL.—In removing large limbs 
or branches three cuts should be made. The first 
one should be made upwards from the under side of 
the branch and fairly close to the trunk or the adja¬ 
cent limb. It need not be very deep, just deep 
enough to cut through the bark and the cambium 
layer and somewhat into the sap wood. This will 
forestall tearing the bark when the branch falls 
from its own weight. The second cut should he 
made from above and further out along the branch 
than the first one. The pruner need have no fear 
now of tearing the bark, and may cut straight 
through the branch, provided of course he is sitting 
on the proper side of the cut that he is making. 
REMOVING THE STUB.—The result now is that 
there is a short stub left with an open wound which 
will never heal over, because there is no sap passing 
to keep the cambium alive and growing. This will 
la a constant menace to the tree, for it affords an 
avenue of entrance once more to parasitic fungi. 
And so a third cut must be made close up to the 
trunk, or the adjacent limb, so as to remove this 
stub. Had the cut been made here first there is no 
doubt that the result would have been to tear the 
bark, but now with the weight of the limb gone the 
pruner can make a clean cut without danger. 
GAMBIT M GROWTH.-—“But." the question will 
be asked, "is not this open wound a menace to the 
tree even yet? May not some fungus enter here 
before the cambium layer can grow over and lay 
down its protecting layer of new wood and bark?" 
In the answer to this question is a difference of 
opinion. It is held by some that the cut surface 
should be painted, while by others that it should not. 
The former, looking at the question from a stand¬ 
point of protection from fungi, contend that there 
is danger of infection unless the wound is protected 
by proper painting; while the latter, viewing it from 
the angle of tree and cambium growth, contend that 
the cambium will grow so much more rapidly when 
the wound is not painted that the surface will be 
exposed hut a short time and the danger of infection 
be slight. You see, painting is held to injure the 
cambium tissue and to delay healing of the wound. 
One may take his choice of the two methods or else 
adopt a middle course. 
PAINTING THE WOUND.—The middle course is 
to paint the center of the cut surface, but not to 
paint over the edges. Thus the wound is protected 
over the area that will be last to heal, and at the 
same time the cambium tissue is not injured by con¬ 
tact with paint. The paint will soon dry and become 
inert, aiul the cambium growing more rapidly will 
cover the small unpainted surface next to it in a 
short time. Thus is an ounce of prevention worth 
many pounds of cure. h. b. t. 
Angora Goats for Clearing Pastures 
I AM much interested in the many subjects of your 
paper, and enjoy it very much. This is my first 
attempt in contributing to its columns, but I wish to 
speak a good word for Angora goats. I om sending 
you a picture taken on my father’s farm Of a flock 
Of 120 goats, old and young. We began with a few. 
possibly 20. The next year we bought a few more, 
including a buck, for which we paid $25, which came 
from Montana. The increase was very satisfactory, 
several of the ewes having twins. The lambs coming 
in February and March were the most profitable, 
although attended with more risk as to raising than 
those which came in May. It pays to feed them 
well, as the fleeces are heavier and the lambs 
stronger. Problem number one is the fence. Ours was 
a 3-ft. wire fence inside the stone wall. (We raise 
a good crop of rocks in Eastern Massachusetts). 
They will not jump high, but may crawl under if 
fence is too high from the ground. 
The pasture was growing in gray birch, alder, 
sweet tern, ground savin, cedar and barberry hushes. 
The goats were particularly fond of barberry bush 
and soon finished them. The ground savin they kept 
at a little at a time, and in three years or more they 
were on the wane. The birch was gnawed, the buds 
eaten and the tall ones were lopped down, and dur¬ 
ing the Winter we plowed a path up through the 
snow, and they, too, were killed. We could pasture 
just as many cattle with them, for they ate the birch 
and brush and trees rather than the grass. Their 
range was over 100 acres. We did not let them into 
the lower swamp land, but kept cattle only down 
there. 
The picture on first page shows the dead ground 
savin and dried-up dead hushes which the cattle 
tread on. and which soon disappears. The dogs 
troubled the flock some, but they were housed at 
night and grained. The fleece is valuable. The 
meat is good eating. Altogether they are profitable 
in the pasture. F - B - J - 
Massachusetts. 
