The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
ture. which in that latitude extends far into the 
Winter. With the mild climate of that, section of 
Mississippi and the soil which is found there, it is 
possible in this way to produce immense quantities 
of food from an acre of land, and dairying and beef- 
making are both rapidli developing in that country. 
1463 
perature outside of the orchard stood at 28 and 
29 degrees. 
Immediately after this freeze a great many of our 
neighbors had severe damage from freezing, but we 
could detect no damage whatever in our orchard. 
Our peaches continued to develop until around the 
18th to the 20th of June. When the Elberta peaches 
were the size of a guinea's or a hen’s egg we had 
a tremendous droppage. which amounted to at least 
two-thirds of our crop. On examining the fruit that 
dropped we found that the ovaries and the kernel 
of the seed were completely black. This was evi¬ 
dently none other than a frost injury, which must 
have occurred at the time we fired on the 24th of 
April, when the thermometer dropped for a few min¬ 
utes down to 31. We have demonstrated the fact, 
however, that we can unquestionably raise the tem¬ 
perature. but we have not learned accurately just 
what is danger point. We have decided therefore 
in the future from our past experience that we will 
take the chance of burning oil when positively there 
will be no danger and will start our firing at a tem¬ 
perature at least two degrees above what we would 
consider danger. 
The pots which we use. as ?^ul above, hold three 
gallons of oil. When 3 or 4 in. of the surface of the 
oil is exposed to burning the three gal- 
- - Ions will burn from five to six hours. 
Ordinarily, however, in this section it 
is not necessary to begin to fire until 
about four or five o’clock in the morn¬ 
ing. and keep it going until a little 
► after sunrise. b. f. moomaw. 
A Virginia. 
Inoculation For Legumes 
Will you give me the reasons why it pays to inoculate 
legumes? j. d. 
Rhode Island. 
T HE legumes are pod bearers: that is, their seeds 
are produced in pods. These plants are pecu¬ 
liar in the fact that they can take nitrogen from the 
air and store it up in their roots, stems and leaves. 
This power makes them particularly useful both for 
feeding and for manure, for (lie nitrogen gives extra 
protein in the leaf and stem for feeding, and of 
course adds to the manure value. 
This nitrogen is taken from the air by tiny forms 
of life known as bacteria. They live and work upon 
the plant roots, forming little knots or "nodules," 
which may be seen by looking at tin 1 roots on a well- 
grown plant of clover or Alfalfa. T'nless these bac¬ 
teria are present those plants will not do their work 
of absorbing the nitrogen. There are cases where, 
through the absence of these bacteria, clover or 
Alfalfa will require just as much nitrogen in the 
manure or fertilizer as corn or wheat. It is there¬ 
fore necessary to make sure that these bacteria are 
in the soil or on the seed if we expect a full crop. 
Where a legume crop lias been grown successfully 
for some years these bacteria are usually well dis¬ 
tributed through the soil, and in such 
cases we may sow the seed, use lime a 
a ml manure, confident that the crop A . / 
will grow and thrive. In cases where M x 
the soil contains very few or none of \ 
these bacteria it is necessary to “in- ™ 
oculate”—that is, supply some of the 
bacteria. This may be done in two 
ways. First, by using soil from a field | 
where the legume has been successful. 
In this case tlie upper soil is dug up. 
sifted and scattered over the new seed- 
ing. This introduces the bacteria 
much after the principle of using part V 
of the buttermilk from a good churn- Lv 
ing of butter to “start” a new batch of A 
cream, or of using "mother” of vinegar 
to start cider along the way. This is 
often done successfully, the objection 
being that weed seeds and plant i^- 
eases are sometimes spread in this way. 
The other plan is to use use what 
are known as "bottled bacteria” or 
inoculants. In preparing this the 
original germs may be taken from the 
roots Of plants and "cultivated" in a 
laboratory. This means that the germs "slj 
are produced artificially by the mil- 1 
lion, and packed in bottles containing | 
substances which will keep tlie bacteria 
alive for a given time. The farmer 
can buy these bottles, pour out the 
bacteria into prepared water, thus EuHq|j 
starting them into activity, sprinkle . AL" ^ 
the water over his seed and put it in H m w. 
the ground. If the soil is well tilled 
Results From Orchard Heating in 
mia 
A S to orchard heating in Virginia, this method of 
protection against frost is not universally 
practiced by all fruit growers in our State, but 
several of us have been doing some orchard heating 
for a few years past. I can only, however, give you 
our experience. 
We have never attempted to use heaters for pro¬ 
tection of apples. We have confined all of our work 
to protection of peaches. We use a very simple 
arrangement known as the Hamilton three-gallon 
reservoir, which Is more of a smudge pot than a 
heater. It has a sliding top with a suspending metal 
curtain: therefore the amount of heat or smoke is 
increased or decreased as the surface of the oil is 
increased or decreased to the flame. We place ap¬ 
proximately 50 of these pots per acre in our peach 
Wanted; New “National Bird” 
The writer notices on th** front page 
of issue of November 25. 1922, of The 
U. X. Y.. a very flue picture of a good- 
looking girl holding a turkey in her arms, 
and I also notice the title of the bird is 
"The National Bird." Now I object to 
such for such a bird, as its only merit is 
To provide an extra dish on occasions, 
and I mildly submit as a substitute the 
White Leghorn, as it has all the merits 
of the above-mentioned bird, together 
with several others. 
Weather tine, oranges ripening, mullet 
far, and the tourists coming in unknown 
quantities. it. c. itomt. 
Florida. 
M R. MOHR expresses his ideas in 
the following, written for the 
local paper: 
"A Yell” 
I would suggest that the Single Comb 
White Leghorn hen should be the United 
States of America's emblematic bird, be¬ 
cause : 
First, her color denotes purity. Sec¬ 
ond. her disposition denotes peace. Third, 
her business denotes prosperity. 
Three 'TV —purity, peace, prosperity, 
which will make us all 100 per cent 
Americans. 
Always for the best. 
m. c. MOHR. 
Admitting all these nice thiugs for 
the Leghorn, there are other consider¬ 
ations. No one would think of classing 
the Leghorn with a turkey 
a roast¬ 
ing fowl. It would require more than 
half a dozen Legi fits to provide the 
dinner for our family. And. then, too. 
ocumuon a success tne soil must he made right, orchard, but have never lighted at one time more remember that turkey is associated with the original 
For such legumes as clover. Alfalfa. Sweet clover, than 25 per acre. We have raised the temperature national Thanksgiving. The Pilgrims shot wild 
etc., lime is an essential, for they must have an with these 25 pots per acre from two to six degrees, turkeys for their original feast, and from that day 
alkaline soil. Alsike clover does not need so much depending upon whether we have a calm night or to this the bird lias represented a large part of 
lime, and Soy beans, kudzu and several others are more or less wind. These pots throw off a tremen- Thanksgiving, and that is what gives him the name 
known as acid soil legumes, because they grow quite dous amount of smoke, and on a calm night we of “national bird." He filled the ottiee acceptably 
well on sour land. All legumes, however, require literally envelope our orchard in a dense smoke long before the Leghorn was ever dreamed of. 
large amounts of phosphorus and sulphur, though cloud, which we believe is quite beneficial. -- 
most soils have enough of the latter. Our great difficulty, however, is to know just when Experiment With Sudan and Soy Beans 
- to light our pots, or in other words, to know tlie dan- ^r the benefit of those who mav need a good 
Develooine A New Corn Count™ ^r point to a peach bud^ blossom or small fruit. So substitute for^ay where clover or Alfalfa has 
ueveloping A INew <~orn Country much depends upon climatic conditions, such as failed> l wlsh to sav a few words for Sudan „ rass 
T HE I,icture nt Fi "’ 052 was taken in Mississippi, moisture in the atmosphere or in the ground and nnd Sov ht , uls . We experimented with these plants 
X near Hattiesburg. This town will probably be air currents. We know that on one or two occasions for tvvo reasons: We needed the hay and we wished 
remembered by some of our soldiers who went into "e have saved peach crops, and then on other oeea- to fiml some crop which we could depend upon in 
camp there during tlie war. The South has not been sions we have burnt considerable oil when it was the future to mv[t \y roughage when we needed if 
noted as a corn-producing country, for when we unnecessary, or when there would not have been any souie thing that M ould bring a crop after the season 
speak of the corn belt we generally refer to the danger had we not lighted our pots. And then, too, is u - ell ;uh -anced. Late in June we sowed a mixture 
black soil of the Middle West. Given the right "*e have several times lighted our pots, but have of one bushel of Sov beaus aud 20 lbg , of Su(lan 
varieties, however, and the proper handling, and had damage. grass to the acre. On another plot we sowed the 
many sections of the Gulf States will produce enor- In the latter part of April of this year, when the grass alone, and on still another we sowed Soy 
mous crops of corn. 1 he picture here shown iiuli- peach was a little better than Vi-inoh in diameter, beans. 
cates how four good crops can he grown in one sea- we had a severe cold snap, and we started to light The growth of the grass was rapid, reaching a 
son. In this case the first crop was turnips, which our pots when the thermometer in the orchard height of a foot in three weeks, and at that time 
ot course were seeded very early. 'Then followed reached 22. Before we got all of the pots lighted would have made good pasture if pasture were 
English peas. 'The corn was planted after this crop, the thermometer dropped to 31. but could not have needed. By the time the blossoms came it had 
and Japanese clover is seeded in the corn, together remained at this temperature but for a short period, reached an average of 3U fr. in height, standing 
with oats. After the corn has been harvested, the After getting a number of the pots lighted we raised thick and rank. The growth of the beans was less 
clover and oats come on and make a tine Fall pas- the temperature front 31 to 34 and 3t». when rhe tern- r>., 
How Corn Grows in Mississippi. Fig. 65.2 
