JULY n 
ing'competition,'.virtually'lessens it, as the 
plant food in .[the soil is distributed among a 
few sorts differing' slightly Jn their natural 
requirements. This is.the principle involved 
in rotation of crops. When two or more 
plants, are* not too dissimilar in their growth, 
time of^ripening, etc., the crop is materially 
increased by[a mixture^of the seeds rather 
than by planting any one of them alone. 
This is well]recognized in grasses and forage 
plants, and I imagine the principle is capable 
of wider extension than we commonly think. 
How far may these principles be applied in 
exterminating undesirable plants—weeds—by 
fostering desirable ones ? To wbat extent 
shall competition be allowed between plants 
of the same kind by thick or thin seeding? 
To what extent can necessary competition be 
distributed between somewhat dissimilar sorts 
by mixture of grasses, varieties of wheat, 
etc.? And how may it be employed, if at all, 
upon our wasted places to render them not 
utterly worthless ? All these, and many 
more of like tenor, are questions rapidly forc¬ 
ing themselves upon]ouinattention. E. D. 
Agricultural College, Michigan. 
SUGGESTIONS IN TOP-GRAFTING. 
PROF. J. L. BUDD. 
During the past week I have, on the College 
grounds and at other points in Iowa, admired 
some ornamental trees and shrubs as propa¬ 
gated in ways not common to the nurseries. 
As instances, it may be useful to note the 
following: 
Caragana grandiflora. On its own 
roots this is a small shrub with pendent 
branches. Top worked on Caragana arbor- 
escens it makes a beautiful, half-weeping 
lawn tree. Our specimens for many days 
past have attracted much attention on account 
of the fine contrast of the yellow flowers with 
the acacia-like foliage. 
Prunus triloba — Three-lobed Plum — as 
grown at the West budded or root-grafted 
on plum, sprouts continually from the root, 
and has a tendency to become so thick in the 
top that it does not flower freely. Top- 
worked on the Miner plum, it becomes a neat, 
round topped lawn tree that attracts much at¬ 
tention when loaded with its fine double 
blossoms. Prunus virgata is also improved by 
top-working on the Miner plum. 
Lilac. The best varieties of the lilac 
graft or bud readily on the privet (Ligustrum 
vulgare). While somewhat dwarfed in size, 
we have no sprouts and the little trees form 
neat rounded tops that blossom when quite 
small. In Eastern Europe the varieties of the 
Josika class are often top-worked on the 
ash. 
The Snowberry is hardly a favorite on 
lawns on account of its tendency to sprout 
and spread. Top-worked on the Tree Honey¬ 
suckle, it assumes a neat, rounded form and 
with us flowers am' ;; ..smo 9 freely. 
Ames, Iowa. 
Does it pay t o raise poultry ? Of course it 
does. It is safe to say that no business aver¬ 
ages so large a per cent, of profit on the 
capital invested as poultry raising. The trouble 
is that the amateur poultryman wants to make 
as much from a capital of $100 as the stock 
man does from a capital of $5,000. Ask James 
Rankin, A. C. Hawkins, H. S Babcock, or 
Philander Williams if poultry raising pays? 
It only takes patience, brains and $100 to 
make a success of the poultry business. 
What has been the result of this season’s 
experience with incubators? The sale of in¬ 
cubators has fallen off considerably. The 
country is filled with wooden boxes with more 
or less complicated thermostatic appliances. 
These boxes might do for refrigerators, but 
they are of no use for hatching eggs. There 
ar 1 owever, good incubators and they have 
tien run successfully. As the matter now 
stands, it will pay to buy a good incubator 
and raise spring chickens. In fact, there has 
never been a better time for going into the 
business. 
Capons are being more and more appre 
ciated in the larger markets, and there is 
money in raising them. Caponizing is such 
a disagreeable thing to do that there are few 
who care to go into the business. This will 
limit the competition. The demand for good 
capons is increasing faster than the supply. 
The new Rural Farm is admirably adapted 
for poultry and duck raising, aud we shall 
watch with interest the results of the experi¬ 
ments with incubators, capons and new Dork¬ 
ing-Wyandotte cross bred fowls. 
Do not feed young chickens wet food. A 
wet mash seems so palatable and the little 
chickens seem to like it so well that it is a 
temptation to give it to them. It is, how¬ 
ever, not safe. We have bad no trouble 
with little chicks since we abandoned wet 
feed. 
It is never safe to feed sour, sloppy corn- 
meal. Probably more chickens are killed with 
sour mash than in any other way. Corn- 
meal is good in its place, if it be scalded or 
cooked and fed in a dry, crumbly state. 
Sweet, dry food and plenty of water to drink 
are what chickens want. 
Are Red Caps the coming fancy breed? 
There seems very little disposition on the part 
of breeders to boom them. They are an ex¬ 
cellent fowl, but it is a question whether they 
are worthy of a boom such as the W yandottes 
have had. 
It is now about time to separate the cocker¬ 
els from the pullets. This will prevent their 
fighting to any serious extent. It is well to 
separate the cocks from the hens until the 
moulting season is over. It doesn’t pay to 
keep a number of roosters solely because they 
are all so fine you cannot decide as to which 
to kill and which to keep. 
“Little and often’' is a good motto for poul¬ 
try raisers. It doesn’t pay to feed the birds ex¬ 
cessively one day and give them little or noth¬ 
ing the next. Young chickens are like other 
birds: if overfed or underfed they tvill die. 
Young broods should be fed as the mother- 
bird feeds her young—a little and often. 
Ought poultry illustrations to represent the 
real or the ideal fowl? The average cut shows 
what a representative fowl ought to be, not 
what it really is. A picture is but an indi¬ 
vidual ideal of a perfect fowl, but as such it 
may be educating. Such pictures can do no 
harm, if the fact that they are but an ideal is 
made perfectly plain. 
In crossing fowls the male should be finer- 
bred and smaller than the female. There is 
no great advantage in breeding from a large 
rooster. It pays to buy a good thorough-bred 
rooster every year. The old custom was to 
keep the biggest rooster; the result was that 
every little while the hens would seem to get 
demoralized. They would lay double-yelked 
eggs, die of “broken eggs” or have deformed 
chickens. Trade roosters with your neighbor 
or buy one of some good breeder aud look 
more to quality and pedigree than to size. 
The average flock of hens would be greatly 
improved by a purely-bred cock, either Ham¬ 
burg, Leghorn, Black Spanish, or some similar 
breed. _^_ 
SETTLED QUESTIONS. 
Sex of Eggs. —How many theories have 
gained belief, and what discussions have been 
indulged in on this subject? The starting germ 
of the egg is very minute, and many scientific 
men have given the subject much care and 
study; but all have come to the conclusion 
that the sex cannot be determined. As to the 
shape of the egg, that has proved an entirely 
uncertain indication for the simple reason that 
one hen lays eggs of one shape that some people 
suppose to be “male eggs,” and another eggs 
that have the shape of “female eggs;” but the 
setting of these eggs explodes the theory. A 
few of the largest and earliest eggs are perhaps 
more apt to turn out males, but even this 
“rule” is sometimes reversed. The idea was 
started and tested a few years ago that if 
chicks were given no drink they would not 
get sick. It might do better to stint them in 
moist, mild climates. In our dry, hot summer 
weather, such treatment is down-right bar¬ 
barity. 
Barley and Buckwheat.—As a change 
of grain, barley is excellent fooJ. In many 
parts of Europe barley is the main food for 
poultry. They thrive well on it, and it is not 
so fattening as corn for the large breeds. It 
is good egg food, and when buckwheat is 
mixed with it sparingly, both are relished by 
the birds. 
Beef Heads, when they can be obtained, 
are first-rate as animal food. In most towns 
they may be bought for 25 cents each, divided 
and hung up in the yards. They are a much 
better investment than the same amount in 
egg-food compositions that are so commonly 
advertised. 
The Number of Eggs for a Setting. —In 
cold weather 11 is enough for an ordinary¬ 
sized hen; but in mild weather 13, and in 
warm weather 15 may be entrusted to a large, 
quiet hen. 
Have no puddles in the manure yards. 
Should any be there after rain, fill them up 
with manure. Never set a hen in a deep nest, 
so that she will have to bounce down to get 
on the eggs; they are too often broken. The 
entrance to the nest should be covered at the 
top, so that a hen stoops aud walks in; a dis¬ 
tance of four inches is enough for the front of 
the nest, and one of eight or nine inches from 
the top edge to the cover. 
Never stuff young chicks as they come out 
of the shell. They come into the world with 
their crops full. Giving them a pepper-corn 
or two to warm their little crops, as of old, is 
worse than useless. Many young chicks have 
a white, hard skin on the point of the tongue, 
and old-wives used to scrape it off, or nip off 
the end of the tongue. This is cruel and does 
no good. It comes off itself in due time with 
heal.hy chicks. 
All nests should have some disinfectant in 
the material—a few tobacco stems, a dust of 
snuff, sulphur, or Persian insect powder, or, 
what is best of all, a slight sprinkle of sweet 
oil mixed with a little oil of sassafras. Carbolic 
acid, petroleum or kerosene are not good 
with hatching eggs. H. hales. 
Report of the First Year's Growth 
of Alfalfa upon the New' Jersey State 
Farm. (New Brunswick).— The ground had 
been in corn the preceding year; it was not 
believed to be specially fitted for Alfalfa, for 
the subsoil is a rather compact clay. It was 
prepared on the 28th of April, yard manure 
having been used at the rate of 15 tons per 
aere. A warm rain fell almost immediately 
after the seed had been sown. The drilled plot 
was cultivated with a Planet Jr. wheel hoe on 
the following dates: May 26th, June 2d and 
June 9th. The broadcast plot was overrun 
with weeds and grass. 
The first blossoms were noticed June 25th, 
and on June 29th the Alfalfa was found to be 
40 inches tall. The first cutting w-as secured 
July 7th, 70 days from the date of seeding; 
the yield was seven and three-tenths tons of 
green fodder per acre. The weight of the 
crop from the broadcast plot was not recorded. 
The second growth upon the drilled plot was 
10 inches tall on the 19th of July; it had 
stooled in a remarkable manner, eight stalks 
being noted upon many roots. On this date it 
was cultivated for the last time. 
On the 18th of August the plants stood 28 
inches high; the second cut from the drilled 
plot was secured on that day, and yielded 
eight and seven-tenths tons of green fodder 
per acre , this growth having been made dur¬ 
ing an interval of 40 days. 
On the 26th of August the third crop was 
six inches tall. It was cultivated on this date, 
and again cultivated on the 11th of September. 
The ground at this time was baked hard, for 
no rain had fallen for a long time; the Alfulfa 
was, however, of a bright green color, and 
stood 22 inches tall; the first rains came on the 
12th, 13th and 14th of September. The third 
and last cut was secured on the 27th of Septem¬ 
ber ; no blossoms were noted. It yielded four 
and six tenths tons of green fodder per acre. 
The total yield of g'reen fodder per acre 
from ground seeded April 28th, was there¬ 
fore twenty and eight-tenths tons. 
As above stated, no record of yields from 
the broadcast plot was taken, because of weeds 
and grasses with which this plot was infested. 
The catch of Alfalfa upon it was, however, 
very good, and its outlook for the season of 
1888 is encouraging. 
Chemical Composition of this Crop.— 
Each cut of Alfalfa w'as sampled immediately 
after the crop was secured. 
The chemical composition of the green fod¬ 
der has been computed to the hay basis, in 
order to compare Alfalfa with dried clover 
and other well-known feeding materials. 
The comparison shows that the 20 8 tons of 
green fodder would dry to 4.4 tons of hay, and 
that this hay would contain, in round numbers, 
90 per cent, more fat and 45 per cent, more 
protein and ash than the average for dried 
clover. For feeding purposes it is practically 
identical in chemical composition with the 
best wheat bran. 
The most marked difference occurs in the 
ash—the Alfalfa exceeding the bran by more 
than 50 per cent, as regards the total amount 
present. A ton of the bran contains nine times 
as much phosphoric acid as a ton of Alfalfa 
hay, but a ton of the hay contains twice as 
much potash as a ton of bran. 
Report on the Fourth Year’s Growth 
of Alfalfa upon the Farm of Mr. G. W. 
Thompson, Stelton, N. J.— As stated in the 
Eighth Annual Report of the N. J. Ex. Station 
just received, the Alfalfa upon this farm was 
seeded in 1>84, At the time of the following 
record it was, therefore, in its fourth year. 
That part of the field upon which an experi¬ 
mental plot was staked off in 1886 was injured 
somewhat by standing water and ice during 
the following winter; for this year’s woik, 
consequently, it was necessary to select anoth¬ 
er section of the same field upon which the 
crop) was possibly above the average. 
On the 11th of June the plants were 40 
inches tall; two-thirds of the blossoms had 
disappeared and the stalks bad already become 
somewhat woody. The first cut yielded 7.2 
tons of green fodder pier acre. 
On the 28th of July the second growth of 
Alfalfa was 32 inches tall; it was also over¬ 
ripe, for in many cases seed-pots were formed. 
It yielded 5J£ tons of green fodder per acre. 
The third cut was secured September 19th; 
the Alfalfa was then in blossom, but no seed- 
pods were found. This cut yielded 3.2 tons 
of green fodder per acre. 
The total yield of Alfalfa for the fourth 
season was therefore 15 and nine-tenths tens 
of green fodder per acre. 
Mr. Thompson’s crop of 16 tons of green 
Alfalfa per acre would have been four and 
four-tenths tons of extra dry hay, an amount 
identical in weight with that which could have 
been secured from the College farm crop of 
21 tons of green fodder per acre. All indica¬ 
tions, particularly the percentages of water, 
ash and nitrogen, point to the fact that this 
crop of Alfalfa was not as ripe as Mr. Thomp¬ 
son’s. 
The following statement illustrates the feed¬ 
ing value of Alfalfa: 100 pounds of the dry 
Alfalfa hay which could have been secured 
from Mr. Thompson’s crop would have 
contained 2.95 pounds of fat; 28.43 pounds of 
fiber; 15 52 pounds of protein; 38 06 pounds 
of carbohydrates, of which the following 
amounts could be digested and assimilated by 
a healthy milch cow: 1.15 pound of fat; 11.37 
pounds of fiber; 11.95 pounds of protein; 24.74 
pounds of carbohydrates. If 25 pounds of 
such hay were fed daily to a cow of 1,000 
pounds live weight, said cow would consume 
the following amount of digestible food: 2.99 
pounds of protein; 30 pounds of fat and 12.35 
pounds of carbohydrates—a ration as near 
the theoretical standard as practical men 
would consider desirable. 
Cattle on our Western ranges thrive with no 
other food than that obtained by grazing; it 
seems reasonable, then, that Alfalfa may be 
used in the East to the exclusion of feeding 
stuffs. If 25 pounds of hay or its equivalent 
in green Alfalfa will support a cow for one 
day, an acre of Alfalfa, yielding 4.4 tons of 
hay, should support an ordiuary cow for one 
year. _ 
Prof. Sanborn’s Work. —Bulletin No 34 of 
the Missouri Agricultural College, issued by 
Prof. J. W. Sanborn, tells of the deplorable 
condition of the farm of the institution when 
in 1882 he was appointed to take charge of it. 
It comprised 610 acres of land, of which 398 
acres were bluffs and woods, 164 acres tillable 
aud 30 acres in the horticultural department. 
The land yielded in 1883 less than 10 bushels 
of wheat per acre; about 30 bushels of corn, 
ton of hay. At the present time the farm 
will yield 60 bushels of oats, three tons of Tim¬ 
othy, 80 bushels of corn and 40 bushels of 
wheat. In view of all the above facts, Prof. 
Sanborn feels authorized in saying to the 
struggling farmers of Missouri, who are pass¬ 
ing through one of the hardest times our ag¬ 
riculture has known, and who have his pro¬ 
found sympathy in all their efforts to better 
their condition, that a higher type of farming 
which seeks not only to give soil fertility, but 
to increase it, and which also saves all present 
wastes so characteristic of the West, is a most 
decidedly safe and encouraging one to pursue. 
The same rate of increase of crop growth for 
the State as has been secured there outside of 
the increase in personal property aud other 
advances on this farm from its own revenues, 
would have an immense influence on the 
wealth aud culture of the State. 
Cattle Raising in Brazil.— According to 
a recent report the eyes of American range 
cattle-growers are being turned toward South 
America as the future cattle-growing coun¬ 
try of the world. A Washington dispatch to 
the St. Louis Globe-Democrat notes the efforts 
making by a cattle-grower representing a syn¬ 
dicate of Western cattle-growers to obtain a 
large grant of land in the valley of the Am¬ 
azon river in Brazil to be devoted to cattle 
raising. The representative of the syndicate 
is reported to be of the opinion that the days 
of cattle raising on ranges in the United States 
are numbered, and th t South America offers 
the most advantageous conditions for the in- 
dusty. _ _ _ 
BY THE SHORT WAY. 
Look for the borers now. The sawdust at 
the opening of the holes may guide you. 
Do not let the celery plants suffer for want 
of water. You need not expect fine, crisp 
celery if you do. 
If auy of our readers fiud anything in the 
