1889 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
755 
sameness of color of the fruits, etc. I have 
about 80 of the trees growing at present. 
Lincoln, Ill. w. E. jones. 
R. N.-Y. The flesh resembles that of the 
Angouleme. The quality is, so to say, a 
combination of Bartlett, Angouleme and 
Anjou. Very juicy, aromatic. The sliin 
is like that of the Angouleme; seeds few 
and small. Received September 14. The 
pear is represented at Figure 275, with a 
half-section at Fgure 276. Mr. Jones 
writes us that he has but recently decided 
to name it the Lincoln, and as such we now 
present it for the first time. 
CONTINUATION OF REPORTS. 
FROM M. B. PRINCE. 
The usual rotation here with cotton 
farmers is, first year cotton; second, 
cotton; third, corn, with slight variations 
to wheat or oats, for 20 years; then for 20 
years more or less to “old field” pine. 
New land in these later years is planted 
with tobacco for two years, then it is put 
under wheat to be followed by corn. On 
our lands clover makes but a feeble growth 
without manure, consequently a regular 
rotation is almost impracticable when we 
consider the fact that of necessity we must 
plant more acres of corn than of all other 
crops combined. A crop of cow-peas plowed 
under every third year assists wonderfully 
in sustaining the fertility of the soil; but 
this is not practiced to much extent. 
Growing no tobacco and but a few acres of 
cotton, I follow to a limited extent a three- 
year rotation, which has proved satisfac¬ 
tory: first, melons with manure in the 
hills and fertilizer broadcast; second, corn; 
third, cotton with fertilizer in drill. I use 
my stable manure on the melons, sweet po¬ 
tatoes, turnips and in the garden. When 
there is any left it goes on the clover patch. 
“ Why ? ” Because these are my best pay¬ 
ing crops and without the manure, the re¬ 
turns would be very meager. A top-dress¬ 
ing is of but little use here, as the frequent 
heavy “washing” rains carry off too large a 
percentage. 
Vance County, N. C. 
FROM JAMES DAVIS. 
My rotation has been two crops of corn, 
followed by oats or wheat, seeded down 
with clover and Timothy, mowed or pas¬ 
tured two years. Till last year I used no 
commercial fertilizer, and the manure was 
put on the poorest parts of the field, both 
for corn and wheat. This fall I bought a 
ton of fertilizer, Currie’s Guano, for the 
wheat ground. Having to move the ma¬ 
nure from the barn-yard, I set my boy, 13 
years old, to making a manure heap with 
the cart while I was helping the neighbors 
to thrash. First the chip dirt from the 
wood-house was put in the bottom about a 
foot deep, then the manure from the barn¬ 
yard, then the sheep manure, and then the 
stable manure. At the last working of my 
sod-ground corn, July 22, I sowed about 
half of the field with rye, which is uow 
(October 25,) a mass of green. As soon as 
the ground freezes, I intend covering it 
with the composted manure, and what I 
make through the winter will be hauled 
and spread as convenient. I hope to have 
enough to cover the whole field. I shall 
pasture the rye awhile iu the spring, and 
then plow for corn. I expect hereafter to 
use all my stable manure for corn. 
One of my neighbors, who has been very 
successful, uses the following rotation: 
One crop of corn, followed by wheat; seeded 
down with Timothy and clover, mowed or 
pastured two seasons. I hope by using the 
fertilizer on wheat, with the aid of clover, 
to keep up two crops of corn rotation. The 
grub-worms have been so destructive on 
sod-ground corn this season, that I would 
have to buy corn if mine was all on sod 
land. Some fields are hardly worth husk¬ 
ing. With regard to the effect of stable 
manure on potatoes, when the manure has 
been applied in the spring the potatoes have 
been scabby. Last year I tried sulphur in 
the hill when planting the potatoes, but so 
far as I could see it had no effect; all were 
scabby alike. When the manure has beeu 
put ou iu the fall there was no trouble from 
scab. Our potatoes in this neighborhood 
have given a full yield and are of fi ne quality, 
with no rot of any account. Early Ohio 
for early, and Rural Blush for late, give us 
the largest yields, though White Elephant 
still does well. For the last three or four 
years, I have been raking the leaves from 
part of the wood lot and putting them in 
the compost heap and sowing with Orchard 
Grass and Timothy. This seas on the wood- 
vital importance. We followed this mode 
of farming years ago, and with some econo¬ 
my could make a comfortableliving for our 
families. But the time has come when we 
cannot do it; and the great question is 
what can we do. Scattered over this coun¬ 
try are hundreds of farmers who are living 
on farms of from 50 to 100 acres who are 
getting worse off every year. Some of them 
have bought the farms and are paying 
heavy interest, while others are paying 
THE LINCOLN PEAR. FlQ. 275. 
lot yielded nearly as much pasture as the 
pasture field. I hope this fall to clear up 
the remainder of the wood lot, and seed 
down as heretofore for pasture. We have 
had fine rains and the pasture is still excel¬ 
lent. I think I never saw wheat look bet¬ 
ter, though much of it has been sown late ; 
about the usual number of acres have been 
sown in this neighborhood. I have six 
acres sown with Diehl-Mediterranean, 
which looks fine. 
Fosters, Ohio. 
large rents. Last spring they could not 
pay the rents, so a good many of them gave 
their landlords chattel mortgages on their 
stock, hoping to do better this year, but 
they are worse off this year than last. It 
is very plain to my mind that we must 
change our mode of farming. This keeping 
in the old ruts made by our forefathers 
must at once be done away with. Last 
spring I used my stable manure on early 
potatoes. I carted it out and put it in a 
compost, then spread all the hen manure I 
THE LINCOLN PEAR. Half Section. Fig. 276. 
FROM F. R. WENTZELL. 
I am employing the same crop rotation 
that my father followed 50 years ago, and so 
is nearly every other farmer iu this county. 
It is the old five-year plan. We have our 
farm divided into five fields—one in corn, 
one in truck, to be sown to wheat in the 
fall; one in wheat, two in grass ; one to 
mow and the other to pasture. The next 
season we pasture the one we mow this. 
In discussing the matter of crop rotation 
the R. N.-Y. has touched ou a matter of 
had on the top and woi'ked the heap over 
several times so as to mix them thoroughly 
together. At planting time I marked out 
my rows, spread the mixed manure in the 
rows, dropped the potatoes and covered 
them with the plow. Never before had I 
obtained such nice early potatoes; they 
were large, smooth, and tree from scab. 
Salem County, N. J. 
FROM E. H. COLLINS. 
My usual crop rotation is clover, corn or 
potatoes or oats and wheat. Formerly I 
sowed clover in small grain in the spring, 
and broke for the other crop the next spring, 
not losing a crop year for grain. But my 
soil lost fertility and became hard and I 
was compelled to let the clover have the 
ground a year and mow it. The soil is now 
improving. We must also thank clover for 
clean culture. Year after year weeds came 
after potatoes were “ laid by ” and I would 
vow that the next crop should be clean, 
but to no effect until I planted on a clover 
sod. Clover and sheep make clean culture 
easy. Many methods of handling stable 
manure are given by good farmers ; but 
somehow they require so much handling 
that one soon feels like cutting across a 
corner somewhere, especially in the busy 
season. He also wants some time for read¬ 
ing and attending the fanners’ club, etc., 
and I find that if I keep the stock well bed¬ 
ded and the bed level, I can take a day 
when the weather is suitable and clean 
out and haul to the field and spread the 
manure at once and it is done for. If I 
have well rotted manure I like to spread it 
on plowed ground ready for any crop. If 
not very rotten, it may be spread on my 
level sandy soil in the fall and plowed un¬ 
der in the spring and it will do well for 
either com or potatoes. I had five acres 
of potatoes this year on the above plan and 
they were smooth and a good crop. 
The white-grubs damaged the Rose 
varieties badly about here; they did less 
harm on the manured plots. The vines on 
these plots also recovered better from 
damage done the roots by the grub. The 
variety was Late Rose and the yield about 
180 bushels per acre. A part of the field 
was trenched and yielded somewhat better. 
The White Star and Burbank were not 
troubled so badly by the grub. Rank stable 
manure turned under just at planting time 
does not increase the yield of potatoes and 
may dry out the hill and ruin the crop. 
Chemical analyses of water from tile 
ditches draining manured and unmanured. 
plots show that there is practically no 
waste except of nitrates. The phosphates 
and potash salts are held by a weak chemi¬ 
cal union with the soil. The nitrates may 
be held in the soil by keeping the ground 
covered with a green crop of some kind. 
Now with my sandy loam I fear to plow 
under fresh manure because much of it is 
placed so far below the roots of young 
plants that I fear a leaching of the nitric 
aeid into the subsoil before the plants reach 
it. But if spread upon sod a few months 
before breaking, these elements will be 
washed into the soil and utilized by the 
green plants. At our Carmel Farmers’ 
Club this question received much attention 
and a second reason was given for surface 
manuring. It was argued that the dried 
roots of a very young plant greatly out¬ 
weigh the dried tops and that this ratio 
changes as the plant matures till it is re¬ 
versed in a full-grown plant. Following 
this hint of nature, Hike to mix well rotted 
manure with the surface soil on plowed 
land and harrow it in and allow the rain to 
carry it through all parts of the seed-bed 
and thus give the young plant a booming 
start. 
Mattsville, Ind. 
FROM A. L. CROSBY. 
I plow sod for corn and potatoes, next 
year sow oats, to be followed in the fall by 
wheat seeded with Timothy then and with 
clover in the spring. This has been my ro¬ 
tation ; but I intend to change it by sowing 
cow-peas in place of the oats. My reasons 
for making this change are: the oat crop 
prevents the early plowing of the ground 
for wheat; the oats are ready to harvest 
just as the late summer rains come and 
they get more or less damaged; if the 
ground is rich the oats lodge, and if it is 
poor they don’t pay, and even with a good 
yield the oat crop is not a very profitable 
one; then the time taken in putting in the 
oat crop is usually just so much taken from 
the preparation of the corn and potato 
ground. On the other hand, the cow-peas 
can be sown at any time from after frost 
until midsummer; they make a first-class 
crop to be plowed under for wheat; they 
make the very best pasture for cows and 
pigs; they keep down the weeds; they 
leave the land in good condition for any 
other crop—clover perhaps excepted—and I 
believe for these reasons they will make a 
more profitable crop than oats. 
I use stable manure on any crop except 
oats, but I think I get about all there is in 
it when I use it to top-dress Timothy. At 
what time ? Any time after the hay is off, 
the sooner the better, no matter about the 
hot sun or the drenching rain, if manure is 
spread on almost any kind of soil and at 
any time it is safe—and saved. Manure 
spread ou sod in the fall and plowed under 
