402 
May 30 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
every two weeks, according to the climatic conditions 
of the season. If necessary, repeat to within three or 
even two weeks of picking time. I^ast year being 
particularly wet, the disease made rapid progress in 
spite of several strong doses of Bordeaux Mixture, 
Amsden, Alexander, Mountain Rose and Triumph be¬ 
ing two-fifths destroyed. After two applications of 
carbonate of copper within 10 days the conditions 
were changed to the better and the disease finally 
yielded altogether to the treatment, which was re¬ 
peated three times. Though wet weather prevailed 
throughout August and September, there was no fur¬ 
ther cause for alarm. Before each application, the 
diseased fruit was picked and burned, and the peaches 
ripened all to fairly good color and fine form. Globe 
and Connecticut went untouched and ripened about 
October 1. Bordeaux Mixture spots the fruit badly, 
and is on this account objectionable for late spray¬ 
ings, w'hile carbonate of copper scarcely leaves any 
traces, no matter how late it is applied. 
Illinois. _ PAUL B. BUS. 
BRIEF TALKS ABOUT FERTILIZERS. 
Fertilizer for Potatoes on Sod. 
We have a field of three-year-old sod, not very heavy; 
land is gravel mostly, not very strong. We wish to 
plant potatoes. Do you think nitrate of soda dropped in 
the hills would do any good, or would it be better to 
use a phosphate containing four per cent potash? In 
either case how, would it best be applied, on top or in the 
trench by the potatoes? h. e. c. 
No. Kingsville, Ohio. 
While the potato crop requires nitrogen, potash is 
the element which seems to determine the crop. It 
would not be wise to use the nitrate of soda alone— 
especially not in the hill, for it would “burn” the seed. 
If you used the nitrate alone the plants would start 
off vigorously and give promise of a great crop, but 
at the end of the season you would find big vines but 
very small tubers. We would use the fertilizer con¬ 
taining four per cent of potash, mixing it with the soil 
around the hill or drill. We drop the seed and cover 
lightly with a harrow, and then scatter the fertilizer 
all over the ground and work with harrow or culti¬ 
vator. Then if the plants seem slow to grow and are 
not green and thrifty, we would use the nitrate of 
soda, scattering it about five inches from the plants 
and working it into the ground. One reason for using 
the fertilizing elements separately is that we may use 
judgment, and not feed the crop too much nitrogen. 
We have never been able to raise a good crop of pota¬ 
toes on an old meadow sod. 
Cow Peas Before Seeding Down. 
I ask a little advice as to a piece of sandy soil—perhaps 
an acre—not recently in turf. Suppose I have it sown to 
grass in September. My question is as to the use of cow 
peas to bo plowed under at time of sowing the grass. 
The cow peas grow best in hot weather and would thrive 
in July and August. The ground is the lightest and poor¬ 
est on the farm, but good for melons and has yielded 
excellent crops of potatoes and even big strawberries 
under thorough cultivation. The man who planted it 
last year is doubtful of cow peas as a plowed-in crop; 
thinks they w'ould be hard to handle. Would they snari 
and clog the plow if broadcast? Is it for ease in plowing 
under that one R. N.-Y. writer sows in drills? As to 
conditions to be held in mind. I must hire all labor; must 
buy commercial fertilizers. Thus the cost of extra plow¬ 
ing, harrowing, etc., could as well be spent for fertilizers 
in Fall, letting land idle during Summer. Being so light, 
it will not grow a very heavy crop of weeds. I suppose I 
should need to fertilize some for the peas and more when 
sowing down. We pay $4 a day per man and team; 40 
cents an hour. b. p. 
Wallingford, Conn. 
We hesitate to advise anyone to start off at right 
angles with the long-established custom of any prac¬ 
tical farmers. It is easy to guess wrong. We feel 
quite sure, however, that a crop of drilled cow peas, 
kept well cultivated, will give the land a better start 
for grass seeding than any ordinary work with the 
harrow. The grass crop needs a soil full of humus, 
or else it will require very heavy fertilizing. If we 
had that piece of ground we would plow it early in 
June, harrow it well and broadcast 400 pounds of some 
good fertilizer rich in potash and phosphoric acid. It 
is a mistake to use much nitrogen on cow peas, since 
what we expect them to do is to get nitrogen out of 
the air. We would make shallow drills three feet 
apart and sow Whippoorwill cow peas—about as 
white beans are planted—using three pecks of seed 
per acre. Cover with harrow or cultivator and culti¬ 
vate at intervals the same as we would beans or po¬ 
tatoes. The object of this cultivating is to increase 
the growth of the cow peas and also keep the soil 
thoroughly stirred to kill weeds and prevent baking. 
If we were obliged to hire all work done we would not 
drill and cultivate, but broadcast five pecks of cow 
peas and let the crop grow. As a preparation for 
seeding we prefer to drill and cultivate, as this gives 
the soil a thorough working and also gives vines 
which are easier to handle with the plow. Patience 
and skill are required to put the vines under prop¬ 
erly. We have first run over the field with a sharp 
disk harrow, chopping and tossing the vines. This is 
slow and tedious work. We have also cut the vines 
with a mower or even cut part with a scythe and let 
them wilt before plowing under. Where the vines are 
cut off and wilted before plowing a far better job will 
be done, and there will be less danger of souring the 
ground, which sometimes occurs when the green vines 
are put under. After plowing we would roll heavily 
so as to pack the vines down hard, then fine the upper 
surface with the harrow and sow the grass seed. As 
to fertilizers we would use all the potash and phos¬ 
phoric acid on the cow peas and use about 250 pounds 
of nitrate of soda on the grass the following Spring. 
Some farmers will question the profit in using cow 
peas when they see the snarl and tangle which the 
vines make, but if they will handle them as close to 
the above plan as their means and tools will permit 
they will be surprised at the results. 
Cow Peas in the Cornfield. 
Would cow peas grow successfully here sown in corn¬ 
field at last cultivation, about July 10? The land is about 
2.000 feet above sea level. The soil is fairly fertile. I 
have plowed under seven tons per acre of barnyard 
manure, and will apply broadcast when planting the 
corn about 400 pounds per acre of commercial fertilizer. 
What variety should I sow, and how much seed per acre? 
The crop of cow peas will be left on the ground to plow 
under in the Spring. Would the land be benefited much 
by growing a crop of Cow-horn turnips with the corn, 
plowing under next Spring? a. s. 
Cambria Co., Pa. 
Our experience in sowing cow peas in the corn was 
AERIAL OR ABOVE-GROUND POTATOES. Fig. 143. 
not satisfactory. We grew long, spindling vines quite 
unlike those grown in the sun, and in a dry season 
the corn suffered, as the cow peas took too much 
water from the soil. We would not try it. It is true 
that in the South cow peas are sometimes grown in 
this way, though the usual plan is to drill a single row 
midway between two rows of corn. Conditions in the 
South make such a plan possible when it would fail 
at the North. The southern corn is “laid by” earlier. 
After it ripens there are several months of growing 
weather which the cow peas utilize. To sow cow peas 
in a northern cornfield at this time would mean grow¬ 
ing them in the shade, and at a time when the corn 
most needs moisture. We must remember that the 
cow pea is a sun-loving crop. We would rather sow 
Crimson clover and Cow-horn turnips in the corn. 
The clover does better in the shade, and does not re¬ 
quire so much moisture as the cow peas. Use 12 
pounds of Crimson and one pound turnip seed per 
acre. We think highly of Cow-horn turnips as green 
manure. They grow down deep into the ground, and 
bring up plant food which some other crops would 
not reach. Turnips appear to have the ability to use 
insoluble forms of phosphoric acid which are out of 
the power of other plants. The turnips make this 
phosphoric acid available, much as a cow can make 
a cornstalk into milk and thus enable it to feed a child. 
AERIAL POTATOES. 
Fig. 143 is a quite remarkable example of the aerial 
growth of potato tubers. A normal potato is simply 
an underground branch of the potato plant, studded 
with “eyes” or dormant buds, and containing a store 
of food material principally in the form of starch. 
Why these tubers form we really do not know. It 
has been claimed that the irritation of a microscopic 
organism termed a fusarium causes the arrest of 
growth in the shoot and the consequent development 
of the potato tuber and forms one of our most im¬ 
portant commercial food supplies, but the essential 
necessity of the organism has not been actually 
proven. In common with many bulb or tuber-produc¬ 
ing plants the potato occasionally develops its char¬ 
acteristic product above ground in the axils of the 
leaves, and may usually be forced to do so when po¬ 
tato tops are grafted on the tomato or some related 
plant, and thus nourished without contact with the 
soil, but why the plant illustrated, growing in the 
usual way, should break out with such an eruption of 
open-air potatoes seems a horticultural mystery. We 
shall make an attempt to grow these adventitious tu¬ 
bers to see whether the tendency of aerial production 
is likely to be repeated. 
The specimen was sent by L. Donner, President of 
Hall’s Island Farms, Seabrook, S. C., who gives the 
following facts regarding seed, fertilizers and culture: 
“The seed was grown in Maine and bought for Early 
Norther. It was cut to one eye and planted early in 
February in sandy land with deep underlying clay 
subsoil, thoroughly underdrained, prepared the Fall 
before, and manured as an experiment with 300 cart¬ 
loads of stable manure per acre, supplemented by 
1 000 pounds of fertilizer analyzing six per cent phos¬ 
phoric acid, seven of ammonia and eight of potash. 
The tubers were planted six inches deep and a foot 
apart in drills 2% feet apart. The plants were har¬ 
rowed three times, until too large for such treatment, 
and then cultivated. They have had plenty of mois¬ 
ture.” _ 
ROOFING AND PAINT NOTES. 
Do you use steel roofing? Then paint the underside 
before laying. Get oiled roofing paper and use be¬ 
tween steel and roof boards, paint on the outside, and 
keep painted, and the result is a very durable roof at 
reasonable cost. An amateur can lay it if the usual 
crimping tools are at hand. Use plenty of nails. The 
last I bought cost 2.65 cents per foot, which made 
about three cents laid down. 
This Spring has been a right time to stock up with 
linseed oil; 45 to 50 cents per gallon, barrel lots, 
makes for cheap painting material. It never pays to 
buy the cheap paints, they will not last, they have no 
body and soon crack and peel off, leaving a rough sur¬ 
face which must be carefully scraped before painting 
again. Buy only the best white lead; there is as much 
difference in lead as in cows. The cheap brands are 
sold at a fraction less, while they cost very much less. 
Use the coarse-grained lead for outside work and the 
finer grain for inside. U-se paint, and use good paint. 
Nothing perhaps is more durable and valuable for 
outbuildings than English Venetian ground in oil. 
Raw oil is always preferable; it dries slower and will 
outwear the boiled oil. In sections, however, where 
there is danger of sudden storms, the risk of washing 
is too great, and it is safer to buy the boiled oil. 
H. E. c. 
CROPS FROM AN IRRIGATED FARM. 
The last report of the Montana Experiment Station 
(Bozeman) gives an itemized account of the amount 
and value of the crops grown on the station farm last 
year. This farm contains 160 acres, but only a little 
less than 119 acres were cropped. Here is the result: 
Barley, 1,482 bushels, 36 pounds, at 85 cents per 100 $ 604.96 
Wheat, (Fife) 380 bushels. 24 pounds, at 62 cents 
per bushel. 
Oats, 1,911 bushels at 80 cents per 100. 
Peas, 185 bushels, 30 pounds, at $1 per bushel. 
Spring rye. 55 bushels, 35 pounds, at $1 per 100— 
Clover hay, 146.8 tons at $5 per ion. 
Pea hay, 24.24 tons at $3.50 per ton. 
Straw^ 102 tons at $1 per ton. 
Potatoes, 342 bushels, 45 pounds, at $1 per 100— 
Sugar beets, 10 tons, 120 pounds, at $4.25 per ton.. 
Rutabagas, carrots, mangels, 12 tons. 500 pounds 
at $3.50 per ton. 
247.26 
535.08 
185.50 
31.15 
734 00 
84.84 
102.00 
205.65 
42.75 
42.87 
Total.$2,816,06 
The yields were rather below the average owing to 
a poor season. It will be seen that the prices charged 
are not excessive. The figures are given to show what 
an irrigated farm will produce. No corn is grown in 
that country. If the straw, grain and hay were fed 
to stock to produce meat or wool the returns would 
be larger still. While these returns will seem large to 
many farmers we can find plenty of farms in New 
Jersey and on Long Island which, with half the area 
are producing crops of even greater value. These 
farms are usually of light soils which produce hay, 
grain and potatoes. Very little stock is kept and 
fertilizers are used to provide plant food. 
