1903 
839 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Hope Farm Notes 
Inoculating Soil.— Few things seem to 
call out more questions than the proposed 
plan of starting the bacteria that do so 
much for the soil. Here is one from Vir¬ 
ginia: 
"I have been much interested in the ar¬ 
ticles on bacteria for legumes, and wish to 
try it this year. I have a seven-acre plot 
sown September 20 to Crimson clover and 
rye, and would like to know whether an ap¬ 
plication on the surface of bacteria-infected 
soil would help it. When and how should 
it be applied? I am breaking ground now 
for oats and clover to be sown in Febru¬ 
ary. Would inoculation be beneficial 
then? My land is all hill or upland and 
poor, and at present I am compelled to 
use commercial fertilizers, but I am 
hoping, with cow peas, clover and stock, 
to be able before many seasons to discon¬ 
tinue the use of commercial fertilizers to 
a large extent.” a. r. 
Y'ou will obtain some results from scat¬ 
tering the soil from the other field over 
the Crimson clover, but it will not be as 
satisfactory as working the soil into the 
field would be. I would use the soil in the 
Spring just as the clover begins to grow. 
My experience is limited, but we have al¬ 
ways had best results when we put the 
soil from the other field into the drill when 
planting, or worked it into the fresh soil 
with a harrow. If there is a field within 
easy reach of you where clover does well 
1 would certainly get some of the soil, 
with as many clover I’oots as possible in 
ii, and harrow it into the new seeding. It 
will not help the oats, but it will probably 
give the clover a better chance. We must 
understand just what clover and cow peas 
are expected to do for that poor land. 
They will get more or less nitrogen out of 
the air and put it in the soil, but they will 
not add to the potash and phosphoric acid 
already in the soil. They will make some 
that is there now more available, but after 
a time even these plants which add nitro¬ 
gen if used alone will fail to produce a 
paying crop. In trying to restore poor 
land 1 would always use potash and phos¬ 
phoric acid with the cow peas or clover. 
That is the true principle of green ma¬ 
nuring, or using crops to build up the soil. 
We can to a large extent save the cost of 
nitrogen by getting it from the air, but 
the other elements cannot be obtained in 
this way. 
Peas on Poor Land.— Here is a state¬ 
ment worth considering: 
"I am not sure 1 am going to agi'ee 
with you as to cow peas gathering the 
most nitrogen when grown on poor 
ground; a slight examination does not 
prove this, i must do a lot more digging 
before 1 know you are right, but i do 
know that cow peas the second year on 
poor land will form more nodules than 
they will the first year on good ground.” 
w. H. s. 
The only sure way to settle it would be 
to measure the nitrogen as you would the 
water in a bucket. 1 have heard of a man 
who had a big dog that waus trained to 
carry his master’s dinner. One day the 
wife packed the dinner in a basket, the 
dog took the handle in his mouth and 
started. He was a hungry dog, and that 
good dinner within a few inches of his 
nose made him do what many a man has 
done! About one-third of the dinner was 
gene before the man got it. The next day 
the dinner was put in a small box and 
locked up. The dog started with it as 
before. On his way he saw a rabbit- 
dropped the box and gave chase. lie 
cornered the rabbit in a fence and killed 
him—ate all but one-quarter, put that on 
tlie box and carried all to his master. 
Now, when the basket came the man knew 
tl)at he had less meat than when his wife 
packed it. When the dog brought the box 
there was more meat, for he threw in 
part of what he caught. Now, Prof. 
Voorhees analyzed his soil, grew the cow 
pea vines, took them off and then analyzed 
the soil again. He found he had more 
nitrogen in the poor soil after the plant 
was grown than there was before it 
started. In the soil where the nitrogen 
was on hand to feed the cow peas there 
was less than before. The cow pea in the 
poor soil was like the dog and the box. 
He could not steal his master’s dinner, so 
he got out and caught his own meat. I 
would no more put cow peas on rich land 
or feed them on nitrogen any more than 
I' would tell our little boys that all they 
need do when they want a thing is to ask 
for it. Let us not put the temptation to 
be lazy in the way of a cow-pea vine or 
a boy. 1 have noticed that there are more 
nodules on the cow-pea roots the second 
year. That seems to me very natural— 
there ought to be more chickens on a farm 
one year after the first pair was bought! 
There are probably few if any cow-pea 
bacteria at all in some soils. When the 
crop is planted a few are brought in on 
the seed, but there are not enough of them 
to make much of a showing. By the next 
year they have increased so as to make 
themselves very evident. I have noticed 
this on my own farm, and it forms one of 
the strongest arguments in favor of in¬ 
oculation or bringing soil from an old 
field when we plant the new one. 
New B.4.CTERIA Coming.- You really seem 
to believe all this talk about bacteria, then? 
Yes—though I do not imagine the scien¬ 
tific men know all about it by any means. 
I never saw any of these tiny things, but 
I am willing to accept the statements made 
about them by those who have seen them 
at work. Last week I had a talk with 
Prof. Lipman of the New Jersey Experi¬ 
ment Station. He has discovered a new 
sort of bacteria which may prove of won¬ 
derful benefit to us. We have been told 
that the forms of bacteria which work on 
the roots of clover, peas and other pod¬ 
bearing plants have a monopoly on the 
game of shuffling nitrogen out of the air. 
Prof. Lipman has discovered a new one 
which does not live on these roots, but 
which still has the power of taking this 
nitrogen when it is supplied with organic 
matter. When cultivated in the laboratory 
and fed on a solution of sugar, these bac¬ 
teria will actually secure a perceptible 
amount of nitrogen. It is like sending a 
dog out with a ham bone and having him 
bring back a good beefsteak. Think what 
this may mean in practical farming! We 
may plow a crop like buckwheat, rye or 
turnips into the soil, have millions of these 
bacteria to work it over, and in this way 
obtain large amounts of nitrogen, while 
these crops alone could not obtain it. It 
is easy to see what the result of this will 
be. and I have faith to believe that some¬ 
thing of this sort will be made practical. 
1 am not too old to see the time when we 
shall herd these and other bacteria as we 
now herd cows or sheep. No use talking— 
farming of the future is going to be a 
great business. 
Lots of money in it? 
I am not so sure of that, but I believe 
there will be more character and hope and 
true living dug out of the soil in the fu¬ 
ture. This country has money enough now 
—if it were only fairly distributed—and 
we’ll attend to the distribution when we 
get more true moral power in the country. 
Farm Notes.— The strawberries were 
mulched November 21. We never before 
had them covered by December 15, but this 
year a little crust formed early and we 
put the mulch on. We used manure, cow 
pea and bean vines and coarse hay. There 
are few things better than cow-pea vines 
for such mulching. We used to wait until 
the ground was frozen solid before mulch¬ 
ing, but I now think there is something 
in the argument that the early freeze and 
thaw is as dangerous as that of March. 
There are some growers in our country 
who let the September crop of grass and 
weeds grow and fall down in the plants as 
a mulch. We tried this on a small part 
of the field.The Fall-planted ap¬ 
ple trees have been prepared' for Winter. 
We bank them by throwing three or four 
spadefuls of earth around the base of the 
tree and shaping it into a mound. This 
prevents the tree from swaying in the 
wind, and keeps off mice. Around this 
mound, but not touching the trunk of the 
tree, we put about 40 pounds of strawy 
manure. This keeps the ground open and 
gives the roots a good chance to fix them¬ 
selves for Winter. It would, of course, be 
a mistake to put the manure close up 
around the tree. In preparing our mulched 
trees for Winter we push the mulch back 
and mound the dirt around the tree. In 
the Spring this mound will be hoed down 
and the mulch pushed back.The 
yellow turnips are under cover. The yield 
was light. Cabbage, too, did poorly. There 
were many soft heads, which were fed to 
the cows. We find that when we feed the 
cabbage just after milking there is no bad 
taste in the milk.We were an¬ 
noyed last Fall and again this year by 
some one who comes into the Stringfellow 
peach orchard and cuts the trees back. 
Several hundred young trees have been 
hacked in this way—about two-thirds of 
the new growth being cut off. The orchard 
is far from the house, in a lonely place. I 
cannot imagine why anyone should do such 
a thing. It simply ruins my experiment, 
as I was trying to make these trees grow 
naturaliy. and should not have pruned 
them. It is hard to be a philosopher under 
sucii circumstances, and should I chance 
to catch the pruner at his work one of us 
might need some pruning in a hospital! 
I suppose I ought to realize that he is 
merely trying to show me how to do it. 
H. WL c. 
EXCEL GRINDING MILLS. 
The Mill that exrelH them all. Best 
f(ir the farmer, (irinds 5 to 2r» bushels 
per hiHir ear coni or grain of any 
kind, bone, shell, etc., with from 1 to B 
horse-power. Makes best feed ami good 
meal. Furnished with or without 
crusher. We have larger mills for 
every purpote. Write forCatalogue E. 
Wo pay the freight. 
Excel Manufacturing Co., 
116 Liberty Street, New York 
ON TRIAl 
DITTO’^S 
Triple Geared Ball Bearing 
Feed Grinder 
for all kinds of grain. Has largest capac¬ 
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Cr. lEC. I>I*rTO, Bos 66, Joliox, Xll. 
We Want You 
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the following illustrated catalogues quoting 
wholesale prices. Be sure to mention the one 
you want, and we will send it Free of Charge. 
Furniture Stationery 
Farm Implements Toys 
Vehicles 
Sewing Machines 
Hardware 
Crockery 
Glassware 
Stoves 
Sporting Goods 
Harness 
Blacksmith Tools 
Dairy Goods 
Telephones 
Electrical Goods 
House Paints 
Watches 
Drugs 
Musical Instruments 
Silverware 
Carpets and Rugs 
Underwear 
Groceries 
Bicycles 
Baby Carriages 
Dry Goods 
Photographic Goods 
Notions 
Books 
Shoes 
Millinery 
Cloaks 
Furs 
33 Years 
In the Same 
Business 
Men’s and Boys’ Suits (both Ready-Made 
and Made-to-Order) including Samples. 
If you desire our complete catalogue, a book 
of over 1100 pages, and weighing 3!4 pounds, 
send for Catalogue No. 72, and enclose 15 cents 
in either stamps or coin. The small catalogues 
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MONTGOMERY WARD fyCO. 
Michigan Avenue, Madison & Washington Streets 
-■ — CHICAGO . ”r.. — 
Send 4c. in stamps for a teasing RIFLE PUZZLE. It is lots of fun "easy when 
>(ju know how,” but everyone can’t solve it. Can you ? Address Puzzle Dept. 
We make Rifles, Shotguns, Pistols, 
f rom $2.50 to $150,00. 
Most good dealers will sell you a “Stevens” 
—some will try to talk you into taking a poor 
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We make a specialty of these Rifles : 
“Stevans-Maynard, Jr.” $3.00 
“ Crack Shot ” $4.00 
“ Favorite” No. IT, $6.00 
We will sell to you direct land pay the express charges) ifyour dealer won't supply the "Stevend' 
J. STEVENS ARMS AND TOOL CO., 775 Main St, Chicopee Falls, Mass. 
Hey! Santa, where's that 
STEVENS 
Don’t disappoint the boy at Christmas¬ 
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SEND FOR OUR FREE ROOK OF 128 PARES 
It tells about the “Stevens,” gfives pictures and prices. Contains 
articles on Hunting, Fishing, Canoeing, Target Shooting, etc. 
WATER. 
If yon want water only when the wind blows a windmill will do your work 
and cost less money than our Ulder and Ericsson Hot-Air Pumps, butif you want 
water every day while your flowers are gro wi ng and do not want your pump blown 
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Rider-Ericsson Engine Company, 
35 Warren St.. New York. 092 Craig St., Montreal. P. Q. 40 Dearborn St., Chicago. 
239 Franklin St., Boston. Tenlente-Bey 71, Havana, Cuba. 40 N 7ih St., Philadelphia. 
22 Pitt St., Sydney, N. 8 . W. 
MAPLE SUGAR MAKERS 
USE THE GKIMM SPOUT. 
REMOVE NO ItAKK FROM 
THE TREE. 
Assuming that 400 trees with antiquated spouts produce 800 pounds of sugar. 
Similar conditions with the Grimm Spout produces 10.50 pounds. What is the 
value of 2.50 pounds of sugar and the cost of 400 Grimm Spouts? The gain is 
guaranteed. Freight paid on all orders of 500 or more. Agents wanted; 
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MAJESTIC FEED SHELLER. 
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KEYSTONE FARM MACHINE CO., 1S47 N. Boavar St., York, Pa. 
“THE EGG,” our little booklet which we send 
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Address BOWKER COMPANY, Boston or Now York. 
