4i6 
THE RURAL’NEW-YORKER 
June 16 
Farmers’ Club. 
[Every query must be accompanied by the 
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tion. Before asking a question, please see 
whether It Is not answered in our advertising 
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Put questions on a separate piece of paper.] 
“Bread from Stones." 
C. B. C„ Newton, Mass.— I should like to 
inquire whether the principles set forth in 
Tafel’s translation of Hansel's work, en¬ 
titled Bread from Stones, are recognized as 
correct by agriculturists in this country? 
The book is written to show the advan¬ 
tages, as a plant food, of finely-ground 
rock over manure, and commercial fer¬ 
tilizers. "In the first place,” Mr. Hansel 
says, “manures and commercial fertilizers 
produce unhealthy crops, especially on 
land that has been under cultivation for 
a number of years, because they furnish 
only nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash, 
while both men and animals require other 
elements in their food, such as lime, iron, 
sulphur, sodium, chloride, manganese, etc. 
The reason that we do not notice the de¬ 
terioration in the quality of our produce, 
is that ammonia—the chief constituent of 
stable manure—will replace lime, potas¬ 
sium, sodium and manganese in a plant to 
a large extent, without changing the ap¬ 
pearance of the plant, except to give it a 
more luxuriant foliage. Thus plants 
heavily fertilized with stable manure, to 
all outward appearances seem thrifty, but 
in reality they not only lack many im¬ 
portant elements, but they also lack in¬ 
ternal firmness. Grain manured in this 
way will be almost certain to lodge.” Mr. 
Hansel gives an illustration of the effect 
of such unhealthy fodder upon cattle: “A 
swamp which was abundantly fertilized 
with stable manure produced a luxurious 
growth of grass, which was fed to 12 oxen 
and cows. Soon the cattle became de¬ 
crepit, and 10 died. The other two, on 
having their food changed, recovered.” 
Mr. Hansel further says: “Not only do 
leguminous crops derive their nitrogen 
from the air, but almost all other crops 
as well, do so to a large extent,” although 
he admits that plants assimilate some of 
the nitrogen found in the soil. As a proof 
of the truth of this statement, he cites the 
case of immense forest trees, such as oaks, 
beeches, etc., which have grown on bare 
granite rock. That the tubers of potato 
plants draw their nitrogen from the plants, 
and not the soil, is shown by the fact that 
the stalks, which are full of juice at blos¬ 
soming time, become dry and brittle as 
the tubers ripen, because the juice which 
contains nitrogen is consumed by the po¬ 
tatoes. The same objection is found with 
commercial fertilizers, namely, that they 
tend to produce crops lacking in necessary 
food requisites. The ideal plant food, he 
says, is a fine powder obtained by grinding 
up granite and other rocks. If ground 
finely enough, much of it is immediately 
available for plant food. This has been 
tried in Germany with excellent results. 
Manure may be used with the “stone 
meal,” for if the excess of ammonia is got 
rid of, the manure is useful to preserve 
moisture, improve the mechanical condi¬ 
tion of the soil, and, of course, contains 
some of the elements needed by plants. 
These ideas . seem so opposed to those 
adopted in this country, that I should like 
to know what foundation for them there 
is. 
Ans. —This is utter nonsense. It is 
untrue that manures “produce unhealthy- 
crops. ” The soil contains, in sufficient 
quantities for plant nutrition, almost 
every other element than nitrogen, phos¬ 
phoric acid and potash, except where the 
humus has been worn out of it, and then 
it needs decaying vegetation of some 
kind to make the fertility available and 
the soil sponge-like, so it will hold 
water. It is entirely a mistake to claim 
that “immense forest trees” grow “on 
bare granite rocks,” for they never did 
it. They may grow, and do grow, in 
crevices between rocks, 'but there is 
some soil to hold moisture and furnish 
a hold for their roots. If the theory of 
this Mr. Hansel was true as to harmful¬ 
ness of ordinary manures and the value 
of “stone meall,” it would be far too 
costly to grind it by machinery. Na¬ 
ture’s machinery has ground down the 
rocks cheaply, and is still grinding them 
slowly. Again, the “stone meal” would 
be so heavy to transport that it would 
cost a great deal to haul it even from 
one part of a farm to another, and in 
most cases it would be an un'bearaible 
burden. Besides, there is a very slight 
proportion of fertility in granite or any 
other kind of rook, h. e. v. d. 
Late Plowing in Orchards. 
R. II., New Jersey.—I have a pear orchard 
near my house that was in sod for 15 or 
18 years. The trees were pretty poor and 
shiftless last Fall, and so I had the sod 
plowed up, and last Winter I put on a 
fair coating of manure. This Spring I 
intended to have the soil worked up early, 
and either plant potatoes or tomatoes 
among the trees. It has been delayed, 
however, so long that the grass is now 
growing thick and heavy. We have been 
so busy with other work that we could 
not tackle this. Will I do any damage 
by plowing again, say in early June, and 
sowing some crop like millet or sorghum 
in it? The patch is along the road, and 
I would like to have something nice grow¬ 
ing there if possible. I have been afraid 
that, by plowing even reasonably deep, 
after plowing last Fall, I would smash up 
things and do lots of damage. Would it 
be best to cutaway and harrow the field, 
or would even that be dangerous? The 
trees look much better this year, and seem 
to have picked up greatly. I am going to 
spray them with Bordeaux Mixture pretty 
soon, and try to keep them in good con¬ 
dition. In an apple orchard that was not 
plowed last Fall, there is not much but 
weeds and tough grass. Some of the trees 
have set fairly well with fruit. Would 
I do any harm to go in there, say the 
middle of June, plow it up shallow, work 
it down fine, and plant a crop of pumpkins? 
What I am afraid of is that by plowing in 
June I will hurt the roots of the trees too 
much, but am not sure about it, and want 
to be as sure as I can. 
Ans. —The pear orchard having been 
plowed last Fall, the feeding roots are 
mostly below where the plow ran, rather 
than albove in the plowed part of the 
soil, and I would not hesitate to plow it 
now and put in a crop of some kind that 
would not draw too heavily upon the fer¬ 
tility in it. The plowing, however, 
should he shallow. The crop that I 
would prefer is cow peas, with a very 
little sorghum seed mixed in with them. 
Some variety of cow peas that will make 
a vine will afford more forage than one 
that will not, and the sorghum Will 
hold them up off the ground. I would 
prefer to plant in rows and cultivate 
a'bout twice, than to sow broadcast. This 
will look well, turn off a paying crop, 
and leave the orchard soil in better fix 
than it is now. Millet is a terror on any 
soil, for it is a greedy feeder, and would 
draw heavily on the orchard soil; at the 
same time checking the growth of the 
trees, and thus doing more harm than 
good, I fear. The apple orchard is now 
in sod, and a tough one, too, I should 
judge. The tree roots are having a 
hand-to-hand fight all the time with the 
grass roots. While there would be 
some injury to them from Summer plow¬ 
ing, yet there would be a better chance 
for those that were left helow where the 
plow would run. If planted to pumpkins 
the soil would have a chance to fill up 
with water from rains, and the tree 
roots would get the benefit of a rest 
from the fight with the grass. The cul¬ 
tivation necessary to give the pumpkin 
vines a good chance would do the trees 
good. On the whole I believe the plan 
proposed would be a good one when 
worked out. h. e. v. d. 
Season for Pruning. 
N. R. J., Boomer town, N. Y.—I have an 
orchard of apple trees about 15 or 20 years 
old, which has been greatly neglected and 
needs trimming badly. Can I trim it now, 
or would that injure it at this time of the 
year? What is the best time to trim trees? 
Ans. —In my opinion, the best of all 
times to prune an apple orchard is mid¬ 
summer. The cutting off of such 
branches as may need to be removed, 
within reasonable limits, will not mate¬ 
rially check the growth of the tree, if 
done at that time of year. Very severe 
cutting would injure it in this way, but 
this is an unwise plan to be followed at 
any time of year. Moderate pruning is 
the correct thing, whether it be Summer 
or Winter. The main reason why I like 
midsummer for pruning an apple or¬ 
chard is that the wounds heal up more 
quickly than at any other season. An¬ 
other is that there are almost no water 
sprouts made in the region of the 
wounds; because the flow of sap carries 
the growth into the other branches. 
Pear and quince trees may be treated in 
the same way, but peach and othe r 
etone-fruit trees I have always thought 
should be pruned when the leaves are 
off. H. e. v. D. 
Fruit Crops; Japan Plums. 
H. C. M., Connecticut.— 1. What fruit crops 
will be likely to succeed best on a dry 
sandy knoll, with a gravelly subsoil? 2. 
I have about 25 Japan plums planted in 
1892 in strong garden loam, mostly of the 
Abundance variety. The trees have been 
well fed and cared for, and the first four 
or five years they made a rapid growth, 
and have given several crops of fine fruit. 
The past two seasons, however, the trees 
have made but little new wood, and sev¬ 
eral have succumbed to attacks of the 
Fruit bark-beetle. What is the trouble? 
Have the trees been forced too much or 
allowed to overbear, or is it the result of 
the trees being on peach root? 
Ans. —1. Without seeing the soil and 
location it is mere guesswork to say 
what fruits would do best on the sandy 
knoll, but I am inclined to believe that 
peaches might do well there. 2. Maybe the 
trees are suffering from the ravages of 
the Fruit bark J beetle and overbearing 
combined. Either of these causes would 
have a marked effect on their growth. 
As they are on peach stocks, this may be 
another cause of the trouble, for there 
are cases in which trees so propagated 
have done very poorly. It would not 
seem that lack of cultivation or poor soil 
can have anything to do with their 
feeble growth, for they have been well 
cared for, according to the owner’s state¬ 
ment; unless they have been neglected 
since they began to bear. I would ad¬ 
vise giving them good cultivation and 
nourishment, and thin the fruit if there 
is necessity for it. h. e. awn deman. 
Crimson Clover and Buckwheat. 
C. S. R., Westford, N. Y.— Can I sow Crim¬ 
son clover with buckwheat, about June 22, 
and get anything worth plowing under for 
green manure next Spring in time to sow 
with oats and seed down? 
Ans. —In your latitude we should call 
the chances of success with this plan 
about two out of five. You are too far 
north to make sure of a good catch of 
Crimson clover, still with a favorable 
season it will come through. A surer 
crop would be rye after the buckwheat. 
The Composition of Cabbage. 
O. IF. S., Central Park, N. Y.— What per 
cent of potash, phosphate and nitrogen is 
contained in one ton of green cabbage? 
Ans. —A ton of Savoy cabbage will 
contain an average of 11 pounds of ni¬ 
trogen, seven of potash and five of phos¬ 
phoric acid. There is also about six 
pounds of lime. This is not far from 
the composition of average stable ma¬ 
nure. The cabbage is more nitrogenous 
than any other green vegetable; when 
eaten with potatoes it makes nearly a 
balanced ration. 
For the land’s sake, use Bowker’s Fer¬ 
tilizers. They enrich the earth.— Acv. 
FRUIT EVAPORATORS 
PROCESS AND PROFITS 
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a 
FUMA 
9 V kills Prairie Dogs, 
' , Woodchucks, Gophers 
andUraln Insects.“The 
wheels of the Gods 
grind slow but exoeed- 
8o the weevil, but you can stop their 
Fuma Carbon Bisulphide ,,as agoing 
EDWARD R. TAYLOR, Penn Tan, N. Y. 
Ing small, 
grind (I 
with 
JAPANESE BUCKWHEATS,USSfiS 
sample; most productive variety. Price, 11 per bushel, 
bags free JEBOWE li. RICE SEED CO., 
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Five varieties. *1 per M. Special rates on largo 
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CELERY AND CABBAGE PLANTS FOR SALE. 
Leading varieties, carefully packed wilh moss in 
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plants for 00c.; 500 for 90c.; 1,000 for *150. Special 
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WOODLAND FARM. Canastota, Madison Co., N.Y 
Plants 
Tomato, Celery. Cabbage, Pepper, 
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J. S. LINTH1CUM, Woodwardville, Md 
CELERY PLANTS 
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RIMSON CLOVER SENT) growers’ prices. 
ELERY PLANTS peKL 00 
ABKAGE and Potted Strawberry Plants. 
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CfID Cll C— 1,000 Bushels Crimson Clover 
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C rimson 
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10 
Peach Trees 
10 Apple, Plum or Pear 
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We have all kinds of Nursery Stock. 
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