446 
•Tune 30 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
ing his neighbors, manages to get room enough to 
give a final crow. 
VARIOUS PACKAGES.—The barrel is the great 
package for apples, potatoes, etc. It is convenient to 
handle, strong enough to stand hard usage, and can 
be packed more tightly than a box or crate, thus 
lessening the danger of damage by shaking. Venti¬ 
lated barrels are used for produce that need's air. 
Some are ordinary barrels with holes cut in the edges 
of the staves around the center. Another form is 
made with thin staves crossing each other in a bias 
fashion, shown in Fig. 142. One of the most attrac¬ 
tive packages is the basket shaped like an inverted 
bell. The most common form is the peach basket, 
but for shipping lettuce and other vegetables from 
the South, larger ones of this form are used, some 
holding half a barrel. This package differs from the 
box or crate in showing a large part of the contents, 
while the package itself is not conspicuous. 
w. W. II. 
HOW TO MAKE PERMANENT PASTURES. 
What is the best combination of seeds for a per¬ 
manent pasture? Is it not best to sow the seed 
alone rather than with some grain crop? Should we 
sow in Fall or in Spring? 
There is not, on the whole, very much artificial pas¬ 
ture in this State. Certainly if such a pasture is to be 
made I should prefer to sow the grass seed either 
alone or in a crop of standing corn. If the land to be 
made into pasture should be susceptible of cultiva¬ 
tion, I should regard as the very best way to put it 
into corn for the silo, and then at the time of the last 
cultivation to sow the grass seeds. The culture 
should, of course, be level. Seeding in corn for 
meadows is the almost universal method in this part 
of the State, and it gives better results than any other 
that I have ever seen. The corn shades without 
crowding, and is removed in season to give the grass 
plenty of time to thicken and harden before Winter. 
The seed is generally sown here about the last of July. 
It should be sown before the corn is so tall that the 
hand cannot be swung over it. A little more seed 
than usual should be used. Sown on the freshly-cul¬ 
tivated soil, if there is the usual dog-day weather, 
with occasional heavy showers, the seed starts with¬ 
out covering. I have seen it up within 48 hours after 
sowing. If the pasture is not sufficiently cleared to 
allow plowing, then I should bring the soil into the 
best possible condition of pulverization, and sow at 
the time above indicated alone. For pasture I should 
use about the following mixture: Kentucky Blue 
grass, 12 pounds; Orchard grass, eight pounds; Tall 
Oat grass, five pounds; Meadow fescue, six pounds; 
Red-top, four pounds. If sown alone perhaps Italian 
Rye grass, four pounds; White clover, six pounds. 
After a few years I should expect the sod to consist 
chiefly of the Kentucky Blue grass, the Meadow fescue 
and the White clover. I might vary the proportions 
of the different grasses to suit different moisture con¬ 
ditions, but the mixture as I have designated is se¬ 
lected with reference to what would be called good, 
fairly retentive grass land. For lighter and drier 
soils some of the smaller fescues, such as the Red 
fescue, Hard fescue and Sheep’s fescue might be used 
with less of Orchard grass and Tall oat grass. For 
moist soils I should be inclined to add, perhaps, a 
little Tall fescue and a little Fowl meadow. 
Mass. Exp. Station. wm. r. bkooks. 
Where I am located, on the watershed of northern 
Ohio, back 25 miles from Lake Erie and 650 feet above 
it, Blue grass is the natural pasture, and self seeding, 
and here on the drift-glaciated clay land, holds its 
own with wonderful vitality and tenacity. My pas¬ 
tures, now in grass for over 85 years, never plowed, or 
seeded; they are almost unbroken acres of Blue-grass 
sward. A wood lot recently cleared came into Blue 
grass without any seeding. All that we do is to keep 
the brush cut, and let the stock do the rest. If this 
sod is plowed it is hard to reseed it and have it hold 
for any length of time, so that in this section the old 
original pastures are left undisturbed as long as pos¬ 
sible, and if once plowed have to be put in rotation. 
Clover and a little Timothy is used, and pastured one 
season, and then put to corn. It is a difficult thing to 
seed to a permanent pasture here when once the orig¬ 
inal sod is broken, and I know of no one who, by any 
combination of seeds or practice, has regained any¬ 
thing like the lasting qualities of the original sod that 
formed in the stump lot years ago. joiin gould. 
Ohio. 
I am very strongly in favor of the Clark method, 
thoroughly preparing the ground and seeding in 
latter part of August or early in September, without 
grain, as he does for hay, using such grasses as best 
suit the locality. For pasture, I consider that we 
should sow some seed on the old sod each year. 
Pennsylvania. R. f, shannon. 
A Friend of Clover and Blue Grass. 
In this section of the country the variety of grasses 
used for pasture and meadow is very limited, espec¬ 
ially when the farmer grows meadow for market. It 
is a well-known fact, that Timothy sells best of all 
on the market, and must be pure, that is, not mixed 
with clover or other grasses. Still, all farmers should 
not be governed by this, as many do not sell hay off 
the farm. My own experience is in the line mainly 
of other farmers in this section. Where all the farm 
can be used for grain crops, a longer or shorter rota¬ 
tion is in use. To sow grass alone to start a meadow 
or pasture would be looked upon as an extravagant 
plan, in that it involved the loss of the small grain 
generally used as a shelter crop. I am satisfied that 
if farmers thought it would pay to start a meadow or 
pasture without the small grain crop as a shelter, 
many of them would be glad to drop wheat growing. 
A LOAD OF WHEELBARROWS. Fig. 115. 
Many, this year, will be brought to an unwilling trial 
of the matter, as the wheat is so near a failure that 
the binders will not be taken from shelter. 
Here wheat, in the main, follows corn. Timothy is 
mostly sown at the time of wheat sowing, following 
with clover in the Spring. Very few use clover alone, 
consequently, very few follow a three-year rotation. 
As a rule, not more than two cuttings of hay are 
taken; the first will be mixed with clover, or nearly 
all clover; the second, nearly pure Timothy, on ac¬ 
count of the clover having disappeared. Very often 
pasturing follows, till the Timothy fails to yield prof¬ 
itable pasture, when the land goes again to the plow. 
I would change this by plowing the Timothy sod 
while still strong, and if I desired mixed hay, would 
use Mammoth clover or Alsike, instead of Medium. If 
sowing for pasture, would sow a mixture of Medium, 
Alsike and White clover, with Timothy, and while 
Blue grass is indigenous here, I would also, to hasten 
the catch, sow liberally of the seed. The Medium 
clover would fail first, Timothy next, Alsike third, 
while the White clover will remain as long as the 
land is left unplowed. On this farm I have 19 acres 
of permanent Blue-grass pasture. This will be in¬ 
creased to 30 acres, which will make more than one- 
third of the farm in Blue grass. White clover makes 
a very strong showing every second or third year. I 
A GARBAGE CART AND ITS LOAD. Fig. 116. 
am not sure but that it would be profitable to scarify 
the sod in some way, and sow common Red clover 
every fourth year. The expectation is that this per¬ 
manent pasture will improve with age. The stock 
that range over it will often be fed grain and the mill 
by-products, and besides this, an occasional top-dress¬ 
ing of barnyard manure. The permanent pasture I 
now have came in naturally after Timothy and Red 
clover. That to be added has been in a three-year 
rotation for 15 years. Will endeavor to hasten the 
setting of the Blue-grass sod by sowing the seed 
gathered on the farm along the fence rows of the 
cultivated fields, and expect the Blue grass to make 
a strong showing the third year after sowing. Judg¬ 
ing from the strong tufts that appear in the fields 
•worked in a three-year rotation, I think I am justified 
in this expectation. 
The only hay crop harvested on the farm for many 
years has been pure Medium clover, and I have en¬ 
deavored to feed it out on the farm, as I am strongly 
opposed to selling hay off the farm. In some sections, 
and on some soils, Red-top and Orchard grass can be 
profitably added to those already named. Costly mix¬ 
tures advertised by seedsmen do not meet with favor 
on their cost; when used in a short rotation this cost 
debars them as a profitable investment, and more 
than this, they are to be shunned on account of their 
impurity. In nearly every instance too much is ex¬ 
pected from meadows and pastures grown in crop ro¬ 
tation in comparison with expense put on them. 
They are expected to rest and renovate the land. Still 
they get the least attention, and receive the hardest 
treatment of any crop grown on the land. The land is 
given to them after being partially exhausted by other 
crops. The other crops are manured and petted, the 
clover and meadow crops take the leavings, the 
scraps, if you please, that fall from the owner’s hand, 
and are expected to give good .crops and prepare the 
land for good grain crops. I regard clover and the 
grass crops as the foundation, and pet and coddle 
them there by reversing the usual order. Now I am 
hauling barnyard manure, and scattering it in 
Medium Red clover two feet high. The returns are 
coming in as I have hoped they would, proving that I 
am correct in the matter. This treatment given to 
permanent pasture will make it better every year. 
Given to the meadow and pasture used in rotation, 
will give each succeeding year heavier meadows, 
stronger pastures, increase the volume of manure 
made thereby, in turn enabling me to do better by 
the pastures and meadows. Properly managed, it is 
a progressive, interesting and profitable work in every 
respect. joun m. jamison. 
Ohio. 
FERTILIZERS FOR LARGE APPLE TREES. 
We have often been told that organic nitrogen, such 
as is found in manure, bone, or tankage, is soluble 
enough to make a good growth of tree. The Massa¬ 
chusetts Experiment Station, however, has found by 
experiment that nitrate of soda gives finer results 
when applied to apple trees. Prof. Maynard says that 
a large majority of the apple trees in Massachusetts 
do not make enough growth to produce fruit of large 
size and fine quality. He says that probably nine- 
tenths of these trees grow in land from which a crop 
of grass or hay is expected in addition to the fruit, 
and little or no fertilizing material is applied. In his 
experiments better results were obtained where ni¬ 
trate of soda was used than from other forms of 
nitrogen. This may be because the nitrogen, being 
quickly soluble, washes down below the roots of the 
grass, and immediately benefits the trees, while fish, 
bone or manure is used up by the grass, so that little 
of it gets to the tree. Prof. Maynard, after long ex¬ 
perimenting, advises farmers to use for apple trees 
in grass, the following: Nitrate of soda, one to five 
pounds; sulphate of potash, one to five pounds; S. C. 
rock or floats, four to 10 pounds. This is the dressing 
for one tree, the quantity varying according to the 
size of the trees and crop of fruit. He says that 
enough fertilizer should be put on each year to pro¬ 
duce on fruiting trees a growth of from six inches to 
one foot of firm, well-matured wood at the ends of 
most branches. 
IMPROVING THE DESERT LANDS. 
The Agricultural Department has issued an inter¬ 
esting pamphlet describing some experiments with 
forage crops and ranch improvement in Texas. The 
idea has been to try to improve the pasturage on 
some of the wild Texan plains, and some interesting 
work has been done there. The rain crop is very 
light in that part of the country. In one case a disk 
harrow was used to tear up the sod as thoroughly as 
possible. The theory was that if they could cut the 
surface as deeply as possible with the harrows, the 
grass roots in the ground would have a better chance 
to develop. It was expected that the runners from 
the grasses would take root in the soft ground, and 
the rains would sink into the soil instead of running 
away. The results show that this idea was correct, 
and it seems to be settled that it will pay farmers and 
stockmen in those dry districts to cultivate their pas¬ 
tures with disk and straight-tooth harrows. To work up 
the ground really seems to give the grass a new lease 
of life. Another singular way of improving the 
ground is a system of wide traps or furrows to catch 
the seeds blown by the wind. The prevailing winds 
in central Texas are from the south. Many of the 
grass seeds, as they fall to the ground, are blown 
away, except on land that has been cultivated or fur¬ 
rowed. A plan to save these seeds was carried out by 
plowing the furrows every 12 feet, running them from 
east to west, the idea being that the seeds falling to 
the ground would be caught in these furrows and 
saved, and also that storm water, Instead of running 
away, would be caught in the furrows and sink into 
tne soil. This also proved to be true. Many seeds 
were caught that would otherwise have blown off, and 
the result was that the surface irrigation was excel¬ 
lent, giving greener grass and more of it. 
