1000 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
463 
When a crust has formed over the surface by evapora¬ 
tion and the cementing together of the soil grains 
through shrinkage and the deposit of salts, the evap¬ 
oration is lessened in consequence of the crust itself, 
and if there is a sufficient layer of the dry soil be¬ 
neath such a crust, one of the best soil mulches, 
merely as a mulch, has been secured, and to break 
it up would be to increase the loss of moisture. As 
the later season approaches, and especially in a dry 
time, there is little to be gained by continued culti¬ 
vation, so long as there is at the surface two or three 
inches of dry soil, and a very slight crust will not 
sufficiently interfere with aeration to make it worth 
while to break it up. When the moisture below the 
mulch has crept up into It sufficiently to leave only 
an inch or an inch and a half, and in some cases 
even two inches of dry soil, there will usually be a 
decided gain in the saving of moisture by going over 
the ground again with a good mulch-forming tool. 
[prof.] f. II. KINO. 
Wisconsin Agricultural College. 
MILK A CHEAP DIET. 
Comparatively few people are aware of the true 
value of milk as a cheap article of food, it being 
usually looked upon as only a beverage, or even a 
luxury, without contributing much, if anything, 
towards our actual support. Scientific investigation 
during the last few years has, however, placed this 
fluid before us in a very different light, and to-day 
we have the most convincing evidence from the lab¬ 
oratories, as well as practical tests, showing that it is 
false economy to stint ourselves in its use. Unfor¬ 
tunately, perhaps, much of the literature coming from 
the above sources is surrounded with so many un¬ 
common terms that it is difficult for the ordinary per¬ 
son to understand all that is written, and as a re¬ 
sult it takes a long time for the beneficial work of 
the scientist to filter down to the breadwinner, who 
gains his living by the sweat of his brow, though it 
is to him that such knowledge is of most practical 
importahcei Hence the Writing of this article In 
the simplest language possible; 
There is continually going on within us, a soi't of 
smoldering or consumption of the various substances 
of which our bodies are composed; our bones, the 
muscles covering them, our nerves and other parts 
wear out and are removed, and in order that new 
or fresh material may be supplied, we partake of that 
which we are pleased to call food. This substance is 
obtained chiefly from the animal or vegetable king¬ 
dom, but to be a complete food or ration, it must 
contain one and all of the different ingredients which 
enter into the composition of the various tissues of 
our oodies; thus it must contain the .salts or ashes 
of which our bones are made—it must contain the 
substances of which our muscle or our skin is made, 
and so on. If the food doe's not contain all of these a( 
weak link, as it were, will eventually occur in some 
part, and we become unhealthy. In addit.on foool 
should contain fat or starch and sugar for fuel to keep 
our bodies warm and furnish energy—it must also be 
bulky enough to distend the stomacb and bowels so 
so as to keep them in working order. Milk has been 
shown to contain all the elements required for proper 
nutrition, and consequently is regarded as being of 
more value than any other single food. While milk 
is an meal food for the young there are some objec¬ 
tions to it, as the sole diet for a working man, a 
proper understanding of which is necessary before 
we can appreciate its real value as an economical diet. 
In the first place, being naturally a thin fluid con¬ 
taining a very large proportion of water it does not 
“stay by,” or satisfy the sense of hunger in a proper 
way, but when taken with isolid food, bread for in¬ 
stance, it becomes a cheap and most nutritious diet. 
The keynote to economy is sounded, when we come 
to compare the cost of those elements of nutrition 
contained in milk, with their cost in other animal 
foods. A practical test before us illustrating us 
worth in reducing the cost of a daily ration comes 
from the State College of Maine, where trials were 
made with a large number of young men, in which it 
was most conclusively shown that the free use of milk 
not only diminished the consumption of other foods, 
but that when partaken of without restriction as to 
quantity the cost of the daily ration was reduced 
eight cents per man. 
In these experiments unskimmed milk was used, 
so if we wish still further to reduce the cost of liv¬ 
ing we may use skim-milk, and sell the cream and 
supply the necessary fat ior our bodies from some 
cheaper source. In the summary of the Maine Col¬ 
lege experiments it is stated that, “The results inui- 
cate that milk should not be regarded as a luxury, 
but as an economical article of diet, which families of 
moderate income may freely purchase as a probable 
means of improving the character of the dietary and 
of cheapening the cost of their supply of aoijnal foods.” 
One difficulty which stands in the way of the more 
general use of skim-milk, or even whole milk, is the 
large quantity of water which it contains; fortunately, 
however, it can be advantageously used in cooking, 
during which process a large quantity of the water 
may be driven off and still more of it be taken up 
by the dry particles of food which need moisture to 
make them palatable, and adding this, to that which 
may be used in the raw state, a good lot of milk may 
be disposed of during the day. In summarizing a 
report which comes from a dairy exhibit of London, 
England, we find that bread made with skim-milk 
as a substitute for water was richer In the elements 
of nutrition according to chemical analysis; that it 
had a better appearance and taste than ordinary 
water bread, also that it retained its moisture longer 
and was easier of digestion. It also stated that the 
natural sugar of the milk caramels in baking and 
browned the crust. In the free use of milk as a diet, 
it should not be forgotten that it does not agree with 
some people; though the same may be said of eggs, 
or perhaps any other article of food—-verily “one 
man’s meat is another man’s poison.” 
E. A. A. GRANGE. 
FEEDING THE GRASS CROP. 
The Value of Nitrogen to Increase the Protein 
The dry weather cf the past few weeks, following a 
cold Spring, is showing the value of the quick-acting 
forms of nitrogen for the grass crop. FieldB that 
were top-dressed with stable manure the past Spring 
are not showing nearly as heavy a crop as those to 
which a quick-acting fertilizer was supplied. All 
plants are mainly dependent for their nitrogen on 
the action of germs, which transform the nitrogen 
in organic matter into nitrates. Only in this form 
can plants obtain nitrogen, unless they are a/ble to 
A PORTABLE EVAPORATOR HOUSE. Fio. 152. 
See Fanners’ Club, Page IfVI. 
draw it from the air. The past Spring has been so 
cold in New England, and the early Summer so dry, 
that the conditions have not been favorable for the 
actions of these germs. I have in mind a field of 
Timothy which was manured in April, and which 
gives promise of a very light crop, while other fields 
near by to which considerable nitrogen in the form 
of nitrate of soda was applied, promise a heavy crop. 
The explanation of so striking a difference seems to 
be that the manure, owing to cold and dry weather, 
has not decomposed and given up its nitrogen as fast 
as the crop needed it. This points to the great value 
of nitrates (which are directly available) for use on 
the grass crop. Our experience leads us to the con¬ 
clusion that there is no fertilizer which, on the whole, 
gives as paying results on grass as nitrate of soda. 
Not that the mineral fertilizers can be left out, but 
they may be used in relatively smaller quantities than 
nitrogen. It is a common condition to find large 
proportions of insoluble phosphates in the form of 
bone in grass fertilizers, but we believe this to be 
a great mistake, as crops which are not grown for 
their seed need relatively small amounts of phosphoric 
acid. We have found that 100 to 200 pounds of ni¬ 
trate of soda, 150 to 200 pounds of muriate of potash, 
and 200 to 300 pounds of South Carolina acid phos¬ 
phate per acre give very profitable results on the grass 
crop. Paying results in the rowen crop can often 
be Obtained, in a season of short hay crop, by cutting 
the first crop early and applying at once 100 to 150 
pounds each of nitrate of soda and muriate of potash. 
Nitrogen has a tendency to increase the proportion of 
leaf growth, and thus it increases the more valuable 
portions of the plant for feeding. One of the im¬ 
portant benefits of the quick-acting forms of nitrogen 
is often overlooked or not understood. Nitrogen will 
not only increase the yield of grass and the propor¬ 
tion of the finer parts of the crop, but also the pro¬ 
portion of protein, and thus increase its feeding 
value. 
Experiments made with pure species of grasses by 
the Storrs Experiment Station have shown an in¬ 
crease in the proportion of protein in Timothy from 
seven per cent where no nitrogen was used to 9.3 per 
cent where liberal quantities were used; with Orchard 
grass, under similar conditions, a range was found in 
the protein of from 7.9 per cent to 12.6 per cent; with 
Meadow fescue, a range of from 7.2 per cent to 11.8 
per cent; and with Red-top, a range of from 6.6 per 
cent to 10.4 per cent. This means, for example, that 
a ton ol Red-top hay grown without the use of ni¬ 
trogen contained 132 pounds of protein, while a ton 
grown with liberal use of nitrogen (75 pounds per 
acre) contained 208 pounds per acre. These are not 
the results of a few tests, but of experiments which 
extend over a period of several years on the same 
plots with the same kinds of grasses. Similar re¬ 
sults were also obtained on larger plots with mixed 
species of grasses. In all cases where the effects of 
nitrogen were studied liberal and uniform quantities 
of phosphoric acid and potash were used. This two¬ 
fold advantage of nitrogen in the growth of grasses 
Should be more fully appreciated. The grass crop 
responds quickly to nitrogen, and seems to have little 
power of obtaining it from natural sources. When 
liberally supplied in quick-acting forms nitrogen will 
not only greatly increase the yield, but also the pro¬ 
portion of the more valuable and finer parts of the 
crop, and what is still more important, it will im¬ 
prove its feeding value. All that the stock feeder 
can do to increase the supply of protein in his crops 
may be made to reduce the supply which he will need 
fo purchase in tho form of grain crops. 
c. s. PHELPS. 
A NEW PLAN FOR SOUTHERN FARMING. 
A new system of farming, known as the Chas. J. 
Wade system, was recently described as follows 
in the New Orleans Times-Democrat: “A farmer 
has a large body of land, partly cleared. He 
puts a number of colored families on the place, as¬ 
signs to each man one of the large fields for cultiva¬ 
tion, and gives him in payment one-third of the crop 
raised. The farmer’s share is the remaining two- 
thirds of the crop. Now, here is the ingenuity of 
this system. As the farmer gets two-thirds of each 
man’s crop, he selects from earn, of the colored fam¬ 
ilies one child (boy or girl) and, for the services of 
this child, he pays the child’s father one-third more 
of the crop. Each colored man then gets two-thirds 
of the crop raised by himself, and the farmer gets 
;he services of one child and one-third of the crop. 
The ohila works in the factory.” Now, this system of 
Mr. Wade’s is very attractive, and to my mind is 
worthy of serious consideration. I have a farm of 
600 acres near Raleigh, N. C., with nearly one-half of 
it cleared up, but, before adopting this system of 
cultivation and manufacturing, I desire to ask your 
candid opinion. If you think it advisable, I will at 
once start a canning factory for fruit and vegetables. 
I am sure that colored children 16 or 18 years old, 
can do the work intelligently and, by the Wade 
system, it appears I can obtain their services with¬ 
out paying wages. j. g. b. 
Raleigh, N. C. 
R. N. Y.—A statement similar to the above went 
the rounds of the daily papers, but we concluded that 
it is as yet only theory. We have not learned that 
anyone has yet put such a plan into actual opera¬ 
tion. Is such a plan possible? We doubt it, but 
would like to hear from those who have had ex¬ 
perience with negro labor. You might, peiffiaps, pick 
out a numoer of families who would prove reliable 
enough for such work, but we do not think the plan 
would succeed with ordinary negro laborers. We 
certainly would not advise you to start a canning fac¬ 
tory with no experience. Such children could do 
some of the work—such a shelling and peeling, but 
they could not be expected to handle and control the 
costly and intricate machinery used in a canning fac¬ 
tory. The canning business is overdone already. 
Utilizing Child Labor.— We saw a farmer the other 
day at the store buying a supply of Paris-green. He has 
grown a fair crop of potatoes for several years, but he 
said that this was the first year he found it necessary to 
use poison. The reason he gave was a singular one. He 
said he had a large family of children, and as soon as 
they were able to get out into the field, he had them at 
work picking bugs by hand. They picked the bugs, es¬ 
pecially the hard-shelled ones, so well, that there were 
never enough of the soft-shelled crop to injure the pota¬ 
toes. As the children grew older, he thought they were 
able to do better work than picking bugs, and so he sim¬ 
ply planted more Lima beans or string beans, and put 
the children at work with the hoe. Now he found it 
necessary to buy Paris-green because the children did so 
much other work that they could not possibly pick bugs. 
That certainly is one way of figuring on child labor. 
