1902 
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123 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
CHEAF SOIL FERTILITY; HOW OBTAINED. 
Part II. 
Abstract of a paper read before the Pennsylvania Hor¬ 
ticultural Society by M. Garrahan. 
The next, and perhaps the most highly important of 
the three leading elements, is nitrogen. While it is 
one of the most expensive of the three leading ingre¬ 
dients of a properly compounded formula, it is also 
the most volatile. In consequence of this fact it is 
liable to be lost by improper treatment. It is a well- 
known fact that nearly four-fifths of the atmosphere 
we breath is composed of nitrogen. As yet botanists 
have found but one family of plants that have such an 
affinity for this substance that they can attract or re¬ 
tain it. To this class belong our common Red and 
White clovers, as well as the different varieties of 
peas, beans, vetches, etc. The form of nitrogen found 
in nitrate of soda is, perhaps, all things considered, 
the most available. While it is as easily dissolved as 
sugar, it is the only form of nitrogen that plants can 
appropriate. To this form must all other forms of 
nitrogen be changed before the growing plants can 
assimilate it. In connection with this it will be proper 
to say that crops requiring the greater part of the 
season to make their growth, should be furnished a 
part of their nitrogen in the organic form. 
I said that there are three leading ingredients en¬ 
tering into plant life. That statement is unchallenged 
the world over. Still, the man who uses these chemi¬ 
cal substances exclusively, without stable manure, 
grass sod or vegetable matter of any kind, will find 
his crops failing in times of drought, his soil losing 
its friability, gradually becoming more and more life¬ 
less and hard. Such conditions revealing themselves 
in many cases to many persons, we have been told 
that phosphates burn the life out of the 
ground. 
Come with me out into an open field. 
Do you see that giant of the forest which 
was left standing years and years ago? 
Your ancestors, perhaps, cleared these 
broad acres from the primeval forest. 
Suppose we cut this great tree into con¬ 
venient sizes and burn every particle of 
it. When the heat has passed away, a 
man can gather up all that remains of 
that great tree, put it in a bag and walk 
off with it. A short time ago that tree 
would have made a load for 10 horses. 
Now a man carries it with ease. What 
has made the change? The fire has tried 
it and has found some things over which 
it has no power. It could not destroy 
the mineral elements, the potash, the 
phosphoric acid. You ask: “What has 
become of that great mass of wood that 
existed so recently in the lordly oak?’’ 
In the economy of nature there is no 
waste. The fire has resolved the wood into its orig¬ 
inal elements. That which came from the soil, and 
that only, is contained in the bag of ashes. We should 
not forget that 35 per cent of that load is lime, in the 
form of carbonate, the form most closely allied to the 
vegetable. This accounts for much of the success 
some claim to have met with in getting a good catch 
of clover from the application of wood ashes. The 
lime neutralizes the acids contained in the soil, mak¬ 
ing it possible for the clover to succeed, which it 
could not well do on a strongly acid soil. That which 
came from the air has returned to mingle again with 
its original elements, remaining there until it is com¬ 
missioned to reappear again in vegetable life in an¬ 
other place and form. 
I would urge upon every person interested in the 
restoration of impaired fertility the need of imitating 
nature in this particular. Select a renovating crop 
from the legume family, capable of obtaining its sup¬ 
ply of the expensive nitrogen from the atmosphere. 
Furnish the soil with phosphoric acid, in the form of 
acid phosphate and muriate of potash. For soil too 
poor to obtain a successful catch of clover, the south¬ 
ern cow pea is the best substitute yet found, prefer¬ 
ably sown in rows 2% to three feet apart, and ferti¬ 
lized with the above mixture, in the proportion of 1,600 
pounds phosphate and 400 pounds muriate to make a 
ton. This ought not to cost above $22 to $23. Apply 
broadcast to three or four acres, cultivating the crop 
frequently during the season of growth. The result 
will be an agreeable surprise, tne year following. This 
for soils too poor to produce crops profitably. A short 
time ago I sowed a piece of cow peas the first week in 
May, fertilizing with 100 pounds nitrate of soda, 400 
pounds acid phosphate, 100 pounds muriate of potash. 
September 26 the average yield was 35,695 pounds 
green matter per acre, for tops alone. At the present 
price of fertilizers those tops alone possess a fertiliz¬ 
ing value of close on $27 an acre. But there is another 
and very Important method of soil treatment. I spoke 
of the peculiar action of fertilizers on most soils when 
used exclusively, the tendency to fail in time of 
drought. This is usually owing to the fact that the 
organic matter, the humus-making material, has been 
oxidized or burned up in the soil. As the soil becomes 
filled with decaying vegetable substances its ability 
to retain moisture is increased proportionately. The 
practice that has given me the most satisfactory re¬ 
sults lias been to use about one-third of the tillable 
area, on which to grow the renovating crops spoken 
of, giving to these renovating crops the quantities of 
mineral fertilizers necessary for the crop to follow, 
lessening the nitrogen to be applied at the time of 
planting. In case of early cabbage, for instance, or 
early potatoes, we have sometimes grown a crop of 
beets or turnips, but frequently have sown the ground 
with Crimson clover. 
If I had a piece of ground so lacking in fertility that 
it would no longer grow crops profitably, I would plow 
and prepare the ground next Spring as for planting 
corn. About the time of corn planting I would broad¬ 
cast acid phosphate and muriate of potash, 150 pounds 
of the latter per acre, costing $8 or $9; sow Black 
cow peas in rows (not thicker than one bushel per 
acre) three feet apart, cultivate as often as necessary, 
or until I could no longer go between the rows. As 
soon as the frost kills the vines turn them under, 
and sow with about two bushels rye per acre; 200 
pounds acid phosphate would pay well. About May 
20 following I would turn under the rye, firm the sur¬ 
face with roller as soon as it changed color, plant it 
with a variety of corn that has been known to do well 
in the neighborhood, in rows 3% feet apart, at the 
same time using a mixture of 200 pounds of muriate 
of potash, 400 pounds acid phosphate and 100 pounds 
nitrate of soda per acre. At the last working I would 
sow 10 or 12 quarts of clover seed per acre. Cultivate 
it in the soil by going over it with small blades in 
cultivator. I have never failed in a dry season to get 
a good stand of clover when treated in this manner, 
just clipping the tops a few times next Summer, let¬ 
ting the rest go down on the field. The soil is in a 
good condition the year following to grow a good crop 
of potatoes. The use of the ground one season and 
the labor of preparing every man can count for him¬ 
self. The cost of fertilizing for cow peas ought not 
to be above $9, and that is a high price. For the corn 
probably $10.75, making a total of $19.75 expended for 
fertilizers and say $2 for cow peas, $1.50 for clover 
seed; altogether less than $25 per acre. 
COMMON SENSE ABOUT ALFALFA. 
While visiting the Pan-American, one of our Connecticut 
readers went through western New York to see the or¬ 
chards and Alfalfa fields. One field at Bergen, N. Y., 
pleased him greatly, and at his suggestion we have 
secured the following facts about it: 
In the Spring of 1897 the field of five acres, which 
was in potatoes the year previous, was plowed, fitted 
and sown to barley, 1 V 2 bushel of seed per acre being 
used. The soil is a clay loam with a sprinkling of 
gravel. The Alfalfa seed was then sown with a 
wheelbarrow grass seeder, using 1 y 2 bushel or 18 
pounds per acre. The field was then harrowed with 
a lever harrow, the teeth set slanting backward, 
after which it was rolled. When ripe the barley was 
harvested. Nothing more was done to the Alfalfa 
that season. I wish to say right here that many 
farmers ruin their Alfalfa by pasturing it the first 
season, and my experience has been that in this lati¬ 
tude if Alfalfa is grown for hay, it should never be 
pastured. In the Spring of 1898, as soon as the snow 
was off, the Alfalfa began to grow, and was several 
inches tall before Red clover had fairly started. It 
was cut three times that season; the first time about 
June 20, when it yielded 12 two-horse loads, the 
other two cuttings making 14 loads more, or 26 loads 
in all. The yield has continued to increase every 
year, until in 1901 it was 43 loads, estimated at 30 
tons of cured hay. I would estimate the totad yield 
of ,the four years to have been 80 tons at least. The 
quality of tne hay is of the best, being very nutritious 
and relished by all stock, from the hen to the horse. 
After the second year Alfalfa will produce a crop in 
the most severe drought; by actual measurement, I 
have known it to make a growth of over two feet in 
three weeks, when other grass was making no growth 
whatever. With Alfalfa and the silo the farmer can 
have an abundance of cheap feed, grown on a small 
acreage. n. h. wilcox. 
Genesee Co., N. Y. 
A JERSEYMAN ON “PEACH YELLOWS 
Why He Prefers “Natural Seed: 
It may seem folly in me to differ with Mr. Hale, 
peach king as he is, but I will give my experience for 
what it is worth. I have devoted my life’s work to 
growing trees and fruit, especially the peach, and 
have been at it since 12 years old (38 yeans). I 
served an apprenticeship of 11 years with the late 
Isaac Pullen, who was the peach king of New Jersey 
in her palmy days of peach culture. I think I can 
say that no other State ever produced more or better 
fruit than New Jersey, especially with the rude cul¬ 
ture then given. Mr. Pullen thought that the seeds 
from his healthy orchards would do without the 
trouble of gathering up natural seed, so he used 
and planted quite freely of them. When his orchards 
were three years old they did not show the vigor of 
the natural seed, and were unsatisfactory to him, so 
he dug them out, and ever after made evel-y effort to 
procure natural seed from healthy sec¬ 
tions. In the seventies, when Delaware 
and Maryland were the principal peach 
sections, her nurserymen got the same 
idea and propagated from their own seed 
and bud, and I am satisfied they hasten¬ 
ed the time of diseased orchards by that 
method. A peach tree is very deceptive. 
You may think it perfectly healthy, and 
propagate from it, and it may have the 
taint of disease lurking in its sap that 
will show the next season both in the 
tree and its product. This principle may 
be all right for Mr. Hale in his Georgia 
section, but for its general adoption I 
say don’t, most emphatically; it would 
be dangerous for general practice in all 
sections of the country. 
After a lifetime’s experience in grow¬ 
ing millions of young trees from all 
kinds of seeds and buds, I am satisfied 
that the safest way to produce healthy 
reliable trees is to get naturals from 
a section where the peach is healthy and long-lived, 
and buds from a young healthy nursery of which you 
have a record of every row in it. Lt may not be diffi¬ 
cult for Mr. Hale to get his buds all right from his 
orchard when he has a record, and probably even 
rows of every variety, but we all know that few or¬ 
chards are set systematically, and one row of trees 
may contain two or more varieties. It is very easy 
to make a blunder. I have seen much confusion and 
disease from cutting buds from orchard trees. My 
experience with California seed has not been favor¬ 
able. It was easy to detect the lack of vigor (which 
I have always noticed in trees from budded fruit), 
compared with the pure natural vigorous growth of 
the Tennessee and North Carolina natural seed. I 
I have always used the latter seed when possible, 
when plentiful, buying enough for two seasons, and 
have never yet detected the weakness we are led to 
believe we might expect from the South Carolina 
scrubs referred to. If they are dwarfed for want 
of food they have the inherent power to produce 
strong healthy stock for budding. There may not be 
much yellows in Georgia, but leitill they are not ex¬ 
empt from disease. The rosette is fully as destruc¬ 
tive as the yellows. I am satisfied that no matter 
from what section you procure trees or what condi¬ 
tions you give them, if planted in a diseased section 
they will he diseased. I cannot agree that it is as 
infectious as smallpox; if so, whole orchard would 
perish, which is not often the case. We find here 
and there a case, and still the orchard will live sev¬ 
eral years. After many years’ trial of seeds from 
nearly every section of this country, I am satisfied 
that I can get better results from natural seed from 
healthy long-lived trees and buds from young nursery 
rows than by any other method. ciias. black. 
New Jersey. 
Here is a man who speaks for thousands of farmers 
who listen to exact speakers: “I don’t care what the 
Hope Farm man calls his colt, as long as I can under¬ 
stand what he is saying about it.” 
