494 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
July 19 
as their books circulate through a vast range of terri¬ 
tory, and are consulted under many conflicting con¬ 
ditions. Some of them might be more explicit, how¬ 
ever. You must not depend too much on the soil 
moisture of your crawfish ground. You may hear the 
splash of water when dirt falls in their holes, but it 
does not indicate a sheet of water at that depth. The 
crawfish makes a pocket lined with puddled clay, 
which he keeps filled with water by means known 
only to himself. Thorough cultivation, breaking the 
crust after every little shower, and stirring the dust 
mulch between times is the best cure for dry weather. 
The Danish Ballhead is a good long-keeping hard- 
heading variety—if you get the right tjiing. The dis¬ 
tances apart are all right, and should be determined 
by the habit of the variety, giving the spreading 
kinds most room. Run the cultivator as close and 
deep as possible without breaking too many leaves or 
cutting roots. A few broken leaves do little harm, 
but it is better to cultivate shallow than cut roots. 
The idea is to stir the soil above the roots. Double 
or triple heading plants are useless, and usually in¬ 
dicate poor seed. You might try amputating the ex¬ 
tra heads. Cultivate level during the early part of 
the season, but as the plants begin to head throw dirt 
to the stalk to assist in supporting the head. The 
lantern at night is useless for millers or moths; it 
generally attracts useful insects and spares the harm¬ 
ful ones. Instead of a paddle equip an active boy 
with a good butterfly net. Black pepper, mixed with 
a little fine salt and five times its bulk of flour, is 
fairly effectual in killing the green worms. Paris- 
green is very efficient, but should not be applied after 
the cabbages begin to head. “Rapid cultivation” 
probably means keeping the ground stirred every 
week or oftener when possible. Ashes and lime 
should not hurt your cabbages, but are likely to spoil 
their looks. _ 
FARMING IN CENTRAL NEW JERSEY. 
Chemicals in a Dry Season. 
Older readers know that for the past 14 years we 
have kept track of the operations on the farm of D. C. 
Lewis, of Cranbury, N. J. These operations were de¬ 
scribed in the pamphlet entitled “Chemicals and 
Clover,” which caused considerable discussion among 
farmers and scientific men. For the benefit of newer 
readers we may briefly repeat the story. 
Mr. Lewis has 70 acres of level land, all naturally 
strong. When he took the farm, over 20 years ago, it 
was badly run down. We all understand how land, 
under neglect or careless farming, may lose its heart 
and fall off in crop production, though without losing 
much of its natural fertility. This farm is in a section 
which was mostly under cultivation at the time of the 
Revolution, but the last year’s sales given below show 
that it is anything but worn out. After some experi¬ 
menting Mr. Lewis decided to follow a five-year rota¬ 
tion, and with slight changes this has been kept up to 
the present time. The manure was hauled out upon 
the sod and plowed under for corn. The next year po¬ 
tatoes are planted in drills, using 1,200 pounds or more 
of Mapes potato fertilizer per acre. Early varieties of 
potatoes are usually grown, and these are dug in time 
to fit the ground for wheat and grass. The wheat is 
cut in time, and usually there is a good seeding of 
grass, which is cut two years and then plowed for 
corn. By crowding all the manure on the corn ground 
and all or nearly all the fertilizer on the potatoes labor 
is reduced and all crops are well fed. It sometimes 
happens that extra fertilizer or nitrate of soda is used 
on wheat or grass. Mr. Lewis says that whenever the 
potato crop is unusually heavy he uses fertilizer on 
the wheat. The theory of this rotation is easily un¬ 
derstood. The wheat, straw and cornstalks returned 
as manure and the sod and stubble provide humus or 
vegetable matter. The fertilizer and the comparative¬ 
ly small amount of purchased grain supply the actual 
plant food which is added to the soil. Potatoes being 
the chief money crop receive most of the fertilizer, 
while the wheat and grass which follow make ample 
growth on what the potatoes leave. 
When we first began to report this farm but little 
beside work stock was kept. The stalks were sold or 
thrown into the barnyard to be trampled by the stock. 
In some cases they were spread on the sod and plowed 
under. Finally a creamery was built at Cranbury and 
Mr. Lewis became convinced that it would pay to save 
the feeding value in the stalks. So a small but choice 
herd of cows was secured. A silo was built and a fair 
share of the corn cut into it. The dry stalks from 
which the grain has been husked are shredded and fed 
with the silage. In this way there is more hay for 
sale, and, as bran, cotton-seed meal and other nitro¬ 
genous grain is bought the manure is not only in bet¬ 
ter mechanical condition but stronger as well. In 
spite of this change, which simply means a better 
method of using up the cornstalks, the same amount 
of fertilizer is used on potatoes. Mr. Lewis is con¬ 
vinced that, one year with another, it pays to use a 
large dressing of fertilizer, and he has no thought of 
using less. It is not likely that the herd of dairy cows 
will be greatly increased. Such a herd is very useful 
for providing Winter work and utilizing the corn¬ 
stalks, but in Summer the cows interfere somewhat 
with the regular farm work. Growing green fodder 
breaks up the rotation more or less, since, on such a 
farm, it would not pay to give much space to pasture. 
The Summer silo would seem to be just the thing for 
such a farm, and Mr. Lewis thinks of filling a small 
silo this Fall for next Summer’s feeding. As it is 
green feed must be cut and carried to the cows. This 
year part of the wheat and meadow grass was cut and 
LEROY S. ROGERS-A VETERAN FARMER. FlG. 107. 
fed. This takes considerable time, and with milking, 
cuts short a day which should be given to cultivating 
and hoeing. 
I visited the farm this year on June 18. The season 
has been very dry, with hardly a heavy shower since 
the middle of April. This has cut the grass down 
severely and the hay crop will be the lightest for some 
years. The wheat seemed good for 30 bushels per 
acre. The corn was cut down by a late frost, but was 
growing so vigorously that the frost will be forgot¬ 
ten by the middle of July. The potatoes this year are 
on what Mr. Lewis calls the poorest potato soil of the 
farm. As everyone knows, different fields on the same 
farm show clearly as we pass through the rotation 
their preference for certain crops. In spite of this 
unsuitable soil and the bad season I thought the pota¬ 
toes looked as well as the last year’s crop did at much 
the same date. They had been tilled with great care 
and thoroughly sprayed to kill the bugs. Good seed 
was used, and there w r as fertilizer enough under it to 
push it along. A tool much in use in this section is 
the Riggs plow or cultivator. It is a stout frame of 
boards or plank with handles behind. Adjustable teeth 
are fitted to the lower part of the frame, which strad¬ 
dles the row—the horses walking on either side as 
they do on a riding cultivator. This tool is under 
perfect control; it can be easily guided by one hand, 
and a steady team will do good work with it. Mr. 
Lewis says he prefers it to any riding cultivator. I 
liked its work so well that I bought one to try on my 
stony hillsides. 
Farmers will ask what such farming as this 
amounts to. It is generally supposed that fertilizer 
farming is expensive—as it is thought that plant food 
bought in the bag costs more than the manure made 
at home. The following statement of sales shows 
what this farm turned off in the year ending March 
1, 1892: 
Milk . 
Corn . 
Sales 
From Lewis Farm. 
1902. 
. $541.22 
. LS5.90 
1901. 
$696.21 
251.76 
54.00 
831.81 
129.54 
282.57 
829.54 
Calves and 
Hay . 
Pork . 
COWS. 
. 106.74 
. 767.62 
. 54.95 
Wheat _ 
. 330.29 
Potatoes .. 
Sundries 
. 1,864.82 
. 4.50 
Total .... 
.$3,856.04 
I gave some of the items for the previous year for 
comparison. The total sales for 1891 were $3,100.18. 
Most farmers complain of last year’s crops; in fact, it 
will pass with most of us as a hard season. But for 
the potato crop, it would have been so with Mr. Lewis, 
but he happened to have potatoes that year on the 
most suitable field for them. This meant a fair crop 
at least, and the general shortage gave high prices. 
But what does such farming cost? The fertilizer bill 
for the last crop year was $509.12. Feed cost $151.30 
and seed $183.87. Other large items of farm expense 
were labor, $400; taxes, $105.20; new tools, $27.62; tool 
repairs, $33.16. These expenses will seem heavy to 
many 70-acre farmers, but the sales are large enough 
fully to warrant them. Since Mr. Lewis has had the 
farm he has doubtless sold over $75,000 worth of 
grain, hay and potatoes from it, and the soil is now 
more productive than ever before! This would seem 
to settle the question as to whether a farm can be pro¬ 
fitably maintained on chemical fertilizers. True, a 
just share of the farm’s prosperity must be credited 
to the cows. They really added nothing to the actual 
fertility of the farm save a part of the $151.30 worth 
of purchased grain. No one ever heard of the manure 
from a dozen cows furnishing such a crop as is here 
recorded. The cows gave feed value rather than ma¬ 
norial value. The backbone of this farming is as it 
has been, the heavy use of high-grade chemical ferti¬ 
lizers. 
This “chemicals and clover” system works admir- 4 
ably at Cranbury, but we must remember that the 
conditions there are just right for it; level, easily- 
worked land under high cultivation with good mar¬ 
kets for staple crops. These are a few of the condi¬ 
tions that must go with “chemicals and clover.” 
II. w. c. 
FEEDING BIRDS ON CHERRIES. 
I have made it a practice in planting cherry or¬ 
chards to put in a quantity of trees of the early varie¬ 
ties of sweet cherries, such as Coe’s Transparent, Gov. 
Wood and May Duke. These trees are given up en¬ 
tirely to the birds. We never pick them and never 
allow a bird to be frightened from the trees. They 
live upon these, and by the time our more valuable 
cherries, such as the Black Tartarian, Black Eagle, 
Napoleon and Windsor are ripe we have no trouble 
from the robins. There will not be even two per cent 
of these fine cherries picked or damaged by the birds. 
If every one would make it a point to put in a few 
extra trees of these early, juicy, sweet cherries they 
would have little trouble with their more valuable 
varieties. Rather than kill off the birds I would plant 
cherries and give them the entire crop. It is one of 
the great drawbacks to fruit culture to-day, that we 
have so few birds inhabiting our orchards, in conse¬ 
quence of which we are forced to carry out the expen¬ 
sive process of spraying, without which, comparatively 
little fruit of value could be produced. It is a great 
mistake on the part of fruit growers to kill off the 
birds, and I find it not only economical to plant cherry 
trees for them, but I find that it brings larger numbers 
to my place, and they are very helpful in keeping 
down many insects that are not destroyed by spray¬ 
ing. GEO. T. I’OWELL. 
A VETERAN FARMER. 
Among those who have given substantial reasons 
for taking The R. N.-Y. is Leroy S. Rogers, of Ant¬ 
werp, N. Y. We are pleased to print a good picture of 
Mr. Rogers at Fig. 197. He was born in Hebron, 
Washington County, N. Y., in 1819, came to Antwerp 
in 1828; with his father settled on a farm 2% miles 
north of Antwerp village, and retired from the farm 
in 1876, building a house in Antwerp, where he still 
resides. A son resides on Clover Leaf Farm. For 
13 years he has been an assessor of the town, and has 
taken The R. N.-Y. near 50 years for a guide. 
It makes one feel that he is still a pretty young 
man to have a veteran like this come forward with a 
record of 50 years as a subscriber! What a record of 
growth and development that is to a progressive and 
thoughtful farmer of New York State! One of the 
most inspiring things in our business is the fact that 
we meet so many old men who, like Mr. Rogers, know 
the paper from its infancy, and can say that it has 
grown in years with them and still kept young. 
THE APPLE BOX.—Judging from the letters re¬ 
ceived, eastern fruit men are taking increased inter¬ 
est in the boxes or apple package. Fig. 198, repro¬ 
duced from The R. N.-Y. of March 8, 1902, shows the 
typical Pacific coast apple package in which Hundreds 
of bushels of Oregon and California apples were re¬ 
ceived at New York during the past season. The in¬ 
side measurements of this box are 20% x 11 x 9% 
inches. The ends are three-quarter-inch material, 
and all four sides are one-fourth inch hard pine. The 
apples may be put in tightly, and the thin springy 
sides hold them firmly without bruising. The box is 
put together with 32 rough wire nails 1 % inch long. 
This package has been carefully studied out by the 
shippers, and gives satisfaction all around. 
