1002 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
563 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
organic Manure.—Y ou spoke of using 
manure in an apple orchard, would you 
use it heavily in a peach orchard? 
No, I should have qualified that state¬ 
ment somewhat. I have mulched my little 
trees with manure, but as for using as 
much manure in a peach orchard as among 
large apple trees, I surely would not do it. 
Why not? Are not trees alike in their 
food requirements? 
1 do not think they are any more than all 
animals are alike in their feeding habits. 
We might feed the hogs just as we feed 
the horses, but from my experience it 
would be a mistake to do so. I regard the 
apple tree as most like the hog. It is vig¬ 
orous and strong, naturally long-lived and 
capable of absorbing a vast amount of 
plant food. The peach on the other hand 
is far more delicate and too much nitrogen 
will force it beyond its powers. 
Can you prove that? 
1 am not going to try to prove it. Some 
things are so evident that they prove them¬ 
selves as they stand. It has been observed 
by the scientific men that peach, plum and 
orange trees cannot stand too much or¬ 
ganic nitrogen any more than some high- 
strung people can stand prosperity. Look 
at any peach tree growing near a barnyard 
for an instance of what I mean. It may 
be large and fine-looking for a time, but 
sooner or later you will find it covered 
with “gum pockets” and slimy with gum. 
Stable manure contains large quantities of 
organic nitrogen, and, as usually applied, 
you do not know how much you put on. 
By using it heavily you are more than 
likely to stimulate the peach trees beyond 
their power. The tougher apple trees will 
not suffer as they can stand the pressure. 
I believe in putting peach trees on soil of 
light or medium fertility, and then feeding 
them what they need as indicated by their 
behavior and appearance. I would rather, 
if I could, use nitrate of soda on the peach 
orchard than stable manure or other or¬ 
ganic nitrogen. 
You talk about “organic nitrogen”—what 
do you mean by it? 
Well, I don’t pretend to be a chemist, but 
as I understand it, organic nitrogen is ni¬ 
trogen combined with some organized sub¬ 
stance, by which I mean some substance 
that is the direct result of growth. Clover 
hay, bran or cornmeal contain nitrogen, 
but it is in combination with carbon and 
other substances which were taken out of 
the soil and air by the plant, and put to¬ 
gether as organized bodies. Stable manure 
is the refuse from such vegetable food, the 
liquids being digested and available to 
plants while the solids are ground up and 
thoroughly soaked. In order to feed the 
plant this organic nitrogen must be 
“broken up,” that is, separated from the 
other substances that hold it. For example, 
some years ago, before you were married, 
your wife was held in her own family by 
ties which bound her to father, mother, 
brother and sister. She was organic nitro¬ 
gen so far as feeding your home was^ con¬ 
cerned, for you couldn't utilize the other 
members of the family any more than a 
tree or a cornstalk can use the substances 
which hold the nitrogen in the organized 
tissue of plant or animal. If you are able 
to let the bacteria of affection and respect 
break off part of those family ties, the old 
organization is broken up and the young 
woman becomes “available.” Now bacteria 
break up the organic manures and pre¬ 
pare the nitrogen so that growing plants 
can use it. When peach trees are fed loo 
heavily on nitrogen they act like some men 
who win their wives too easily. 
But why should this organic nitrogen 
hurt a peach tree when nitrate of soda 
does not? 
1 did not say that nitrate will not hurt 
the tree. It wili if you use too much of it. 
The trouble with using manure is that you 
do not know how much nitrogen you put 
on, and are liable to use too much. With 
the nitrate you can tell just what you are 
doing. That is one reason why I prefer ma¬ 
nure for such crops as corn or large apple 
trees. But I am getting far out of my 
line, as I am no scientist. I went to a 
great dinner once and ate small quantities 
of such dishes as terrapin and canvas-back 
duck! I remembered that food with pain 
for a week while a lot of old fellows who 
take little exercise ate five times as much 
of it as I did and had only feelings of plea¬ 
sure to follow. When some one gives me 
a good reason why such men are able to 
out-eat a farmer I will try to tell why a 
peach tree goes wrong on organic nitrogen! 
While you are about it tell us why hog 
manure does so much damage to some 
crops! That seems to contain some of your 
“organic nitrogen” that disorganizes many 
crops. 
Who says it does? I have found hog ma¬ 
nure very useful except on crops like pota¬ 
toes, turnips and cabbage. It was not the 
organic nitrogen that did the damage but 
germs of rot and disease which were in the 
manure. The hog gets much waste and re¬ 
fuse among which there are quite sure to 
be the germs of rot, scab .and club-root, 
and these often start in the crop on which 
the manure is put. That seems to be what 
has given hog manure a bad name. 
Home Notes.—I have little to say about 
the joy of life this week. The Madame 
and the children are still away. We have 
at least one drenching shower every day, 
and the fog hangs close to us. The wind 
is so lazy that the windmill stands still 
and the soil is like a sponge. The whole 
air is full of that slimy, penetrating mois¬ 
ture that eats in and melts off the very 
foundation of cheerfulness. Yet, the hay 
and grain are safely housed; the corn has 
been cultivated; the cows get good feed in 
the pasture, and we are all well. We will 
leave all the Hope Farm “kicking” to Jul'a 
—the black cow who would undoubtedly 
kick if she were to be hung! What a glor¬ 
ious time we shall have when this weather 
finally dries up. Why three months from 
now we may be calling for a rain to lay 
the dust! Come, gentlemen, let’s brace up! 
The wife and children didn’t cause this wet 
spell. No use hounding them. And you, 
too, ladies, it might not be polite to ask 
you to brace up also, but father and the 
boys didn’t order this rain on purpose to 
annoy you! 
Stone Wai.ls.—N o, this is not the season 
for sitting on stone walls, unless one has a 
rubber suit and an umbrella. Who ever felt 
like sermonizing in such an outfit? Our 
Connecticut friend who writes the follow¬ 
ing gives us a practical sermon: 
“I, too, used to sit on the stone wall on 
Sunday and think matters over until I 
dumped the tarnal thing into the swamp, 
and now grow the best hay on the land 
where it stood. The wall was in the way 
and a harbor for skunks, woodchucks and 
bushes.” G. b. H. 
That is an epistle to the Timothy that 
grows on that ground—worth taking a text 
from. A big stone wall in a nuisance. Why 
then do I not hustle mine underground. 
There is too much of it to hustle. It does 
not greatly interfere with the fruit or¬ 
chards which I intend to plant in the fields 
near it, and I believe that some day th'.s 
stone will have some value. I think it is 
only a question of time before a new road 
will be run along our ridge, if those stones 
are to be put underground I would like to 
have them in a road bed. They will be like 
feathers to those who use the road. 
Wild Carrots.—T hat same Connecticut 
man writes this: 
“Please tell the Hope Farmer not to burn 
his wild carrots this year, but cut and cure 
them as he would hay, offer them to old 
Major or any other good horse, and see if 
they are not eaten with a relish. When i 
first bought my farm it was white with 
carrots. I have always cut and fed them, 
and I have never seen a horse refuse to 
eat them. I was simple enough to burn 
them one year when 1 first began farming. 
I do not have any now to speak of, and I 
have never since the first year or two tried 
to get rid of them. I try to keep rny land 
so it will produce a crop of rowen and feed 
that to the cows, and if there are any car¬ 
rots in it 1 give them to the horses, for the 
cows won’t eat them. I think the root is 
worth quite a little for the carrots d*e and 
leave a long tap root in the ground to de¬ 
cay, and why does not that long tap root 
draw the elements from below as well as 
clover or Alfalfa? It certainly does not turn 
up its toes and die like Alfalfa when it 
strikes the hardpan. iff was sure 1. could 
get pure seed 1 would sow a small piece 
just to see what it would do.” 
I know nothing about this, but it looks 
reasonable and is worth trying. We have 
cut and burned the carrots and greatly 
lessened their number. 
Farm Work.— Three fairly pleasant days 
gave us a chance to run over the corn. 
This was badly needed, for the ground was 
sodden with moisture and the weeds had 
made an awful start. Iri an emergency we 
are able to put four horses at cultivating— 
two on the Riggs plow and two single. The 
Riggs plow does fair work at haling up, 
and in a wet season like this one, when 
the weeds are large, does fine work in the 
middles. On our stony land, however, too 
much time is lost in repairing breaks. The 
teeth or plows are rigid and when they 
strike a large stone something must break. 
We tried fastening with wrought nails but 
this broke the castings. Wooden pegs are 
best, but it often happens that three or 
four are broken off in one long row and five 
minutes or more are often required to put 
another in. This loses too much time. . 
. . . Cleaning out the strawberries has 
proved a tremendous job. The rain has 
produced an awful crop of weeds and the 
runners have made such a growth that the 
weeds must be pulled by hand. We drive 
the big wagon right into the patch, throw 
the weeds into it, and haul them to the 
hog house, where the sows make them over 
into purebred pork. This is the hardest 
way to settle the weed question, but it is 
the surest. Who ever knew of a legitimate 
sure thing that wasn’t hard for some¬ 
body? . . . The potatoes are turning out 
a fine yield but scab is spreading rapidly. 
Is it not worst where the manure was 
used? At present I should say, yes! . . 
. . The sugar beets are growing famous¬ 
ly. They have been thinned and weeded 
and cultivated. We shall see whether they 
will pay for all this hard work. The scien¬ 
tific men tell us that sunshine is absolute¬ 
ly necessary for the full growth of plants 
that produce green coloring matter! How 
do they get around the fact that ragweed 
grows perfectly in the dullest season? 
II. w. o. 
WHAT ABOUT BIO STRAWBERRY 
YIELDS ? 
The article about strawberries under 
Pluralisms in The R. N.-Y. for August 2 
differs somewhat from my own experi¬ 
ence. For about 25 years I have grown 
strawberries in a small way by many 
different systems, but I have found none 
more satisfactory than the annual sys¬ 
tem—that is, after the plants have 
ceased fruiting, about July 15, new 
plants having taken root between the 
rows, the old plants are dug up and 
thrown away, weeds cleaned out, the 
old rows thoroughly spaded up and fer¬ 
tilized, the new plants are transplanted 
with a trowel with the earth attached, 
eight or 10 inches apart, double ranks, 
and good growth insured for the rest of 
the season. Transplanting may be con¬ 
tinued till about September 1. By this 
method 1 have never failed to secure a 
fine crop annually off the same ground. 
Vigorous growers like the Brandywine 
are especially adapted to this system. Of 
the newer varieties I find the Brandy¬ 
wine the most satisfactory in all re¬ 
spects—having tested 25 or 30 of so- 
called marvels, to be discarded one after 
the other. 
On page 537 L. H. K. says 500 bushels 
(15,000 quarts) can be grown upon an 
acre. In a recent number of The R. N.- 
Y. Kevitt estimates 27,000 quarts to the 
acre! All this may be true. For several 
years the Massachusetts Experiment 
Station has given special attention to 
the cultivation of strawberries by all 
known methods, testing several hundred 
varieties in plots and in field. Its Fruit 
Bulletin, issued in 13118, gives product of 
10 best varieties out of 200. Largest 
yield per acre, Clyde, 8,441 quarts; next 
laigest, Parker Earle, 6,525 quarts; 
Brandywine, 4,513 quarts; Glen Mary, 
3,765 quarts—lowest in the list of 10 
best varieties. Brandywine ranks high¬ 
est in quality, and one of the highest in 
vigor. “The plots were fertilized, first 
by deeply plowing under about eight 
cords of stable manure to the acre, and 
then thoroughly fitted, using 200 pounds 
sulphate of potash, 200 pounds acid 
phosphate and 150 pounds nitrate of 
soda per acre. The strawberry field was 
fertilized witli about five cords of stable 
manure deeply plowed under, then 
dressed with two tons of Canada ashes 
and 100 pounds nitrate of soda, 165 
pounds sulphate of potash and 165 
pounds acid phosphate per acre.” I have 
never been able to grow more than at the 
rate of 5,000 or 6,000 quarts to the acre, 
and should be happy to have L. H. K. ox- 
others tell us how they get 15,000 or 
even 10,000, to say nothing of 27,000. 
But perhaps our New England soil and 
climate are not equal to it. n. h. b. 
Connecticut. 
REAP 
YOUR FULL 
[EWARD 
by using sufficient 
POTASH 
in your fertilizer. 
“Potash in Agriculture,” 
“Farmers’ Guide,” “To¬ 
bacco Culture,” “ Cotton 
Culture”—are books which 
we mail free to farmers. 
Address 
GERMAN KAI.I WORKS 
93 Nassau St., New York 
POTATOES 
You can’t afford to dig 
your crop by hand when 
you can get such a clean 
and rapid implement as 
DOWDEN POTATO DIGGER 
Easily operated and get* them all. Fully guaranteed. 
Catalog tree. Dowika Mfg. Co., Box 22 Prairie City, la. 
Original vs. Imitation 
The original patent 
“MILLER BEAN HARVESTER,” 
made by the Le Roy I’low Co., Le Roy, N Y , has had 
such a phetiomeual sale in all BEAN RAISING 
STATUS, that othe’s are making Imitations claim¬ 
ing them “just as good ” Farmers, don’t be deceived 
The genuine "Miller Bean Harvester” is covered by 
United States patents, and you cannot afford to pur¬ 
chase a machine that infringes on other makers' 
patents. 
Y r u can buy the original “Miller Bean Harvester” 
with 1902 Improvements, as cheap as the imitations 
of our old machine. If your nearest implement 
dealer cannot furnish you with the genuine “Miller, ' 
write for catalogue and price and you can then learn 
something also of the new “Le Roy Blows.” 
LE ROY PLOW COMPANY, 
61 Lake St., Le Roy, N. v . 
Seed 
Prepare by 
buying the 
standard 
Spangler 
Low-Down 
Grain and 
Fertilizer 
DRILL 
Bows all grain and gr&tii seeds. Force feed fertilizer spreads evenly all 
lumpy, (lamp or dry fertilizers. High wheels, broad tires, low wood or 
steel frame, light draft. Fully warranted. Write for free catalogue. 
SPANGLER MFG. 00. 505 Queen St,, York, Pa. 
Straight Straw, Rye and Wheat Thrasher. 
Combined with Spike-Tooth Oat 
and Wheat Thrasher. 
Our Machine will 
thrash Rye or Wheat 
without bruising or 
breaking the straw, and 
tie It again in perfect 
bundles Can bechanged 
In tifteen minutes to a 
8 pike-toothOut, Wheat, 
Buckwheat, Barley and Corn Thrasher with stacker 
attached. Will thrash more grain with less power 
than any Thrasher built. 8 eud for catalogue B to 
the GRANT-FKRRIS COMPANY, Troy. N Y. 
HIGH GRADE FERTILIZERS 
OUR PRICES LOW. QUALITY PURE. 
Write for Memorandum Book, Prices and Samples. 
The Scientific Fertilizer Co. p - °- B ° tts°b5'rc, p*. 
WATER. 
If you want water only when the wind blows a windmill will do your work 
and cost less money than our Rider and Ericsson Hot-Air Pumps, but If you want 
water every day while yourflowers are growing and do not want your pump blown 
down when the wind blows too hard, no pump In the world can equal ours. We 
have sold about 20.000 of them duriug the past twenty-tlvo years, which Is proof 
that we are not making wild statements. 
F Our Catalogue “C 4” will tell you all about them. Write to nearest store. 
i Rider-Ericsson Engine Company, 
35 Warren St.. Ni W York. 
239 Franklin St., Boston 
092 Craig St.. Montreal. P Q 
Tenlente-Rey 71, Havana, Cuba. 
22a Pitt St., Sydney, N S. W. 
40 Dearborn St. Chicago 
40 N. 7th St., Philadelphia. 
