1899 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
2C3 
Cow Peas in Massachusetts. 
It. If., Boston, Mass. —Can Black cow peas be 
sown as far north as Boston with success, to be 
used to fertilize land that has not been plowed 
for 50 years, previous to setting to apple trees ? 
What fertilizers would it be best to use, and 
would there be a gain in thus treating the land, 
rather than to set to trees without one season 
working and planting to peas ? 
Ans —Yes, if sown about June 1. 
They will improve the land, and fit it 
well for an orchard. A fertilizer con¬ 
taining about two per cent of nitrogen, 
seven of phosphoric acid and six to eight 
of potash would give a good growth of 
peas. They will grow well without 
nitrogen, but we prefer to use a little. 
How “Seedless” Fruits Come. 
P. F. W., Chicago, 111.—I cannot conceive how 
the first coreless pear like Lincoln Coreless came 
into existence without a seed. Will you explain ? 
Ans. —Whether in the animal, vegeta¬ 
ble or mineral world, Nature is always 
changing. Everything is changing un¬ 
der natural laws. Man takes advantage 
of these changes to change them still 
further, and in the direction of his needs. 
Some fruits naturally have fewer and 
smaller seeds than others. We select 
them for propagation. Again we select 
from their progeny the fruit containing 
smaller and fewer seeds, until at length, 
we obtain a seedless sort. So it happens 
that we have seedless bananas, oranges, 
grapes, apples, pears, etc. Years ago 
potatoes formed and matured a multi¬ 
plicity of seed-balls or apples—the true 
fruit of the potato vine. Now we rarely 
see a seed-ball. The reason is that po¬ 
tatoes have long been cultivated for the 
tubers. The tubers have been increased 
in number and size by selection, and the 
vines give to them the nutriment which 
the wild potato gave to the potato fruit. 
Cow Peas in Northern New York. 
B. T. S., Potsdam, N. T— Is the cow pea of 
greater fertilizing value than the varieties 
grown here for grain ? Would the severity of our 
Winters prohibit its use here ? Is Crimson clover 
of greater fertilizing value than Medium or Mam¬ 
moth clover ? 
Ans.—T he southern cow pea has given 
good results as far north as Geneva, N. 
Y. It is a question, however, whether 
it will prove much more valuable than 
the common field bean in your country. 
Mr. F. E. Dawley tells us that he has 
used the common field bean broadcasted 
like cow peas, and thinks that, in north¬ 
ern New York, it is just as good for a 
fertilizer. This would make a good ex¬ 
periment for our stations. The chief 
value of Crimson clover is that it grows 
between two other field crops, without 
interfering with either. The Red clover 
occupies the land entirely. The Crimson 
clover may be sown in the corn at the 
last cultivation, and will make its growth 
through the late Fall and early SpriDg, 
so as to be plowed under in time for the 
next year’s crop. We consider the Crim¬ 
son clover fully equal to the Red clover, 
as a fertilizer; in fact, it seems to decay 
quicker, and gives the best of satisfac¬ 
tion when plowed in by the middle of 
May. It is hardly fair to compare the 
two clovers, however, since their habits 
of growth are entirely distinct. 
Spring or Fall Plowing. 
iV. O. It., Fredonia, N. Y. — I wish to know more 
of the relative merits of Fall and Spring plowing 
on greensward and corn or potato fields. It 
occurs to me that the case might be stated as 
follows: Advantages in Fall plowing—1. Getting 
ahead of your work. Fall is not so busy a time 
as Spring. 2. Sod, grass, weeds and potato tops 
will rot and form a mulch. 3. Some say that 
wire-worms are less likely to work Is this cor¬ 
rect ? Disadvantages—1. Water and wind may 
carry away fertilizing materials on the surface. 
2. The soil heaves. 3. Manure cannot be plowed 
under, but must be spread on the surface, where 
it will wash, and cannot become so well mixed 
with the soil. 
Ans. —What you call disadvantage No 
2, is really an advantage. The ground 
“ heaves ” when it freezes. When water 
freezes, it increases slightly in volume, 
so that when the soil is filled with water, 
it is forced apart and up by frost. This 
is usually a good thing for sod ground 
It lets in the air, and tears the roots and 
other organic matter apart. No fer¬ 
tility will be lost in this way. No gen¬ 
eral rule can be given for Spring or Fall 
plowing of sod. In our own practice 
we would not Fall plow except in case 
of some very tough old meadow or pas¬ 
ture. Generally speaking, we would 
rather plow the sod after mowing, and 
sow cow peas or Crimson clover for a 
crop to hold the land during Fall and 
Winter to be plowed under in Spring 
On rolling land, there would be consid¬ 
erable wash of Fall-plowed sod. By using 
a disk or a Cutaway in the Spring, you 
can chop up the Fall-plowed sod, and 
work in the manure. 
The Manurial Value of Bran. 
T. C. F., Sheridan, Ind .—To what extent does 
the feeding of wheat bran to cows, sheep and 
horses increase the value of the manure above 
the feeding of corn, equal weights of each? Is 
the increase mainly iu solids or liquids? I buy 
bran at $12 per ton. What is the probable value 
per ton of cow manure, the cows being fed slightly 
more than two gallons of bran and three ears of 
corn, per day, with all the corn stover and second- 
growth clover hay they will eat ? 
Ans. —It is impossible to give exact 
figures in reply to this question. A fair 
idea may be obtained from the following 
data : 
PLANT FOOD IN ONE TON. 
Nitrogen. . P. acid. Potash. 
Pounds. Pounds. Pounds. 
Corn. 3614 14 8 
Wheat bran... 53*4 58 32 
Thus it is easy to see that the ton 
of bran contains 17 pounds of nitro¬ 
gen, 44 of phosphoric acid, and 24 of 
potash more than the ton of corn. 
How much of this is retained by the 
animal and how much goes into the ma 
nure ? With the cow, probably 25 per 
cent of the nitrogen is used in making 
milk and growth, and on an average, 
about seven per cent of the phosphoric 
acid and potash. The difference in di¬ 
gestibility is somewhat in favor of the 
bran. The greater part of the nitrogen 
is passed away in the urine, while but a 
trace of the phosphoric acid passes in the 
liquid. The greater part of the potash 
is passed in the urine, that of the sheep 
being particularly rich in this substance. 
You will understand, of course, that the 
urine contains the most available part of 
the manure. The plant-food it contains 
has been digested—has passed through 
the blood and kidneys of the animals. 
The solids have been acted on by the di¬ 
gestive acids but have not been fully 
digested. At $12 per ton, bran is a cheap 
and serviceable food. We would not un¬ 
dertake to figure out the value of a ton 
of such manure. Prof. I. P. Roberts 
estimates the value of a ton of good cow 
manure at $2,43. To put it another way, 
he found that, in the manure voided by 
a cow during one whole year, there were 
170.6 pounds of nitrogen, 26 pounds of 
phosphoric acid, and 107,6 pounds of 
potash. At the time these figures were 
made, it would have cost $32.25 to buy 
this plant-food in the form of chemical 
fertilizers. Since that time, the prices 
for chemicals have been reduced. 
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write: for 
SAMPLE STAY 
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r Laying aside all speculation these remain as the 
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t wlth a light,softper- 
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Box 24. Winchester, Indiana, U. S. A. 
SBil 
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sends us a photograph of a field of bar¬ 
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years.— Adv. 
• ienti 
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Address DUANE H. NASH, Sole Mfr., MILLINGTON, N. J., or CHICAGO- ILL. 
PLEASE MENTION THIS PAPKE.. 
