1899 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
3oi 
Starting Grass on Sour Land. 
G. W. II., Brewster, N. Y.— 19 there any fertilizer 
that will take the place of barnyard manure in 
building up a run-down field? I have a field of 
eight acres a mile from my manure pile, and not 
conveniently eituated to draw manure upon. It 
is a medium to light loam, and used to cut good 
crops of bay when cattle were kept upon it all 
Winter and fed from the stack in “ the good old 
times.” Nov it does not pay to mow. I have 
seeded it twice, but failed to get a good catch. I 
want to convert it again into meadow, but do not 
■srant to spend more for fertilizer than the hay 
will be worth. Would clover benefit such land ? 
I am afraid there is not enough body in any 
chemical fertilizer to last more than one season. 
Wbat do you advise ? 
Ans —The chances are that this field 
needs both lime and organic matter. As 
we have frequently explained, much of 
our eastern soil is deficient in lime. 
There was little lime in the original reck 
from which it was made, and many years 
of continued grass culture have left the 
land in an acid condition. One of the 
best indications that the land is sour is 
this very failure to secure a catch of 
grass and clover. On a field of this char¬ 
acter, we would break up the sod, and 
use about one ton of air-slaked lime per 
acre, well harrowed into the upper soil; 
then sow cow peas about June 1, broad¬ 
cast at the rate of five pecks per acre. 
The following Spring, plow these under 
and sow cow peas again; plow them 
under about September 1, and work up 
the ground thoroughly, taking care to 
get the soil completely pulverized, and 
then sow grass seed, using a fair dress¬ 
ing of a mixture of one part muriate of 
potash and three parts fine ground bone. 
In the Spring, sow clover in the usual 
way. The chances are that, with this 
treatment, you will get the ground suc¬ 
cessfully back into grass. The same 
thing could be done with one crop of 
cow peas, keeping the ground worked 
constantly through the Summer, so as to 
have it thoroughly fined before grass- 
seeding time. Our experience has been 
that chemical fertilizers will supply all 
the plant food that is found in stable 
manure, but on most soils, we must, also, 
find a substitute for the humus or vege¬ 
table matter contained in the manure. 
Cow peas and clover, where they can be 
grown, will, we think, give a fair sub¬ 
stitute for the organic matter in manure. 
Long Haul for Fertilizer. 
C. W. IJ , Bland, Va —I have a compost heap 
made of cow manure, hog manure and rich 
earth; perhaps there will be two tons of it after 
it is sifted and dried so that it will pass through 
a fertilizer drill. I want to make my own fer¬ 
tilizer for corn and potatoes. What shall I buy 
in concentrated form to mix with this compost ? 
I am 21 miles from the railroad, and it costs 50 
cents per 100 pounds to haul from there, so this 
is a big item in the cost of several tons of fer¬ 
tilizer, besides the freight charges. 
Ans. — Under these conditions, we 
would not buy anything but muriate of 
potash and dissolved phosphate rock. 
You are so far from the railroad that it 
would not pay to haul either mixed fer¬ 
tilizers or nitrogen to your farm. If it 
is possible to obtain either wood ashes 
or cotton-hull ashes, use them in the 
place of muriate of potash. We would 
use the potash and rock on cow peas, 
putting a portion of the farm each year 
into that crop, letting the' vines rot on 
the ground, and plowing them under, to 
be followed by potatoes or corn. At the 
last cultivation of the corn, sow Crim¬ 
son clover, to be worked in with a culti¬ 
vator. In this way, using the potash 
and rock on the cow peas and clover in 
connection with the corn, you will great¬ 
ly reduce your fertilizer bill, and slowly, 
but surely, bring the farm up to a good 
state of fertility. 
Cow Pea and Canada Field Pea. 
./. B. K., Parsippany, N. ./.—Is the Black south¬ 
ern cow pea better to sow for early feeding than 
the Canada pea? Would you sow the same 
quantity, and with oats ? 
Ans—I t is a great mistake to compare 
- the southern cow pea with the Canada 
field pea, either in time for sowing, or 
as a fodder crop. The cow pea is really 
a bean, very tender and easily killed by 
frost. If you sow it with oats, the 
chances are that you will never see a 
spire of it above ground. It will rot in 
the soil just as corn would under simi¬ 
lar circumstances. The Canada pea is a 
better fodder plant than the cow pea ; 
the latter makes a thick, coarse vine, 
very much like a bean vine. Stock will 
eat it, when well cured, but we con¬ 
sider that its chief value is as a manurial 
plant to be plowed directly into the 
ground. Northern farmers will surely 
be disappointed in the southern cow pea 
if they imagine it is the same as the Can¬ 
ada field pea. Do not sow it early ! Ten 
days after corn planting is early enough. 
Our advice would be to plow the entire 
crop into the ground on poor soil, and 
not attempt to use it as a fodde* crop. 
Thick Potato Seeding and Blight. 
S. M., Cornwall, Conn. — Has the manner of 
planting potatoes in drills, with heavy fertilizing 
and thick seeding, anything to do with the prev¬ 
alence of the blight and rot ? Years ago, when 
planting was done in hills, with cultivation both 
ways, sunshine and air could get all around the 
p'ants, and there was little complaint of the dis¬ 
ease. Last Summer, after our heavy rains, when 
there had been two and three days of sunshine, 
on going through my potato field, I found at the 
base of the stalk that the ground was still wet 
and moldy, the growth being too heavy to admit 
sufficient air and sunshine. The best piece of 
potatoes I ever raised was grown in the follow¬ 
ing manner: The ground was well prepared and 
fertilized. The furrows were made north and 
south, three feet from center to center, and cross- 
marked the same distance. The potatoes from 
seed selected when they were dug, were cut to 
single eyes, and four pieces were placed at the 
intersection of furrow and mark, about six 
inches apart, in the form of a square. They 
were cultivated both wavs, and easily kept clean. 
At the last cultivation, a broad, Hat hill was 
made. Every hill had four strong single stalks, 
and it took only from 8 to 12 hills to fill a 
bushel basket rounding full. I think the seeding 
as heavy as in drilling, as it amounted to one 
eye in every nine inches. If thick planting has 
anything to do with encouraging these diseases, 
would it not be better to give more air and sun¬ 
light, even though it, in the long run, took a lit¬ 
tle more land to accomplish the same results ? 
Ans —It seems to me that the more 
room you give a potato plant, the less 
likely it is to rot. Heavy fertilizing will 
tend to produce large vines and a lack of 
circulation of air, and create the condi¬ 
tions most favorable for the rot. Hill¬ 
ing is a good prevention of the rot, for 
the spores reach the tubers by falling to 
the ground, and being washed down 
through the soil. A ridge will carry 
them to one side. In short, the open 
top and the mound at the base will tend 
to diminish the blight, while the flat 
culture with thick mat of foliage will 
induce it. Let the bless, d sunshine into 
shaded ground. Heavy nitrogenous 
manuring will tend to increase the 
chances of blight in potato as well as in 
pear. bybon d. iialstkd. 
Keeping Bees in the House. 
D 1) L., Westfield, Mass —I-wish to make a 
place to keep bees in the gable end of my tool- 
house. I would like to keep them in one long 
hive altogether. Can I do so and have them do 
well ? If so, how should I build it ? 
Ans —The plan of keeping bees alluded 
to in the above is not practiced by many 
of the modern bee keepers. There are, 
however, scattered over the country, a 
few who keep bees in attics, woodsheds 
or other places on the plan described. 
There is no need of making the hive very 
large, say not larger than of a capacity 
to hold three or four bushels, for no 
more bees will ever be produced than 
those from a single queen. No very 
large yield of honey is ever secured in 
this way in a single season ; but if the 
honey is not removed, it often accumu¬ 
lates until there is quite a quantity to 
show to visitors and others. There is 
one thing to be said in its favor, where 
only enough honey is wanted for family 
use; the honey can be left right in the 
hive all the while, and the bees will take 
better care of it than it would get else¬ 
where. I once visited a place where the 
mistress of the home told me she always 
went to the hive in the woodshed when 
she wanted honey, and got out on a 
plate just what she wanted, and no more. 
In the Winter, she could do this without 
trouble with the bees at all, for they 
would be down in a cluster. In Sum¬ 
mer, she drove the bees away with a little 
smoke, and if the honey ran down on the 
bottom of the hive, it did no harm, be¬ 
cause the bees would lick it right up 
again. They had kept the same hive for 
a great many years, and this one colony 
furnished them all the honey they 
wanted to use, and som -2 seasons, even 
more than that. Such a hive should be 
made very tight and warm, and the door 
to open to get out the honey should be 
arranged so the bees would not stick it 
fast so as to annoy or disturb them in 
prying it open A. I. Boor. 
4 Poor Fertilizer Mixture. 
A. L. C., Winchendon. Mass —Is this formula (or 
mixture) a good fertilizer for top-dressing or 
in the hill for corn and potatoes: one bar¬ 
rel of dry slaked lime; one barrel of hard¬ 
wood ashes; one b*rrel of hen manure; one bar¬ 
rel of good soil; 200 pounds of plaster; one bushel 
of salt; 10 pounds of bone dust ? If not, why not? 
Ans.—T he only things in this mixture 
that contain actual plant food are the 
hen manure, wood ashes and the bone. 
All told, you would not have over eight 
pounds of potash, four of phosphoric 
acid and three of nitrogen in nearly 1,000 
pounds, which is less than you could ob¬ 
tain in an equal weight of ordinary 
stable manure. Lime or wood ashes 
should never be mixed with hen manure 
because lime will tet free the ammonia— 
the most valuable part of the manure. 
Neither should they be used with the 
potato crop on soil when the potato scab 
has been found, because lime will make 
the scab worse in case the germs are in 
the soil The plaster contains no plant 
food, and the salt will do little or no 
goed You would do much better to 
broadcast your wood ashes and lime on 
the corn ground, and rake and harrow 
it in. Mix 50 pounds of your plaster 
with the hen manure so as thoroughly 
to dry it. Then crush it fine, mix the 
bone dust with it, add 10 pounds of muri¬ 
ate of potash to the mixture, and use it 
in hill or drill for potatoes. The mixture 
you suggest is like a thin baker’s l, cake” 
where an egg and a small piece of butter 
are lost in half a bag of cheap flour ! 
Where Did White Clover Come From ? 
E. W. B., Elmira, N. Y. —A newly-seeded piece 
of Mammoth clover was turned under for wheat 
just as it was in blossom. Wheat was sown in 
the Fall. When t'r>e wheat was cut, there was a 
mat of clover on the ground, but it wis all White 
clover. No clover seed was sown. Where did it 
all com 0 from? I never saw any other field on 
the farm do the like. 
Ans —Red clover is at best a short¬ 
lived perennial. We would better re¬ 
gard it as a biennial. White clover is 
a long-lived perennial, with creeping 
branches which take root readily, form¬ 
ing a close mat. The seeds will remain 
in the soil uninjured many years. Prob¬ 
ably, the Red clover was killed out and 
the White clover took its place. 
Only the First Step 
is Difficult. 
ff 
The first step in Spring should be to 
cleanse Nature’s house from Winter’s accu¬ 
mulations. Hood’s Sarsaparilla does this 
work easily. It is America’s Greatest 
Spring Medicine. It purifies the blood, 
makes the weak strong—just what you need. 
Sever Disappoints 
FRUIT PACKAGES ^ 1 
Also Beekeepers’ Supplies. 
Order now before the busy sea¬ 
son catches you. Catalogue ami 
price-list free. Address 
BERLIN FRUIT BOX CO. 
Berlin Heights,Box B,ErieCo..O. 
R A SRFTS We are offering a wire-stapled 
DavJlluIw) perry basket cheaper than 
ever before. These are stronger and more durable 
than a hand-made basket. Write for our catalogue 
and price-list. WKBSTEK BASKET CO., Webster, 
Lock Box 43, Monroe County, N. Y 
C OLOR and flavor of fruits, 
size, quality and ap¬ 
pearance of vegetables, 
weight and plumpness of grain, 
are all produced by Potash, 
Potash, 
properly combined with Phos¬ 
phoric Acid and Nitrogen, and 
liberally applied, will improve 
every soil and increase yield 
and quality of any crop. 
Write and get Free our pamphlets, which 
tell how to buy and use fertilizers with 
greatest economy and profit. 
OERHAN KALI WORKS, 
93 Nassau St., New York. 
Exhausted Land. 
The first element to become ex¬ 
hausted in land is nitrogen. The ap¬ 
plication of 100 pounds of 
Nitrate of Soda 
per acre will supply this and produce 
astonishing results. It is the cheap¬ 
est and most available source of nitro¬ 
gen. More about it—use and results, 
in our book, “Food fern Plants;’’ 
mailed free. Write John A. Myers, 
12—O John St., New York. Nitrate 
for sale by 
BALFOUR, WILLIAMSON & CO. 
27 William St., New York. 
i 
\ 
Tofits of Farming 
GARDENING AND ERUIT CULTURE. 
depend upon Good Crops and they in 
turn upon Good Fertilizers. The 
uniformly best fertilizer for all Crops 
and all soils is made by 
The Cleveland Dryer Co., Cleveland, O. 
Materials Supplied, lor “ Home Mixing.” 
CANADA UNLEACHED 
hardwood _ 
For prices address TH08. POTTS, Brantford, Ont. 
FAYS’ PROLIFIC RED CURRANTS 
are the most productive. Write for cut-rate prices. 
FRED. H. BOBDKTT, Clilton, N. Y. 
S trawberries.—New York, Sample, Kxoeisior. Nick 
Ohmer, Maximus. Best kinds. lOp.c. disc, on orders 
fox April. List free. P. SPEKK, Passaic, N. J. 
Ifin Strawberry Plants, by mall, your selection, $1. 
IUU Clyde, Carrie, Darling, Margaret. Belt, Man- 
well, Seaford, Glen Mary, Louis Gauth er, Hall's 
Favorite. P. SUTTON, Exeter, Pa. 
Lakeview Farm Berry Plants. 
1,000,000 Plants and V •nes. Prices reduced. Loudon 
$8 per M. Agent Eclipse Spray Pump. Send for 
catalogue. WALTEK F. TABKB, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 
fll AIKTfINP Sample, Nick Ohmer Strawberry Pits 
ULAUo 1 URL s. H. WABKEN. Weston, Mass. 
5,000 
GLEN MARY for #5. 
T. C. KKVITT, Athenia, N. J. 
Strawberries 
Finest young plants, fresh dug. By express only- 
cash with order. Gandy, Crescent. VVartle d, Meeus' 
Early, Greenville, Tennessee Piolitic, at 181.50 per 
1,000 Henry Ward Beecher, Lady Thompson, Wm. 
Belt, Bismarck, and Champion of England, at 183 
per l.OOO. Offer good only as long as stock lasts. 
Money returned if we are sold out. 
JOS. H. BLACK, SON & CO.. Uightstown, N. J. 
Good Fruit 
always finds a ready market, but to bring top 
prices it must be put up in neat, attractive 
and substantial packages. We have every¬ 
thing in the basket line. All sizes of 
Berry 
Baskets, 
Peach and Grape Crates. 
Buy direct from the manufacturers and 
save money. Write to-day for catalogue and 
new price list Special price in carload lots. 
A. H. MONTAGUE & SON, 
120 Warren Street, New York City. 
WE SAVE FARMERS 40 PER CENT. FERTILIZERS 
We sell you direct—Actually pay you salesman’s expenses and agent’s profit. Write for 
free sample and book. THE SCIENTIFIC FERTILIZER CO., PITTSBURG, PA. 
