4oo 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
May 27 
Farmers’ Ciub. 
[Every query must be accompanied by the 
name and address of the writer to insure atten¬ 
tion. Before asking a question, please see 
whether it is not answered in our advertising 
columns. Ask only a few questions at one time. 
Put questions on a separate piece of paper.] 
HOW TO MANURE COW PEAS. 
IS IT NECESSARY TO FEED THEM ? 
C. D. W., Mystic, Conn .—Is it necessary to ay ply 
fertilizer to make Black cov peas grow success¬ 
fully? My ground is a reclaimed old pasture, 
that has been grown up to sumac and bayberry 
brush for a couple of generations I have plowed 
and harrowed tbi9 ground many times the past 
two years, without attempting to raise any crops, 
and this Spring have set all kinds of fruit trees 
with a good deal of care. Last year, I sowed oats 
and Canada peas, without fertilizer, on a mellow 
portion to see what they would do. The oats grew 
fairly well, but the p'ias made a sickly growth of 
abjut four or five inches, and then died outright. 
On testing the soil with litmus paper, I found it 
excessively acid. To correct this, I have, this 
Spring, applied 1,700 pounds of lime to the acre. 
Can I sow five pecks of Black cow peas to the 
acre without fertilizer the first of June, with the 
expectation of a fair growth to plow under next 
Spring, or shall I apply 200 or 300 pounds each 
of muriate of potash and reduced 8. C. rock to 
the acre ? It will not pay me to raise crops, as I 
have to h’re everything done. My object for a 
few years Is to get the ground well stocked with 
nitrogen so that, when the trees begin to fruit, I 
shall have to apply only a little potash and phos¬ 
phoric acid each year. Of course, I shall have 
to discontinue the cow peas after a while if the 
trees make too much growth to mature the wood. 
The soil is black, in good tilth, and is well 
drained. 
Ans —It is not absolutely necessary to 
apply fertilizer in order to obtain a fair 
crop of Early Black cow peas. With the 
preparation you have given that soil, and 
the application of lime in particular, 
you will be reasonably sure of obtaining 
a good crop of cow-peas this year. That 
is not the whole story. By applying 
your potash and rock, you will get a 
larger crop of peas than you otherwise 
would. These minerals will not be 
wasted, but in the form of the cow peas, 
will be fully as useful as they would be 
in stable manure. The greater growth 
of cow pea you can obtain, the more 
nitrogen you will add to the soil. 
We have tried cow peas, both with and 
without fertilizer, and conclude that it 
pays to apply the phosphate and potash 
directly to the cow peas. We would cer¬ 
tainly do this in orchard cultivation, 
rather than use these minerals directly 
on the fruit. It would be a mistake, 
however, to use equal parts of muriate 
of potash and rock, for this would give 
an excess of potash ; 100 pounds of potash 
to 300 pounds of dissolved rock would be 
a more economical dressing for one acre. 
We have found that, on very poor soils, 
a small application of nitrate of soda, 
say 50 pounds to the acre, makes quite a 
difference in the early growth of the 
cow pea. This is not absolutely essen¬ 
tial, but if at the time of sprouting, the 
weather is cold and the soil not in good 
condition, this small amount of nitrogen 
will give the peas an early start that 
would be of considerable benefit. Too 
much nitrogen, however, would be a mis¬ 
take, for the cow pea is, in one sense, a 
“ lazy ” plant, and will sometimes refuse 
to take nitrogen from the air when it is 
immediately available all around it. 
In theory, it is easy to keep up an or¬ 
chard as you intend doing, but there is 
one drawback to it, viz , the fact that 
organic nitrogen, such as you will obtain 
in the cow pea, is not always easily avail¬ 
able in Spring. The humus or organic 
matter must be broken up by heat and 
moisture before the nitrates will form. 
It often happens, therefore, that, in a 
cold, wet Spring, these available nitrates 
are not present, and some form of soluble 
nitrogen like nitrate of soda must be 
added to promote early growth. 
Some Fertilizer Chemical Terms. 
A. 8., Hartford, Conn .—Will you explain the 
meaning of phosphoric acid (Pa Os) and potash 
(Iia O) ? 
Ans —What is known as phosphoric 
acid is a mixture of phosphorus and oxy¬ 
gen in the proportion of two parts of the 
phosphorus to five parts of the oxygen. 
It would be impossible to handle or use 
the phosphorus in a pure state, but when 
combined with the oxygen, we are able 
to control it, and use it either as a fer¬ 
tilizer or in other ways. Pa 0 6 , means 
just what it says, namely, two parts of 
phosphorus and five parts of oxygen, put 
together in a chemical form. In the 
same way, what we call “ potash” is a 
mixture of the metal potassium and 
oxygen. K is the chemical symbol or 
letter representing potassium. Ka O, 
means two parts of potassium and one 
part of oxygen, which is the mixture or 
chemical union which enables us to hold 
and control this metal, which, when 
pure, could not be held at all. As a sim¬ 
ple illustration of the use of these chemi¬ 
cal symbols, we may take water ; this is 
not a Eimple element, it is a mixture of 
two gases, hydrogen and oxygen. The 
chemist, in describing water, would say, 
Ha O, meaning that two parts of hydro¬ 
gen and one part of oxygen, have been 
combined chemically to form a liquid. 
The hydrogen and oxygen taken separ¬ 
ately would be of little value for quench¬ 
ing the thirst or for washing, but when 
combined in these exact proportions, they 
form water, one of the most useful and 
necessary substances in the world. Most 
of the substances that are of great value 
in agriculture, like nitrogen, potash 
and phosphoric acid, would be of no use 
to us when used alone ; their tendency 
would be to get away as fast as possible. 
We must combine them with other sub¬ 
stances in order to hold them in a practi¬ 
cal form. Nitrogen, for example, may 
be held in the form of ammonia, which 
the chemist would write, N H ;i ; this 
meansthat three parts of hydrogen have 
grappled with one part of nitrogen, 
holding it so as to make it do its wo*k. 
Potash in Ashes; Hen Manure. 
J. C. B , Truro. N. S. —1 What is about the 
value of hard-wood ashes per barrel as compared 
with potash in other forms ? 2. What is the value 
per barrel of hen manure that is free from litter, 
and from hens fed in the ordinary way, with 
mixed gralD, vegetables, etc ? W'hat is the best 
way to prepare and apply it to a strawberry 
plantation ? 
Ans —1. Chemists estimate the value 
of potash in wood ashes at five cents a 
pound, when tfce potash in muriate is 
worth 4 That is, carbonate of potash, 
which is the form found in ashes, is 
worth about 10 per cent more than that 
in muriate. Ordinary hard-wood ashes 
contain about five p r cent of potash; 
by weighing a barrel, you can, with 
these figures, get a good idea of its 
value. 2. It is difficult to give anything 
like the exact value of hen manure; 
when free from litter, feathers or dirt, 
it is worth about four times an equal 
weight of ordinary stable manure. The 
value varies considerably, according to 
the feed of the hens and the way the 
manure has been kept. In many cases, 
hen manure kept in a warm place and 
not well dried will lose considerable of 
its ammonia. The best way to handle 
the hen manure, as we have frequently 
stated, is to dry it thoroughly as it is 
made, by using land plaster freely under 
the roosts. This will leave it in hard, 
dry chunks, which may be crushed or 
ground in the Spring, and either broad¬ 
casted alone, or mixed with chemicals to 
form a fertilizing mixture. 
A Fertilizer for Corn. 
W. D. T., Candor, N. Y.~ I wish to make a corn 
fertilizer. I have good hard-wood ashes and 
bone meal. The bone meal analysis is 18 per 
cent phosphoric acid, and 3 3 per cent nitrogen. 
I can buy animal meal for $2 per 100 pounds, and 
cotton-seed meal for $1.25. Which of the two is 
better to mix with ashes and bone meal ? How 
many pounds shall I use of each ? 
Ans. —The cotton-seed meal will be 
cheaper than the animal meal to use as 
a fertilizer. The animal meal is more 
valuable for poultry feeding. You mig-ht 
use 1,200 pounds of the wood ashes, 300 
pounds of cotton-seed meal, and 500 
pounds of bone meal. This mixture 
would be low in potash, and on most 
corn ground, we would use, at least 300 
pounds more of the ashes. Do not try 
to mix the ashes with the cotton-seed 
and bone. The ashes are so fine and 
powdery that you cannot get a perfect 
mixture. It would pay you better to 
make two applications. Broadcast the 
ashes after plowing, and harrow them 
in ; then use the bone meal and cotton 
seed meal in the hill, or drill or broad¬ 
cast it close to the row or broadcast all. 
Crimson Clover in a Vineyard. 
G. W. W., Tobinsport, Ind.—l have tried Crim¬ 
son c over twice, and the first time it was a fail¬ 
ure; but I have a good set in my vineyard now. 
What is the best time to turn it under to do the 
vineyard the most good? Would you plow it 
toward the grape vines, or from them ? I was 
thinking of letting it get ripe, plow It under, then 
stir it up about the middle of July so the seed 
would come again. Do you think that would do. 
or could I cut it and save the seed and plow the 
sod under ? 
Ans. —In our own practice, we plow 
under clover before the heads are fully 
ripened. This is for corn or potatoes 
In Delaware and Maryland, however, 
many farmers use the crop to seed itself 
They wait until the heads are fully 
formed, and the seed is getting ripe 
Then they do what looks like a poor job 
of plowing away from the vines, with 
many of the plants left above ground 
This is done purposely in order to let 
these plants mature the seed. After they 
have turned hard, the farmer takes a 
harrow or cultivator and runs over the 
ground so as to scatter and cover the 
seed produced on these plants. This re¬ 
seeds the ground, and a new crop starts. 
This can be done year after year, as is 
frequently done in Delaware and Mary¬ 
land with success. This would, probably, 
be as good a way for you to follow as 
any. 
Black Aphis; Cutting Back Trees. 
C. H S., Clarkdale, la. —1. I set out some plum 
trees last SpriDg, and the Black aphi3 killed the 
branch's, but new ones came out; now they are 
beginning to leaf, but the Black aphides are on 
them again. Is there anything I can do to kill 
them ? 2. I have some trees that are headed too 
high, and unevenly balanced; is there anyway 
to induce limbs to come out so as to balance up 
the tree ? 
Ans — 1 . Spraying with kerosene emul¬ 
sion or strong tobacco water will kil) 
the Black aphis. Without a machine oi 
some kind, it would be very difficult tc 
get the liquid on to them ; therefore, it 
would seem better to buy one, rather 
than have the trees injured. A sprayer 
is a part of a farmer’s outfit of tools 
nowadays. 2. Cutting back the branches 
on the wanting side when the leaves are 
off will induce the trees to send out more 
vigorous ones in their stead, and cutting 
back those that are too well developed, 
about the middle of August, will check 
them. This treatment, if wisely followed, 
will soon make quite a change in the 
form of a badly-balanced tree 
A Pasture for Hens. 
J. IF. K., York, Pa .— I have a flock of 32 heus 
confined in a yard 43x 110 feet, in which I broad¬ 
casted one bushel of oats and plowed them in 
with a Planet Jr. hand plow. But none came up, 
and the hens scratched them all out. The yarc 
is planted to peach and apple trees. What can 
I sow that will make green food for them ? 
Ans. —You will not be likely to get 
seed started in that ground as long as 
the hens are left there. We would 
run a fence through the center of the 
yard, and keep the hens on one side of 
it. Work up the other side with a culti¬ 
vator or spade, and sow Dwarf Essex 
rape about as you would sow turnips, 
with a light seeding of oats mixed with 
it. When this gets two inches high, turn 
the hens in to eat it off, and handle the 
other side of the yard in the same way. 
Then, by turning the hens from one yard 
to the other, you will keep green feed 
before them most of the time. 
Early Vegetables 
need a quick and powerful stimu¬ 
lant—something to force growth to 
the limit. The money is in earliness. 
Nitrate of Soda 
fits the case exactly. Apply in small 
quantities during the early growing 
period of the plants. 
It adds color, flavor, crispness and ten¬ 
derness to all vegetables. Would you know 
more about it, send for free book “Food 
for Plants” to John A Myers, 12 O John 
Street, New York. Nitrate for sale by 
BALFOUR, WILLIAMSON & CO. 
27, William St., New York. 
Pedigree Strawberries 
Itecommended to all strawberry growers by Rural 
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be delivered after July 1st. Order quick; stock limited 
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100 
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PLANTS 
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Peppers, etc. 
Cheap in large lots. 
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^ I ^—Japanese Barnyard Millet 
■ Ul OdlC Seed. Address 
Prof. Wm. P. Brooks, Mass. Agr.Col., Amherst,Mass 
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How to Grow Chrysanthemums 
80 pages replete with all that is worth knowing 
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