Chemicals and Clover in Drought. 
FERTILIZER FARMING IN A DRY TIME. 
THE OLD ROTATION HOLDS GOOD. 
With a Little Extra Help from the Cows. 
Part II. 
[EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE. | 
CHEMICALS AND COW.—In many places through 
this section (central New Jersey), farmers were cut¬ 
ting the rye and even the wheat to feed to the cows. 
On Mr. Lewis’s farm, it was quite easy to see that 
the rotation was being changed 
a little to accommodate the cow. 
One strip in the regular potato 
field was given to oats and peas, 
and another to ensilage corn for 
the silo, while a part of one of 
tne grass fields had been plowed 
for potatoes. I can remember 
the time when these fertilizer 
farmers looked upon a cow as 
more or less of a nuisance. Now 
she is in partnership with chem¬ 
icals. They give her a regular 
part in the rotation, and a silo 
will be built for her this Fall. 
Reduced prices for hay and po¬ 
tatoes gave the cow a chance to 
show herself. Formerly, the 
stalks and straw could be 
thrown into the barnyard to be 
tramped down into a so-called 
manure. The cow said, “Give 
me a chance at that roughage, 
and I will more than make up 
for the loss in price of hay!” 
A local creamery was started, 
and on farms where formerly 
three or four cows were kept, 
now mere are nine or a dozen 
old and young stock. It was at 
first, and has been since, a mat¬ 
ter of disposing of the wastes of 
the farm—which in tiiis rotation 
mean corn stalks chiefly. Clover 
always has been the chief part¬ 
ner of chemicals, and it seems a 
shame to separate them and sell 
clover hay for a few dollars a 
ton. Far better to let the cows 
handle it—keeping the fertility 
for the farm, and sending the 
butter away. 
WHAT THE COWS DO—Let 
us see what the cow does for the 
chemical farmer. Last year, Mr. 
Lewis kept an average of nine 
cows in milk. Including neces¬ 
sary young stock, this meant 
about 16 animals. The milk was 
sold to the co-operative cream¬ 
ery, and the average price was 
20.3 cents per pound for butter fat. The cows gave, 
during the year, 45,350 pounds of milk, or 5,040 pounds 
per cow. This represented a total income of $561.69, 
or $62.41 per cow. The milk was good, for the average 
test was 4.4 per cent of butter fat. 
But what did this milk cost? 
The bill for grain was $124.60, which included three 
tons of clover hay. The rest of the feed was largely 
unsalable farm products. The most of it consisted of 
corn stalks, which were shredded before being fed. 
In Summer, the cows were soiled on oats and peas, or 
green corn. These soiling crops, of course, interfere 
somewhat with the rotation. I notice that they are 
usually taken out of the potato field. 
Last year Mr. Lewis tried Crimson clover for the 
first time. He used the Delaware seed, and sowed it 
in the corn at the last cultivation. It made a grand 
growth, and after the corn was taken out, the clover 
gave a fine pasture for the cows. Mr. Lewis says 
that they got more than their money’s worth in this 
way. The clover did not stand the Winter well, but 
last Spring, it was all turned under for the potatoes. 
A farmer may easily be deceived by this clover. It 
may look, in the Spring, as though it had fully given 
up the ghost; yet the plow will turn up great, thick 
roots, which clearly show how the plant has been 
steadily at work below ground all through the Win¬ 
ter. 
FERTILITY PROBLEM CHANGED.—The cows 
have not only paid a good price for the stalks, but 
they are changing the plant-food problem somewhat. 
But for them, the Crimson clover would, probably, 
not have been used. If this clover is persistently 
used, year after year, in the corn crop, and lime is 
used each year with the wheat, the farm is sure to 
respond to it. Mr. Lewis says that, in former years, 
with four milch cows, the year’s supply of manure 
covered 15 to 18 acres. Now, with nine cows, he cov¬ 
ers 40 acres, and does it better, too. Then they put 
manure on the grass field that was to be plowed for 
corn; now they can cover, not only this field, but the 
meadows, also. The cows add the fertilizing value of 
the purchased grain, which is mostly bran and gluten 
feed. One reason why this manure goes farther is 
that now the stalks are shredded. Thus the manure 
is fine and well broken up. Formerly it was full of 
long stalks, which were hard to handle and slow to 
act. The Timothy hay produced on the farm will all 
be sold. It does not pay to feed it to dairy cows, but 
the chances are that more and more of the clover 
will be fed on the farm. Prob¬ 
ably, the herd will be increased 
until it is large enough to con¬ 
sume all the clover and the 
stalks produced on the farm. 
What will be the effect of this 
increased supply of manure on 
the fertilizer side of the prob¬ 
lem? That is hard to answer, 
but I should say that it will 
eventually mean a saving of 
most of the fertilizers at present 
applied to the corn and the 
wheat. I do not see that it will 
affect the fertilizing of the po¬ 
tato crop particularly. Mr. Lewis 
is as strong a believer as ever in 
high-grade, well-balanced fer¬ 
tilizers. By “well-balanced” he 
does not mean simply mixtures 
showing high proportions of ni¬ 
trogen, potash and phosphoric 
acid, but he wants these sub¬ 
stances obtained from different 
sources. Nitrogen, for example, 
in a very wet season, a fertilizei 
should be found in at least three 
forms. In a season like this, or 
in a very wet season, a fertilizer 
with only one form of nitrogen 
would never enable a potato crop 
to take advantage of either a 
timely shower or a week of sun¬ 
shine. The well-balanced fer¬ 
tilizer may be said to be ready 
for any change in the weather. 
For 20 years or more, these 
Cranbury farmers have been 
using potato fertilizer heavily. 
They know that, in the long run, 
only high-grade goods with good 
analysis are profitable. Mixtures 
of tankage, dissolved rock and 
muriate of potash or kainit are 
often used. While they may 
give fair satisfaction for one 
crop in the rotation, the others 
are sure to suffer, and the grass 
and grain will be cut down in 
yield. I have observed a man at 
a street-stand selling lemonade. 
His glasses are of the same size, but his sign reads, 
’’Three or Five Cents a Glass!” He will squeeze half 
a lemon into the glass, and then ask you which sort 
you want. If you say, “Three cents,” he will put in a 
little sugar and fill the glass with water. Say “Five 
cents,” and he will squeeze in another half of a 
lemon, use more sugar, and then add the water. Buy 
two three-cent glasses, and you obtain a whole lemon 
for six cents. Buy one five-cent glass, and you also 
obtain the whole lemon. You save 20 per cent of 
your money by buying the high-grade glass of lemon¬ 
ade. It is much the same way in buying fertilizers. 
