1899 
fHE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
543 
ALFALFA IN ONTARIO. 
Frozen Out for the First Time. 
WORK LAND IN FALL.—My five years’ experience 
in growing Alfalfa leads me to believe that the best 
way to prepare the land is to work it thoroughly dur¬ 
ing the late Summer or Fall previous to sowing it the 
next Spring; also cultivate the land several times 
early in the Spring before seeding, and sow about 20 
pounds of seed to the acre broadcast, and harrow it 
in with a light harrow or weeder. We sow about 
May 10. I have always sown it alone, without any 
nurse crop with it, although I think it might do 
well if a light seeding of oats or barley, say one 
bushel to the acre, was sown with it. The greatest 
difficulty I find is to keep the weeds and grass from 
growing and getting the start of the Alfalfa, and 
choking it out. I think it would be best not to use 
stable or barnyard manure, on account of it being 
full of weed seed, but to use commercial fertilizers in¬ 
stead. The most important thing is to have the land 
thoroughly worked and cultivated before seeding, so 
as to have the weeds and grass thoroughly killed, and 
the land in good shape. I commenced with one acre 
of Alfalfa, and added one acre each year, until I got 
five acres. 
A HARD WINTER.—Last Winter was very severe 
with most crops in the southern part of Ontario, the 
weather being extremely cold, and the ground freez¬ 
ing up full of water and no snow for protection. The 
Fall wheat and clover were killed out, also grapes and 
many fruit trees, and about two-thirds of my Alfalfa 
was killed. I plowed up most of it, and reseeded, but 
the weeds came up so quickly, and got such a start 
of the Alfalfa, that I fear it will be a failure. I cov¬ 
ered it over with coarse stable manure early in the 
Winter, thinking it might protect it from the frost, 
and that manure has filled the land with weed seed, 
so I think I shall have to plow it up and reseed. This 
has been the worst year for weeds that I ever knew; 
weeds are everywhere, the land just full of them. I 
have always kept my land very clean of weeds, more 
so than most farmers, but this year, all sorts of weeds 
have come up where I never had any before. I use 
long stable manure from hotel and livery stables, and 
use oat hulls for bedding, and that must be where we 
get the weed seeds. So the greatest difficulty we find 
in growing Alfalfa is to get it started ahead of the 
weeds, but after it once gets a good start, it will 
smother the weeds out or prevent them from grow¬ 
ing; the land should be well cultivated the Summer 
before, early in the Spring before seeding, and sow 
plenty of seed—20 to 25 pounds per acre. When six 
to eight inches high, run the mower over it to cut off 
the weeds, if any. I think it also has a tendency to 
make the clover roots grow stronger, e. d. tili.son. 
Ontario, Canada. 
CLOVER AND TIMOTHY IN OHIO. 
A Lone Hand for Timothy. 
A GOOD CLOVER CROP—When H. W. C. was at 
my farm last Fall, he seemed surprised at the growth 
of the previous Spring’s seeding of clover, and as the 
last of it went into the barn last week, and was the 
finest by all odds of our clover experience, a few 
lines about it may not be amiss. The seed was sown 
on the oats, the last week of April, 1898, after the 
oats were drilled in. I used acidulated S. C. rock, and 
5 per cent potash for a fertilizer, 200 pounds per acre. 
The harrow was run over the field, followed by the 
field roller heavily weighted, so that the surface was 
very fine and firm. Four quarts of clover were then 
“cycloned” on to the acre, and the harrow with 
slanting teeth again sent over the field to cover the 
clover. The catch was fine. The oats—for last year 
—were good, and as soon as they were off the field, 
the mowing machine was put at work, cutting the 
stubble and the clover down fairly close. This gave 
a mulch that made quite a showing upon the sur¬ 
face, and the little clover went at it, and soon 
hau a nice green surface. Within a short time, there 
was quite a crop again, with a few weeds intermixed. 
Again the mowing machine was sent over the fields, 
and weeds and clover made a common addition to 
the surface mulch. After this, the clover was allow¬ 
ed to grow as large as it would before Winter, and 
it was this that H. W. C. saw in the late Fall. 
The roots strengthened jy the two primings of 
the tops, were so firmly anchored that they resisted 
all of the 35 degrees below zero attempts to kill it 
out, and this season was a soliu mat of vines with 
crimson crests, with not a break upon the field, or 
more than a handful of weeds. Our clover in other 
fields not double harrowed and rolled, and clipped 
only once, did not winter nearly so well, killed out 
in places badly, and made a very poor crop, though 
as far as I can see, other conditions were equal. 
Did the clipping twice and the harrowing in of the 
clover seed give me the pleasing results? 
TIMOTHY ALONE—Yesterday we cut the last of 
the Timothy—an August-sown crop, sown alone, and 
a finer field of Timothy I never had upon the farm. 
Tne field was intended for another crop, but a severe 
drought made the plowing so difficult that it was 
deferred for a rain, and so was not plowed until 
aoout July 4, when it was turned over, herbage be¬ 
neath. About August 1, right after a heavy rain, the 
land was made fine as Cutaway and harrows could 
9 
XANTHOCERAS SORBIFOLIA LEAF. Fig. 211. 
make it, rolled, and the Timothy sown on—six quarts 
per acre—and lightly harrowed in—or rather, Breed’s 
weedered in. The weeds were kept clipped down 
with the mower, and with the result that I do not 
remember of ever having so fine a crop of this horse 
hay as on this August-sown field. 
My thought is that clover may be made a much 
surer crop than it is when sown with oats, if the 
land is made fine and compact before the clover seed 
is sown, and it should be lightly harrowed to get 
it in more deeply than surface sowing, and then 
trusting to luciv for it to get a root-hold. This has 
been our practice for years, with, I think, not a fail¬ 
ure in the time. Then why should not Timothy be 
XANTnOCERAS FRUIT. Fig. 212. See RITUALISMS, Pack 546. 
sown as a crop by itself, and not have to be nursed 
by a grain crop? The secret of success, I think, is 
to keep the weeds and Foxtail grass cut down so that 
they cannot get a start to oversnadow the crop we 
want. In our anxiety to get soiling and ensilage 
crops, we must not forget that grass is the founda¬ 
tion of good soil fertility, and our clovers and grasses 
must- be maintained in a rotation that recognizes 
them as the great renovators of our farms, and 
gives to them the first chance, and that chance should 
be a deep concern of the farmer to promote, j. g. 
CIDER-MAKING IN ILLINOIS. 
From Apple to Consumer. 
APPLES SORTED.—Apples which come to our 
cider mill, are first weighed on the wagon scales, 
and then shoveled into bins with slat bottoms, which 
are located on both sides of a shed, sloping sharply 
towards the centre, and communicating with an ele¬ 
vator trough, by which the apples can be conveyed 
to a bin or large hopper in the upper part of the 
building, and which is situated right over the 
grinder. Apples from our own orchards are usually 
sorted before they are brought to the mill, but all 
others are sorted from the bins as they go into the 
elevator; this may seem to some like a slow, tedious 
anu useless job, adapted only to small concerns, but 
when cider makers generally find out that only by 
using good, clean sound apples, unmixed with leaves 
and grass, can good cider be made, and practice what 
they have learned, then may we expect an improve¬ 
ment in the cider of the country. 
No one special variety of apple is used; indeed, 
a mixture of varieties is generally preferred to any 
one kind, obtainable here in quantity. The juice of 
the earlier apples, being thin and lacking in flavor, 
and, made in warm weather, is not adapted for 
keeping as cider, neither will it make very strong 
vinegar; but it does very well for mixing with the 
juice of later apples, and so the early apples all go 
into vinegar stock. As the season advances, some 
of the cider is disposed of for immediate use, but 
not until cool weather is cider made up for keep¬ 
ing through the Winter, unless there should be a 
great scarcity. 
GROUND AND SQUEEZED—From the large hop¬ 
per, the apples are let down into the grinder, and 
from the grinder, the pomace falls into a chute 
which conveys it to either end of a double platform 
press, as desired. The “cheese” is made up of thin 
layers of pomace, enclosed in cloth and separated by 
racks made of narrow slats. Arrangements are at 
hand for soaking and wringing the cloths used in 
laying up the cheese, as they and all other articles 
with which the cider comes in contact, must be kept 
clean. The mill and press are all washed every 
evening, after the mill is saiu down. 
MADE INTO VINEGAR.—From the press, the 
cider runs into tubs, from which it is pumped by a 
force pump to tanks, where it can be barreled, or al¬ 
lowed to settle and ferment. Vinegar stock is pump¬ 
ed to the vinegar building, where it is put into bar¬ 
rels, being aDout four-fifths filled and the bungs left 
out. This building is kept warm to hasten the 
process of making vinegar, and when the vinegar 
is thoroughly made and required for market, it is 
pumped into tanks to make it of even strength, and 
to allow it to settle before barreling. 
In putting away cider to keep over Winter, the rule 
is just the reverse. The cider is made late, allowed 
to cool as much as possible, and is kept in a cool 
place, with as little exposure to the air as possible. 
Our products are not sold in the general market, 
but mainly to the retailer, and sometimes to the 
consumer, and sales are made partly by traveling 
salesmen and partly through the mails. The mar¬ 
ket for pure cider vinegar is hurt by the competition 
of spurious goods, colored to imitate, and sold as, 
cider vinegar. The average grocer buys it because 
it is cheaper, and there is more profit in it, and ex¬ 
cuses himself by saying that he is forced to do it 
by competition, and that consumers are demand¬ 
ing cheap goods. What effect the pure food law, 
which goes into effect in Illinois next year, will have 
on the cider and cider vinegar industry, it is hard 
to tell. As it is now, it takes a great deal of hard 
work to build up and maintain a trade in this line. 
Illinois. _ L. II. BRYANT. 
Grafting Chestnuts.— I have seen a few large chestnut 
trees grafted, and have also grafted a few myself, but 
with rather unsatisfactory results. Enough of the grafts 
fail to spoil the appearance of the tree. I think it a better 
plan to set grafted trees of the improved kinds, or set 
seedlings where one desires trees to stand permanently, 
and top-graft the following season. j. w. killen. 
Delaware. 
A reader in central New York says that he set out 11 
plants of wild strawberries; five of them proved very 
early, and the first berries were picked the last of May, 
and by the first of June there was a good picking. The 
first of the Crescents were picked June 9, and the Haver- 
land a day or so later. The size of the wild fruit was 
medium, and quality good. They seemed able to stand 
the frost better than other varieties. 
The recent terrible floods in Texas reveal one condition 
of affairs which is hardly known in the North and West. 
One cotton planter is said to have 312 people to care for. 
This represents the laborers and their families who have 
been taking care of the cotton crop on his plantation. 
They, probably, know no other home, and doubtless, have 
nothing ahead. In times of disaster, there is no place for 
them to go, and they look to the plantation for support. 
This is one of the curious sides of southern negro farm¬ 
ing. Probably nowhere else in the country do such con¬ 
ditions prevail. 
