1904 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
3 
A TALK ABOUT VETCH. 
In planting Winter and Spring vetches, shall I have 
any difficulty in eradicating them? How much seed do 
they yield to acre, and are they thrashed? Can they 
be cut for hay and successfully cured? Can Winter vetch 
be planted in Spring, and if so with what results? 
Ohio. w. r. i.. D. 
By Winter vetch this correspondent evidently refers 
to the Sand or Hairy variety, Vicia villosa. This is 
the hardiest of the family, succeeding upon all soils 
and under the most unfavorable weather conditions. 
The Winter vetch (Lathyrus hirsutus) is not hardy 
north of the latitude of Virginia and Kentucky, nor 
is it so valuable at the South as the Sand vetch. This 
error is a very common one, for which seedsmen are 
largely responsible, though the mistake has often 
been made by the experiment stations. Sand vetch 
can be sown with Winter wheat or rye, or in Spring 
with rye or oats. In either case one-half bushel of 
vetch to a bushel of grain will be required’ to seed an 
acre. The first crop will be taken off with the cereal, 
either for soiling or hay. A second crop of the vetch 
will be ready for use in four to six weeks, and will 
generally be much heavier than the first cutting. The 
plants will continue to grow rapidly until freezing 
weather. If it is intended to winter the crop this 
last growth should not be cut or pastured but left 
for cover. 
This cover can be pastured off early in the Spring, 
the first green pasture available. On light sand, in 
favorable seasons, I have made three "Cuttings of Sand 
vetch hay aggregating five to six tons to the acre. 
The hay is readily eaten by sheep and cattle, indiffer¬ 
ently by horses. Its feeding value is approximately 
that of Alfalfa. It is cured the same as Red clover 
hay. Spring vetches (Vicia sativa) suc¬ 
ceed well at the North on all soils ex¬ 
cept light sand. They do not withstand 
drought well, hence are not adapted to 
the South and Southwest. For soiling 
and hay they are sown with oats or rye, 
one bushel of vetch to a bushel of grain 
to the acre. Spring vetches also make 
excellent hog pasture, sown the same 
as Canada peas, using about 1(4 bushel 
of seed per acre. The vetches, like all 
legume plants, are nitrogen gatherers, 
equalling the clovers for soil renovation. 
The yield of seed is five to 12 bushels 
for Sand vetch and eight to 20 for the 
Spring variety. 
I have never experienced any difficulty 
in eradicating any of the vetches. In 
this respect they are not to be compared 
with millet or even buckwheat. It 
should be remembered that when any 
of these vetches has matured its crop of 
seed the plant dies. The Chinese “pad¬ 
dy” vetch, however, would probably 
prove a dangerous weed in soil that was 
not periodically flooded. This species 
throws out lateral shoots from the roots, 
multiplying indefinitely. I have seen a 
single, thinly-sown row of Chinese vetch 
become a solid mass of roots and vines three feet wide 
in course of our short northern Summer. This is the 
principal fertilizer used by the Chinese rice growers 
of the seaboard provinces. Emv. E. evans. 
Michigan. 
The liquid part contains soluble plant food which is 
available at once. The solid parts of the manure con¬ 
tain bacteria which benefit the soil. We would al¬ 
ways feed straw if the stock will eat it, or at any 
rate use it for bedding, and then mix in the manure 
pile. This is better than spreading direct on the 
ground. If the straw could be run through a cutter 
so much the better. 
Kainit with Stable Manure. 
Would you consider it a profitable proceeding to buy 
land plaster to scatter behind the cows and horses to fix 
the ammonia in the liquid manure? I wish to stop all 
waste that I can, but have the returns greater than the 
outlay in so doing. w. c. s. 
Massachusetts. 
Yes, the land plaster would pay but kainit will pay 
better. The kainit is even more useful than the plas¬ 
ter for holding the ammonia, and in addition it sup¬ 
plies potash which all stable manures lack. By using 
kainit freely you not only save much ammonia, but 
you will find that the manure goes further. Experi¬ 
ments at the Massachusetts Agricultural College show 
that six cords of manure alone costing $30 gave 
through a series of years, no more corn than four 
cords of manure with potash added—costing less than 
$24. On grass the manure alone gave a little heavier 
yield, but the manure and potash gave a cheaper ton. 
A Compost from Muck. 
How can I make a compost out of swamp muck, wood 
ashes, hen manure and sink drainage? a. w. h. 
Franklin, Mass. 
The muck contains considerable nitrogen but little 
if any phosphoric acid or potash. The ashes supply 
lime, potash and phosphoric acid and the hen ma¬ 
nure nitrogen. The trouble with the muck is that it 
GINSENG; FEEDING APPLE ORCHARDS. 
1. A man wishes me to undertake the cultivation of 
ginseng on shares, i. e., he would buy the plants and 
lumber for protection, and I do the work, and each have 
half of proceeds. I do not know anything whatever 
about the cultivation nor the kind of land that would bo 
suitable for this plant. Tn your opinion, do you think 
a busy farmer would find time to attend properly to its 
cultivation, and if so, would it be as profitable as some 
accounts would lead one to expect? 2. I have been very 
fortunate with my apple crop this year; had 625 barrels 
of shipping apples. This yield, by the way, I attributed 
largely to the good advice you gave mo in 1S99, when 
I only had about 225 barrels from same trees. I shipped 
to Glasgow, Liverpool, London and Hamburg 550 barrels 
which netted me $2.50 per barrel; have 75 barrels of Bald¬ 
win and Ben Davis yet to ship. Highest price paid here 
was $1.50 for Gravenstein and $2 for hard fruit. I had 
200 barrels of Gravensteins. I use about 600 pounds of 
bone and 300 pounds muriate of potash per acre in bear¬ 
ing orchards every Spring. Would it do to use four or 
live casks of lime in addition to above? I also cultivate 
thoroughly, from time of plowing till July 15, and find 
that the land is getting soggy or is liable to lump—seems 
dead—therefore thought lime would quicken it some¬ 
what, and at the end of cultivation, say July 1 to 15, 
Crimson clover to plow under following Spring. 
Nova Scotia. reader. 
1. We doubt the wisdom of your starting ginseng 
culture in this way. Ginseng growers are hopeful, 
and feel sure that they are to make fortunes at the 
business, but we have always taken a conservative 
view. The crop requires great care and skillful cul¬ 
ture. We do not think a busy farmer can properly 
attend to ginseng and do his other work. If a man 
is to grow it at all he might well make a specialty 
of it. The accounts thus far printed are mostly from 
those who have sold seeds or young plants. This 
business has been very profitable thus far, but little 
of the cultivated root has been sold. If 
you want to study the subject obtain 
“Ginseng Culture,” by M. G. Kains, price 
50 cents. 2. The lime will probably help 
the orchard. It will be likely to help the 
clover and break up the lumps. We 
would use the lime at the time of seed¬ 
ing to clover. 
BRIEF FERTILIZER TALKS. 
Fertilizing Value of Hay and Manure. 
I wish to know the relative value of hay and manure, 
or if I sell a ton of hay how much stable manure (such 
as can be bought at a livery barn) must I buy to take 
the place of the manure the hay would have made if it 
had been fed on my farm. Is straw a better fertilizer, 
when spread on the field and plowed under, than when 
fed to stock and the manure spread on the field? l. s. 
Limayille, O. 
The following table shows the average analyses of 
different kinds of hay and manure: 
Pounds In One Ton. 
Phos. 
Water. Nitrogen. 
Clover hay . 
'timothy hay . 
Horse manure .1»450 
Rye straw . 
Wheat straw . 
This gives us a el 
nure is. The horse eats hay and grain, and drinks a 
large quantity of water. What he needs of this food 
is retained in his body and the rest passes as liquid 
and solid manure. With these is mixed straw or other 
bedding, which with the water makes the bulk of the 
manure. In order to obtain the nitrogen in a ton of 
clover bay you must buy and handle at least four tons 
of stable manure. In buying manure you must re¬ 
member that at least 70 per cent of it is water—which 
has no more value as plant food than the rain which 
falls on your farm. Is the plant food in the manure 
worth more than that in the hay? Yes. The partial 
or complete digestion of the hay gives it new value. 
Water. 
Nitrogen, acid. Potash. 
. 320 
40 
12 
37 
. 300 
30 
14 
40 
.1,450 
10 
5 
11 
. 300 
8 
4 
15 
. 300 
10 
5 
12 
ce to see 
just what 
stable 
ma- 
ORIGINAL AND MODERN CHRYSANTHENUM BLOOMS. 
Greatly Reduced. See Ruralisms, Page 6. 
is sour, and its nitrogen is not available. The lime in 
the ashes will help this. Dig the muck if possible so 
that it can stand in small piles for a while. Then 
haul to some convenient place and begin your heap. 
Put first a layer of muck about a foot thick—if pos¬ 
sible pounding the big chunks up fine. Then put a 
layer of wood ashes about two inches thick—then six 
inches more of muck and then a light layer of the 
hen manure. Build the heap up in this way four or 
five feet high. By leaving the ends sloping you can, 
il desired, drive up over the heap and unload with¬ 
out much work. Pour the sink drains over the heap 
as fast as (hey gather—not all in one place, but cov¬ 
ering the entire surface. After this heap has stood 
about two months begin at one end and shovel it 
over, throwing each shovelful behind as you dig so 
that a new heap follows after. This will mix the 
whole together and make it fine and crumbly. 
The Hen as a Bone Mill. 
What is the matter with using the hen's crop and giz¬ 
zard to prepare F. C.’s bones for fertilizer, page 852? If 
F. C. will get a good bone cutter and keep a hundred 
hens they will grind, mix, sort and prepare for market 
and for fertilizer a great many pounds of bone a year. 
I verily believe that a hundred liens will transform 2% 
tons of bone into muscle, eggs and fertilizer, and I often 
think that farmers pay $20 to $25 per ton for mixed ferti 
lizers of less value than well-cared-for hen manure. 
Let’s hear from others of experience. I never have fed 
my hens bone to the limit of their profit producing capac¬ 
ity. B. M. V. 
Grand Rapids, Wis. 
There isn't anything the matter with such a thing 
except cutting the bones. The question referred to 
methods of preparing bones without feeding. There 
are some cases on the farm where it is not convenient 
to feed the bones—a direct fertilizer is desired. The 
cut bone also makes good food for hogs—when boiled 
with vegetables or even cut cornstalks. 
THE GOVERNMENT LIQUOR TAX. 
In R. N.-Y. of December 12 you say 
that certain communities where local 
and State laws forbid the sale of intoxi¬ 
cating liquors are annoyed by persons 
who sell under what they call “Govern¬ 
ment license.” Permit me to say for the 
benefit of such communities that the 
United States Government does not 
license anyone to sell liquor. So far as 
it is concerned everybody may sell liquor 
just as they sell anything else, but it im¬ 
peratively demands that if you sell you 
must pay a certain tax levied on that 
business. What is sometimes called 
a “Government license” is merely a 
certificate showing that the person 
holding it has paid that tax. It is 
no more than any other receipt for 
taxes paid and conveys no authority whatever, but 
leaves the holder subject in all respects to the local 
and State laws. You will find this printed on the face 
of the certificate itself, across it at one end. The cer¬ 
tificate also requires that the holder shall under heavy 
penalties keep it conspicuously posted in his place of 
business, from which you will see that any person de¬ 
siring to do so may read it for himself. p. b. p. 
New Jersey. 
R. N.-Y.—It is the opinion in most localities that, 
when a man pays the revenue tax and puts the stamps 
on his packages, he is privileged to sell their contents. 
There has, we think, been considerable trouhle in 
Maine and other prohibition States over this matter. 
Fie. 3. 
MORE JUSTICE FOR THE CARP.—Page 787, "Justice 
for the Carp,” says that "we have many fish that may 
be better” and "parboil first and get rid of the skin;” 
"the carp is one of those things that we need to know 
something about before it is condemned." This last is 
surely truth. In Germany the carp is considered as one 
close to the best fish. Taking off the skin will take off 
the best flavor. The carp are taken out of the ponds in 
the Fall many days before using them and kept in fresh 
running water, so there is never a muddy flavor in them. 
The time to use the carp is from October to April. One 
needs to know how to prepare it well, and for this are 
different ways. m. v. 
Marshfield, Ore. 
THE DRUNKEN COW AGAIN.—I think I have solved 
the drunken cow question. I had a herd of 10 cows; they 
broke out of the pasture early in the Fall and got into a 
neighbor’s orchard. The ground was covered with apples 
and they ate their fill. I found them there in the morn¬ 
ing and every cow was as "sober as a judge.” Late in 
the Fall they got in the same orchard again. It had been 
cold weather, and the ground was covered with half- 
frozen and rotted apples. About half of the cows were 
drunk, and the other half acted as though they were not 
members of any temperance society. My theory is: Sound 
apples will not make a cow drunk, but rotten apples will. 
Yaphank, L. I. M. d. q. 
R. N.-Y.—This appears to support Dr. Smead's position. 
The rotten apples had doubtless begun to form alcohol 
before the cows ate them. 
