THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
July 
52 2 
Alfalfa. It cannot be grown everywhere successfully, 
and we have not the best conditions for raising it in 
eastern Kansas. For best results Alfalfa requires a 
deep, dry soil in which the roots can penetrate to great 
depth—for live to 20 feet to reach water, as it does in 
western Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, and elsewhere 
in the West. But it can be grown as satisfactorily as 
clover on any soil suitable for corn, on which water 
will not stand. It is a gross feeder of nitrogen, storing 
up in the soil greater quantities than clover, and being 
a perennial does not require reseeding. We find it most 
excellent feed for all kinds of stock, and no other grass 
or clover is equal to it. Experiments at our station, 
Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska, have shown that the leaves 
are equal or superior to bran, pound for pound. It is 
rich in protein. All stock do well on it, and in western 
Kansas and elsewhere many carloads of cattle and hogs 
are shipped to market fattened on Alfalfa hay alone. 
SEEDING THE CROP.—Both the clover and Al¬ 
falfa we prefer to sow in the Spring with or without a 
nurse crop (a half seeding of oats or flax) with the 
seed in a well prepared soil, and are usually successful 
in getting a stand. If we sow without a nurse crop 
we must mow early to check the weed growth, and by 
growing the nurse crop the cutting of such crop obvi¬ 
ates the loss of labor in mowing the weeds. Alfalfa 
should be mowed frequently, as when the plant is cut 
the crown throws out laterals or stools as wheat does, 
until it covers the ground completely, and no kind of 
weeds ever grow in a well-established Alfalfa field. 
From 15 to 20 pounds of seed are required per acre. 
We also have prairie hay, which usually sells at from 
$1 to $5 delivered in our local markets, while there 
is a great demand for clover and Alfalfa at from $2 
to $.'{ advance over prairie hay. In feeding stock for 
market either clover or Alfalfa, fed in connection with 
corn, makes a balanced ration, so called, the protein in 
them balancing the starch in the corn. 
Allen Co., Kan. _ J. t. tredway. 
HOW TO TREAT CONSUMPTIVES. 
The following information for consumptives and those 
living with them is taken from the rules of the New 
York State Board of Health: 
Consumption is a disease which can be taken from 
others, and is not simply caused by colds. A cold may 
make it easier to take the disease. It is usually caused 
by germs entering the body with the air breathed. 'Flic 
matter which consumptives cough or spit up contains 
these germs in great numbers; frequently millions are 
discharged in a single day. This matter spat upon the 
(loor, wall or elsewhere is apt to dry, become pulverized, 
and float in the air as dust. The dust contains the 
germs, and thus they enter the body with the air 
breathed. The breath of a consumptive does not con¬ 
tain the germs, and will not produce the disease. A 
well person catches the disease from a consumptive only 
by in some way taking in the matter coughed up by a 
consumptive. Consumption can often be cured if its 
nature is recognized early and proper means are taken 
for its treatment. In a majority of cases it is not a 
fatal di c ease 
It is not dangerous for other persons to live with a 
consumptive if the matter coughed up by the consump¬ 
tive is at once destroyed. This matter should not be 
spit upon the floor, carpet, stove, wall or street, or any¬ 
where except in a cup kept for that purpose. This 
cup should contain water, so that the matter may not 
dry, and should be emptied into the closet at least 
twice a day, and carefully washed with hot water, 
(meat care should be taken by a consumptive that his 
hands, face and clothing do not become soiled with 
the matter coughed up. If they do become soiled, they 
should at once be washed with soap and hot water. 
When consumptives are away from home the matter 
coughed up may be received on cloths, which should 
be at once burned on returning home. If handkerchiefs 
are used (worthless cloths which can be burned arc 
far better) they should be boiled in water alone before 
being washed. It is better for a consumptive to sleep 
alone, and his bed clothing and personal clothing should 
be boiled and washed separately from the clothing be¬ 
longing to other people. 
Whenever a person is thought to be suffering from 
consumption, the name and address should be sent at 
once to the local health officer in whose jurisdiction the 
case occurs, with a statement of this fact. An inspector 
will then call and examine the person to sec if he has 
consumption, provided he has no physician, and if nec¬ 
essary, will give proper directions to prevent others from 
catching the disease. A person suffering from consump¬ 
tion may often not only do his usual work without giv¬ 
ing the disease to others, but may also get well, if 
the matter coughed up is only properly destroyed. 
Rooms that have been occupied by consumptives should 
be thoroughly cleaned, scrubbed, whitewashed, painted 
or papered before they are again occupied. Carpets, 
rugs, bedding, etc., from rooms which have been occu¬ 
pied by consumptives, should be destroyed. 
LISTING CORN IN KANSAS. 
Nearly all of the corn in this section of the State 
(central Kansas) is put in with a lister. The lister is 
a kind of plow with a double mold-board, throwing the 
dirt both ways, and the share has the point in the 
center and fits each side of the mold-board, so in ap¬ 
pearance it is a double plow leaving an open ditch be¬ 
hind it. In the center behind the lister is an adjust¬ 
able bar, on the bottom of which is bolted a small 
share called the subsoiler that loosens up the bottom of 
the furrow and a small pipe leading down just behind 
the subsoiler from the seed-box and dropping atfach- 
ment, which is fastened to the lister beam just above 
A KANSAS COHN LISTEIt. Fig. 224. 
the subsoiler. The dropping attachment is run on some 
listers by a pair of disks. I take three good horses to 
run a lister, but most of the farmers use four to do a 
good job and do it easily. After listing, as soon as the 
weeds start, the ridges are given a good harrowing to 
kill the weeds and level the tops of the ridges. Some 
use the harrow altogether and do not use a sled; others 
use a sled with long slanting knives bolted to the 
sides of'the runners. The runners arc about a foot 
apart and run in the bottom of the furrow, one on each 
side of the corn, the knives extending back and cutting 
to the center of the ridged They cut all weeds off just 
under the ground, and they soon die. After the sled 
they usually give another harrowing to tear out all weeds 
that might have lived and to move some of the loose 
dirt down around the corn. Then the cultivators arc 
put in the field; some prefer the riding, others the walk¬ 
ing cultivator. I prefer the walking, for the reason that 
better and more thorough work can be done. If the 
work has been done well two cultivations are enough to 
fill the furrows up level, and that is all that is wanted; 
if it has been done in a shiftless manner three will be 
needed. One man and four horses can easily tend 100 
acres of corn in this way. In harvesting, if the fodder 
is needed a corn binder is used; if not, it is husked in 
the field. A wagon is driven through the field; a man 
husks two rows at a time and throws corn into the 
wagon. 
Three implements used in this plan of corn growing 
are shown, big. 224 shows how a double lister first 
throws the soil away from the seed and then puts it 
back again with shields for protection. Two cultivators 
.\AOTllicit LlSTElt CULTIVATOR. Fig. 22(5. 
designed for use in listed corn are shown at Figs. 225 
and 226. c. w. H. 
Ellsworth, Kan. _ 
HOW TO KILL CANADA THISTLES. 
If J. A. 1)., page -ITS, lived in western New York two 
acres of Canada thistles would not frighten him. I 
once bought a farm, of which a son of the seller said 
the natural productions were Canada thistles and rag¬ 
weed, and when harvest time came a 14-acre field of 
wheat convinced me he was not far off as regarded the 
thistles. A team on reaper could not be driven to cut 
it until the horse next the standing grain had a pair of 
trousers put on his front legs. The Canada thistles 
were three feet high, and so thick that but a small 
amount of wheat was mixed in. In one Summer we 
entirely cleaned that field, and no thistles have since 
troubled it. There are two ways to exterminate them, 
but to know how to do it most expeditiously we must 
know how the thistle grows and propagates. The thistle 
has two sorts of roots, the rhizomes or rootstocks, 
which creep all through the ground and which live over 
the Winter, and the true roots, which spring from the 
shoots that start on the opening of Spring from every 
joint of the rhizomes. These last are what feed the 
plant and enable it to grow. Now in Spring all the 
matter for the future growth of plant is stored in these 
rootstocks, and all growth up to the full development 
of full-grown leaves is made at the expense of .this 
matter. When the thistle has arrived at the blooming 
period nearly all this stored-up substance is exhausted, 
but from this time on until Fall fresh matter is car¬ 
ried back, new rootstocks are grown, and matter is 
stored for the succeeding year's growth. Anything 
that will keep the plant pumping out this matter with¬ 
out a return of new will in time exhaust the supply, and 
the thistle will die. One can do this by excessive pas¬ 
turing with sheep; by putting enough sheep into the two 
acres so they will eat every green thing close to the 
ground. Give them plenty of water and enough grain 
(wdieat bran the best) to keep them thriving, and one 
year will kill every thistle. Put 15 or 20 sheep to each 
acre. Another way: Get the two acres seeded to 
clover; let all grow until haying time; just as the 
Medium clover begins to show' full bloom mow and 
make bay of clover and thistles; they make capital sheep 
hay. As soon as clover and thistles have got 10 to 12 
inches high plow all down, being sure to turn furrows 
down flat and cover every thistle. Don’t leave a wide 
back furrow unplowed, but turn over every inch ol 
ground; from this time until Fall don’t let a thistle get 
a full leaf. Go over the plot at least every w'eck or 10 
days with a broad, sharp-toothed cultivator, and the 
next day go over with a sharp hoe and “quick eye” 
and cut off every thistle; don’t let a single one escape. 
Just before freezing up plow deep and thoroughly and 
you wi 11 have a splendid preparation for a Spring crop, 
and, my word for it, never a thistle will show again in 
that two acres unless they come from the seed. I pre¬ 
fer the sheep cure._ j. s. woodward. 
HOW TO KILL QUACK GRASS. 
A Scientific Opinion. 
Many specimens of the very troublesome Quack grass, 
Agropyron repens, are sent in for identification, together 
with requests for some effective treatment for eradicating 
the pest. Carleton It. Rail, of the Bureau of Plant Indus¬ 
try, U. S. Department of Agriculture, furnishes the follow¬ 
ing excellent advice based on extended observations: 
There are several methods of procedure more or less 
similar that are followed in killing Quack grass. The 
first thing that should be done in any case is to with¬ 
draw' from the soil the largest possible number of the 
underground stems, or rootstocks. This may be done 
by plowing the land, and then harrowing and cross- 
harrowing from two to four times, preferably with a 
slant-toothed harrow in which the teeth are set well 
forward, thus dragging out as large a proportion of the 
roots as possible. These should then be gathered and 
carted from the field and burned. If this is done in late 
Summer or early Autumn the process should be re¬ 
peated in the Fall, at which time the plowing and har¬ 
rowing may be given as formerly, or the land may be 
simply plowed and left in a roughened condition where 
many of the roots will be frozen. In the Spring there 
should be another plowing given, and the harrowing 
repeated, for the purpose of removing still more roots. 
With regard to the crop that should follow' any such 
treatment as outlined above, there is a difference in prac¬ 
tice. Some prefer to sow down in the Fall, with a very 
heavy grain crop, which will act as a smothering blanket 
during the next Spring, and permit of working the land 
early the following Summer. Others continue the treat¬ 
ment by cultivation through the Spring, planting in 
corn,, potatoes, or some other crop which admits of fre¬ 
quent cultivation, and final extermination of the grass 
plants in the rows by hand hoeing or by pulling. Such 
treatment as this, faithfully given, will almost certainly 
result in the complete eradication of the grass, the few 
plants which arc able to come up in the rows of any cul¬ 
tivated plant being easily disposed of by hand. Although 
this seems a large amount of labor to put upon a single 
field, yet one should never be discouraged from attempt¬ 
ing it on that account. It is much cheaper in the long 
run to do the job thoroughly, at the expense of con¬ 
siderable labor at the start, than only to half do it and 
have the same thing to contend with year afler year. In 
the latter case, not only must extra labor be performed, 
but the yield of the crop is frequently lessened by rea¬ 
son of the grass in the land. Again, the extra cultiva¬ 
tions given not only do not injure the land, but in nine 
cases out of 10 will be a positive benefit to the succeed¬ 
ing crop, both by .putting the soil in better mechanical 
condition, and also by destroying other w'ccd pests 
besides Quack grass; the noxious influence of these 
others in our agriculture being scarcely fully realized. 
CARLETON R. BALL. 
