Vol. LVI. No. 2451. 
NEW YORK, JANUARY 16, 1897. 
#1.00 PER YEAR. 
TWO COWS TO THE ACRE. 
CRIMSON CLOVER, FERTILIZER AND CORN. 
The Value of a Si/o. 
The corn field pictured on this page tells a great 
story of the possibilities of modern farming. Here is 
a back field that had been neglected for many years. 
It had run out, and the problem was how best to run 
it in again so as to make it useful. Mr. Cornwall 
tells us below how it was done, but the point we wish 
to make is that the silo, Crimson clover and chemical 
fertilizers give us a chance to redeem these old fields 
at a profit. 
When The R. N.-Y. first began to talk about Crim¬ 
son clover, many readers could hardly believe the 
statements. From the way this clover grew in Dela¬ 
ware, we could easily see that it meant a revolution 
in farming 
wherever the 
plant could be 
induced to live 
through three 
winters out of 
five. The Crim- 
son clover 
farmers learn 
to crowd the 
manure on to 
the fields close 
to the barn so 
as to avoid long 
hauls. The 
outer fields do 
not need ma¬ 
nure when a 
thick mat of 
this clover can 
be grown on 
them. For ex¬ 
ample, the corn 
field shown on 
this page will 
not need an 
ounce of ma¬ 
nure next 
spring. The 
Crimson clover 
plowed under, 
with 200 to 400 
poundsper acre 
o f fertilizer, 
will produce 
another heavy 
corn crop, and 
so it will go on 
for years so 
long as the 
Crimson clo¬ 
ver will grow. 
The first step 
away from the oldtime methods that was brought 
about by the silo, was to crowd the manure on the 
fields close to the barn and grow all the corn there. 
That gave short hauls both ways—for the manure out 
of the barn and for the corn into it. The outer fields 
began to be seeded to Timothy, and this was in many 
cases sold to buy bran, cotton-seed meal and other 
grain to go with the ensilage. It is a fact that a good 
many dairymen are willing to sell almost all their 
hay and feed the coarse, spring-wheat bran instead. 
Now comes a new plan which some dairymen are 
trying with more or less success. The manure is still 
used on the nearby fields, but instead of ensilage corn, 
small fruits, sweet corn or other vegetables are grown. 
The corn for the silo is grown on the higher fields 
back from the barn, where the hauling is all down 
hill. This corn is grown with fertilizers and clover-^ 
either a sod of Red clover or a catch-crop of Crimson. 
Without the silo, neither of these plans would be 
possible, but their development shows that progress¬ 
ive farmers are extending and changing their opera¬ 
tions, just as manufacturers are taking advantage of 
new inventions and discoveries. As an illustration 
of what some farmers are doing, the following his¬ 
tory of the working of this corn field is given : 
In order to give a complete description of the tillage 
of this field, I must go back six years, when the field 
was purchased from an adjoining farm at $166.67 per 
acre. This portion, being a long distance from the 
farm buildings and back from the main road, had 
had very little fertilizer or manure, had run out. The 
owner didn’t try to raise any cultivated crops, only 
hay and oats, and these would be rather scattering. 
We plowed the first year, planting potatoes with com¬ 
mercial fertilizer, and used stable manure in the hill 
for cucumbers, with about one ton per acre of good 
straw plowed under. On three acres, we raised 
enough produce to cover about two-thirds the cost of 
the ground; $210 worth of pickles from one acre. 
In 1891, we seeded to Timothy and clover with oats, 
and mowed three heavy hay crops. During the winter 
of 1894-1895, we gave this field a coat of manure, and 
in the spring, everyone said, “He’s crazy, plowing 
the best Timothy in this section ” ; but I didn’t think 
it good enough, so kept on in the driest kind of 
weather, when it was all the team could do to plow 
it. Others remarked, “ You can’t raise anything un¬ 
less it rain ; wait until it rains and then plow”. But 
we wanted the rain on top of the freshly plowed fur¬ 
row if possible, so kept at it. Then along came the 
heavy frost of May, and killed all the grass that was 
not plowed under ; then our minds were somewhat 
relieved to think that we weren’t wasting the Timothy 
after all. 
We had hard work fitting this field ; we rolled it 
twice daily while plowing, at noon and night, to keep 
all the moisture possible in the ground. As soon 
as plowed, we used the spring-tooth harrow alter¬ 
nately with the roller. We used about 200 pounds 
per acre of the Stockbridge corn manure, putting it 
in with the grain drill. We planted with a hoe, 3x3% 
feet. We raised a good crop for the condition of the 
soil and the dry weather. 
In the fall of 1895, we plowed part of this field 
wherever Quack grass or other weeds were numerous. 
During the winter, we applied a light coat of manure, 
and in the spring, plowed all of the field. Some said 
that we were plowing the stubble up, but I didn’t 
care, as I pre¬ 
ferred stubble 
to Quack, and a 
mellow to a 
heavy seed bed. 
I purchased a 
new disk har¬ 
row, and our 
team worked 
for a few days; 
first we rolled, 
then disked; 
we went over 
with each of 
these, four or 
five times, and 
leveled with 
the spring- 
tooth, going 
over about 
twice, and fin¬ 
ished with the 
roller. We 
marked three 
feet each way, 
and used 200 
pounds of 
Stockbridge 
corn manure in 
the hill, per 
acre, with soil 
to cover, then 
used plenty of 
seed of White- 
cap and Water¬ 
loo dent. By 
using fertilizer 
in the hill, we 
received the 
benefit just 
when most 
needed. 
As soon as the 
corn was in sight, we commenced cultivating with 
our Planet Jr., and cultivated each way about every 
10 days, sometimes oftener; the last time we only 
oroke the crust. We hoed and thinned to four stalks 
during June. The planting was done May 16 and 18. 
On 5% acres, one could hardly see a weed from the 
edge of the field, and would need to go a long ways 
to find a missing hill. About August 1, we put a 
seeder attachment, our own get up, on to the culti¬ 
vator, the corn being much higher than the horse, 
and went once in a row one way. The Crimson clover 
seed dropped in front of the teeth, which covered it 
about right, and in less than five days, we had Crim¬ 
son clover in sight. We used about one bushel of 
seed on 4% acres. Fig. 22 shows some of the lightest 
seeding where I commenced sowing; on mellower 
soil, and with more seed, we had a much better cateh, 
