66 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
January BO 
CLOVER WITHOUT A NURSE CROP. 
SPRING SEEDING WITHOUT GRAIN IN WISCONSIN. 
Must Keep Weeds Down. 
I never had any experience in growing clover with¬ 
out a nurse crop, until last summer. Owing to the 
fact that, when sown with wheat, oats, or any other 
nurse crop, it so often proves a failure, I sowed a 
piece of land to clover the past summer, without any 
nurse crop. The land used for this experiment was 
on a high hill, the soil being a clayey loam, and not 
very fertile. It was plowed in the fall, and remained 
in that condition until the latter part of April, when 
I worked it with a seeder, and harrowed it. It then 
remained undisturbed for about a week, so as to germi¬ 
nate all the weed seeds possible ; then it was pre¬ 
pared for seeding. The seed was sown May 7, and 
covered with a slanting-tooth harrow. The clover 
soon came up, and grew very rapidly. The rays of 
the sun did not affect the plants at all, in fact sun¬ 
light is just what they need. The main trouble seems 
to be with the weeds ; but this can be overcome by 
cutting them above the clover when about four inches 
high. The crop of hay per acre was about one-half 
ton, and the heads of the clover were well filled with 
seeds. As to whether I can recommend this method 
of growing clover, I do not know. If we must have 
clover, I think that this is the safest way of growing 
it, for if the season be favorable, we may expect a 
good crop of hay ; if not, we are quite sure of getting 
a good stand at any rate. g w. dopp. 
Madison. 
Spring Seeding a Success. 
In former years, we have practiced sowing clover 
seed with crops of grain, and it has proved generally 
satisfactory, a fair stand being secured. In recent 
years, this custom has been far from successful 
with us. A year ago last summer, I lost all of the 
spring seeding of clover, 20 acres in all, 12 acres sown 
with barley, and 8 acres sown with oats. Last 
spring, I sowed 12 acres to clover alone, right on the 
stubble, as soon as I could get on the field after the 
snow was off, and then harrowed the piece once. June 
1 , I mowed the weeds off three to four inches above 
the ground, and in July, I cut 10 tons of clover hay 
from that piece. Beginning September 1, the cows 
were turned on for night pasture, until November. 
April 25, 1896, I sowed eight acres to Alsike clover 
and Timothy with 1% bushel of oats per acre, broad¬ 
cast. The clover came up nicely, and died when the 
drought came on. I made one other experiment last 
summer, on one-half acre of olack loam soil, adjoin¬ 
ing the 13 acres of the other experiment. I plowed 
the land May 2, harrowed two different times, killing 
two crops of weeds. May 24, the land was harrowed 
twice. I sowed clover seed at the rate of six quarts 
an acre, and then harrowed once with a slanting- 
tooth harrow. The clover was up June 2 ; after this 
time, we had a drought. I mowed the weeds off three 
to four inches above the ground, August 1, and Sep¬ 
tember 1, the clover averaged seven inches high, and 
gave good pasture from then until November. I can 
safely recommend this practice to other farmers who 
desire a sure catch of clover. I would advise sowing 
on fall plowing early in April, on land of fair fer¬ 
tility, and not too weedy ; cultivate the land well, 
making the surface smooth and fine, and sow not less 
than six quarts per acre. After seeding, harrow once 
with a slanting-tooth harrow. As soon as the weeds 
get six inches high, mow them off four inches above 
the ground. The weeds will not trouble as much as 
one would think, if the work be done promptly and 
Well. WARREN HOYT. 
Madison. 
It Will Save a Lost Crop. 
Last winter, I attended the short course in agricul¬ 
ture at Madison, and heard Prof. Henry lecture quite 
often on sowing clover alone. When I came home, I 
tried one acre, which I sowed April 20. While this 
clover was young, the weeds got a little ahead of it, 
and in J une, the clover was four inches high. With 
the mower, I cut the weeds about four inches from the 
ground, and after that, was not bothered with weeds. 
By the latter part of J uly, I cut a light crop of hay. 
This is the only sure way of sowing clover. I would 
recommend it to farmers that have lost a clover crop 
by drought. f. mck. 
Blanchardville. 
Crimson and Red Mixed. 
Last spring, I sowed clover seed alone among some 
apple trees, where I had dug up an old raspberry and 
blackberry patch. The clover grew and thrived won¬ 
derfully, being a perfect swamp in August. I mixed 
a handful of Crimson clover seed which I happened to 
have among the seed. Bright, handsome Crimson 
clover heads appeared among the others when in 
bloom. I shall watch with some interest for the 
Crimson clover next spring. We had a good catch of 
clover sown among wheat and oats last season. This 
seems to be a hard winter for clover and wheat—much 
freezing and thawing, and but very little snow, e n. 
Appleton. 
THIRTEEN MONTHS WITHOUT HIRED HELP 
WHAT SUBSTITUTES ? MACHINERY AND GOOD PLANS. 
I 
The farmer who depends largely on hired help, is 
an exception if his crops sell for enough to pay wages, 
taxes, repairs on tools and fences, insurance and 
interest. We decided to do without hired help. The 
plans were laid early in order to spread the work as 
evenly as practicable over the whole year. Instead 
of cutting the stove wood “fresh from the log” every 
night and morning, a two-years’ supply was secured 
in mid-winter. The manure was hauled directly from 
the stables and spread on the ground intended for 
corn—not a new departure, however, as father prac¬ 
ticed this 25 years ago when he kept only two or three 
cows. At that time, he used a wheelbarrow or hand- 
sled. Later on, he used the old mare and a sled- 
stoneboat. It was principally with the latter outfit 
that his two boys developed muscle and learned to 
love (?) farm life. 
Several thousand feet of logs were taken to the 
mill ; by special arrangement, the lumber was ready 
to return to the farm in a few hours. A near neigh¬ 
bor’s turn came when he was in the midst of oat sow¬ 
ing. The pathmaster usually calls us out for road 
work after a rain in June, when the old meadow, white 
with daisies, is in the best condition possible to plow 
for buckwheat, when all hoed crops need cultivating, 
and a day’s work in the truck patch is worth a for¬ 
tune. As one end of our road beat is dry and stony 
and can’t be worked to advantage in summer, we 
tackled it in April, before the ground settled, doing a 
good job and materially lessening the work in June. 
The grain crops were put in early, several acres of 
oats were sown in the mud and harrowed enough to 
level the ground ; the early-sown always do best on 
our soil. The potato ground (plowed Christmas week) 
was marked with a corn marker, furrowed and the 
potatoes covered with a two-horse plow, the whole 
IIOW TO BUILD A STONE DRAIN. Flo. 36. 
was harrowed with a spring-tooth first, then with a 
smoothing harrow several times until the tops were 
large enough to work with the cultivator. 
Haying was begun early, but before harvesting the 
early oats, we were behind, and the crops ahead, 
when we exchanged the hired man’s cultivator for 
help in harvesting. Next season, when we get a two- 
horse Iron Age riding cultivator with pivot wheels 
for our side-hill work, we expect to keep up. These 
tools cost money, but we are reminded that we don’t 
have to board them, and they never talk back. 
With the determination to drain an ugly-looking, 
low spot, it was plowed, leaving a heavy dead furrow 
where the drain should be, and a bo-rd or plank 
trodden down in the center of the furrow. At this 
point we increased the usefulness of our potato crates, 
which were filled with small stones and placed as 
sentinals along the dead furrow, when all was ready 
to go into winter quarters. We had an unusually 
cold spell early in December ; it froze very hard. I 
shouldered my pick and shovel, started for the wet 
spot, now frozen dry, but with no frost under the 
boards. The bottom of the ditch was left highest in 
the center, stoned up with flat stones for a throat, and 
the small ones from the crates on top. See Fig. 36. 
As fast as dug and stoned up, the earth was replaced 
to prevent freezing. There is nothing more important 
than covering a stone drain with plenty of earth be¬ 
fore a rain fills it with mud and sand. I wouldn’t 
give much for a ditch filled to the surface with stones. 
With plenty of steam thrashers near at hand, we 
have no trouble getting one at this season of the year. 
When everything was ready, we sent word to the 
owner of one in the morning ; he moved the thrasher 
and set up in the afternoon, while we engaged our 
help for early next morning. The man returned at 
daybreak with his help ; at 4 p. m. all were gone. 
We took his subscription to The R. N -Y., however, 
before he went. 
From the past year’s experience, we started on the 
new year determined to beat last year’s record. We 
followed the plow until Saturday, January 9, begin¬ 
ning od New Years Day. At this writing (January 
12 ), we commenced a new line of stone drain, and also 
closed a bargain with a young man to teach our 
“summer” term of school—term to begin in a few 
days. This gives the farm boy the chance of, at 
least, three months extra schooling ; and the whole 
school the benefit of a winter teacher. 
Steuben County, O. w. bentzien. 
IRRIGATION FOR POTATOES. 
The Thirteenth Annual Report of the Wisconsin 
Experiment Station is one of the most interesting 
volumes that our stations have ever published. It is 
full of suggestive facts, and one of the most inter¬ 
esting is Prof. King’s report of irrigation experiments. 
We told our readers last year something about this 
work. The water is pumped out of a lake, the power 
being supplied by an engine used to run a thrashing 
machine. The point we wish to show this week is 
the effect of a thorough watering just at the right 
time on two varieties of potatoes. The land used was 
a clay loam and was heavily manured, and the pota¬ 
toes were planted in hills. Water was applied on 
July 10 and 21, August 3 and 10 and September 3. 
Each time enough water was used to cover the space 
irrigated to a depth of 2.15 inches. The varieties 
used were Rural New- Yorker No. 2 and Burbank. 
The striking difference in yield on the irrigated and 
non-irrigated rows is shown at Fig. 37. 
Figured out in bushels per acre, the yield is given 
as follows : 
Rural New-Yorker No. 2. 
Irrigated. Not irrigated. 
Large. 
Large.. 
.280.3 
Small. 
... 12.2 
Small. 
. 10.2 
Total. 
Total. 
.290.5 
Irrigated. 
Large. 
Burbank. 
Not irrigated. 
.. 220 Large. 
.141.5 
Small. 
... 22.7 
Small. 
. 16.2 
Total. 
..242.7 
Total.. 
Thus it appears that the R. N.-Y. No. 2 yielded 
103.7 bushels more and the Burbank 85 bushels extra 
when supplied with plenty of water. This means an 
average of 94 4 bushels per acre gained by the use of 
10 % inches of water in addition to the actual summer 
rainfall of 15 inches. What did the water cost ? 
Careful experiments for two years show that one ton 
of soft coal worth 84 per ton provided heat sufficient 
to pump 80,210 cubic feet of water or 635,263 gallons. 
Charging 15 cents per hour each for engine, engineer 
and a man for distributing water, we have a cost of 
66.76 cents for enough water to cover an acre one 
inch in depth. It cost, on this basis, 87.18 to irrigate 
the acre of potatoes, while the gain, at 20 cents a 
bushel, came to 818.88. 
The R. N.-Y. No. 2 potato makes a very rapid 
growth. In some parts of the South, this variety is 
used to produce a very early crop. Grown on moist 
soil and with fertilizers containing a large amount of 
soluble nitrogen, it makes about half its size in a 
remarkably short time, and when thus half-grown, it 
is dug and sold as an early variety. We can see how 
this quick-forming variety would be greatly stimu¬ 
lated by a constant supply of water. It might be 
thought that the irrigated potatoes would be of 
poorer quality than the others, but this is not true. 
Prof. King’s experiments showed that the specific 
gravity of the irrigated potatoes was 1.073, while that 
of the others was 1.071. This shows that there was 
more starch in the irrigated tubers. 
THE STRAWBERRY’S WINTER OVERCOAT. 
Mulching Bernes in Michigan. 
The best time to mulch strawberries in the North 
is immediately after the ground freezes. Hardy 
varieties that have made a good growth the previous 
summer, may, usually, be left safely until spring, in 
which case mulching should be deferred until the 
plantation has been cultivated several times. This 
scheme seems most appropriate when the hill method 
is employed and the plants are cultivated both ways. 
However desirable this plan of spring mulching may 
be, I find that to mulch a large plantation in the busy 
spring season, is an operation that may well be ques¬ 
tioned, especially as early winter mulching gives 
good results. Generally speaking, there is little 
danger of using too much mulch—the more one can 
afford the better. It is surprising how much strawy 
manure that is well shaken to pieces, the plants will 
grow through. Of course they are watched and, if 
occasion demands, they are helped a little. Leaves 
covered with marsh hay to prevent the former from 
blowing away, make an ideal mulch. They contain 
no seeds, and nothing is better than forest leaves to 
suppress incipient weeds and preserve moisture. 
In case strawberries are covered when the ground 
is frozen, there is little, if any, danger of the crowns 
rotting—no matter how thick the litter may be 
applied. If they are to be retarded for a late market, 
it is better to mulch early with a light coat of litter, 
and after cold weather has frozen the ground deep, 
apply a thick coat of straw. I have left plants cov- 
