1901 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
io5 
Cow Peas and Bacteria. 
c. W. M., Licking Co., 0.—Last Summer, 
knowing that mulching material for berries 
would be scarce, I acted upon a suggestion 
in Hope Farm Notes, and in June sowed a 
patch of cow peas. We had a severe local 
drought, and the peas did not make much 
growth, but at about a foot high formed 
pods. A good rain came about this time, 
but this patch of peas did not grow after¬ 
wards. A small patch of peas sown on an 
old strawberry bed plowed down In July 
had not formed pods when the rain came, 
and the peas on this patch made a larger 
growth of vines than the earlier sown, 
vet neither patch made enough growth to 
inake much mulching material. There is 
now every prospect that straw will be 
scarce another Fall, the wheat fields look¬ 
ing poor at this time, and I must be on the 
lookout for mulching material. On mak¬ 
ing an examination of the pea roots I can¬ 
not find any tubercles (knots or nitrogen 
traps), and the question arises, was the 
small growth of vine due to the variety, 
dry weather or lack of tubercles? The 
peas I sowed were to me an unknown 
black sort. What variety would you recom¬ 
mend for the latitude of central Ohio, to 
make the most mulching material? What 
method would you recommend to get the 
bacteria in my soil, that would put the 
“knots” on the pea roots? The land I had 
in peas is intended for potatoes in 1901, 
and I followed the peas with rye. Would 
it not have been better to follow with the 
Hairy vetch? 
^f^s_Last Summer was rather a 
crusher with many who tried new 
plants, as the hot, dry weather was 
against any such experiment. Our ex¬ 
perience is that cow-pea vines make a 
most excellent mulch for strawberries, 
when we can get enough of them to 
cover a reasonable sized area. This past 
year we have experimented with eight 
different kinds of cow peas; Early Black 
makes a vine 18 inches or two feet high, 
which runs perhaps three or four feet 
in a good season. When these vines are 
cut just as the pod forms, and before 
the leaves fall, they will make without 
doubt a good lot of vine growth for food 
or fodder, and will start a second 
growth. The Whippoorwill makes a 
larger vine, and this year matured seed 
of good quality in northern New Jersey. 
These two varieties are best suited to 
the North, as they are sure to make seed, 
and that is a desirable thing where one 
intends to grow this crop year after 
year, for the seeds are quite expensive. 
A variety know as Wonderful, and an¬ 
other known as the Red Crowder, made 
with us several times the vine growth 
of either Early Black or Whippoorwill, 
but matured practically no seed. If you 
want a vine that will mature take either 
Early Black or Whippoorwill; if you 
simply want vine growth for mulching 
or fodder, we would advise either Won¬ 
derful or Clay or Red In regard to the 
formation of the tubercles on the roots 
we found some singular things in our 
last year’s experience. Where we plant¬ 
ed the seed on poor ground, without any 
fertilizer, and without much care, the 
roots were practically alive with the tu¬ 
bercles. Where we used nitrate of soda, 
or put the peas on good ground, there 
were practically no tubercles at all. 
We planted Soy beans for the first 
time last year. Having heard so much 
about soil inoculation, we determined to 
try to see what there was in it. For this 
reason we sent to Massachusetts and ob¬ 
tained 100 pounds of ordinary soil out of 
a field where Soy beans had been grown. 
We scattered this earth at the bottom 
of one row when the Soy beans were 
planted, while the adjoining rows had 
nothing of the kind put in the furrows. 
These rows were about 400 feet long. 
The only tubercles to be found in con¬ 
nection with those Soy bean plants were 
where that inoculated soil was put, and 
we are forced to the conclusion that the 
scientific men were right in saying that 
we introduced the bacteria to our soil 
when we imported that earth from Mas¬ 
sachusetts. Our experience with the cow 
pea leads us to believe two things: First, 
that after a series of years these bac¬ 
teria will come in of themselves, and 
produce the tubercles on the roots of the 
plants. This, however, will take more 
time than most people want to spend. 
We are also convinced that the bacteria 
may be introduced to the soil after the 
manner in which we brought Soy bean 
bacteria to the farm, namely, by bring¬ 
ing soil from a field where the plants 
had made the tubercles. We do not be¬ 
lieve it would pay simply to broadcast 
such soil over the field. The way we 
would do, if we wanted to make haste, 
would be to plant one row of the cow 
peas in a drill about as one would plant 
beans. Get a peck, more or less, of soil 
out of some field where these cow peas 
had been grown successfully, put that at 
the bottom of this row, drop the seeds 
right on it, cover them over, and then 
let them alone except for occasional cul¬ 
tivation. Do not use any manure or fer¬ 
tilizer with them. The chances are that 
in the Fall one would find those cow-pea 
roots alive with tubercles, and another 
year by digging up the soil of that row 
and using it on a larger area, the bac¬ 
teria would be introduced all over the 
farm, or at least wherever cow peas were 
sown. This thing was actually done at 
the Kansas Agricultural College witb 
acres of Soy beans, a ton of the soil 
was originally brought from Massachu¬ 
setts, and from it a number of rows were 
inoculated so that they got soil of their 
own in proper shape. This was drilled 
in with the Soy-bean seed about as we 
would drill in a fertilizer. This subject 
is one of great interest, although we 
have yet to demonstrate that it has any 
great practical value for us. All of us 
are benefited by trying a few of these 
things on a small scale, even though 
they do not always bring a barrel full 
of dollars. 
Men Manure and Chemicals. 
A. S. A., Weslburo, Mass.—I have seen 
much In The R. N.-Y. about making a 
good fertilizer with dry hen manure and 
chemicals, and as my fertilizer bill is large, 
I should be glad of some way to cut it 
down. The fertilizer that gives me the 
best results has a guaranteed analysis of 
nitrogen, 3.30 to 4.12 per cent; available 
phosphoric acid, 8 to 11; potash, 7 to 8. 
Not knowing just how to figure these 
things out myself, will you put down the 
quantity of each needed in the following 
mixtures?: 1. Dry hen manure, superphos¬ 
phate of lime, muriate of potash, nitrate 
of soda (if needed.) 2. Dry hen manure, 
pure ground bone, muriate of potash, ni¬ 
trate of soda (if needed.) 3. Dry hen ma¬ 
nure, dissolved bone black, muriate of pot¬ 
ash, nitrate of soda (if needed.) 
Ans.—E very year we have numerous 
questions about hen manure. Most peo¬ 
ple give this manure a higher value than 
it deserves. It is the strongest of our 
domestic manures, but not nearly as 
strong as Peruvian guano. Here is a 
table giving average analyses of the sub¬ 
stances which you desire to mix. The 
hen manure analysis is an average of 
many dried samples; 
Pounds 
in 100. 
Phos- 
Nltro- 
Pot- phoric 
gen. 
ash. Acid. 
Ui'ied hen manure. 
... 2% 
2 3 
Acid phosphate . 
...16 
14 
Nitrate of soda. 
Ground bone . 
... 3 
Muriate of potash. 
50 
This hen manure is supposed to be 
pure and well dried with plaster or road 
dust. After drying it is broken up, 
crushed and sifted through a fine wire 
sieve. A. S. A.’s standard fertilizer must 
contain 66 pounds of nitrogen, 160 of 
phosphoric acid and 140 of potash. The 
first mixture is hard to make because in 
order to secure the high per cent of phos¬ 
phoric acid you must use at least 1,000 
pounds of acid phosphate; 
Phos- 
Nltro- Pot- phorir 
gen. ash. Acid. 
1,000 acid phosphate. .. 140 
500 hen manure. 12% 10 15 
250 nitrate . 40 
250 muriate . 125 
Total 
52% 135 155 
By using 75 pounds less of the hen ma¬ 
nure and 75 more nitrate you will bring 
up the per cent of nitrogen, but still be 
low on potash and phosphoric acid. The 
thing to help this out is fine ground 
bone. Here, for example, is a mixture: 
4U0 bone .. 
::00 acid phosphate 
250 niti’ate . 
250 muriate .. 
.sOO hen manure..., 
Total .. 
Phos- 
Nitro- Pot- phoric 
gen. 
ash. 
Acid. 
12 
100 
42 
40 
, , 
125 
, , 
20 
16 
24 
72 
141 
166 
This mixture gives you three forms of 
nitrogen and two of phosphoric acid. In 
theory the analysis is equal to that of 
the fertilizer A. S. A. has been using, 
yet, of course, we cannot guarantee that 
it will prove as effective for all crops. 
Hen manure varies greatly, and unless 
it is made very fine and thoroughly 
mixed it will not give uniform results. 
We feel sure that this method of drying, 
crushing and mixing hen manure with 
chemicals is a good one for the general 
farmer. 
When you write advertisers mention The 
R. N.-Y. and you will get a quick reply and 
"a square deal.” See our guarantee8thpage. 
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Bose Growers, 
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Heliotrope, niixei. 
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Wi 
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Mt. Hope Nurseries, ROCHESTER, N. Y. 
Establlnhcd over <50 Yearn. 
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For Sale 
$5 per bu.; 2,000 bu 
—1.000 bu. Clover Seed ® SO to $7 per 
Cow Peas @ $1.25 to $1.75 per bu. 
J. B. HOLLAND, Milford, Del. 
Clover and Timothy, 
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We are recleaners of all kinds of Field 
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A new variety and very early. This 
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C AULIFLOWER SEED 
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L. ,1. FARMER. Nurseryman. Pulaski, Oswego Co.. N. Y. 
