122 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
February 23* 
of good and bad results should therefore be as de¬ 
tailed as possible, that the reason for such results 
naay be determined. 
SOME GOOD RESULTS.—There is danger when a 
man is too successful, as was a correspondent in 
Swedesboro, N. J.; he wrote in December: “My ex¬ 
perience was, wherever I used it last Spring there was 
a marked difference in the vigor of the tree. The fo¬ 
liage acquired a dark green, observable at quite a 
distance, and which difference was greater as months 
passed by. It did not cease there; but the fruit gave 
an equal response. It is true that the oil was applied 
so late that the buds were in some cases injured, thus 
causing a smaller number of fruit to remain on the 
tree than there would have, otherwise; still, in no 
case were the trees so healthful and the fruit so good 
as where they were sprayed. I finished trimming my 
peach trees to-day, and my attention has been con¬ 
tinually called to the marked difference in the quan¬ 
tity and vigor of fruit buds, and also healthy fruit 
spurs. From my experience for peaches I think that 
the oil should be used in February.” My difficulty 
with this man is to prevent him from oiling every¬ 
thing he has on the place, irrespective of whether 
there is scale or not. Nevertheless his conclusion 
concerning the time for treating peaches is nearly 
correct. February or early March is the best time. 
Finally comes a New York experience, from Pough¬ 
keepsie, dated December 14: “I used 250 gallons of 
crude oil last April, 20 per cent to 25 per cent, with 
kerowater pump, on 1,000 apple trees 10 to 17 years 
old, large and thrifty, without harming a single twig. 
A wholesale slaughter of scale followed, and there is 
certainly not one-tenth as much scale in my orchard 
as a year ago. Success depends upon careful distri¬ 
bution with the right nozzles, pumps and men. I used 
a double Vermorel with orifices a little enlarged, so 
as to do rapid work with large trees.” Now a word 
further, concerning apples: Ordinarily they are re¬ 
sistant to applications of poisons; but with crude oil 
the results have in some cases been more unsatis¬ 
factory than with peaches. Some growers have killed 
certain varieties which with others have not been in 
the least harmed; while the varieties that one treated 
safely were fatally injured by another. Pears stand 
the oil with almost uniform safety. 
ADVICE.—Crude petroleum is a new thing; it is 
an exceedingly effective insecticide, and in my own 
hands has been entirely safe on all kinds of trees. To 
fruit growers generally my advice is use it boldly but 
carefully. Never treat a tree that does not need it, 
and never waste the oil. If you are in the least doubt¬ 
ful concerning your oil, or the man who is to apply 
it, use it in a mechanical mixture. Personally, on all 
trees to be treated by myself, I would apply it undi¬ 
luted. The 25-per-cent mixture has proved successful 
in so many hands that it seems almost as efficient 
as the undiluted oil, and I have no record of injury 
from such a mixture. It must be recollected, how¬ 
ever, that it is the oil which is the killing agenc. 
There must be oil enough to cover every part of the 
tree; the water serves merely to spread the same 
amount of oil over a greater surface. If you spray 
a pint of crude oil undiluted on one tree and two 
quarts of a 25-per-cent mechanical mixture on an¬ 
other of the same size, you have done exactly the 
same thing, and the results should be similar. If it 
needs a pint of oil to cover the tree well you must 
put that much on, either with or without water; oth¬ 
erwise you will not get the desired result. I admit 
that the average man can do more even work with 
two quarts than with one pint and will be less likely 
to put on an excess. 
In using the mechanical mixture keep the pump 
going as steadily as possible, as at every pause there 
is a tendency for the oil and water to separate in the 
hose, in the pump and in the air chamber. Every new 
start is apt to be either clear oil followed by clear 
water, or the reverse. Hence, it is better to waste a 
little going from tree to tree than to stop down every 
time, and risk putting on too much oil or ineffective 
water. To oil buyers in the Southern States the cau¬ 
tion as to grade of oil is especially addressed. A 
sample which has just reached me from Alabama 
has a specific gravity of only 32.5 degrees, and looks 
almost black, as if from an asphaltum base. The 
Texan gusher, which has been recently developed, 
produces an asphaltum-base oil and some of that may 
have got into the southern market. It may be good, 
but I know nothing of it, and it should be employed 
experimentally only. john b. smith. 
New Jersey Exp. Station. 
Potato Seed-Balls. I have been able to save some seed 
from Rural New-Yorker, Carman No. 2, and Sir Walter 
Raleigh potatoes. I had a piece of ground on which the 
snails ate up all the beans I planted, and was replanted 
to these potatoes mixed, as I had supposed my plantings 
were over. About 50 feet of the four rows were in the 
shade of large oak trees; 300 feet more of the rows re¬ 
ceived no shade. While many imperfect balls formed on 
the 300, only perfect balls were found under the shade of 
the trees; about a dozen fully developed ones. I have 
about 20 seedlings from these varieties grown last year; 
all show the true type. Some of them produced tubers 
the size of peas before the plants were three Inches high 
in the seed pans. g .j, ^ 
Oregon. 
CLOVER FARMING. 
MANAGEMENT OF CLOVEK IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 
The Great Value of the Plant 
Part I. 
ITS HISTORY.—It would seem that clover as a feed 
and fertilizer has been discussed and experimented 
with so long, and over so wide a range of territory, 
that little new could be said about it. It was used 
in England nearly a hundred years before any of the 
cultivated grasses, and even then it was an old plant, 
having been used by the Greeks and Romans more 
than 2,000 years ago. I have been using it in my ro¬ 
tations for more than a quarter of a century in the 
Miami Valley. In that time we have tested Medium 
Red, Mammoth, Alsike, Crimson and Alfalfa, and 
have seen waste lands overrun with Melilot for miles 
around a farm of a German, who brought the seed 
from Germany 22 years ago. Of all these varieties 
we have found the common or Medium Red, the most 
satisfactory. It makes a liberal growth of top and 
root, and has a larger per cent of leaves and branch¬ 
ing stems than any of the other varieties, excepting 
Alsike. It makes better hay than any other for this 
reason, and there is less waste in feeding. As a fer¬ 
tilizer it has no superior, since its chemical constitu- 
“THE BRAND OF THE POSTAGE STAMPS !” 
How the average Senator looked after the honest-butler letters 
began to come from farmers. 
ents are practically the same in all, and the Medium 
covers the ground more evenly than the Mammoth, 
but not so heavily when in full growth. It suits our 
rotation, of clover, corn and wheat, better than the 
Mammoth, as we use it for pasturing hogs, cattle and 
sheep, and for making hay and seed. 
The Mammoth makes a heavy growth, and if one 
has stock enough to pasture it evenly before the mid¬ 
dle of June, and then allow it to mature the seed, it 
is a superior crop for increasing the fertility, as it 
shades the ground so long, and casts so many leaves 
to rot and favor nitrification, and with the stems and 
root-growth there is added an immense amount of 
vegetable matter, as much as is needed to turn under 
for any future crops in a rotation of three or four 
years. But it matures the seed so late that the weeds 
have matured seed, which fact makes clean farming 
more difficult than where we use Medium Red clover. 
The Medium Red is cut for hay in June, and the weeds 
of early Summer are destroyed, whereas the Mam¬ 
moth cannot be so handled. 
CLIPPING CLOVER.^—To promote clean farming, 
and to increase the branching growth of the Medium 
Red it has been our custom since 1875 to run the 
mower over the wheat or barley stubble in August or 
September before weeds have had time to mature 
seed, after the grain had been harvested. The grass- 
board is taken off the mower, and it is set to cut with¬ 
in three or four inches of the ground. The weeds, 
stubble and clover tops are thus evenly spread and 
left as a mulch that adds to fertility. This process 
thickens up the clover, making it more branching, 
and cleaner for hay or pasture the coming season. As 
a rule, we never pasture the clover the first year, as* 
our late Summer and early Fall is usually dry, and 
taxes the young clover on thin places. Occasionally,, 
where wheat is cut late, and the weather hot and soil 
dry, young clover perishes on thin land. But this is 
rare, if the seed is sown early, and the land is in good 
condition. Where a soil is lacking in a sufficient sup¬ 
ply of humus, it dries more readily and the young 
clover is short of moisture. Barley is the best crop- 
for clover to follow, as it comes off in June, when we 
are likely to have showers. One good shower after 
harvest, will generally insure the young clover from 
damage, while a few days of intense heat and drought 
after wheat, rye or oat harvest will greatly damage- 
the young clover. At such a time farmers are usually 
short of other pasture, and few can resist the temp¬ 
tation to turn all their stock into the stubble. They 
see their mistake the following Spring, if noc sooner, 
when the clover has failed to survive the Winter. 
TIME OF SOWING.—As to time of sowing clover 
I do not think there is any sure time, although it 
may be called a very reliable crop if good seed is sown, 
on good soil any time between February and April. 
Early seeding favors deeper rooting before dry, hot 
weather. In fact, I have found that clover will grow 
at any time on good soil, where the supply of mois¬ 
ture is ample. The presence of plenty of moisture in- 
early Spring makes this the most reliable time. It is- 
with Red clover, as with Crimson, necessary to con¬ 
sider well the conditions of soil that favor germina¬ 
tion and growth. I have sown Crimson clover at 
seven different times in the season, and find it a very 
sure crop, sown the latter part of June, as the soil 
moisture is then ample to favor germination and 
strong rooting. Common Red sown beside it does as 
well, whether sown in June, July, August or Septem¬ 
ber, but sown later than August neither gets strong 
enough, even in very favorable seasons, to survive 
the Winter, and both are almost sure to fail if the 
season is dry and hot. Success with clover means a 
sufficiency of moisture. 
SOIL MOISTURE NEEDED.—Because of the need 
of moisture we must put the ground in tilth to retain 
moisture. Farmers have so long trusted to getting 
the seed covered by the frost or rains that they have 
not given it as good a chance as they have their oats, 
wheat and barley. This trusting to nature to cover 
the seed has led to the custom of sowing only in the 
freezing and thawing season. Talking with a friend 
about my tests of Crimson clover and the prime requi¬ 
site of success, he said that the same is true of our 
old friend. Red clover. He asked why we cannot sow 
Medium Red clover after we lay hy corn, and have 
clover to turn under the next Spring. I told him that 
we can if we secure the moisture and then cover the 
clover seed. He has since tried it, and claims that 
clover thus tried is as sure a crop as wheat or barley. 
Just how deep clover will bear covering I do not 
know, but to get a stand in June or July it is as neces¬ 
sary to cover Medium Red as Crimson, and for the 
same reason. So valuable is clover for feed and im¬ 
provement of soil, that we can afford to give the seed 
a better chance than is customary. Why our Medium 
Red clover does not grow as well in New Jersey, Dela¬ 
ware and other States where Crimson clover does well 
is, I suspect, partly due to shortage of moisture in the 
surface soil. We find it harder to get a good stand on 
soil that is so sandy that the surface dries quickly. 
On such soil harrowing with a Thomas harrow, and 
then rolling after seed is sown, secures a stand, where 
failure is almost certain without it. I think farmers 
too often expect too much of clover. They want it to 
grow and make rich land where wheat, barley, oats 
and even beans will not grow. Such soil is as truly 
wheat-sick and oat-sick as “clover-sick.” If on such 
a soil wheat is secured, it follows fertilizing and thor¬ 
ough cultivation. To secure a stand of clover we can 
afford to give as much care to preparation for it as 
we give for wheat. l. n. bonham. 
Butler Co., Ohio. 
Southern Vegetables.— Of late years the business of 
raising early fruits and vegetables in the South for ship¬ 
ment to northern points in Winter and Spring has been 
on the increase, and it is probable that, if careful methods 
of marketing are used, the business might grow to much 
larger proportions without danger of overloading the 
northern markets. It has been found that farmers’ asso¬ 
ciations in the South, when handled by men of common 
.sen.se and business ability, have been a material help in 
solving the marketing problem. The main point seems to 
be to furnish good stuff and make connections with 
honest, hustling dealers in the distributing markets. 
Honesty and intelligent work at both ends of the line are 
necessary. Most of the failures may be traced to poor 
produce, faulty methods of packing, or lack of care in 
selecting selling agents in the North. 
