VoL. LX. No. 2700. 
NEW YORK, OCTOBER 26, 1901. 
$1 PER YEAR. 
A REVIEW OF "CHEMICALS AND CLOVER.' 
Is Stable Manure Absolutely Necessary ? 
Part II. 
We repeat part of the question that was asked last 
week with further comments on the plan outlined: 
This matter interests us very much, because we own 
large areas of naturally good land which are too far re¬ 
moved from our barns and stock to think of carrying 
stable manure to them—much better land in fact than 
on the home farm, and we would be glad to see some 
of it cultivated. We do not feel it practicable to put up 
barns one, two and three miles from home just to make 
manure for those lands. This year we have put in a 
number of acres of corn on one of these Isolated tracts, 
and used simply acid phosphate and muriate of potash; 
also potatoes with chemicals along. All the crops are 
looking fine—all on land which has for the most part 
been used for pasturage and probably not plowed in the 
past 15 or 20 years. Our programme is to sow rye or 
wheat this Fall on all this ground, stock with clover in 
Spring, and cut rye or wheat for hay or soiling, the same 
as we have done this year on last year’s corn ground. 
is fairly well matured a “cover” crop like cow peas, 
clover, vetch or rye is sown in the orchard, and holds 
the ground through the Fall and Winter. It is plowed 
under the following Spring, when the process is re¬ 
peated. This goes on year after year with full suc¬ 
cess, the chemicals supplying most of the plant food, 
and the cover crops providing the humus or vege¬ 
table matter. If this can be done with an exacting 
crop like fruit, who can doubt that it will also prove 
successful with crops like corn, potatoes, grain and 
clover, provided you supply the plant food that is 
needed? 
We do not believe the plan you have outlined will 
succeed for long, because you are not using any nitro¬ 
gen. We understand that you intend to use only 
muriate of potash and acid phosphate on your corn, 
evidently expecting the clover, which is to follow, to 
supply nitrogen. We believe you will be disappointed 
in this, and that these outlying fields will never prove 
fully satisfactory until at least fair dressings of ni- 
stalks and grain may be hauled home through the 
Winter, and if a corn harvester is used the job of cut¬ 
ting is greatly simplified. When the rye and Crimson 
clover are plowed under we would always use a corn 
fertilizer containing at least 2i/^ per cent of nitrogen. 
The general proposition that average New England 
soils can be made to produce good forage crops, and 
slowly improve by the use of chemical fertilizers and 
“catch crops” with roots and stubble of grain and 
clover, is sound enough, but you cannot do it satis¬ 
factorily without using a fair amount of nitrogen, and 
occasionally plowing in a full crop instead of cutting 
it for hay. h. w. c. 
WHOLESALE BUSINESS IN FARMING. 
The picture on this first page. Fig. 327, shows how 
land is worked in some sections of California. It is 
taken from a bulletin on wheat growing, just issued 
by the Department of Agriculture. Here we have an 
immense traction engine, three sections of disks (24 
REPLOWING WITH STEAM OUTFIT IN THE GREAT VALLEY OF CALIFORNIA. Fig. 327. 
but the question in our mind is, can we keep this thing 
up and maintain the productiveness of the land or im¬ 
prove it? A. G. T. 
Willimantic, Conn. 
We consider that experience has amply demon¬ 
strated that this plan is entirely practical. In many 
situations at +ne East it is the only sensible plan for 
working distant fields. Some of these fields are long 
distances from barns, and are higher than the home 
place, with poor roads between. On our own farm we 
have fields at some distance over a steep hill. Our 
horses can haul nearly twice as much corn or hay 
from these fields down the hill as they can of manure 
up the hill. There is every argument why manure 
should, if possible, be hauled to the fields reasonably 
near the barn. 
There are few more exacting crops than well-grown 
fruit. Orchards demand the most skillful feeding, for 
they must produce yearly crops of fruit, and also 
make a fair growth of wood. It will be easy to find 
hundreds of fine orcnards that have not received an 
ounce of stable manure for years. These orchards 
are cultivated through the Spring and early Summer 
and well fed with chemical fertilizers. When the crop 
trogen are used. In the Mississippi Valley, on some 
of the heavy clay lands, good crops of wheat, corn 
and clover are grown by the use of dissolved phos¬ 
phate rock and small quantities of potash. Such soils 
are naturally strong, and well adapted to the growth 
of clover. The phosphate supplies the element most 
needed on clays, and also renders more or less of the 
potash available, and a large growth of clover re¬ 
sults. Some of these results with acid rock alone 
have been published as though they were suited for 
general application on all soils when, really, they are 
true only of the heavy ciays. The soils of New Eng¬ 
land are deficient in potash and nitrogen, and have 
been in cultivation nearly 100 years longer than the 
western soils which require only acid phosphate and 
clover. On some of these distant fields corn is the 
best crop tnat can be grown. Haymaking so far from 
home is not always satisfactory. We have been able 
to grow good crops of corn year after year by sowing 
a mixture of rye and Crimson clover at the last work¬ 
ing of the corn. This will make a good growth 
through Fall and Winter, and may be plowed under 
the following Spring for another crop of corn. The 
in all) behind it, and thus covering an enormous 
amount of land in a working day. This soil is chopped 
and fitted for wheat. A combined broadcaster and 
harrow follows, so that in a single day two men may 
sow more wheat than an eastern farmer with small 
fields and single team tools could handle in a month. 
Of course the iand must be level and smooth to en¬ 
able these traction engines to operate. No one ex¬ 
pects that the 1,000-acre field will be as carefully fitted 
as the 15-acre field on the 90-acre eastern farm. Along 
the river near Stockton, Cal., are islands which were 
once large fiats covered with water and weeds. They 
have been drained and reclaimed for wheat growing. 
The soil is soft and full of cracks, so that horses can¬ 
not be used. Hence, great traction engines, like the 
one shown in the picture, with the tires broadened 
out into great drums, are used for plowing, seeding, 
and harvesting. Does not this wonderful system of 
farming mean death or bankruptcy to the eastern 
farm? Is it possible to compete with steam power 
on level land? Perhaps the following notes of con¬ 
versation from C. E. Chapman will give the other 
side. Just now there is much discussion as to whether 
