THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
FEB 22 
116 
spring. Old farmers in the vicinity freely 
warned me that I was throwing away my 
seed The only way a field could be seeded 
to clover, they said, was with winter wheat 
or rye. But when the oats were cut, 
which by the way, yielded an immense 
crop—they freely admitted that they never 
saw a finer catch. I think that the field 
would have yielded 1,500 pounds per acre 
had it been cut in the fall. It was far 
ahead of a field lying right beside it, which 
had been seeded with winter wheat in the 
way usually practiced in the East. To 
sum up : I think clover may be sown with 
oats just as well as with any other crop, 
upon all kinds of soils, in all parts of the 
country, except in some sections where very 
little or no rain falls after seeding time. 
As a rule, I would advise harrowing after 
sowing. Some farmers in this vicinity 
mix the clover with the grain in the 
seeder. Others have clover attachments 
with their drills, and put in clover at the 
same depth as other grain; but I think as 
a rule it does not work well. Too much 
seed that does not grow remains in the 
ground. 
Calumet County, Wis. 
FROM A. T. THOMAS. 
I have practiced sowing both clover and 
Timothy seed with oats at seed time 
in the spring for the past three seasons 
with very satisfactory results. Several 
of my neighbors have also experi¬ 
mented in the same way and have 
obtained a very successful growth of 
Timothy and clover. It is to be remem¬ 
bered, however, that the last three seasons 
in this vicinity have been abundantly sup¬ 
plied with moisture, so much so, indeed, as 
to render it difficult to cultivate the soil 
properly in preparing for oats,especially on 
low ground. Under conditions of sufficient 
moisture there is little danger of a failure 
in the “ catch ” of clover or Timothy when 
sowed with oats. I have also sowed in two 
or three instances clover with oats when 
the seasons were dry. In each case the 
clover seeds made a satisfactory start, and, 
in fact, grew fairly until harvest time ; but 
as soon as the oat crop was removed and 
the tender clover was exposed to the hot 
rays of an August sun the leaves quickly 
curled up and dried. Since then when 
seeding to clover and Timothy with oats, I 
have sown the oats at the rate of only about 
one bushel per acre. With only one bushel 
of seed oats sown per acre a small crop of 
oats will be secured, but the safety of the 
Timothy and clover is practically insured by 
inuring these crops to the greater heat and 
light which the thinly sowed oats readily 
admit, so that when the oats are harvested 
he clover and Timothy are hardy enough 
to endure the absence of the partial shade 
previously afforded them by the oats. 
The soil on my own place, in which the 
a bove trials were made, is a heavy clay 
loam ; that of most of my neighbors who 
have experimented in the same way is main¬ 
ly a red shale with clay as a considerable 
component part. Seeding to clover and 
Timothy with oats, if successful, is an im¬ 
portant factor in the saving of time when 
trying to reach a grass crop. Our usual 
grain routine has been a three-crop rotation: 
First, corn on inverted sod; second, oats ; 
third, wheat or rye with Timothy seed 
sown in the fall and clover in the spring as 
early as possible or, say, in the latter part of 
February to the last of March—preferably, 
however, late in February if the weather 
will admit. Under the ruling quotations 
for wheat there is small profit in the crop 
and it can well be dispensed with if oats 
will answer as a medium for obtaining a 
successful catch of clover and Timothy. 
The economy of time and labor is manifest 
when one grain crop can thus be disposed 
of in getting to a grass crop. When wheat 
ranged up to §1.50 or more per bushel, the 
growth of a wheat crop was a source of 
profit. With the competition of Western 
fields and the low freight rates on the rail¬ 
roads in transporting the Western grain to 
market, the day of dollar-and a half wheat 
is among the reminiscences of better times 
in Eastern agriculture. 
Franklin Park, N. J. 
FROM HUGH L. WYSOR. 
It is now conceded on all hands that the 
best and most certain catches of clover are 
obtained with the oat crop, no matter 
what the character of the soil. Less than 
a dozen years ago, it was thought better 
to so^ clover with wheat or rye, good re¬ 
sults being seldom obtained with oats. 
Indeed, the latter was itself at that time a 
very uncertain crop, owing to the spring 
droughts which frequently occurred just 
when rains were most needed. What little 
moisture remained in the soil was absorbed 
by the oats, and the clover perished. Now 
for five or more seasons back, there has been 
an almost unbroken succession of good 
oat crops; the months of May and June, in¬ 
stead of being dry as formerly, having 
been wet—sometimes excessively. This 
was bad for working corn and securing 
wheat, but it was good for the oats and 
the clover. As a consequence, the area 
sown to oats is yearly on the increase, and 
the tendency is to reserve the corn stubble 
or the greater part of it for this crop in¬ 
stead of seeding it to wheat. Oats are 
sown here from March 15 to April 15 or later, 
most of the sowing being probably done 
in the latter month. After the oats have 
been harrowed in, clover seed is sown on 
the surface, if possible before any rain 
falls, and a good stand is almost invariably 
obtained. Timothy is also generally sown 
with clover, but, as a rule, it does not suc¬ 
ceed as well in the spring as in the fall. 
It is not regarded as a good plan, where an 
old sod has been turned for oats to sow 
down to grass until the stubble has been 
turned for wheat. In this case, Timothy 
is sown in the fall and clover in the spring. 
Many farmers are now practicing the fol¬ 
lowing rotation : corn, oats, wheat, grass, 
but the fact still remains for the present 
that clover is best with oats. 
Pulaski, Ya. 
Eitral Copies. 
FARMING 900 ACRES AT A PROFIT 
IN WESTERN NEW YORK. 
MAKING, SAVING AND APPLYING MANURE. 
In this day of fraud, when half of the fer¬ 
tilizer companies are turning out a product 
that is barely worth the hauling from the 
railroad station to the farm, it stands us 
well in hand to manufacture all the man¬ 
ure we can on the farm, and then, if we 
have not enough, high-grade complete fer¬ 
tilizers, with a bone basis, can be bought 
that are really worth.the money, if we are 
careful in their selection. Every farmer 
should rely on the fertilizer factories at 
home, and increase the amount and quality 
of the output year by year. In this way 
we can have complete supervision of the 
process of manure-making, and are respon¬ 
sible for the grade of our goods. In our 
fertilizer works we have at present over 
1,000 machines running day and night, 
turning out a product guaranteed true to 
name, rich in ammonia, phosphoric acid 
and potash, containing no plaster, ground 
rock or worthless filler, but in every re¬ 
spect a first-class manure. 
The bulk of our manure is made in the 
barn-yards, but I would not advise any one 
to make manure out-of-doors, as there is a 
vast difference in barn-yards. Some are 
perched on the cold side of a hill, with the 
barn forming one side, a common board or 
rail-fence the other three. There is nothing 
to prevent the rain, snow and thaws from 
carrying the manure to the Atlantic Ocean, 
leaving a pile of leached straw behind. 
Why, I have seen the owners of such yards 
making little ditches to carry off the liquid 
manure, so that the yards might be dry. 
May the Lord forgive their ignorance, for 
they are robbing the farm, themselves and 
their children. Then there is another kind 
situated on comparatively level ground, 
surrounded on two or three sides by barns 
or sheds and on the others by high, tight, 
board fences. We have 10 such yards, and 
they aid us in making a high-grade manure. 
Some of them are on slightly sloping 
ground, and in order to save the liquid 
manure, with a team we plow and scrape, 
and lower the center of the yard, putting the 
earth on the lowest side, forming a dam, 
which, after being tramped ujjon by the 
stock for a short time, becomes hard and 
water-tight. We litter th e yards with.straw 
often during the winter, especially after 
rain or snow storms, so as to keep them dry 
all the time. 
By the middle of April our straw stacks 
have disappeared, and in their places we 
have good coarse manure all over the yards 
to a depth of one and one-half to three feet. 
This is then applied on the corn and potato 
ground, which usually receives as liberal a 
coat as can be conveniently plowed under. 
I consider it a most wasteful practice to 
leave manure in the yards all summer, so 
that it may become rotten enough to use as 
a top-dressing for winter wheat after seed¬ 
ing. It has been proven beyond the shadow 
of a doubt that manure treated in such a 
manner loses half its value. After the 
coarse manure is all out of the yards they 
are scraped clean with hoes to save the fine 
sediment. Some farmers neglect this, 
thinking that it is not of much account; 
but we consider it worth twice as much as 
ordinary farm manure. Our cattle manure 
is removed directly from the stables with¬ 
out undergoing exposure to the elements 
any longer than is unavoidable. We ac¬ 
complish this end in different ways. Ad¬ 
joining one stable is an open shed, where 
the manure is thrown when the stable is 
cleaned every day, and then the accumula¬ 
tion is taken out once or twice a week. 
On another farm the manure is allowed to 
remain in the stable, fresh bedding being 
added every night, of course, and twice a 
week the wagon is brought up in front of 
the door, and the manure is pitched on and 
drawn to the field. I think this latter way 
much the better, as one handling of the 
manure is saved. 
In drawing manure in the winter or at 
any time of the year when it is liable to 
lie on the ground three or four months 
before it is plowed under, we spread it 
from the wagon so that all of the ground 
may receive the benefit of the leachings. 
It is not a good practice to pile manure 
out-of-doors in any case if it can be avoided 
with a reasonable expenditure of time and 
labor. 
Our sheep manure, made in the sheds, is 
allowed to remain, fresh straw being used 
occasionally to absorb all liquids and to pre¬ 
vent the evaporation of ammoniacal gases, 
till after the sheep are sold in the spring. 
This sheep manure is the best home-made 
fertilizer we have, and I believe we save the 
full manurial value of the hay and grain 
by keeping the manure well compacted and 
under cover. It is seldom our sheep man¬ 
ure is allowed to burn or fire-fang. In the 
handling of horse manure considerable care 
must be exercised, as it loses strength rap¬ 
idly through what is commonly known as 
“burning’' or “steaming.” To prevent 
this, we either compost it with other man¬ 
ure or remove it at intervals throughout 
the year before a sufficient bulk has been 
made to “ burn ” to any injurious extent. 
The manure made by the hogs while in win¬ 
ter quarters—a very valuable manure by 
the way—is carefully saved and applied to 
the corn ground early in the spring. Poul¬ 
try droppings, composted with unleached 
wood ashes, plaster and acidulated bone, 
make a first-rate fertilizer for general use, 
and one that is especially desirable for 
starting corn by applying a handful to each 
hill. Besides our animal manure, we plow 
under 50 to 100 acres of clover in the process 
of fallowing every year. This is nearly as 
good on some soils as animal manure, and 
the cost is less than half. We supplement 
our home manures with a car-load of com¬ 
mercial fertilizers with good results. A 
great deal of discretion is needed in buy¬ 
ing ; but repeated tests have shown us the 
kinds to use. 
It is impossible for me to give the exact 
amount or value of our manure, as we are 
in the manure business the year ’round, 
though I am perfectly safe in saying that 
at least 3,000 tons go from our stables and 
yards to the fields every year at a cost, 
as nearly as we can judge, of §1 per ton. 
From the results of recent experiments in 
manure-making carried on by experiment 
stations, we learn that the amount of fer¬ 
tilizing matter in a ton of clover is worth 
$8 ; Timothy, §5; corn-stover, §3.50 ; corn, 
§6.25; oat and wheat straw, §2.50; wheat 
bran, §13; and oats, §8. Taking these fig¬ 
ures as a basis, our manure should be 
worth §4,700 instead of §3,000 , its present 
value. 
Any one can see at a glance that our sys¬ 
tem is not perfect. I am a young man yet 
and I expect to live to see the time when 
the progressive American farmer will hus¬ 
band the manure as carefully, perhaps, as 
does his Japanese contemporary on the 
other side of the earth. When that time 
arrives there will be no such thing as yard 
manure. Every particle of hay, straw and 
stover that is fed to stock will be cut by 
a power cutter, and even the straw that 
is used for litter will be cut in small 
pieces. This manure will be distributed 
over the fields nearly every day by an im¬ 
proved Kemp spreader loaded at the stable 
door. Can we estimate the value of such 
manure to our farms? Will it not prove 
a mortgage-lifter ? Will we need to buy 
manufactured fertilizers to the same extent 
that we do now ? 
When we reach that stage of advance¬ 
ment, three-quarters of the farms in this 
State will not be mortgaged as they are 
to-day. The rural population will be, ou 
the whole, an intelligent, cultured people ; 
but among them I will find plenty of 
men who will say : “ Farmin’ don’t pay ! ” 
This same class will continue to eschew 
farm papers, experiment station bulletins, 
and farmers’ institutes, and, I dare say, if 
they can borrow enough money of their 
richer neighbors to build a barn, they will 
put it on top of a hill, with a barn-yard 
on the cold side, and, as an inevitable ad¬ 
junct, I will find a little canal to carry off 
the liquids. EDWARD F. DIBBLE. 
Livingston County, N. Y. 
WILLIAM FALCONER. 
My Seed Order.—T here are certain kinds 
of vegetables, for instance, of corn, onions 
and beans, that I have grown for years, and 
find so satisfactory that I stick to them, no 
matter what any catalogue may say about 
them, and I grow a little of many sorts of 
things just for trial, and I enter in my note¬ 
book exactly how these new things behave, 
so that when I make out my seed-list in 
winter, I compile it from my own note¬ 
book and not from the catalogues. 
Contradictory Notes. — Indeed my 
notes are so sometimes, and it takes years 
of patient practice to arrive at definite re¬ 
sults. Take peas, for instance: perhaps 
Stratagem is to-day the most lauded pea of 
recent introduction; but I have discarded 
it as a main crop. Why ? Because it is 
not prolific! You need not rise by the 
dozen to tell me what immense crops it 
bears with you ; I know it, and it has done 
so, occasionally, with me, but not regularly ; 
and for this reason, it has to step aside and 
be replaced by Bliss’s Abundance, of the 
same type, but, with me, so far, a sure 
bearer. On light, dry land, Stratagem has 
always been poor, and I have never had it 
in good condition after July 28. But this 
is only one case among a multitude. Now, 
catalogues don’t tell you this sort of thing, 
because they would err if they did, for, in 
general, Stratagem is one of the finest 
peas grown ; this is just to show how neces¬ 
sary it is for us to judge for ourselves, by 
our own practice, and not to trust blindly 
to catalogue descriptions. 
(Continued on Page 122.) 
CutTJjUl 1 ) C W. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Illinois. 
Godfrey, Madison County.—We have 
had the mildest winter here that I have 
ever seen ; the thermometer has never been 
below zero. It was so mild till Christmas 
that the shrubs were nearly in leaf and 
peach buds were showing pink. I find many 
of those that were so far advanced are 
now killed. w. . 1 . jr. 
Kansas. 
Garnett, Anderson County, February 1. 
—This is a lovely day, as has been every 
day this week. December was as warm and 
pleasant as April. There is usually a little 
frost at night, but early flowering shrubs 
are blooming out. About the middle of 
January we had about a week of cold 
weather which gave the icemen a chance to 
get up ice. Wheat looks well; more has 
been sowed than last year. Corn is very 
good and worth 15 cents per bushel at the 
railroad. Flax was our best paying crop 
last year; it yielded from 10 to 16 bushels to 
the acre and brought from §1 to §1.10 per 
bushel. A great deal will be sowed this 
spring: some will put in from 40 to 60 acres. 
Oats were a light crop and are worth 15 
cents per bushel; wheat 65 cents ; potatoes 
25 cents; hogs are worth §3.25 per 100 pounds; 
fat cows §2 per 100 pounds ; and fat steers 
§3 to §3.60. A good many farmers are in 
debt and are joining theF. M. B. A., hoping 
that it will help them. s. E. 
Wisconsin. 
Almond, Portage County.—What we 
want is Eastern capital to buy our produce. 
Our nearest warehouse is situated at Plain- 
field in Waushara County, eight miles dis¬ 
tant, on the Portage branch of the Wiscon¬ 
sin Central Railroad. Last Monday one 
buyer took in 3,000 bushels, and as the train 
pulled out of Bancroft, the next station, 
last Tuesday going south, it carried 21 
loaded cars of potatoes, 17 of them having 
been loaded at Plainfield. One day 40 
teams were counted standing loaded in the 
street waiting for the train to bring in cars 
so that they could be unloaded, and it is no 
uncommon thing for a man to take his 
