29° 
MAY 3 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
About Harrrows. 
Subscriber, Parkesburg, Pa— The Cutaway harrow 
does very effective work, but takes time. In the opinion 
of the R. N.-Y. will it pay to use it in preparing sod for 
corn on light soil ? In this neighborhood it is customary to 
plow* harrow twice with spring-tooth harrow, roll and 
plant. To harrow with a Cutaway in addition might 
make our planting a week later in rainy springs. 
Ans.—W e hardly think it would pay to use both the 
Cutaway and spring-tooth harrows. With us it would be 
a question as to whether the Cutaway would work up the 
soil better than the spring-tooth. Our opinion is that it 
would, though many good farmers think differently. 
The Aspinwall Potato-Planter was recently tried in 
England, being introduced by a farmers’ co-operative asso¬ 
ciation. “ Taken altogether, it is one of the most simple 
and perfect agricultural implements ever invented, ” is the 
verdict rendered by those who witnessed its operations. 
It receives especial praise for the excellent manner in 
which it distributes fertilizers. There seems no good 
reason why it should not come into general use in 
England. 
The Hoover Potato Digger is called by such men as 
T. B. Terry, J. H. Warn and other good farmers, “ the only 
perfect machine for digging potatoes.” It is in use on 
many potato farms, saving the most disagreeable sort of 
hand labor. “ The Chinese don’t like it,” writes a farmer in 
California. This fact will not hurt it in the estimation of 
thoughtful farmers. 
The editor of Farm Implement News thinks that this 
season will be characterized by very sharp competition 
on binders, “ probably the sharpest since binders came on 
the market.” 
The Farmers’ Alliance has a large membership in this 
locality and during the past winter an attempt was made 
to unite the lodges in an association for their mutual ben¬ 
efit. They invited the merchants of the village to send in 
bids for their trade, with the understanding that the one 
offering the greatest inducements in the way of discounts 
should have their business. Then came a wrangle. One 
said if merchant A. was selected he would withdraw, be¬ 
cause he would not trade with him even if he sold goods 
below cost. Another said if merchant—B. was their man 
he and his friends must decline to trade with him for 
“ certain particular reasons.” Naturally the whole effort 
came to naught. F - G - 
Christian County, Ill. 
A QUESTION OF TILLAGE. 
YOUR CHOICE OF TWO FIELDS. 
WELL-TILLED VS. POORLY TILLED. 
A MARYLAND subscriber sent the following question : 
»* j have two fields precisely alike-a* to soil, fertility, 
etc. I plant them both to com. The one I work with the 
greatest skill and care, sparing no pains or la'or, and 
harvest an abundant crop. The other field is neglected, 
half -tilled and worked unskillfully, and an exceedingly 
poor crop is the result. Now, has the field which pro¬ 
duced the abundant crop lost more fertility than that 
which produced the poor crop, there being no difference 
in the labor? ” 
The R. N.-Y. referred the question to a number of its 
friends with the remark that it would prefer to take its 
chances on the well-tilled field for another year. The fol¬ 
lowing opinions are interesting: 
From T. B. Terry. 
I SUPPOSE scientific men would say that the well-tilled 
field had lost the most fertility. But were the two fields 
here in this section and offered for rent or sale at the same 
price, I should certainly take the one that had produced the 
abundant crop the season before. 
Summit County, Ohio 
From H. L. Wysor. 
That thorough and cleanly cultivation is absolutely es¬ 
sential to the production of a good crop, whatever may be 
the character or condition of the soil, does not admit of 
question; but that tillage alone, as I understand the term, 
is in any sense a manure, I cannot believe. No maximum 
crop can be produced on poor land, however thorough the 
tillage may be: nor, on the other hand, can such a crop 
be growu on the best of soils with shiftless and negligent 
cultivation. 
In the case, of the two fields here mentioned, while the 
thorough tillage which one of them received, resulted in a 
comparatively good crop, yet that field evidently received 
no fertility from the tillage beyond what was already 
there. The cultivation merely enabled the growing crop 
to avail itself of what fertility there was without inter 
ference. Had the other field received like treatment, it 
would, no doubt, have produced like results. It might be 
remarked here that the past season was especially favor¬ 
able to poor soils where good cultivation was possible, and 
very unfavorable to both poor and rich soils where such 
was not the case. As to the loss of fertility. I should 
think the two fields would be about on a par in that re¬ 
spect, the weeds abstracting as much manurial element 
from the neglected one as the good crop from the other. 
Yet, had I the choice of either of them for another season, 
I should, like the RURAL, much prefer to take my chances 
with the one that was well tilled; and this mainly because 
the latter has undoubtedly been left in a much better me¬ 
chanical condition, while the thorough tillage given it 
will reduce to a minimum the cost of preparing for and 
keeping another crop clean. 
It seems to me that Mr. Terry in his use of the term 
“tillage” has included in it the renovation of worn-out 
soils by the turning under of green crops and a clover ro¬ 
tation. At least that appears to be the way in which he 
has brought up his own land to a high condition, includ¬ 
ing, of course, thorough and careful culture. But the 
term, as commonly accepted, is more limited in its appli¬ 
cation. 
Pulaski County, Ya. 
From Fred Grundy. 
We all know that stirring the soil renders it porous and 
exposes its atoms to the action of air and sunlight, and that 
these two work certain changes which liberate and render 
available a certain quantity of plant food. The plant food 
or fertility thus set free is appropriated by the plants grow¬ 
ing in the soil; and therefore if the two fields were equally 
fertile, the one that was thoroughly cultivated and yielded 
a large crop has parted with more of its fertility than the 
other. 
It is only reasonable to suppose, however, that if the lat¬ 
ter field was neglected there was a heavy growth of weeds 
and grass upon it; and if such was the case, then we know 
that this field has lost as much fertility as the other or 
more. 
Given the choice of the two fields for another crop, any 
sensible farmer would take the one that had been well tilled, 
because the soil is now in such a condition that the fertility 
it contains can easily be rendered available by tillage. On 
the other hand, the soil of the neglected field is so foul with 
grass roots and weed seeds that the labor required to bring 
it into fair condition, and keep it clean through the season, 
would eat up the greater portion of the profits of even a 
large crop, and I almost feel warranted in saying that with¬ 
out the aid of a very favorable season a large crop cannot 
be grown on such land. If I had both fields to manage, I 
would sow the well-tilled one to oats, or some other crop 
than corn, and plant the neglected one with corn and cul¬ 
tivate it in the most thorough manner. The result would 
be that next year I would have two well-tilled fields instead 
of one. There are hundreds ot half-tilled farms to be 
found in this section. They are in this condition because 
the owners or tenants are farming twice as much land as 
they can properly cultivate, and consequently half-crops 
are the rule instead of the exception. 
Christian County, Illinois. 
From Prof. I. P. Roberts. 
The field which has produced the abundant crop will 
most certainly lose from the soil more mineral matter than 
the one which produced the smaller crop and I believe it 
will be poorer in nitrogen. It may be that the field having 
the better culture will produce quite as well as the other 
the next year, not because it is richer, but because the 
plant food in the better cultivated field has been made 
available. Should these hypothetical conditions be con¬ 
tinued for five years and then the treatment of the two 
fields be made as good as the better kind has been all along, 
the yield of the one that has had the poorer treatment 
would be the greater A nice question is involved just 
here, and is especially applicable to cases where farmers use 
a small amount of commercial fertilizers at the time of 
sowing, the application often enabling them to rob the 
land a little faster than they could without the use 
of it. 
Ithaca, N. Y. 
From T. H. Hoskins. 
I think the question can be most briefly and pithily 
answered by the observation of a shrewd old Yankee 
farmer, in regard to what was called a “run out” farm. 
It had beeD cleared but 15 years, having been originally 
alluvial plain land bearing a good hard wood growth. It 
was bearing little but thin June Grass, sorrel, five-finger 
and short mullein stalks, and a man, speaking of it, said it 
was “entirely worn out and of no value, except to keep the 
world together.” Replied the old man : “ I tell you, there 
never were days’ works enough in Bill N— to wear out 
any land in 15 years.” This was 25 years since, and that 
land has, in the meantime, produced crops of 37 bushels 
of wheat. 51 of rye, 92 of corn, 38 of beans and 460 of pota¬ 
toes to the acre. Most of this improvement has been 
effected by tillage, the cost value of manure applied aver¬ 
aging less than $10 an acre per year during the time. It 
is now in high condition; but in four or five years of skin 
farming it can be made to look as bad as it did 25 years 
ago. Good, productive soil cannot be exhausted, in any 
true sense. If that were possible a great part of the earth’s 
surface would now be irrecoverably barren and depopu¬ 
lated. But the indisputable fact is, that every land (bar¬ 
ring physical changes) which was ever fertile, is essentially 
as fertile to-day as at any time in its recorded history. If 
science disputed this fact science would be invalidated by 
history. But, the best agricultural chemistry accords with 
the truths of history. Sir J. B. Lawes has quite recently 
put himself upon record on this point—the dilliculty, nay, 
the impossibility of seriously impairing any once fertile 
soil by cropping it. The truth is that such soils are full of 
mineral plant food, “clear down to bed-rock.” The 
organic elements of plant growth can be drawn out of 
them, or reduced, by bad management, below the profit 
line; but the moment they are left alone they begin to re¬ 
cover of themselves; while a skilled farmer can put them 
in as good order as ever in a few seasons. 
Now, as the “exhausted” condition of the poorer land, 
or its apparently impaired crop-producing power, referr. d 
to by this correspondent, is due to bad farming, it seems 
to me, and will so appear, I think, to all experienced men, 
that the essential productiveness of the soil is still (and al 
ways will remain) as good in one as in the other, the 
whole difference being a difference of management and 
not of essential intrinsic quality. 
Orleans County, Vt. 
From Henry Stewart. 
This question cannot be answered categorically, as there 
are many points to be considered. The phrase “ lost fer¬ 
tility ” is itself vague and uncertain, for no one can. pre¬ 
cisely tell what was in the soil previous to the growth of 
the crop, nor how much the tillage was able to draw from 
the soil which to some extent may properly be termed in¬ 
exhaustible and consequently incapable of losing. A few 
plain propositions may be stated, from which conclusions 
can be drawn, that may afford a reasonable solution to this 
proposition. 
The soil contains certain elements which serve as food 
for plants, as potash, lime, magnesia, phosphoric acid and 
soda, others being so lightly drawn upon that the amount 
taken is not worthy of notice. It also contains a large 
quantity of organic matter which supplies the needed 
nitrogen, and in a naturally good soil this may be suffi¬ 
cient to last a century, with the additions made to the 
stock by the residue of the crops and the nitrogen drawn 
from the atmosphere. Tillage aids very much to make 
these elements of the soil available for crops, and also to 
leave the land after the crop has been grown in really 
better condition for future cropping than untilled land. 
The atmosphere, the rain, the various acids in the soil, 
the changes of heat and cold, a certain soluble action of 
the growing roots themselves, and the decomposition 
of organic matter in the soil, with the accompanying 
action of what is known as the nitrogenous ferment, all 
these act in unison to reduce the elements of the soil to a 
fit condition for the support of crops, and in the well-tilled 
soil it is plain that all these agencies are encouraged in 
their action. Considering the enormous bulk of the 
tillable soil of a field, the portion taken from it by a crop 
can scarcely be called a loss when these agencies are at 
work to continually renew the supply, any more than the 
consumption of oxygen in a person’s lungs can be thought 
a loss to the atmosphere. Thousands of years would be 
required to exhaust or carry off bodily, as it would in fact, 
the actual tillable soil, and then the subsoil would be 
gradually brought into use and so on while the earth re¬ 
mained. We cannot really conceive of the soil being ex¬ 
hausted or its natural fertility being lost as long as the 
agencies referred to are kept active by thorough tillage 
and the continuous growth of crops. 
When land lies idle or untilled, or is only partly tilled, 
these agencies are comparatively inactive, and, as far as 
they are active, to that small extent they afford support 
to a small crop. But the rains fall on this land and per¬ 
colate through it and dissolve the soluble elements of it 
and carry them away because there is no crop on it with 
eager roots ready to absorb the soluble matter and or¬ 
ganize it into vegetation. Most of the little plant food 
set free in the soil escapes for want of plants to take it up 
and this part of it is lost, being really and actually carried 
away by springs, streams and rivers to the ocean. 
Now which of the two fields has lost fertility ? It seems 
as if the untilled one had and the other had not. This 
point is well made and is a valuable one for study. 
Farmers are too apt to consider the cultivation of the soil 
necessary onlv to destroy weeds. This is a mere side issue. 
I f there were not a weed in the soil, the necessity for tillage 
would be paramount. It is a requisite process for the pro¬ 
duction of plant food, and without it the richest land 
would in time become sterile, would in fact lose its fer¬ 
tility. On the other hand, fields are now more productive 
than they ever were, after thousands of years of culture. 
Macon County, N. C. 
Tree Forms for Currants.— James Perkins thinks 
currant or gooseberry trees are very suitable for garden 
plots. This is the plan which he says he has practiced tor 
50 years: 
“ I take about six inches of the last season’s growth, 
cut out all the buds except two at the top of each cutting. 
The cuttings are then set in a bed of rich, moist loam, 
about one-half their length being underground. Cuttings 
treated in this way will form nice, straight stocks with no 
suckers from the roots. They are very beautiful in a gar 
den plot and it is easy to cultivate around them. Theii 
fruit-bearing life lasts from five to seven years. It is not 
desirable that the stems should be long, as the wood is 
rather weak and easily broken. The same rules are ap- 
plic ible alike to currants and gooseberries.” 
Growing Double Crops.— Mr. C. E. Chapman sends us 
the following report: 
“ Our strawberry beds were highly manured and the crop 
was gathered July 1. It costs more to weed the plot than 
to set out new plants. Last year I plowed the bed and 
planted early corn. This tasseled out before frost and 
made a profitable fodder crop, which was removed, and the 
ground was sowed to wheat. In a field under black rasp¬ 
berries set in rows six feet by four, potatoes were planted, 
one whole row the wide way, and one hill between each 
two plants the narrow way. The necessary cultivating, 
hoeing and digging of the potatoes kept the raspberries 
free from weeds, and their extra growth paid for the labor. 
The ground was in fine condition for setting in tips for new 
plants, and the potatoes were a net profit. It is so disa¬ 
greeable to get around among the larger canes the second 
, year that the trouble should be avoided.” 
. Ittis'ceUancouss gUvcrtisiutj. 
In writing to advertisers, please mention the R. N.-Y. 
When Baby was sick, we gave her Castorm, 
When she was a Child, she cried for Castorla. 
When she became Miss, she clung to Castorla 
When she had Children, she gave them Ca«i<it>i> 
