1896 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
543 
Coarse manure will kill out grass. When cows are 
turned in to pasture on a meadow, see how each clump 
of cow manure kills out the grass. Mr. Clark says 
that, if he had stable manure to use, he would work 
it thoroughly into the surface soil before sowing the 
seed. As it is, he uses chemical fertilizers only. Just 
after the grass seed is sown, he broadcasts from 400 
to (500 pounds per acre of ground bone and potash— 
two parts of the bone to one of muriate of potash. 
This is worked thoroughly in with the seed. In the 
spring, each acre received from 300 to 400 pounds of 
nitrate of soda. This may be put on at any time after 
the grass starts. Sometimes, they wait until the 
grass is several inches high, in order to see, from its 
color, which parts of tne field need most nitrogen. 
This dressing of fertilizer is kept up every year as 
long as the grass is cut. After seeding down, the fall 
application of bone and potash is made the last of 
October, and with each succeeding year of cutting 
the grass thereafter, the amount of fertilizer used 
is increased. 
There is no such thing as saying “ about 400 pounds,” 
in this experiment. The field is accurately measured 
and lines are drawn across each rod so that in seed¬ 
ing and dropping fertilizer, it is possible to be ab¬ 
solutely correct. The day I visited the field, they 
were trying a dressing of lime on a portion of it. 
After the seed and fertilizer have been rolled in, the 
field is not to be touched until it is mowed except to 
put on the nitrate of soda in the spring. The grass 
is never pastured under any circumstances. Mr. Clark 
says that the stamping of animals or fallen grass is 
sure to kill out a seeding. After the first year, the 
field is mowed late in the fall, and the mowing raked 
oft', leaving the ground bare. This, he says, is a bad 
thing for the mice, but a fine thing 
for the grass. 
This, then, is the story of the 
“ new grass culture.” “Oh,” said a 
farmer last week, “ there is noth¬ 
ing new about it—good culture, 
plenty of seed without grain and 
lots of manure—anybody can raise 
grass if he will use these three 
things.” 
“ Did you ever raise six tons on 
an acre ? ” I asked. 
“No.” 
“ Have you any friend or rela¬ 
tive who has ever done it ? ” 
“ Well, no ! ” 
“ Would such a crop pay you this 
year ? ” 
“ Better than any crop on the 
farm ! ” 
We think it likely that there are 
many farmers who would be willing 
to use the large amount of seed and 
the fertilizer, but they would fail in 
giving the needed cultivation before 
the seed was sown. It will be a 
brave man who is willing to work 
grass land 25 times before sowing 
the seed! Right alongside Mr. Clark’s 
field, are four acres sown at the same time and with 
the same amount of fertilizer ; yet it yields one-third 
less. The only difference is that this field lacked in 
cultivation. Another field 40 rods away—with better 
soil to start with and more fertilizer—yet cultivated 
and worked in the old way, yields less than half as 
much hay. Why ? Because the lack of cultivation 
left many old grass and weed plants alive. These 
now crowd into the field, and take places that ought 
to be filled by good grass plants. Again, the soil was 
not made fine enough, and thousands of the tiny grass 
plants could not start at all. By next year, in this 
other field, there will be patches all over the field, 
either bare or filled with weeds and, in order to grow 
a large crop of grass, the whole field must be worked 
up and reseeded. 
This is the story of a big hay crop. It is all simple 
enough, except the application of the essential prin¬ 
ciples. We are only telling what Mr. Clark has really 
done. You will understand that he does not follow 
any rotation of crops. The field is to be kept in grass 
indefinitely. When the yield falls below four tons 
per acre, the stubble is to be worked up and reseeded. 
On almost every large farm, there are fields well 
suited to grass culture, where this plan might be car- 
ried out. 
Mr. Clark has shown the way. Some farmers will 
say that he spends too much time in working the 
ground, and too much money for fertilizers. Take 
his yield and figure it out, and see whether this is so 
or not. Mr. Clark says that his hay costs him from 
$3 to $5 a ton when ready to cut. He can sell it for 
$10 a ton standing, or for $20 and upwards when held 
till spring. Under the old culture, his field cut 10 
tons of hay—now it cuts 60 tons. He believes in 
“ intensive culture ” in the hay field as well as in the 
garden. Is he right ? h. w. C. 
A COUNTRY DOCTOR’S MEDICAL NOTES. 
PUKE BLOOD AND HEALTHFUL FOOD. 
Some Blood Purifiers. — A vague notion, quite 
generally accepted, is that, without any actual dis¬ 
ease being present, the blood may become impure, 
and in consequence of such impurity, that some medi¬ 
cine is called for to remove it. It seems, too, to be 
believed that there are medicines possessed of such 
general cleansing powers as to be capable of laying 
hold of, and ejecting from the system, any impurity 
that may be present. Suppose we consider the mat¬ 
ter briefly. 
The substance of the body undergoes continual 
change. No action is possible save at the expense of 
some portion of the material composing it, which, 
thereby, becomes disintegrated and must be renewed. 
The blood circulating through every part, brings the 
new material required for the rebuilding of the spent 
tissue, and carries away the waste. This doubling of 
its work seems like an incongruity. That it should 
be able to accomplish both purposes perfectly, is alto¬ 
gether wonderful. It is manifest, however, that some 
means of freeing it of the waste speedily and regularly 
must be provided. In this work, the kidneys, the liver, 
the skin, the bowels, and the lungs all participate. In 
such perfect harmony do these operate, that it some¬ 
times happens when, from any cause, one becomes in¬ 
capacitated from doing its share, that some of the 
others will, after a manner, take up the extra burden 
for the time being. In the regular or healthy work¬ 
ing of the system, by one channel or another, the 
waste is got rid of about as rapidly as it is formed, 
and cannot, therefore, be regarded as an impurity. 
Should, however, any of the organs charged with the 
duty of excreting this waste, be rendered incapable, by 
disease or disorder, of performing its particular func¬ 
tion ; should the appetite be indulged and a quantity 
of food in excess of the requirements of the system be 
taken in ; or should any poison, whether vegetable 
like morphine and strychnine, or mineral such as 
arsenic or mercury, or animal as cantharides and snake 
poison, get in from without, or be generated in the 
blood itself by microbial action, then it may reason¬ 
ably enough be assumed that impurity is actually 
present in the blood. It is obvious, however, from 
the very nature of the case when fairly considered, 
that each form of impurity must call for special in¬ 
vestigation, be treated by its own appropriate meth¬ 
ods, and that no one drug, or combination of drugs, 
can, possibly, meet the requirements for the treatment 
of impurity of the blood in a general sense, or be 
entitled to be called a blood purifier. 
To keep the blood pure, or to assist in restoring it 
to a state of purity, it is clear enough that a good 
deal may be effected by keeping all the outlets, or 
drains, so to speak, of the body free and unclogged, 
the pores of the skin cleansed, and a regular action of 
the bowels secured. A liberal use of water serves a 
good purpose here, and if anything deserves the name 
of a blood purifier, water surely can put in a 
good claim. Then, too, care must be taken to make 
sure that the work of the excretory organs be not un¬ 
necessarily added to by taking too much food, or the 
appetite for those things that give no real strength, 
while they task some one or more of the excretory 
organs to get rid of them, be too freely indulged. 
Milk from Tuberculous Cows. —It is exceedingly 
important that the question whether the milk of a 
cow whose udder is healthy while some other part of 
her system is affected by tubercles, be capable of 
conveying the disease to those that drink it, should 
be decided one way or the other. Reasoning from 
analogy, in the absence of facts acquired by observa¬ 
tion or experiment, I do not believe that the disease 
can be conveyed in this way. Instead of at once con¬ 
signing a cow condemned by the tuberculin test to 
instant death, it would seem more profitable to use 
her to experiment with. Let the milk of a number of 
cows undoubtedly tuberculous, but with sound udders, 
be used to feed suckling calves not their own, and 
that have successfully withstood the tuberculin test; 
the calves to be kept in as nearly perfect a sanitary 
condition as possible. It would be necessary, of 
course, to observe all necessary antiseptic precautions 
in drawing the milk, lest it should become contamin¬ 
ated during the process. If 50 calves were fed in this 
way for a month or longer, yet remain free from the 
disease, able, after some months, successfully to 
endure the tuberculin test, a real addition to our 
knowledge would have been gained. Why should 
this question be left to vague surmise, a handy means 
to play upon the fears of the public by those with a 
selfish purpose to serve ? 
We know, by broad, general experience, that the 
members of some families enjoy a practical immunity 
from the disease. We know that, while no age is en¬ 
tirely free from the danger of attack, that it is much 
more likely to be contracted, at one time of life, than 
at another. We know that bad or insufficient food, 
impure or moist air; absence of sunlight, confine¬ 
ment ; any exhausting disease or condition, or the in¬ 
halation of irritating particles ot dust, will render 
an attack more liable, that, in a word, it is not en¬ 
tirely a matter of contagion ; that it is quite as essen¬ 
tial, if, indeed, not more so, to provide against these 
contributory causes as against the contagion itself. 
To illustrate this point, take some 
of the more delicate seeds, whose 
vitality is likely to suffer from a 
great variety of causes; every 
farmer knows that he must be care 
ful to observe all the requisite con¬ 
ditions, or they will fail to germi¬ 
nate. They must be fostered. There 
are other seeds, as he is painfully 
aware, that need no such foster¬ 
ing care ; they are abundantly able 
to take care of themselves once they 
secure a lodgment in his carefully- 
prepared ground. Just so it is with 
the germs of contagious diseases; 
some, like those of smallpox, 
measles and scarlet fever, are com¬ 
paratively indifferent as to condi¬ 
tions. They strike indiscriminately, 
while the operation of others is 
limited to selected victims. 
The reasonable conclusion, then, 
is that the preservation of the 
health of cows, their protection 
from contagion, will, so far as tu¬ 
berculosis is concerned, rather be 
assured by guarding against the 
conditions that predispose their 
systems to an attack, than by 
care to prevent them from being exposed to its con¬ 
tagion. It might be practicable, though by no means 
easy, to get rid of every tuberculous bovine ; but how 
much good would that do while tuberculous men, 
and the other animals that are subject to the disease, 
are allowed to roam at large, coughing and spitting '? 
At times, one is almost tempted to think that this 
scourge is expressly commissioned to weed out the 
too highly specialized, and, consequently, less robust 
of the several species that are subject to its attacks. 
If it were shown by the practical test suggested, 
that the milk of tuberculous cows was not of itself 
capable of conveying the disease, then it might be 
worth while to make sure, m the same way, whether 
milk from tuberculous udders or milk purposely con¬ 
taminated by the germs of tuberculosis, is capable of 
conveying the disease to the calves to which it is fed. 
w. o. e. 
HORSE SHOE FARM NOTES. 
SILO BUILDING J IMPORTANT ITEMS. 
The change in the prices of farm products, which 
are below the cost of production where ancient 
methods are still used, compels those who wish to 
accumulate property, to study, to change, and to be 
careful about adopting systems which call for con¬ 
siderable outlay of cash. The small profit received 
makes the return of invested principal slow and 
uncertain; and one should be sure that practice 
proves what theory commends before investing 
heavily. Farmers understand this fact, and have 
been slow in adopting the costly silo as built and 
managed by experimenters during the years of its 
introduction. The present (coming) silo, cheap, sure 
and simple, which needs no covering, simplifies the 
matter, and the building of silos is on the increase, 
