1896 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
751 
A MOSS-BACKED CONNECTICUT PASTURE. 
HOW TO TONE IT UP. 
For several years, patches of moss have begun to appear on 
several of my outlying, upland pastures, some of them widely 
separated. The soil is a dry loam, well adapted to rye, on which I 
have formerly seen a fine growth of White clover. These patches 
have spread gradually, until they appear formidable, in two 
cases, covering, probably, two acres each with a coat of moss so 
thick, in many places, that scarcely a blade of grass appears. 
Probably the best remedy would be thorough cultivation, but at 
my advanced age, I do not wish to plow much, relying upon 
grass mainly for an income. Besides, part of the land is so full 
of rocks that improvement in that way is about out of the ques¬ 
tion. I have made applications to parts of it, of ashes, muriate 
of potash, and bone meal; also air-slaked lime, without appre¬ 
ciable results. What can be done for it? Probably some 
will say, “ Plant it to forest trees.” But an acre of vigorous 
sprout land can be bought in this vicinity, for much less than 
half the cost of planting an acre of trees. C. m. n. 
Litchfield County, Conn. 
Stir the Moss Up. 
The process I should adopt is very simple and inex¬ 
pensive. Much of my land has been subject to that 
kind of growth ; at least one-third of my 16-acre field 
was nearly covered with moss when I commenced 
operations upon it, so I can sympathize with C. M. N., 
for his land, certainly, cannot be any rougher in 
rocks than mine was. 
I would use a Steel-frame Reversible Cutaway har¬ 
row with special heavy disks, five feet long which can 
be handled by two horses. With that machine, he 
could entirely destroy the moss and secure a new 
growth of such grass as he may desire to plant. I 
suggest this short, five-foot machine 
with strong, heavy disks for the reason 
that he can get around among the 
rocks much better, and I suggest 
that he have a Reversible harrow for 
the reason that he can go over his 
field at one operation and haul the 
soil away from the rocks and stones, 
and the next time over, by reversing it, 
throw it towards them, weighting the 
harrow sufficiently to cut through the 
moss and sod, whatever there might be. 
He can thus certainly kill out all the 
moss, because moss will not stand culti¬ 
vation. If he does not wish to sow any 
grass seed, he will get the natural 
wild grass, which will immediately fol¬ 
low that class of cultivation, unless he 
desires to seed with clover or some 
tame grasses. I have found that it was 
of no use to put commercial fertilizers 
on that class of land without cultivation. 
The land must be stirred, now and then, 
to get sunlight and air ; by a liberal use 
of these strong Cutaway harrows the 
surface assumes new life and, with but 
little artificial aid, will make quite a 
crop. It, however, will pay well to use 
yard manure or commercial fertilizers to 
aid all crops, and use them liberally, and it pays to 
clear the land from rocks. george m. Clark. 
Connecticut. 
Break Up and Use Lime. 
I do not believe that there is any feasible plan of 
getting this land into good, pasturable condition, un¬ 
less it be plowed or broken up in some other way. If 
it is too rough to plow, it may be possible, by employ¬ 
ing a movable fence and a large number of swine in 
a small inclosure, to force them to do the work by 
degrees. After the turf has been thoroughly broken 
up by the swine, or after plowing, I would by all 
means recommend an application of 2 % to 3 tons of 
air-slaked lime per acre, which should be harrowed 
in; C. M. N. might use to advantage in connection 
with it, Slag meal or Thomas Phosphate Slag, so- 
called, at the rate of from 1,500 pounds to a ton per 
acre. In addition to this, a little top-dressing each 
year, supplemented by a top-dressing of wood ashes 
once in six or seven years, would, probably, keep the 
land in good condition. If Thomas Slag is not avail¬ 
able for the purpose, the same or a somewhat larger 
amount of fine ground bone or fine ground phosphate 
rock would, doubtless, be advisable. 
Having once broken up the land and given it a good 
dressing with lime supplemented with potash, phos¬ 
phoric acid and nitrogen, I believe it will be possible 
to keep out the moss. That is what has been done 
on several acres of the Experiment Station farm at 
Kingston, on light sandy loam. On a heavier, clayey 
piece of land, which was practically a bed of moss, 
by the use of lime, a magnificent crop of beets has 
been grown, where, without it, it was impossible to 
grow them, and the land where the clover was sown 
in the spring, is perfectly covered with as fine a stand 
as one could wish to see. Upon the plot beside it, 
which received the same treatment (that is the same 
cultivation and manuring with potash, phosphoric 
acid and nitrogen) with the exception of the lime, the 
moss is coming in abundantly, and the clover is grad¬ 
ually turning yellow and disappearing, and I suspect 
that, in a year or two, the land will be back in its 
original condition in spite of all the potash, super¬ 
phosphate and nitrogen that we may apply. 
C. M. N. may be frightened at the first cost of lime 
and phosphoric acid, but after the first year, the 
amount of fertilizer required to keep the soil in con¬ 
dition will, probably, be very small, so that, in the 
course of the first eight or ten years, the net cost for 
the entire time will not be so great as to preclude 
profit, provided there be moisture enough to support 
the grass crop. h. j. wheeler. 
R. I. Experiment Station. 
Advice by Prof. I. P. Roberts. 
Apply from 20 to 40 bushels of properly slaked lime 
per acre. Be sure that it is not air-slaked when pur¬ 
chased. The following directions may serve to assist 
in properly transforming the lime from “ stone lime ” 
into lime so fine and dry, that it will be difficult to 
shovel it. Purchase stone or unslaked lime, place it 
at regular intervals over the field, 5 to 10 bushels in a 
pile, and cover lightly with earth to exclude the air 
and hold the moisture. If the soil be quite dry, three 
to four pailfuls of water should be poured over each 
heap before it is covered ; usually, the soil furnishes 
enough moisture to slake the lime within a few days. 
Load the material on a stoneboat or sled, and spread 
from one side, with the wind, as evenly as possible. 
To save the hands and face, take the precaution to 
oil them liberally before beginning to work. Pains 
should be taken to have the lime in the hydrated or 
caustic state, as it is far more active than carbonate 
or air-slaked lime. 
Apply early in the spring, and sow one pound of 
White clover, one of Red clover, and 12 to 15 pounds 
of Timothy seed per acre. In addition, apply 100 to 
150 pounds of nitrate of soda per acre. With a com¬ 
mon spike-tooth harrow, scarify the ground until the 
surface is thoroughly broken up and the soil aerated. 
Then roll. Unless the land be extremely dry, and the 
plants fail for want of moisture, this treatment 
should result in covering the land, in the course of 
one or two years, with a fairly good sod. 
In future years, if a little Timothy could be sown 
very early in the spring, and the land treated to a 
light dressing of farmyard manures, it would serve 
to thicken the grass and to maintain it during dry 
weather. Without any doubt, the soil is deficient in 
available nitrogen, is sour, hence the inferior plants 
are able to crowd out the superior ones. Make the 
conditions superior, and superior plants will be able 
to crowd out the inferior ones. 
Cornell Experiment Station, N. Y. 
Must Be Reseeded. 
Probably the large amount of moss that has accumu¬ 
lated on C. M. N.’s soil has killed out the grass, and 
it will be necessary to reseed in some way before a 
great amount of feed can be produced. In case he 
does not desire to plow and cultivate, I would advise 
the use of 400 or 500 pounds of fine-ground raw or 
steamed bone, and 500 or 600 pounds per acre of air- 
slaked lime, both to be applied this fall. As early in 
the spring as the snow is gone from the fields, sow at 
the rate per acre of five pounds of Red clover, five 
pounds of cleaned small Red-top (Rhode Island Bent), 
and 15 pounds of Kentucky Blue grass. If the soil be 
moist at the time and immediately after sowing the 
seed, a considerable part of it will grow, even though 
no effort be made to incorporate it with the soil. 
Storrs (Connecticut) Ex. Station. c. s. phelps. 
WHAT SAY? 
Unseasonable Questions. —Permit me to suggest 
the discussion of methods and results out of season ; 
for instance, on page 688, you show a Help in Binding 
Corn. Had I had that a month earlier, it would have 
saved me $15. Now I would like to know, What 
cutter did you use ? What are its faults, if any, and 
its good points ? Did you use a corn harvester ? 
What are its good points and faults ? What power 
did you use for running your cutter ? Also what 
varieties of corn ? These questions apply to putting 
in ensilage. I would ask discussion by men who do 
business on a large scale, and have had long ex¬ 
perience in these different lines. it. F. s. 
Pittsburgh, Pa. 
Starting a Cranberry Bog. — Last week, I called 
on a subscriber to The R. N.-Y., and found him pick¬ 
ing cranberries. He has a bog 12x16 feet; he had 
already picked two pecks, and was scarcely half over 
the ground. At this rate, a square rod of ground 
would yield fully five pecks of fruit, or 200 bushels 
per acre. I have a strip of moist intervale land on 
my farm that would be suitable for growing cranber¬ 
ries, and would like to have some information as to 
the best method of preparing the ground, setting and 
cultivating the plants. My land is now an old 
meadow, producing a rank growth of wild grass, and 
has an open ditch extending through the center of it 
which clogs up with ice and snow in the spring, 
causing the land to be very wet until 
the ground is entirely thawed out. 
Vermont. c w. scarff. 
WHAT THEY SAY. 
The Boiken Apple. —Mr. S. D. Wil¬ 
lard recently sent us specimens of the 
Boiken apple, of which he says : “ We 
imported this variety several years since, 
from Austria, and have now had it in 
bearing for five consecutive years. It is 
an annual bearer of great productive¬ 
ness, making in all instances, very 
fine, smooth fruit. It is possessed of a 
foliage so perfect and rugged as ap¬ 
parently to be impervious to the action 
of fungi; hence, spraying for this pur¬ 
pose seems entirely unnecessary with 
this variety. The fruit, for a heavy 
apple, hangs to the tree remarkably 
well ; indeed, it shows no disposition 
to drop. As a long keeping variety, it 
has no superior, and develops quality as 
it matures. It is quite inclined to show 
a bright red cheek upon the sunny side, 
and as the skin develops into an attrac¬ 
tive yellow, it gives it quite a desirable 
appearance as it matures. We believe 
that it has no equal for culinary purposes in the spring, 
when at its best. In short, it has many character¬ 
istics that may commend it as a valuable sort in the 
commercial orchard.” A photograph of a half-section 
of this apple is shown at Fig. 244. 
Disinfection After Tuberculosis. 
I have the assurance of the State Veterinarian, Dr. 
Leonard Pearson, that in Pennsylvania, the premises 
from which tuberculous animals are removed by 
State authority, are thoroughly disinfected, and that 
infected cattle are never killed, or post-mortem exam¬ 
inations held, in places frequented by other cattle. 
No knowledge of the methods practiced by the New 
England Cattle Commissions has come to me save 
through the article of Mr. Cushman, page 656, and I 
sincerely hope that most practices are not as bad as 
those pictured by him. Trustworthy information 
assures me that, wherever Prof. James Law, of Ithaca, 
N. Y., had to deal with tuberculous cattle under 
State authority, he was very strict as regards disin¬ 
fection of the premises previously frequented by dis¬ 
eased cattle. My own observation has been very 
limited in this matter, I having witnessed the slaugh¬ 
ter of but few animals ; these, however, were 
slaughtered and examined at the edge of a pit dug to 
receive the carcasses, and the whole buried at the 
close of the examination. Undoubtedly, Mr. Cush¬ 
man is quite right in demanding more rigid laws con¬ 
cerning disinfection. This should be done by, or 
under the direct supervision of, State authority, and 
not be left to those having little or no knowledge of 
the agents used in disinfection, or of the nature of 
the germs they seek to destroy. It must be evident 
to every one that the utmost care should be taken in 
disinfecting the stables formerly occupied by badly 
diseased animals. The consensus of opinion of emin¬ 
ent authorities is that the existing laws concerning 
tuberculosis are a step in the right direction, but 
need further support in providing a more thorough 
system of inspection, more rig'd laws concerning the 
HALF-SECTION OF THE BOIKEN APPLE. Fig. 244. 
