1906. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
3ii 
GREEN CLOVER IN STACKS. 
We told recently of the method followed by 
P. H. Rahllly of Minnesota in stacking green 
clover. Further information being called for. 
we asked for it, and Mr. Rahilly replies 
through Fhe St. Paul Pioneer Press: 
“My farm consists of 1,200 acres, all un 
der cultivation. I sow between 200 and 300 
acres of Medium Red clover with any kind 
of a nurse crop of ^nall grain every year, 
getting around the entire farm every fourth 
year with such seeding. I cut off one-half 
of the first crop of clover about June 15, 
when it is beginning to bloom, and convert it 
into silage by stacking in the field where it 
is cut. I stack it as fast as I cut. Should 
it rain every day while cutting and stacking 
the silage stack will not be damaged by the 
moisture. I have built stacks 30 x 60 feet 
and as high as convenient. I should not build 
stacks less than 20 x 30 feet, the larger the 
stack the less waste. From 12 to 15 inches 
on the outside of the stack will be waste. 
It is on the same principle of canning fruit- 
exclude the air and your silage is cured; 
when the air penetrates the stack it becomes 
waste. I have covered the top of the stack 
with straw. The better plan is to cover with 
rough boards or canvas. Rain penetrating the 
stack after it settles will damage the silage. 
The weight of the clover will pack it, as 
solid almost as plug tobacco. We have to cut 
off the benches with an ax. This clover so 
stacked will be ready to feed all Winter, and 
will be a dark green color, as sweet as when 
cut. All animals on the farm, horses, cattle, 
swine and poultry, will eat it as ravenously 
as they will oats and corn. Do not feed more 
than one-third of their coarse rations in silage 
to the stock. Small farmers have made a 
failure of this silage system. They let the 
clover wilt and get dry before stacking, and 
consequently it did not pack solidly enough 
to exclude the air. Hired help dislike to 
work at it, owing to its weight, though a 
ton of green clover is not heavier than a 
ton of hay. However, an acre of clover 
stacked green is six times as heavy as an 
acre of clover converted into hay. The only 
method I have adopted in loading the clover 
on wagons is a common hay or manure fork; 
a hay fork can be used in building the stack. 
I have had no experience in stacking clover 
as silage in barns. A stack 10 x 12 feet is 
rather small; the larger the stack the less 
waste. I know of no reason why Timothy 
mixed with clover would not be a success. 
When the stack is built rake the sides well.'' 
WHAT TO DO WITH OLD PASTURE. 
The land throughout this section is practi¬ 
cally all under cultivation, and is farmed 
in rotation. We have very few natural pas¬ 
tures that have never been broken up. I have 
seen such pastures in the northern part of 
the State, and they seemed to be ideal where 
they were not pastured to death. If, how¬ 
ever, the ground is kept gnawed bare, almost 
for year after year, especially through July 
and August, I should expect the best of them 
to die out, and not from any lack of fertility 
in the soil either. That treatment will kill 
alders or willow bushes, or anything else 
that I ever had anything to do with. While 
close cropping will stimulate growth for a 
time, there comes a time when it must be al¬ 
lowed to breathe or die. If I had such a 
pasture, and it needed renewing, I should 
adopt a method which I have found to be suc¬ 
cessful on old meadows. In the Spring some 
morning when the ground was frozen, I 
should collect all the seed that had accumu¬ 
lated during the Winter on the barn floors and 
around the feeding places, and draw it to the 
pasture, and with a shovel scatter it over 
those places that were thinnest, and leave 
it to the frost and rain to bury the seed to a 
proper depth for germination. If the wind is 
blowing quite a gale at the time of scattering 
the seed so much the better, as the seed will 
be scattered more evenly, and to a much wider 
extent. Of course good grass seed can be 
purchased and sown by hand or with a seeder, 
and left to cover itself in the same way, and 
with us that method of getting seed into the 
ground is entirely practicable and seldom 
fails. In seeding with rye it is always done 
that way. The Timothy is sown in the 
Fall with the rye, and the clover in the 
Spring on mornings when the ground is froz¬ 
en. Timothy and clover are about the only 
kinds of seed sown in this locality. Orchard 
grass and Red-top will seed themselves, and 
Rlue-grass is unknown. Of course the stock 
would have to be kept off for a season, and 
the seed given a chance to root, and it should 
not be pastured too closely for a year or 
two - H. A. G. 
New York. 
Ashes or Chemicals. —We need to know, 
as far as possible, what plant food is wanted 
most. If we could buy ashes for $10.50 per 
ton, or in place of this could buy for $10.50 
600 pounds of fresh lime, 200 pounds of mu- 
liate of potash and 400 pounds of acid phos¬ 
phate, 16 per cent, should prefer chemicals, 
in the first place, it is very hard to get good 
Many of them analyze all 
an , stl11 do not seem to be worth very 
Ei,r V, '! leri l ve c ° me t0 l,se them. Then the 
ireight on a ton of ashes would be the same as 
«?A ton of P°tash or nitrate of soda. For the 
o? fL??. ey shouid take the 000 pounds 
ash f onn ino’ 200 V ounds of muriate of pot- 
m r po V nds of acid Phosphate for 
frnm o h ^ and ex P ect better results than 
rrom the ashes. ethelbert bliss. 
Massachusetts. 
Now is 
You have heard of the cow that gives a big pail of milk and then at the 
last moment kicks over the bucket and spoils it all? 
harvests^it? ab ° Ut the man wto £ rows a S ood crop of grain and then half 
You wouldn’t waste half your crop. 
Of course not. 
But why waste any of it? 
Why not get it all? 
As the boys say, “Every little bit helps.” 
Every little bit wasted , counts —and counts against you and your profits 
As a sensible farmer, you can’t afford to approach harvest time without 
making sure that you are ready for it the very minute that your grain is ready. 
1 ou cannot afford to depend upon a harvesting machine that wastes even 
a small part of your grain. 
You cannot afford to spend your money for a “may-be-so” harvesting 
machine one that may or may not do your work for you in a satisfactory manner 
\ ou cannot afford to start harvesting with a machine that may breakdown 
at your busiest moment. 
You cannot afford to start harvesting with a machine that will half kill 
your horses before your grain is cut. 
You cannot afford to start harvesting with a machine that is likely 
to cause delay in your work. J 
You cannot afford to take chances. 
You want to be sure, and now is the time to make sure. 
Go to the Nearest 
Dealer 
Examine for yourself the line of standard harvesting 
and haying machines for 1906. Get a catalogue and study 
their construction. You will find in 
Champion, Deering, McCormick, 
Milwaukee, Osborne, Plano 
lines harvesting and haying machines that meet your every 
expectation and fill your every requirement. 
They are right in principle and design, for they are the 
product of a half century’s inventive genius. Every improve¬ 
ment that the best mechanical experts of the world have 
been able to discover or devise in 50 years is embodied in 
their construction. That’s why they are so convenient 
to handle—why they do their work so well. That ex¬ 
plains too why they are so easy on man and horse—and 
why they waste so little grain. 
They are right in materials, for their manufactur¬ 
ers by co-operation are able to produce and select the 
best materials. By co-operation they are able to own, 
control and operate their own lumber camps, their own 
iron mines, their own coal mines, their own coke furnaces, 
their own steel mills and other sources of raw materials, thus 
being sure at all times to have materials for making their 
machines of the highest quality. 
They are right in workmanship, because the demand for 
these standard machines is so great that immense factories are 
necessary for their production, and their manufacturers are able to 
equip the factories with the best facilities and the most expert 
workmen ? v 
They are right in reputation, for they have by their own merit 
survived years of strenuous competition. They gained their popular¬ 
ity solely on their merits. They retain their popularity in the same 
way . They are used all over the world solely because they have met 
the demands and filled the requirements of grain-growers and grass- 
growers. ° 
Is not that iust the machine you need for your harvest for 1906? 
You certainly want a machine with a reputation behind it—you 
cannot afford to run risks. Where can you find a machine of any kind 
that has a record of more years of successful, satisfactory work than 
you know these machines to have ? 
Can l>avp U 3K?* a ha 7 e . st , in « ° r a haying machine made of theright materials. No machine 
enough to secure s^good 3 tha “ haVS these macbines_few manufacturers are fortunate 
a machine that is built on the right plan—that “works right”—that is con- 
successfiH .standr 8 ^ P » n ?L lP l e ' . T1 i e approval of the grain growers of the whole world—the 
these thinU ipnlh e »° f th< ;, test ? f years-the ever increasing popularity of these machines— 
uiese tilings tell the story of how they are built and how they work, 
ve<dini n a n e a P »!lt t - 1 ,? n : ‘ n workmanship, in materials, in design—in all that goes to make good har¬ 
vesting and haying machines they are right. They will meet your every requirement, 
can you afford then to go into the harvest with a machine that may fail you? 
Can you afford to run the risk of a “break down” at a critical stage of your harvesting? 
can you afford to waste a part—even a small part—of your grain or grass? 
“get a good ready forharves?.” the International dealer * secure a catalog, inspect these machines, and 
If you don’t know an International dealer—write to us for the name and address of one nearest you. 
INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER COMPANY OF AMERICA. CHICAGO. V. S. A. 
(INCORPORATED) 
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