1906. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
369 
SOWING CLOVER IN IOWA. 
Reader, Iowa .—I have 10 acres of land Ij 
wish to seed to clover. Can I seed it this 
Spring so as to get a good crop off it this' 
Summer, or would I better sow seed and 
wait for my crop next year? If I can get 
a crop this Summer, would it be best to wait 
until the Fall of 1907 before I plow the sec¬ 
ond growth under for corn, or will it be all 
right this Fall? I 
It is impossible to get a crop this year;| 
at least a profitable one. The inquirer' 
would better sow his seed and wait for a 
good crop next year. My method would 
be to sow oats this Spring, plow the 
ground, sow oats, then harrow oats in well, 
sow clover seed and harrow again. When 
oats are cut, cut them high as possible, 
so that stubble will protect the clover 
from the hot sun of August and Septem¬ 
ber. As to plowing under second crop, I 
would wait until the Fall of 1907, for you 
lose but a year’s time on your ground, but 
are more than doubly repaid by the sec¬ 
ond crop. F. L. REINIIARD. 
Wapello Co., Iowa. 
In order to obtain a crop of hay the 
first year, the soil must be free from weed 
seeds, and the season and soil must be 
good. It is so rare, however, that all con¬ 
ditions favor the farmer that it is not ad¬ 
visable to depend upon getting the hay. 
Where land is worth $75 or $100 per acre 
it is not best to give up the whole use of 
it to a seeding of clover alone. Ordinar¬ 
ily weeds will check the growth of young 
clover quite as much as a thin stand of 
early oats. If hay is needed the oats cut 
green are excellent for that purpose; noth¬ 
ing is better for horses. In cutting the 
cutter-bar of the machine should be set 
high to save the young clover as much as 
possible. Clover will often go to seed 
after a crop of oats has been removed. In 
such a case it is best to clip it before the 
seed ripens. Last year I got a few loads 
of hay in September from part of a field 
treated in this way. Clover meadow may 
be broken up at any time after a crop of 
hay has been taken, but the good effects 
of clover are more apparent when it has 
the second year’s growth. d. w. ford. 
Linn Co., Iowa. 
Last Spring I sowed 30 acres in oats. 
I sowed Early Champion oats, and sowed 
Medium Red clover at the same time. I 
cut the oats as soon as the straw turned 
yellow to the second joint from the 
ground; the rest of the straw and the 
heads were green. I put five bundles In 
a shock with no cap on, so as to dry out 
quickly, so I could thrash early and not 
kill the clover under the shock. I cut the 
clover for hay and had a good crop of 
clover hay. I did not plow the clover 
sod under; I think it is better to let it go 
another year. I think the inquirer has 
only 10 acres on which he wants a good 
heavy crop of clover for hay this year. 
I would advise him to sow two bushels of 
Early Champion oats to the acre and sow 
the clover seed with the oats as early as 
the ground is fit. When the oats are 
in milk or a little before mow it for hay, 
and then he will get a heavy crop of clover 
hay. These two ways I have tried and 
know are all right in this part of Iowa. 
Palo Alto Co., Iowa. a. e. wilderiian. 
THE CHINESE DIET. 
I he following interesting communica¬ 
tion throws much light on the Chinese 
dietary, and explains why a Chinese la¬ 
borer can thrive under conditions that 
would starve out an American or Euro¬ 
pean workman. E. H. Wilson, an Eng¬ 
lish botanical collector, who spent sev¬ 
eral years in the remote highlands of 
China, writes that the common potato 
is extensively cultivated in the hill re¬ 
gions, having been introduced over a 
century ago by Jesuit missionaries, but 
that it never appears thrifty, always being 
too closely planted for good results. The 
tubers are generally small and poor in 
quality, the crop being anything but pro¬ 
ductive from a western standpoint. They 
are eaten generally boiled in soup, and 
though an important food item, are not 
highly regarded. A rice or wheat-eating 
Chinaman despises his potato-eating com¬ 
patriot. The vegetable oils so generally 
used in the place pi animal fats for cook- 
ling food are largely made from the seeds 
'of various cabbages and rape-like plants, 
though true rape is rarely cultivated. 
“Under Ruralisms, page 64, I was much 
interested in your article on Chinese cab¬ 
bage. The fact that ‘wheat and other 
'grains are rarely used save in the form 
of vermicelli or noodles,’ applies to the 
Cantonese, whether in this country or at 
home. The Chinaman’s bread is rice 
whenever he can afford it, as in some sec¬ 
tions wheat bread is cheaper than rice. 
From the Yang-tszi River (Yang-tsi 
Keang) north we find wheat bread more 
used than rice among the common run of 
the people, and farther north, on entering 
Shantung province, millet (little rice) is 
the mainstay of the people- So in China 
from north to south the staff of life is 
millet, wheat and rice. The millet is usu¬ 
ally eaten boiled, and frequently the Chi¬ 
nese breakfast will be nothing but boiled 
millet with red peppers ground up mak¬ 
ing a sauce, and tea or hot water, and 
the natives can drink the hottest water 
and tea that human beings ever put to 
their lips. What would scald us would 
not “phase” a native. My home for many 
years was in central China, at the inter¬ 
section of the Grand Canal and the old 
bed of the Yellow River, about 275 miles 
northeast of Shanghai. That Yellow 
River, by the way, has a strange way of 
flowing north or south according as the 
silt happened to bank up and decide its 
course. For about 50 years now it has 
been flowing north, but any time it may 
change its course and come by our former 
home, Tsing Kiang Pu (clear river 
bank). The Pe-Tsai or “northern vege¬ 
table” or “cabbage” is brought to our 
city on the return trip of the Emperor’s 
rice boats. These boats are from 300 to 
500, and carry rice to Peking in the Fall 
and bring back Pe-Tsai, dried persim¬ 
mons and dates, beautiful pears, so dis¬ 
appointing in texture and flavor, and 
other merchandise of that section. The 
Pe-Tsai we considered superior to our 
United States cabbage, being more deli¬ 
cate in flavor, and not filling the house 
with the rank disagreeable odor when 
boiled as does our cabbage in this coun¬ 
try. The same may be said of their 
onions. We always bought our Winter’s 
supply, several hundred weight, and 
rarely ate it raw because of the Chinese 
method of fertilizing (human excreta ap¬ 
plied in liquid state). The Pak-choi is 
evidently a Cantonese vegetable.” E. w. 
Charlottesville, Va. 
Fertilizer in Kansas. 
O. H., Bonner Springs, Kan ,—I think of 
using fertilizer, but am told that it will make 
the ground hard, and that if I commence it 
I shall have to keep it up. I cannot see into 
that; how is it? I am using all the manure 
I can haul. Last year I planted early peas. 
I used nitro-culture; where I used it I could 
see a difference in the vines, and where I did 
not use it they did not amount to much. In 
both cases the pods failed to set. The ground 
was not manured last year; it is rather sandy 
clay. What would be the best fertilizer for 
peas and beans and tomatoes? 
Ans. —Chemical fertilizers do not make 
the soil grow* hard. When a soil “bakes” 
in this way it is usually because the 
humus or vegetable matter is burned out 
of it. Unless manure or some crop is 
plowed into the soil from time to time 
the humus is used up, and then the 
ground bakes like a brick. The chemical 
fertilizers are not responsible for it, but 
the lack of humus. In your place we 
would keep on using the manure and add 
chemicals containing potash and phos¬ 
phoric acid. From what you say we think 
your soil needs potash most, and possibly 
lime. Manure supplies a good deal of 
nitrogen, but lacks potash, and frequently, 
after some years of using manure, crops 
make a good growth of vine, but do not 
make good seed or fruit. If you can buy 
wood ashes at a fair price we would use 
a ton to the acre put in the furrows after 
plowing under the manure, and harrowed 
in. If you cannot get the wood ashes we 
would use 250 pounds of muriate of 
potash per acre in the same way. We 
would also use 300 pounds of fine ground 
bone per acre. 
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