1907. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
529 
EVENTS OF THE WEEK 
DOMESTIC.—A precedent in “trust busting’’ was estab¬ 
lished by State Attorney John .7. Healy at Chicago June 21, 
when he successfully crushed a .$5,000,000 grain and elevator 
trust before the organization was consummated. By an in¬ 
junction granted by Judge Windes the firm of Bartlett, 
Frazier & Carrington, the Armour Grain Company, corpora¬ 
tions associated with them, and a number of railroads are 
restrained from making private elevators of the public 
elevators in and about Chicago. The restraining order 
provides “that at least one of the elevators now being 
operated in Chicago as a public grain elevator shall at all 
times remain open to grain shippers who desire to make use 
of it.” . . . Forest fires were raging along the line of 
the New York and Ottawa Railroad, which runs from Tup- 
per Lake in the Adirondacks to Ottawa. After a combina¬ 
tion passenger and freight train passed Black River station 
June 21 a bridge 100 feet in length was burned, and before 
reaching Moira the trainmen discovered a 76-foot bridge 
ahead destroyed. These bridges must be rebuilt before 
traffic ran be resumed. The present dry spell has made the 
underbrush in the Adirondack forest excellent fuel for the 
flames, and unless proper precautions are taken by the rail¬ 
roads the destructive forest fires of three years ago will be 
repeated. ... A $100,000 fire at Lowell, Mass., June 
22. partly destroyed St. Paul’s Methodist Episcopal Church 
and Rollowa.v skating rink and bowling alley, as well as the 
stable of Orville W. Peabody. No life was lost, but a num¬ 
ber of firement were struck by falling slate. . . . One 
of the dinky trains that run on a half-hourly schedule on 
the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad between 
Hartford, Conn., and New Britain In place of the now aban¬ 
doned third rail services, crashed into the rear of a work 
train. The engine of the dinky train telescoped the two 
rear cars of the work train. Six of the workmen were 
killed. Most of them were Italians. A dozen more of the 
workmen were injured, some quite seriously, and several of 
the passengers on the dinky train were also slightly in¬ 
jured. . . . Four were killed and a score injured in 
a head-on collision of a passenger and freight train on the 
Auburn branch of the New York Central Railroad a mile 
east of Pittsford. N. Y„ June 23. . . . Medicine Lodge, 
Kan., was struck by three distinct tornadoes June 23, which 
left part of the city in ruins. No loss of life has been re¬ 
ported. The northern part of the town is wrecked. The 
barn of United States Senator Long was demolished and his 
two Shetland ponies were carried away. One was found 
two miles east, feeding in a pasture. The other was found 
two miles north of the Long residence, held fast in the 
forks of a cottonwood tree, thirty feet from the ground. 
Neither was injured. . . . Aktibologet Obligationskon- 
toret and A. B. Obligationskontoret of Stockholm, Sweden, 
have been denied the further use of the United States 
mails. They have been selling lottery tlckts in this coun¬ 
try. The officer who wrote the case was evidently at a loss 
as to whether Obligationskontoret was the name of a man, 
a city or a disease. The official memorandum in this case 
reads: “The scheme operated is in violation of law. A fraud 
order is accordingly issued against those names.” . . . 
The plant of the Utica, N. Y., Drop Forge and Tool Com¬ 
pany was burned down .Tune 25, causing a loss of $200,000. 
. . . A plan for the retirement of aged and incapaci¬ 
tated employees of the Government has been evolved by the 
Keep commission and will be submitted to Congress next 
Winter in the form of a bill with the recommendation that it 
be enacted into law. The commission recommends that an 
annuity be paid to Government employees who reach the 
age of 70, such annuity to be taken from a fund created 
by deducting a certain percentage of their salaries. Pro¬ 
vision is made for the withdrawal of the employees’ accu¬ 
mulated savings with interest in case he leaves the service 
before reaching the age of retirement. . . . Seven per¬ 
sons, six of them members of one Italian family, were 
killed June 25 in the collapse of an old four-story brick 
building, which had been in a noticeably dangerous condi¬ 
tion for some time, at No. 93 Walker street, New York. 
Three other members of the same family, rescued from tlfe 
ruins, including the father and mother, are in the Hudson 
Street Hospital, on the way to recovery. The entire build¬ 
ing fell—the main part first, then a small extension on the 
Lafayette street side. The extension remained standing long 
enough for the firemen to rescue one man who had been 
caught on its third floor. When it collapsed, the firemen 
searching the ruins for the victims narrowly escaped being 
buried. Several were cut and bruised by falling bricks. 
THE COTTON STATISTICS TRIAL.—Secretary of Agri¬ 
culture Wilson was recalled to the stand by the defence 
June 20 in the case of Edwin S. Holmes, Jr„ on trial In 
Criminal Court 1 on an indictment charging conspiracy in 
connection with the use of Government cotton reports. 
Holmes’ attorney, A. S. Worthington, sought to show by the 
Secretary that he himself had given out information rela¬ 
tive to crop statistics, but Mr. Wilson denied that he had. 
Assistant Secretary of Agriculture Hays testified that he 
was present in the Bureau of Statistics when the cotton re¬ 
port for June 3, 1905, was prepared. He said that he re¬ 
called that Holmes made a Rtrong argument with Statistician 
Hyde to secure a reduction in the percentages of the aban¬ 
doned acreage column and finally won his point. This showed 
a prospective increase in the cotton crop, which. Van Riper 
testified, was what Theodore H. Price, of New York, wanted 
and was secured from Holmes for him by Moses Haas of 
New York, thus placing Van Riper on the other side of the 
market on figures which had been furnished by Haas; also 
double crossing * him and making him lose approximately 
$25,000. It was after this loss that Van Riper gave Secre¬ 
tary Cheatham of the Southern Cotton Growers’ Association 
the affidavit read in court, which brought about the investi¬ 
gation and the indictment of Holmes, Haas and Peckham. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—The Illinois State Fair will be 
held at Springfield September 27-October 5. 
In a Wisconsin potato experiment 10 tons of barnyard 
manure were tested against $12 worth of chemical fertilizers 
and gave a larger yield. With us this manure would be 
worth nearly $25. In the same test a clover sod turned 
under in the Spring gave about 50 bushels per acre more 
than the fertilizer. 
CROP NOTES. 
We are now, June 16, getting some Summer weather—- 
much needed. There was frost in many places in this vicin¬ 
ity on the morning of June 13, but not much damage done. 
Apple trees are scarcely out of bloom. Strawberries in full 
bloom and mine are looking fine, though very late; two weeks 
sure. m. m. 
Massachusetts. 
We are having a very unsatisfactory crop year in the 
West. Meadows promise from one-half to two-thirds of a 
crop. I was through one of mine yesterday, which I think 
will make three tons to the acre, Alslke and Timothy 
mixed; but this is on rich bottom land. The Timothy 
meadows will perhaps yield a ton to a ton and a half, but 
are the best by far that I have seen this year. Corn is in 
very bad shape. It is all from two to three weeks late; 
small, bad color, a poor stand, and infested with cutworms, 
and on Blue grass pasture with wireworms as never before. 
Two-thirds of a crop is about all that can possibly be ex¬ 
pected, and this will require the most favorable weather 
from now on. Oats promise a fairly good crop, but are very 
late. Early Champion oats, which in this latitude should be 
fit to cut by July, are not yet headed out. Alfalfa sown 
two years ago, which in ordinary seasons should be ready 
to (jut the first week in June, is merely beginning here 
to form buds, while that sown last Fall, which should have 
been ready to cut the first week in June, shows as yet no 
signs of bud formation. Every filing is late. The season 
started out on the wrong foot in March, and does not seem 
to have been abdle to catch step. h. w. 
Des Moines, Iowa. _ 
SOIL UNDER HAY COCKS. 
I have a problem for some of the wise ones. A few 
years ago I cut a strip of grass along a road leading to the 
house, about 25 feet wide. After it was cocked a rain of 
a week or 10 days came. Wishing to put it in something 
else, the ha_y cocks were removed and the ground plowed. 
Under the cocks the ground was dry and hard, and broke 
upt in great lumps. It was sown to rape, and the ground 
harrowed, all but that under where the cocks stood break¬ 
ing up in fine condition. To my surprise, these spots could 
be told for two or three years by the more vigorous growth 
upon them. Who can tell why? t. w. 
While there are several answers which might be 
given, yet these would be more in the way of a guess 
than definite fact. Possibly the heavy rain washed the 
nitrates from the soil in the ground not covered by 
the hay cocks, and where the ground was covered by 
the hay cocks conditions were more favorable for the 
development of nitrates and the growth of bacteria. 
Possibly when the hay was removed some of it was 
permitted to remain on the ground, and this hay being 
plowed under at that point improved the physical con¬ 
dition of the land so that future crops were benefited 
by it. This is just a guess on my part, and may explain 
the case and may not. l. a. Clinton. 
Connecticut. 
Without more exact information concerning the char¬ 
acter of the soil, the size of the haycocks, the amount 
of rainfall and the appearance of the succeeding grow¬ 
ing crops with reference to the shape and size of the 
haycocks, I do not feel qualified to speak with any 
degree of certainty concerning the probable explana¬ 
tion for the increased growth of succeeding crops 
where the haycocks had stood. There are two things 
which we know; first, that plants require plant food, 
and, second, that heavy rains leach plant food out of 
the haycocks or shocks of grain, especially the elements 
nitrogen and potassium. The roots of most agricul¬ 
tural plants extend several feet through the soil, and 
it is possible a sufficient amount of plant food was 
leached out of the haycocks to benefit succeeding crops 
for one or two years, and that even the plants growing 
in the middle of the spot where the haycock stood 
would have feeding roots running out far enough to 
receive benefit from this addition of available plant 
food. 
If the soil in question is especially deficient in nitro¬ 
gen, and especially subject to leaching, it is conceiv¬ 
able that nitrification may have been very active im¬ 
mediately preceding the heavy rains referred to, and 
that a considerable amount of available nitrogen was 
thus leached out of the ordinary soil by the heavy 
rains, while under the haycocks this nitrogen was saved 
for the use of succeeding crops, and this, together with 
the plant food leached into the soil from the hay, may 
be the correct explanation for the increase in crops 
which followed. 
It would be an interesting thing if G. T. W. would 
try to repeat this as an experiment at about the same 
time of year, and under similar conditions so far as 
possible, except that instead of having haycocks on the 
land let him have pieces of oil cloth spread out and 
held down with a few stones for perhaps 10 days or 
two weeks, or until a few heavy rains have fallen. 
Preferably the length of time during which the ground 
is covered with the oil cloth should be about the same 
as the length of time it was occupied by the haycocks, 
or for comparison he might well put out a few hay¬ 
cocks at the same time so as to repeat in an experi¬ 
mental way his former experience. 
University of Illinois. Cyril g. hopkins. 
The more vigorous growth of crops on spots that 
have been covered by haycocks, or piles of rubbish, may 
not always be due to the same cause. In some in¬ 
stances it may be brought about by the comparatively 
large amounts of nitrates which accumulate in the soil 
under such heaps, the nitrates being protected by the 
latter from the leaching action of rain. The larger 
quantities of nitrates in such spots' would stimulate 
plant growth in the following season, and would exert 
a certain beneficial influence in the second and perhaps 
also in the third season, because of the larger residue 
of roots and stubble left by the first season’s crop. In 
other instances the beneficial effect of the haycocks on 
the productive capacity of the soil may be due to the 
soluble organic matter leached out of the haycocks and 
washed into the ground. Where the amounts of or¬ 
ganic matter thus washed into the soil are large, the 
latter may be injured rather than benefited, as I have 
already had the occasion to point out in these columns 
some months ago. Under such conditions, the soil 
tends to become sour, nitrification (that is the change 
of organic nitrogen into nitrate) is stopped, and the 
plants remain yellow and feeble, thanks to their in¬ 
ability to secure a sufficient quantity of available ni¬ 
trogen. 
In still other instances the beneficial results noted 
may be due to certain changes (caused by the shading 
of the ground) in the character of those soil bacteria 
which are responsible for the decomposition of the soil 
humus. We must remember that the soil is a labora¬ 
tory where plant food is being manufactured daily 
where conditions warrant it, and that in the manufac¬ 
ture of this plant food the minute living things, which 
we call bacteria, play a very important part. Where 
the conditions favor their rapid growth they vigorously 
attack the soil humus, and by hastening its decomposi¬ 
tion, they provide to the growing crops a larger sup¬ 
ply not only of nitrogen, but also of phosphoric acid, 
potash and lime. Everything considered, however, I am 
inclined to attribute the beneficial influence of the hay¬ 
cocks, as noted by your correspondent, to the forma¬ 
tion and conservation of nitrates in the protected spots, 
in by far the greatest number of instances. 
N*. J. Exp. Station. Jacob g. lipman, Soil Chemist. 
T imagine the facts are about these: The hay cocks 
covered the land, and kept out the rain that saturated 
the rest of the piece. The land was doubtless full of 
water when the hay was cut, hence the soil under the 
cocks broke up hard and full of lumps; but where these 
cocks stood, at this season of the year they caused the 
grass roots to decay, denitrification took place, and these 
spots were richer in available plant food because of the 
decaying vegetable matter, which always contains nitro¬ 
gen, and at the same time sets free the mineral matter 
locked up in the soil. The remainder of the sod decay¬ 
ing more slowly, cool weather came on, and less plant 
food was set free that season. This increased supply 
of plant food made the rape grow more rapidly. This 
is one of the plants that gets hold of locked-up phos¬ 
phoric acid, stores it up in the roots and tops, and there 
decaying makes more food available for future crops. 
Had the soil worked up as fine as the remainder of the 
field, the results would have been still more marked. 
_E. VAN ALSTYNE. 
COW PEAS IN NEW JERSEY.—On page 461 you 
have an inquiry in regard to cow peas. I had two acres 
of poor land, nothing but wire grass. At the suggestion 
of Prof. Voorhees, of the StatetExperiment Station, early 
last year, I sowed it to field peas and oats. They were 
cut and cured end of June; next sowed to cow peas, 
cut the first of September; some parts stood to 
three feet in height, but I find anything green cut so 
late cannot be cured properly. I turned the field into 
rye and on about May 20 cut same,' some standing six 
feet high. I am just turning over a stubble that is in 
some places 12 inches high. I think if your reader will 
sow at once with cow peas for turning under (easily 
done by using a chain), put in rye and by cutting early 
and curing he will not only enrich the ground, but also 
get some return in fodder for his labor. 'Cover here¬ 
abouts is a very uncertain crop, whereas I find cow 
peas mean a little more work but a sure thing. 
Califon, N. J. f. h. c. p. 
DO BEANS EXHAUST THE GROUND?—While 
passing through the bean section of Livingston and 
Monroe counties, I was surprised to learn that farm¬ 
ers consider beans a more exhaustive crop than pota¬ 
toes. We of the potato belt think that potatoes deplete 
the soil of humus and fertility as rapidly as any crop. 
Though the bean is a legume, I have never found 
nodules on the roots, except on those of the White 
Kidney, and then only in a portion of the field already 
rich in nitrogen. Isn’t it true, however, that crops 
which draw largely of plant food from the soil, make 
correspondingly rich manure? A neighbor, whose 
Medium beans rusted badly, turned them under and 
sowed wheat. The former location of each bean row 
was indicated by an extra growth of wheat. In my 
limited experience I have found manure from animals 
fed on bean pods to be a very potent fertilizer. 
Livingston Co., N. Y. w. A. l. 
