190?. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
3i9 
GREATER CORN YIELDS. 
WITH SPECiAL REFERENCE TO ftEW ENGLAND. 
Proper Use of the SoiL 
SUPPLYING NITROGEN.—The third element usu¬ 
ally supplied in commercial fertilizers, nitrogen, even 
at its present high prices, can be profitably applied to 
some of our high-priced lands which are near the city 
and which must be used for as many growing market 
crops as possible each year. But on lands where field 
corn is grown, lower-priced farm lands of larger area, 
such purchase of nitrogen at prices of 17 to 20 cents 
per pound is, nine cases out of ten, a sinful waste of 
money. Nitrogen can be put into the soil for three, two 
of even one cent a pound by growing leguminous crops 
and plowing them under. Here is an unlimited source 
of iiitrogen at a discount of from BO to 90 per Cent 
on commercial prices; and yet a large majority of our 
farmers prefer to pay the higher price rather than 
trouble themselves with determining the proper way to 
make legumes pay on their particular farms. Probably 
the greatest single adverse factor is the need of lime 
to correct the acidity of our soils, in order that the 
nodule-forming bacteria may normally develop upon 
their roots. Leguminous crops can be grown, and are 
being grown, on some farms throughout the whole of 
New England, and it behooves every farmer to develop 
proper methods for their successful growth with the 
soil conditions of his own farm. Probably no other 
one thing wiil go so far as the us« of leguminous crops 
in reducing the cost of production of the corn, which 
follows in the rotation, and hence increases the profits 
and at the same time increases the fertility and betters 
the physical character of his soil. 
PREPARATION OF THE SEED BED.—The ani¬ 
mal producer says that “feed is half of breed,” and so it 
is with the corn grower. Yet after we have supplied what 
is necessary of essential elements of plant food, there 
remains the study of the best possible manner to fit 
the home of the young plant so that proper use shall 
be made of this fertility. First the land must be well 
under-drained. There are thousands of acres of land 
in New England which would be excellent corn land 
if it were tile-drained and opened up by means of a 
subsoil plow. The ordinary purpose of the tile drain 
is to keep the water table down to a proper level at 
such times when there would be more water in the 
land than the crops could stand. Great results have 
been recorded in the mellowing effect of drains upon 
impervious, clayey soils. The land is ready for plow¬ 
ing much earlier in the Spring and the possibilities for 
immediate cultivation after a rain are greatly increased. 
This makes possible a much greater conservation of soil 
moisture in times of drought when it is much needed 
by the growing plants. There is also the advantage of 
warming the soil. Water conducts heat badly, and in 
poorly-drained, water-soaked land the soil temperature 
is much lower. A wet soil is from 10 to 12 degrees 
colder than the same soil dry. Other types of lighter 
soils need only to be plowed and pulverized with a 
good harrow to be put in 
their best condition. The 
best tools to be used for 
preparation and cultivation 
must be determined by local 
conditions. 
PLOWING.—Perhaps the 
most disputed question is 
that of Fall or Spring plow¬ 
ing. In general, plowing 
has two effects upon land: 
on the physical condition, 
as drying and warming the 
land, improving the storage 
capacity for moisture; and 
on its chemical constitution 
by bringing up fertility to 
be unlocked by weathering, 
and by increasing nitrifica¬ 
tion and aeration. When 
plowing for corn, the phys¬ 
ical character of the soil, the climatic conditions and 
the previous kind of crop must determine whether 
plowing should be done in the Fall or Spring. Fall 
plowing is advantageous where there are hard clay 
soils to be mellowed, heavy sod to decay or wireworms 
to be combated. When this is done it should be left 
in the rough. On the lighter porous soils which form 
a large proportion of New England types, Fall plowing 
is a distinct error, for where there are open Winters 
with alternate freezing and thawing, it causes the loss 
by leaching of much valuable fertility which should 
go to feed the young corn plant the following Spring. 
Even when crops of legumes are to be plowed under, 
the increase in total nitrogen content due to the early 
growth in the Spring greatly exceeds the value of any 
increase in its availability due to a longer period of 
decay. 
TILLAGE.—When the seed bed has been put in the 
jbest possible condition in the Spring, and the seed is 
planted, the grower still has a great opportunity to en¬ 
hance his returns by proper cultivation. With our moist 
climate there is no need for planting with a lister, and 
after planting scarcely ever an excuse for hilling. Culti¬ 
vation of a properly prepared seed bed is done for 
only two reasons, to kill weeds and to conserve soil 
moisture. On all light soils use a weeder in place of a 
harrow. Run the weeder over the field every two or 
three days until the young plants are three inches 
high. The weeds killed just as they are germinating 
will save much harder labor later on. After this, culti¬ 
vate just as often as is necessary to preserve plenty of 
moisture and keep down the weeds. Use any kind of 
harrow which will keep up a dust mulch for about 
three inches. This breaks up the capillarity of the soil 
and prevents evaporation. Do not cultivate below three 
Inches, for corn roots are very near the surface, and 
you Will ruin your crop by too much root pruning. If 
A NIAGARA CO., N. Y., PLOWMAN. Fig. 146. 
there has been a slight drought, it is important to culti¬ 
vate as soon as is practicable after a rain. Cultivate un¬ 
til you can no longer go through the corn without 
breaking it, leaving the surface level, as hilling only 
leaves a larger surface of loose dirt for the escape of 
valuable moisture. Even after the corn is laid by, go 
through with a hoe or spud and take out all pernicious 
weeds. A solution of these problems of soil physics, 
soil fertility, planting and cultivation and their relations 
to increase the crops, cannot be given which will satisfy 
all conditions, and I want to emphasize the statement 
made above that the greatest progress will come to him 
who studies their underlying principles, and applies these 
to the experimental study of his own peculiar combina¬ 
tion of conditions. E. M. east. 
Connecticut Experiment Station. 
A DIFFERENCE IN PLOWING. 
At Fig. 146 is shown an ordinary plowing scene in 
New York State. Here two good horses pull a walk¬ 
ing plow, turning the furrow slice over evenly and 
leaving the soil in good condition for the harrow. Most 
of us are obliged to content ourselves with this sort 
of plowing. In some cases riding plows are used, but 
as a rule, on our eastern farms one furrow at a time 
is turned over. We read of gang plows or even of 
great machines hauled by traction engines, but they 
seem far away from our smaller fields. It is evident, 
however, that in some parts of the West traction en¬ 
gines are really used for plowing. In order to make 
them useful the fields must be large, so as to give a 
long furrow without turning, and the land must be 
reasonably level and free from stones. Fig. 147 shows 
an outfit known as the “engine gang plow” at work 
on a Dakota prairie. The following notes show what 
these machines do. 
“A Common Sight Were** 
It is a fact that the steam engine is employed in 
both breaking the prairie land and also in back-plowing 
and harrowing, and the pictures seen are a common 
matter in this part of the country. The rig most gener¬ 
ally. employed is a 25 to 30 horse-power engine with 
eight 14-inch plow bottoms in breaking the sod, and 
about 10 or 12 of the same sized bottoms for back- 
plowing as well as using a harrow or pulverizer behind 
the plows. These plows can be operated successfully 
wherever the amount of stone in the land is small and 
the field is large enough to permit of working to advan¬ 
tage; viz; from half a mile to a mile in length. With 
such a rig as I have described the average days’ work 
under favorable circumstances is from 18 to 25 acres of 
breaking and from 25 to 40 acres of back-plowing.. The 
work done is considered as fully better than that done 
with the ordinary wheel plow and horses, as it is possible 
to plow deeper in hard ground than is possible with 
horse power. Some of our larger farmers, who own 
320 to 500 acres of land, own their own thrashing rigs 
and use the engine for plowing; in that way reduce the 
number of horses necessary to do their work. Others 
who make a business of thrashing during the thrashing 
season use their engine during the plow season in going 
from place to place and doing work for so much per 
acre, the usual price being $3.50 for breaking and 
$1.75 to $2 for back-plowing. I myself am an old New 
Yorker, and from my knowledge of that country would 
say that I would not think the steam engine as a power 
for plowing could be operated very successfully there, 
as there are as a rule too many fences, and the fields 
are too small. R. b. town. 
North Dakota. 
Stop Thrashing to Plow. 
I have sold a good many such outfits in this vicinity. 
Usually a man or men buying a thrashing outfit get a 
25 or 30 horse-power engine equipped with what they 
call a heavy steel plow gear, and the purchaser often 
makes arrangements to have a set of three four-furrow 
engine gangs with the outfit. Thus equipped he can, if 
a siege of damp weather occurs in the middle of thrash¬ 
ing season, hitch his engine to these plows, and turn 
over from 25 to 40 acres per day. The operator of the 
rig generally owns a half section or more of land, and 
always plows his own first, and if he can do more he 
generally goes about from farm to farm, until plowing 
is done. This being a new country there is still a large 
amount of unbroken prairie land here, and these steam 
plow operators will equip two four-furrow gangs with 
sod bottoms and go out breaking, as they term it. With 
this rig they can break from 15 to 25 acres per day, 
for which they get $3.50 per acre. It seems to be a 
paying business for anybody who has invested in a 
thrashing outfit, but they hardly ever buy an engine for 
plowing alone, as the first cost is more than the revenue 
from such an outfit would warrant. The plows I have 
sold have in all instances been the “Deere” engine gang. 
North Dakota. edward gilbertson. 
THE ODD YEAR ON APPLES . 
The articles under the above heading in The R. 
'N.-Y., page 255, interested 
me much because of what 
I accomplished on the old 
home farm about 25 years 
ago. At that time the 
orchard was rather run 
down from lack of care, 
and we wanted more apples 
on the odd year. We put 
a good fair heap (about 
five bushels) of stable man¬ 
ure around each tree and 
turned the hogs into the 
orchard. At blossoming 
time we pulled the blossoms 
clean from a lot of the 
trees and later cleaned 
more trees of the apples, 
until we had about one-half 
the orchard free from fruit. 
This was in the Spring of 
the even (bearing) year. Result—there was a fine crop 
of apples that year on the trees not cleaned, and, of 
course, no fruit on the rest. The next year the trees 
that bore the previous year had a small crop; while 
the rest were “loaded to the gun’ales” as an old sailor 
would say. And such fruit! It was a sight to feast 
your eyes upon, and people came from all about to see 
it. There were Baldwins, R. I. Greenings, Granite 
Beauties and Russets—and all responded. It is claimed 
that it is hard to change the fruiting of the Baldwin 
from the even to the odd year and I am inclined to 
think so too; if you only thin the fruit on the even 
year. But if the trees are cleaned of fruit on the even 
year and well fertilized at the same time, I would 
almost guarantee a good crop the next year, unless some 
exceptional conditions should arise later. 
Cumberland Co., Me. wiliiam o. breed. 
Get ready to do your duty with the stamps when that 
rabbit bill comes up in the New York Legislature. 
