134 
of (he solid soil grains their original water films 
more strongly charged with the dissolved plant food, 
leaving behind only the thin unavailable layer of 
water which becomes overspread with the dilute 
freshly fallen rain. There must in such cases be 
more leaching under like rainfall conditions, both 
because there is less volume capacity for storing- 
water, and for the reasons stated above. 
Again, when a fine-grained soil is not well gran¬ 
ulated, and is without large open passageways to the 
underdrainage, the excess of water which must drain 
away moves through the soil much more slowly, thus 
giving opportunity for the soluble plant food held 
within the unavailable stationary films of water to 
diffuse outward into the stream of excess w'ater and 
hence to be carried away, as it could not be with 
the more open structure that is associated with ample 
strong granulation coincident with an abundance of 
lime carbonate in the soil. This is what does actu¬ 
ally happen to so many of our southern soils, where 
the granulation is feeble as well as incomplete, per¬ 
mitting the soil to wash badly with every heavy- 
rain, the streams running turbid, bearing away both 
solid and liquid plant food. It is not intended to 
convey the idea that lime carbonate is the only essen¬ 
tial factor in developing and maintaining the best 
physical condition of soils. It is, however, one of 
the essential factors, especially in the heavy clay 
types, and all limestone soils which result from the 
decay of lime rock in place are, with few exceptions, 
of the clay type. 
DEVELOPMENT OF AVAILABLE PLANT 
FOOD.—From the standpoint of the chemical and life 
processes in the soil which are concerned in the elab¬ 
oration of plant food lime carbonate plays an ex¬ 
tremely important role, and the part it takes in pro¬ 
ducing from humus the nitrogen food of crops takes 
first rank. In the decomposition of humus by bacteria 
in the soil nitric acid is formed, just as vinegar is the 
final product in the fermentation of sugar by yeast 
and the mother of vinegar. The presence of any 
considerable amount of free nitric or other acid in 
the soil moisture checks and finally arrests completely 
the further formation of nitric acid from the humus. 
But when there is present an abundance of lime 
carbonate, associated at the same time with other 
conditions favorable for nitrification, the lime of the 
carbonate is appropriated by the nitric acid formed, 
setting free the carbonic acid and leaving, in place 
of the lime carbonate, lime nitrate which is the 
chief 'compound from which agricultural crops derive 
their supply of nitrogen. In this neutralization of 
the nitric acid by the lime the soil is prevented from 
becoming sour, and nitrification goes forward con¬ 
tinuously and at a rapid rate. At the same time 
that the nitric acid is passing from the organism 
which excretes it as a waste product to the lime 
of the carbonate to become neutralized this free 
nitric acid and the carbonic acid too, in its turn, 
when it is set free from the lime by the nitric 
acid, act together in increasing the dissolving power 
of the soil moisture for the other essential plant 
food elements in the soil. Thus it is seen that the 
carbonate of lime not only takes a necessary part 
in putting the nitrogen of humus in food form to 
supply crops, but it also aids in bringing other plant 
food elements into available form as well; and it is 
a common experience that soils comparatively poor 
in potash and phosphoric acid, if only the humus 
and lime content are kept high, may yet produce 
large yields because the same action which de¬ 
velops from the humus the lime nitrate sets free in 
the soil moisture more potash and more phosphoric 
acid. Lime sulphate, or land plaster, exerts a sim¬ 
ilar effect in favoring nitrification, but is never 
naturally so abundant in soils. Other bases than 
lime, too, if free to unite with the nitric acid, may 
likewise favor nitrification, but none of the natur¬ 
ally available bases is as serviceable as lime. We 
have thus stated two of the main reasons, one phy¬ 
sical and the other bio-chemical, why “a lime coun¬ 
try is a rich country”; why an abundance of lime 
carbonate in a soil is generally associated with one 
highly productive. To set out all of the ways in 
which lime carbonate aids in maintaining soil pro¬ 
ductivity would require the discussion of at least 
a dozen other lines of activity or influence. 
F. H. KING. 
TOP-WORKING APPLE TREES. 
1. Will you ask your correspondent, H. O. Mead, what 
effect, top-working tillers has on early bearing? I should 
have supposed that it would delay fruiting until nearly 
time to take the fillers out. Does he think Tolman as 
good a stock to top-work as the others he mentioned? 
2. How will muskmelons do at an elevation of 1.000 feet 
in Litchfield County. Conn.; I am told I cannot ripen 
them there, hut should think the Montreal melon would 
do as well there as in Canada. e. d. c. 
1. If a young tree is top-worked in proper season it 
does not retard the growth or injure the shape of the 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
tree; and if the buds are selected from a bearing tree 
I believe they will bear earlier than the average 
nursery-grown tree or a grafted one of the same size. 
The advantages of top-working young trees are to 
put a weak-growing variety on a thrifty well-estab¬ 
lished stock, as many of our valuable varieties are 
not thrifty, straight growers in the nursery row. I 
also believe there is a gain in selecting buds from 
the best trees of the variety used we can find, and 
the man who grows a top-worked tree knows what it 
zcill bear after he has grown it to a _ bearing age, 
something which cannot be said of all nursery-grown 
trees as they are put on the market at present. Of 
course top-budding can only be profitably used on 
young and thrifty trees, on larger and bearing trees 
grafting is much easier and cheaper. We have budded 
a few fair-sized trees where we wished to get fruit 
from a variety as soon as possible. We know of no 
way to test a new variety equal to this. Tolman is a 
good stock to bud or graft other varieties upon, al¬ 
though I should not choose it as first choice, yet here 
1 should change them to a more profitable variety 
for our location, as it has not proved a profit maker 
here. 
2. In regard to melons at an elevation of 1000 feet 
in Connecticut, I see no reason why they should not 
prove a success if given the right care. The melon 
lequires a rich, mellow, light loam, planted in the hill 
on a rich well-rotted compost. A south or south¬ 
easterly slope is a great advantage; then if given good 
care and an opportunity to grow as soon as warm 
weather is assured I think they could be grown over 
practically all of New England if the earlier varieties 
are chosen. But neglect and a poor location count 
much against success with good melons. 
Massachusetts. h. o. mead. 
A JERSEY MAIL CARRIER TALKS. 
On page 51 I have read the communication signed 
by J. E. H., and would be pleased to have you call his 
attention to a few facts concerning the “fat salary,” 
etc., the rural carrier receives. I have been a rural 
mail carrier for more than three years, and my actual 
experience has been as follows: Investment, mail 
wagon, two horses, one set single harness, two stable 
blankets, one outside blanket, one rubber storm 
blanket, one tie-strap, one sleigh, two head stalls 
and leads, total cost, $500. My route is 24*4 miles; 
1 live 1 Yi mile from post office; with extra distance 
to deliver registered matter, makes an average of 28 1 / 2 
miles daily. Of these 2SJ4 miles to travel six days 
per week, there are only A l / 2 miles of improved road; 
the rest is as bad as can be with fully one-third of the 
trip up and down high hills. During the most favor¬ 
able times it requires five hours to make the trip; 
with an hour’s work in the morning, another hour in 
the evening feeding and caring for horses, means 
seven hours per day under the most favorable cir¬ 
cumstances, no time for meals included. When the 
roads are at all bad, which usually means, with us, 
from December until middle of May, about six 
months, or one-half of the year, during this season 
of bad roads it requires about all day to “prepare, 
make and put up” for the delivery. In a number of 
cases I have been from 7 a. m. until 7 p. m. “doing” 
the trip. For my services I receive a salary of $75 
per month, or $2.50 per day on a $500 cash investment, 
besides “putting up” a $500 bond. Out of this $900 
yearly salary it costs to feed and shoe horses, veter¬ 
inary services, with repairs to harness and wagons, 
$300, leaving the “fat salary” of $600 to rent a home 
(one with barn and stables always more) and provide 
for a family. About every three years a carrier has 
to dispose of at least one horse and buy a much better 
one, a new set of harness, and once in four years a 
new mail wagon, blankets, leads, rubber blankets, 
etc., all to be saved out of that $600. 
Let me ask our friend if he considers anything “fat” 
about the carrier’s part? On the other hand, he is 
made a convenience of by his patrons “to the limit,” 
and do they appreciate it? If they did they would at 
least stamp their mail and not require the carrier to 
make change and unlock boxes in freezing storms, 
unglove to “chase” pennies around a mail box, which 
half the time is not fastened securely so it tips and 
tilts almost upside down. They expect the carrier to 
make the complete trip when roads are snowed full, 
they themselves not able to get out, nor will some 
shovel away from the mail box, so the carrier has 
often to climb out of his rig and wade through snow¬ 
drifts leg deep in order to deposit the mail in box 
and collect therefrom. Beside these few “dont’s” 
mentioned, there are many “too numerous to men¬ 
tion” now. If the farm papers would take up the 
subject of “how to behave” in R. F. D. society, and 
impress the readers with a few “don’t’s” and a few 
“do it now’s,” they could and would help both patron 
and carrier more than through any particular source 
February 13, 
I know of. The patrons could work great good to 
themselves and carriers by insisting that the overseer 
of each road does what he is appointed to do; compel 
him to get at his road early in the seas in and scrape 
it according to the instructions from his township 
officers, in the late Fall just "before freezing, see that 
he has all ditches along the road open, so the water 
can run off quickly, etc.; do all they can to improve 
and keep in order the post roads at least. Why 
couldn't the State and Government combine and build 
a certain number of miles of the post road each year, 
in every State? As we only get six holidays during 
the year outside of our 15 days’ vacation, I cannot 
see why J. E. Id. wishes to take some of these six 
from us on such a “fat salary." w. h. v. 
PLOWING UNDER CANADA PEAS. 
There have been many letters about the best way 
of sowing oats and peas. We take it that thousands 
of “protein clubs” are being started. A woman farmer 
wrote J. Grant Morse the following note: 
After reading your articles in The R. N.-Y. I can keep 
silent no longer. Several years ago, at an institute, I 
heard Mr. Matteson tell us to plow peas under. My hus¬ 
band thought it must have been a mistake, so I wrote Mr. 
Matteson and received the inclosed letter in reply. For 
10 years we have been plowing peas in according to Mr. 
Matteson’s instructions, and have grown as high as 73 
bushels of peas and oats per acre on a five-acre plot. As 
I am obliged to depend entirely on hired help, who 
seldom take the interest an owner would, you can easily 
see how enthusiastic I am over this method of growing 
peas and oats. We always get the Canada peas, and 
find the best results in sowing about one-half bushel per 
acre. We have used as much as a bushel but they grow 
so rank they have a tendency to break down the oats. 
l. a. c. 
The directions given by Mr. Matteson are as fol¬ 
lows : 
The peas should be sown on old ground and plowed in 
from four to six inches. Then the ground should be 
harrowed and the oats sown or drilled in. The reason 
is that peas to yield well and grow pods to any extent 
should be sown much deeper than oats. Besides, by being 
sown deeper, the peas will come up later, keep green 
longer and ripen with the oats instead of ahead, of them. 
We have tried the plan of sowing the peas in the 
unbroken ground and either plowing under with a 
small plow or putting them under with the disk. 
The plowing has given us best results, but where the 
disk can be weighted down so as to work deep the 
peas are well covered. 
STABLE MANURE OR CHEMICALS. 
I live 1% mile from town, can get manure for 50 
cents per load, and could draw four loads a day. My 
man and team would cost me about $2 a day, making 
the manure cost ?1 a load. Would you put $100 into this 
manure, or four tons of good fertilizer, for eight acres 
of potatoes? I have no trouble to get a catch of clover 
where I use potash on my potatoes. I make about 200 
loads of manure each year fhat goes on my farm. k. 
Michigan. 
You ask us just what we would do on our own 
farm. So far as the plant food is concerned the 
manure is cheaper. We will assume that you can 
haul one ton to a load. A ton of average manure 
will contain 10 pounds of nitrogen, six pounds of 
phosphoric acid and 12 pounds of potash. For $100, 
therefore, you will get 1,000 pounds of nitrogen, 
600 of phosphoric acid and 1.200 of potash. This 
represents 10 tons of fertilizer containing five per 
cent of nitrogen, three of phosphoric acid and six 
of potash. Put in another way your $100 will buy 
as much nitrogen as you will get in over three tons 
of nitrate of soda, two tons of acid phosphate and 
2,500 pounds of muriate of potash. These chemicals 
would cost us here in New York at least $225. 
So far as the price goes the advantage is with the 
manure. For potatoes on average soil the propor¬ 
tion of 5-3-6 is not the best, since the proportion 
of nitrogen is too large. It would pay you to add 
two tons of acid phosphate and half a ton of 
muriate of potash either broadcast or in the drill. 
There is another side to it. On our soil the use 
of stable manure almost invariably increases the 
scab in potatoes. The seed can be soaked in for¬ 
malin, but even with this on many of our soils the 
heavy use of manure means scab. It is not so bad 
when the manure is put on sod and plowed under. 
We often hear from farmers who use manure for 
potatoes and have little trouble with scab, but that is 
not our experience. Without doubt the manure and 
the chemicals will make the cheapest plant food for 
the potatoes, and if you have used manure before on 
the crop with fair success we should go ahead. 
A hopeful cargo l»ft New York recently for New Or¬ 
leans. It contained 75 little babies from a foundling 
asylum. They were to find homes in the South. 
Nearly every year some one comes with a proposition 
to make planting pots out of lime and manure or similar 
substances. They are to be moulded into shape and dried. 
The theory is that the pot would feed the plant. The 
trouble thus far has been that such pots cost too much. 
