1900. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
141 
TREATMENT FOR GRASS. 
11. D. L., Concord, 2). 11 .—The main part 
of our farm has light sandy loam, holding 
moisture well when well cultivated, but in 
droughts grass land dries up badly. The 
land lias not been under cultivation for 12 
or 15 years. At that time about 100 
bushels of wood ashes were applied to a 
certain part containing about three acres. 
Five years ago this three acres was 
plowed* and sown to oats, using commer¬ 
cial fertilizers. That Fall it was again 
plowed. Being full of witch grass the next 
Spring it was worked with a Cutaway disk 
harrow at intervals of about two weeks all 
Summer according to the Clark method, 
until all witch grass and weeds had been 
killed, leaving a very fine seed-bed. It was 
seeded that Fall to Timothy and Red-top, 
using one-half ton commercial fertilizer to 
the acre—analysis on bag being: 
Nitrogen . 3.91 to 4.73 
Equal to ammonia. 4.71 “ 5.75 
Sol. phos. acid.*. 4 “5 
Rev. phos. acid. 1 “2 
Avail, phos. acid. 5 “ 7 
Insol. phos. acid. 1 “2 
Total phos. acid. (5 “ 9 
Potash— K. D. 
Eq. to sulp. pot. 2.70 “ 5.55 
A heavy crop was cut the following July, 
then a top-dressing of same fertilizer was 
given, hut owing to drought later second 
crop was very light. The next Spring a 
similar top-dressing of 300 pounds to the 
acre was given and the crop that July was 
about one-half as great as the first year; 
no second crop worth cutting. Last Spring 
(third year) a similar top-dressing was 
given and about two one-horse loads were 
cut from the three acres—short grass, none 
coming to head. We have had droughts 
the last two years in June. This piece 
was plowed last Fall and this Winter I 
am applying a good coat of horse manure, 
which contains more or less shavings and 
sawdust, this being the best we can buy. 
I intend seeding in Spring to Red clover. 
I would like advice in regard to what to 
use in addition to this dressing. Would not 
lime be beneficial? If so, how much? Or 
would commercial fertilizer be better? 
The kind we used, costing about $40 a ton 
and not giving good results alone, would 
like to find something less expensive. No 
barnyard manure has been used on this 
land for over 20 years. Is fine ground 
limestone rock the same as ordinary lime, 
air-slaked? 
Ans. —Here we have a piece of light 
land lacking in available plant food, 
and probably sour. We should first 
test this soil with blue litmus paper. 
Take fair samples of the soil here and 
there and mix them. Take a cupful 
and pack it just moist enough to make 
it solid. Take a knife and "thrust it 
into the soil. Put a strip of the litmus 
paper down into the hole and press the 
soil around it. Leave it there an hour, 
then take it out and let it dry. If the 
color of the paper where it touched the 
soil has turned to red you may con¬ 
clude the land is sour, and you can 
profitably use a ton of air-slaked lime 
to the acre. 
You got your first large crop because 
you gave thorough culture and used 
enough fertilizer. Mr. Clark used 800 
pounds to the acre, and on that soil, 
particularly if it is sour, you could not 
hope to match his yield with 300 
pounds. We think the land is sour to 
begin with, and that it is in special 
need of nitrogen. An application of 
135 pounds per acre of nitrate of soda 
would probably have doubled your 
yields. 
As for a fertilizer, the following 
mixture is excellent for grass : 400 ni¬ 
trate of soda, 400 fine bone, 800 acid, 
phosphate and 400 muriate of potash. 
If you will lime that field and then 
use a ton of that mixture on the three 
acres you will have grass. As it is 
with the land well manured and the 
manure worked under we should apply 
the lime and work it in and not add 
fertilizer this year. We would sow 
oats early and seed to clover with 
them, cutting the oats for hay and 
then letting the clover come on. No, 
finely ground lime is not the same as 
burned lime. The former is the raw 
limestone crushed or ground into a 
coarse powder—about like granulated 
sugar. The air-slaked lime is the same 
kind of limestone burned and then ex¬ 
posed to the air, so that it takes up 
water and “slakes,” and in doing so 
falls to a fine powder. 
SOME TRICKS OF THF TRADE. 
I went up to (he city last week, and 
ran upon something so good I must tell 
it to you (it is true). I was in a market 
where I do quite a little trading. The 
youngest farmer in, who lives quite near 
the city and has great faith in farming 
provided one can get hold of the right 
thing to produce, but who has not yet 
found it, was telling what a great help 
an industrial school the city is just start¬ 
ing would be to the farmer, as it would 
teach the (future) young men to do 
something, whatever that may mean. The 
writer was not so optimistic, remarking 
that our teachers were human and human 
nature was the same the world over; that 
I had occasion to criticise some of the 
work at an agricultural college more than 
once, and was told a student did it, just 
as we farmers told the marketman when 
we brought in some apples and the big 
ones had all worked to the top of the 
barrel, if he turned them out, that the 
hired man did it. Then up spoke a man 
from another town, and said that a few 
years before a buyer came through his 
tewn buying apples to ship. When he 
carried in a load to the car, buyer opened 
both ends of three or four barrels, turned 
out some, etc., shaking every barrel to see 
if it was tight. He thought he was too 
particular as apples were all right, and 
when examined no fault was found with 
them. Just as they were running them 
in car up drove a neighbor, a leading 
citizen, member of church, etc., with a 
load. The apples were put through the 
same examination, only more so, and as 
the owner looked them over lie said his 
wife helped a little and she must have put 
them in. The buyer was disgusted; told 
him he would better show himself a man 
and own up, yet if he was willing to take 
No. 2 price, he could leave them, if not 
cart them off somewhere else. The owner 
took No. 2 price. Then up spoke the 
marketman and said that reminded him 
that when he was a young clerk the boss 
sent him to a slaughter house to get a 
dressed lamb. They were butchering when 
he arrived. The proprietor took down a 
carcass and told him it was a nice young 
lamb. Although he was green at the 
business, he told the proprietor lie thought 
the legs were too stiff for a lamb. Pro¬ 
prietor told him the trouble was legs had 
not been broken down, and gave them a 
clip with a cleaver. Then he gave the 
help a big setting up for not knowing 
how to dress a lamb, and the next time 
they left a young lamb that way he would 
turn them all off. Help said nothing, but 
when he got back to the market lie had an 
old sheep. ii, o. head. 
R. N.-Y.—The man who held his wife 
responsible for these small apples is the 
meanest specimen to date! lie must be a 
relative of the boy in a city building. 
This big overgrown boy was always “fool¬ 
ing” and scuflling with others. This was 
done in elevators and halls until it be¬ 
came a nuisance. One day a smaller boy 
got tired of being pinched and cuffed and 
struck the big fellow in the eye. That took 
all the “fooling” out of him. He carried 
a black eye for some days. 
“What’s the matter with your eye?” 
asked a stranger? 
“Oh 1 1 was playin’ icitli me mother an' 
she hit me!’’ 
When “cutting” begins, everybody and every horse on the farm is busy. 
Quick-working and light running Johnston mowers make farm work 
easier because we have eliminated everything that usually causes trouble. 
Roller-bearing throughout. 
High wheels with three pawls, insure motion without jar or jerk and 
high power. Draft is evenly divided between the pole drawing the truck and 
the draft rod pulling the cutting mechanism, making lighest draught on 
horses and least taxing on operator. 
Hand and foot levers give perfect control at all turns, when cutting on a 
side hill or raising cutter bar over obstructions. Rigid cutter bar and shear 
cutting knives prevent clogging and insure a clean smooth swath in light or 
heavy grass. Chain or gear drive and “Lever Fold” as preferred. We also 
have a one horse gear drive mower for small farms, orchards, lawns and 
CLARKS 
Cutaway 
tools 
CLARK’S DOUBLE ACTION "CUTAWAY” HARROW 
WITH EXTENSION HEAD is needed on every farm. It will 
increase your crops 25 to 50 per cent. This machine will cut from 
28 to 30 acres, or will double-cut 15 acres in a day, It is drawn by two 
medium horses. It will move 15,000 tons of earth one foot in a day. and 
can be set to move the earth but little, or at so great an anglo as to move all 
the earth one foot. Runs true in line of draft and keeps the surface true. 
All other disk harrows have to run ind „ » BIG 
% half lap 
™ f~ r The Jointed Pole takes all 
the weight off the horses’ 
necks, and keeps their heels 
away from the disks. 
We make 120 sizes and styles of Disk 
Harrows. Every machine fully warranted. 
Entire satisfaction guaranteed. 
Send to-day for FREE Booklet with full particulars. 
Harrow 
CUTAWAY HARROW COMPANY, 839 Main St., HIGGANUM, CONN. 
CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION 
About The Home and on The Farm 
This is the title of a very interesting book, which we have 
published especially for the Farmer and Suburbanite. It con¬ 
tains diagrams, drawings and photographs of the smaller build¬ 
ings that can be constructed without the aid of skilled labor, 
also much general information for the farmer and many valuable 
hints to small contractors. This book is now being used by many of the leading 
Agricultural Colleges as a text book on farm instruction. 
We Will Send This Book To You FREE 
Root Cellar reproduced from our book “ Concrete 
Construction About the Home and on the Farm.” 
(I 
All the construction work shown in it was 
made with “ATLAS” Portland Cement. 
“ATLAS” is the highest grade of Portland 
Cement. It is recognized as the Standard 
American Brand. There is but one quality 
manufactured, the same for everybody, guar¬ 
anteed to be absolutely pure and not to contain 
furnace slag or any injurious material. 
4,500,000 barrels of “ATLAS ” were 
ordered by the U. S. Government for 
the Panama Canal. 
Specify “ATLAS” when ordering cement. You will recognize 
it by the trade mark. Write for the book to-day. 
THE ATLAS PORTLAND CEMEMT CO., Dept. 22, 30 BROAD STREET, NEW YORK. 
Daily Productive Capacity Over 40,000 Barrels. 
NONE JUST AS GOOD 
i 
WHY NOT USE HUBBARD’S? 
