306 
A STUNT WITH ALFALFA. 
I have an acre of ground that I 
wish to put into Alfalfa. Half of 
the field has been under cultivation 
with hoed crops for three years, and 
has been manured each year and is in 
fair condition. The other half has been 
seeded down to clover and Timothy for 
about two years. What I would like to do 
is to give the whole field a fair coating of 
stable manure early this Spring; plow and 
cultivate well and plant it to sweet or 
small field corn for soiling Summer 
crop, and at the last cultivation sow 
100 pounds or more of earth taken 
from a piece of waste land where 
Sweet clover grows thriftily, and sow 
at the same time to Alfalfa. Will that 
treatment succeed ? The seeded ground 
has a good sod. All the land is dry 
clay and sandy loam. Or would the 
Sweet clover soil be better sown when 
fitting the land in the Spring? Should 
any commercial fertilizer be used, and 
if so, what kind, how much, and when? 
Steuben Co., N.Y. e. e. n. 
R. N.-Y.—This is submitted for dis¬ 
cussion. Our opinion is that the plan of 
seeding Alfalfa in the corn will fail. We 
should follow some crop that can be 
taken off so as to give the entire field 
to Alfalfa. We believe that lime will 
be needed, and we would use the soil 
from the Sweet clover field when seed¬ 
ing the Alfalfa. 
ECONOMY IN HANDLING MANURE. 
My outfit is simply a jumper with 
wooden runners, made very low, so 
that the sled will slide over the top 
of deep snow or soft ground. The 
load can be drawn anywhere in a field, 
unless the snow is too deep for even 
a horse to get through. There will 
be no more deep snow this season, 
but the sled is as useful in Summer 
as Winter, and is handy for many other 
things besides hauling out the manure. 
It is much more handy than a wagon 
or sleigh, and having such a sled saves 
soiling these. The jumper has a box 
which is but a frame, unattached to 
the sled. When I get the load where 
I want to spread it, I tip the box frame 
off, and throw the manure right and 
left, distributing it evenly and quickly. 
When the stables are cleaned, the man¬ 
ure should be put directly upon the 
jumper, ready to be hauled out and 
spread. It is a good plan to mix the 
horse and cow manure, for the reason 
that the horse manure absorbs so much 
of the liquids and makes it all much 
easier to spread evenly. This plan en¬ 
ables one to do this heavy work quickly 
and easily, and does away with the 
nuisance of having piles of manure in 
the barnyard. Manure spreaders are 
all right and have their place, but all 
farm machinery comes high, and there 
are housing and repairs to look out 
for. On a small place I think my way 
of handling the manure as good as any, 
and it has the advantage of being a sim¬ 
ple and economical way. e. r. f. 
Jefferson Co., N. Y. 
A Compost of Fish. 
TF. IT. P., gantuit. Mass .—I have an 
alewife brook bounding my place, and I in¬ 
tend catching the fish this Spring, compost¬ 
ing with woods turf, leaves, soil, etc., let¬ 
ting it stand until the following Spring, 
and then using compost for potatoes. What 
chemicals would you advise me to use with 
compost and how much, if I use one ton of 
herring composted to the acre? The soil is 
black, newly cleared land. 
Ans. —You want to remember several 
things about fish as fertilizer. It con¬ 
tains nitrogen and phosphoric acid, but 
no potash. Raw fish or dried fish 
is apt to sour the ground. In com¬ 
posting fish some of the ammonia will 
be lost unless the pile is kept cov¬ 
ered with soil. We should make a 
compost—first a layer of soil and woods 
THE RURAL NEW-YOKKER 
earth, then a layer of fish, then more 
soil, fish and so on—keeping at least 
six inches of soil over all. Wood ashes 
or lime may be sprinkled over the 
fish as the pile is made up, and we 
should use 100 pounds or more of 
muriate of potash to each ton of fish, 
scattering it evenly through the pile. 
After six months the pile may be forked 
over, repiled and covered with soil 
again. 
Pigeon Manure and Dead Hens. 
Reader (Xo Address ).—I get a good deal 
of hen and pigeon manure. I am now 
broadcasting it. Will it do any good used 
tills way? The soil is a sandy piece, very 
poor. Is pigeon manure better than hen 
manure? We get a good many dead chicks 
and chickens. We bury them among the 
young fruit trees. Do they help any? 
Ans.—P igeon manure is stronger than 
poultry droppings. In Florida and other 
warm sections all such forms of or¬ 
ganic nitrogen should he plowed into 
the soil and kept covered. In moist, 
warm weather ammonia is formed from 
this manure, and if it is on the sur¬ 
face it will pass away like that from 
an uncorked bottle of ammonia water. 
When covered in the soil most of this 
ammonia will be held where plants can 
use it. We bury small carcasses be¬ 
side apple and peach trees—about 18 
inches deep and two feet from the tree. 
Such carcasses contain nitrogen and 
phosphoric acid but no potash, and the 
latter will be needed. 
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OPEN LETTER TO FARMERS ON THE TARIFF 
By W. H. Bowker, Boston, President Bowker Fertilizer Company. 
Free Nitrogen. 
The fertilizer industry has been built up on a free trade basis. It asks for no 
protection, and it should have none ; but all chemicals which are used directly on the soil 
or in mixed fertilizers should lie admitted duty free, for they are the farmer’s raw material. 
There is one chemical, Sulphate of Ammonia, the richest in nitrogen, which now carries 
a duty of #(>.00 per ton or per pound on the nitrogen which it contains. 
On December 12th, I appeared before the AY ays and Means Committee and urged that 
this chemical be put on the free list in the new tariff bill, submitting a Brief which was 
followed by convincing letters from leading Station Directors and farmers throughout the 
country. As a result, Sulphate of Ammonia is now placed on the free list in the Payne 
Bill, where it must remain, and where it will remain if you will join in a vigorous demand 
to your Senators and Representatives. 
This country needs nitrogen not only to produce the great staple crops, but because we 
are extensively exporting it in the shape of cereals and meat products and making no 
adequate return to the soil. Statistics show that it required at least 2,000,000 tons of 
nitrogen, worth at least $800,000,000 to grow the cereals for 1908 ; that we exported last 
year fully $75,000,000 worth of nitrogen in the shape of cereals and meat products of 
which no material part was returned to the soil. 
Free Potash. 
The Payne Bill also contains a “joker” in relation to potash, which should be 
eliminated. The contervailing or retaliatory clause of 20% on certain articles, under certain 
conditions, is made to apply, among other articles, to potash ; and in the case of potash 
it is aimed directly at Germany whose largest export to this country is probably potash. 
But Germany is our only source of available potash. If it is intended as a club to 
keep Germany from unduly taxing our meat and grain products, she will simply laugh at 
us and tell us to go elsewhere for our potash, which we cannot do, so it is a knife which cuts 
both ways. 11 a similar clause had been in operation under the present tariff law it would 
have cost the Southern farmers fully half a million dollars a year more for the potash which 
they used, and the Maine potato growers at least $50,000 a year more. 
For thirty-six years, I have been interested in gathering plant food from all over the 
world and rendering it available, and shall continue to do so, tariff or no tariff; but it is 
plain that il there were a tariff on fertilizers and fertilizer chemicals, the cost would lie 
enhanced to the farmer by just the amount of the tariff. For example: if there were a duty 
ol 1 per pound on nitrogen and if the 20% retaliatory clause on potash were in operation, 
the well-known Stock bridge Potato Manure would cost the farmer fully $2.80 per ton more 
on account of the duty. 
The economic principle of admitting fertility ( plant food ), duty free, should be obvious 
to everyone. Ao country puts a tax on fertility except Canada, and she admits free, the 
raw chemicals, including Sulphate of Ammonia and German Potash. 
11 it is a wise policy to put on the free list, as we now do, “guano, manures, and all 
substances used only lor manure”, it is still wiser to extend it to include all chemicals, 
whether mixed or unmixed, and especially those which contain nitrogen and potash. If 
the farmers demand it, it will be done. It is then “up to you ” and your Representative. 
It is surely in your interest to write your Senator or Representative in Congress at once, 
for it touches your interests at a vital point. 
_ 1 _ W. H. BOWKER. 
FOR THE LAND'S SAKE— 
If you approve, write at once to your Senator, 
TJ. S. Senate, or your Representative, House 
of Representatives, Washington, D. C., 
HUBBARD’S FERTILIZERS 
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