1009. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
449 
SPRING CARE OF STRAWBERRIES. 
When shall we take the mulch from our 
strawberry plants ? 
Ans. —We leave our mulch on the 
ground between the rows. In April 
we go through with a rake and help 
any plants that have difficulty in push¬ 
ing through (the mulch. Sometimes 
when thick manure is used, it mats 
down solidly over the plant. We loosen 
such places up with a fork. When all 
danger of frost is past we move the 
mulch into the alleys between the 
plants and let it stay there. Under 
this system of course there is no 
Spring cultivation. Some growers haul 
the mulch from the field and give thor¬ 
ough culture up to fruiting time. We 
saw the other day a neighbor's field 
where 'fine plants were (growing (in 
hills. The mulch was all removed by 
April 1. Great cracks had formed in 
the ground and the plants were in¬ 
jured. 
THE OAT CROP. 
The oat crop has a very important 
place in the cereals raised in this 
country, and no Scotchman tin this 
oountry sits down (tb his breakfast 
with satisfaction where the dish of 
oatmeal has been omitted. Some peo¬ 
ple have an idea that as a crop oats 
are hard on the soil. Taken alone I 
think they are, but in a perfect 'rota¬ 
tion on the farm they come in as well 
as any of the crops. Oats can follow 
either corn or sugar beets and give 
good results. If corn stubble is to be 
used, if possible, I would plow in the 
Fall. When I say plow I mean to cut 
and turn all of the ground. So many 
follow the plow and cut and cover, ap¬ 
parently not realizing what the han¬ 
dles were placed on the plow for. A 
good plowman holds and guides his 
plow all the time. In preparing the 
Fall plowing the fitting should begin 
as soon as the ground will work up 
in good shape. Use either a disk or 
cultivator, and if necessary put on 
the roller, then harrow until a per¬ 
fect seed bed is formed. Do not be 
afraid of over-fitting, for there are 
more failures in half doing than in 
over-doing. If the ground must be 
plowed in the Spring it should be 
rolled every day, for that will help 
to retain the moisture, which will be 
needed later in the season, then com¬ 
mence to harrow and disk, and do 
not be afraid to use the roller, and 
continue until it is properly fitted 
If the field for oats has been out to 
sugar beets, do not plow, but put on a 
disk and work it up, and do the same 
as with the other. Be sure to have 
a good seed bed. 
When the ground has been fitted put 
On the seed, about two bushels per 
acre. If a grain drill is used I would 
cross the drilling with a square drag, 
and that will scatter the seed some 
and give a better chance for the oats 
to stool. I have had better results 
from sowing broadcast. If a person 
is a good hand to do that work and 
evenly distributes the seed over the 
ground I have always found that the 
grain will stool out better than when 
left in a drill row. After the oats 
have nicely started and the seed has 
all germinated it is a beneficial plan 
to go over the field with a roller. It 
acts as a cultivation to the crop. I 
am now speaking of heavy soil, not 
sand. 
In harvesting the crop and caring 
for the same the principal point is to 
save the whole crop. In shocking up 
the grain after the binder I should 
certainly cap the shocks. Some use 
the round shock; I prefer the long 
shock, setting up 10 sheaves, then plac¬ 
ing two bundles on as caps. Take 
care to spread equally the cap bundles, 
and you will have a good shock and 
one that will cure out quickly. Last 
season I had 12 acres out to oats. It 
had been sugar beet ground the year 
before. I put two bushels per acre of 
seed and about 200 pounds of phos¬ 
phate per acre. I thrashed a fine crop 
of oats. The field having been well 
tiled the extreme wet which we had 
in the month of May only hurt about 
two acres, and that was very slight 
compared with some fields where the 
water standing on the ground so long 
killed nearly the entire crop. I 
thrashed a crop that weighed 840 
bushels of fine oats and at 50 cents 
per bushel they gave me $35 per acre, 
which I consider was a fairly good 
crop. In summing up the crop I am 
convinced that the ground should be 
well drained, then well fitted; use 
good seed and you have done your 
part toward a good crop of oats. 
Michigan. newton burns. 
R. N.-Y.—We have found it profit¬ 
able to treat the seed oats for smut. 
We use one pint of formalin to 50 gal¬ 
lons of water. The oats are spread 
out on a light floor and sprinkled with 
this solution until they are quite wet. 
Then they are shovelled together in 
a heap and covered with blankets for 
several hours. They are then dried 
and seeded as usual. The principle of 
this is that the smut is a germ disease 
—these germs being in the seed. The 
gas arising from the formalin kills 
these germs, or the disease does not 
start when the seed is in the ground. 
Our experience is that this treatment 
gives clean oats. 
Cow Peas and Soy Beans. 
E. C. S., Montrose, Pa. —Do cow peas 
and Soy beans require sod or stubble 
grounds? 
Ans. — Neither Soy beans nor cow 
peas require sod ground. They will 
grow on any reasonable soil that is 
drained and in fair condition. The 
cow peas will grow on poorer soil than 
the Soy beans. The Soy beans re¬ 
quire a fair soil in order to give a 
good crop. We have seen covy peas 
making a good growth in very light 
soil with fertilizer added. The Soy 
beans grow upright, while the cow peas 
trail on the ground. The culture is 
much the same as for field beans. 
Egyptian Plowing. —Two years ago 
a good friend took a Winter journey 
up the River Nile, and amused him¬ 
self taking pictures of the native Egyp¬ 
tians. The picture at Fig. 189 (page 
447) shows a plowman 5ust as he 
stopped his team to stand for his pic¬ 
ture. Notice the stone in his plow. 
It is all of wood except the shining 
point . This “plow” simply rips up 
the soil in chunks without turning it 
over. The boy sucking his finger— 
happens to be a girl! Compare this 
crude method of fitting the soil with 
the other picture—showing American 
plowmen at work. Yet the Egyptian 
appears to he satisfied. Discontent 
would come to him through “educa¬ 
tion.” 
1 
r,~- 
r -- 
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