THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
f)35 
1000. 
SEEDING GRASS IN A PEACH ORCHARD. 
D. C.j Armada, Mich .—Is it practical to 
seed a peach orchard down that is just 
coming into bearing, except some trees that 
are being set this year to fill vacancies? 
I am told west of us on some hills they 
seed their orchards down after a few years 
and let the grass go back on the ground. 
We have a great quantity of horse manure, 
and are thinking of putting that on occa¬ 
sionally instead of the grass that we shall 
take off. Would not the grass if left un¬ 
cut dry out the ground? Does it pay to 
draw leached ashes from an asbery and 
pay 25 cents per load to put around peach 
trees? Would it pay better to get un¬ 
leached ashes at five cents per bushel? The 
latter way would be more work .as they 
would have to be bought and gathered in 
small quantities. 
Ans.— It is practical but not always 
as profitable as to cultivate. We have 
followed this plan in some of our or¬ 
chards. Our experience shows that it 
pays to cultivate peach trees at least 
until they are in bearing. We have 
one orchard that was planted in sod 
which has not been plowed at all. The 
grass has been cut—part of it piled 
around the trees and the rest hauled 
out as hay. Manure and forest soil 
have been hauled in to take the place 
of this hay. While these trees have 
made a fair growth and are now cov¬ 
ered with buds, they are not as large 
as trees of equal age which have been 
thoroughly tilled. We should give 
some sort of culture until the trees 
are ready to hear. After that it is 
possible to keep the trees in good 
thrifty condition without plowing and 
cultivating. By that we mean a fair 
growth of new wood each year and a 
reasonable crop of good peaches. We 
are not prepared to say it is the best 
way, because that depends much on 
the soil and conditions. A natural 
grass land is best for this so-called 
mulch culture. It is well adapted to 
steep hillsides where the wash from 
rains gullies the soil. The greatest 
drawback we have found to this plan 
is the danger from fire in the or¬ 
chard. Once started in the dry mulch 
it is almost impossible to stop it. 
Ilorse manure alone would not be the 
best substitute for grass. It contains 
too much nitrogen, and if used alone 
will put too much wood on your peach 
trees. Potash and phosphoric acid 
should be used with it. In leaching a 
part of the potash is taken from the 
ashes and considerable water added. 
A ton of averaged leached ashes will 
contain but little more than 20 pounds 
of potash, 30 of phosphoric acid and 
over 400 of lime. You would not think 
of using less than 150 pounds of mu¬ 
riate of potash per acre and this 
would mean 75 pounds of potash. To 
obtain an equal amount in leached 
ashes you should use at least four 
tons. At five cents a bushel a ton 
of unleached ashes would cost about 
$2.50 per ton. You would have 100 
pounds of potash in this ton—which 
would make it cost more in cash but 
less in labor_ 
SOMETHING ABOUT SOY BEANS. 
Many questions have been asked about the 
value of the Soy hean as compared with 
cow peas as a forage crop. The Tennessee 
Experiment Station at Knoxville, Tonn., 
lias conducted many experiments with the 
Soy hean. Prom their bulletin we learn 
that the Soy bean produces more grain 
than the cow pea, whether it is pastured off 
by hogs or whether the grain is thrashed 
and ground. As a bay or grain crop the 
Soy bean matures earlier than the cow 
pea by several weeks, and would therefore 
appear to be a safer crop to grow in the 
North. Another advantage of the Soy bean 
is that it grows with a straight, upright 
habit, and can be seeded in drills so as 
to give thorough cultivation the same as 
fodder corn. Clover and turnips might he 
seeded in the Soy beans at the last culti¬ 
vation. We are planning this year to use 
s °y beans as a crop in young orchards, 
giving thorough cultivation and then seed¬ 
ing down to the cover crop as we have 
formerly done with corn. On the other 
hand, it is easier to obtain a stand of 
cow peas, especially in the South, than of 
Soy beans. The cow peas are hardier: 
they will break their way through a soil 
crust easier than the bean. Germination 
of cow pea seed is surer than that of 
Soy beans, which makes them better suited 
for broadcasting. It is also said that in 
the South the rabbits will bite down the 
young Soy bean plants, while they don't 
seriously trouble the cow peas. This argu¬ 
ment. however, might be taken to mean 
that the Soy beans are, on the whole, a 
more palatable fodder than the cow peas 
are. When planted with corn the cow 
peas are better because they climb to some 
extent up on the cornstalks, while the 
Soy beans are not climbers'at all. It is also 
Said that cow pea hay is more easily cured 
by common methods than the vines of the 
bean, also a small second crop will grow 
if the cow peavines are cut for hay early 
in the season, while there is no particular 
growth of this kind from the Soy beans. 
On the other hand, the Soy beans are 
hardier than the cow peas; they will even 
stand a light frost, which would kill the 
PORTABLE FRAME FOR DRYING. Fig. 230 
cow peas. They will germinate and grow 
in (ooler weather than the cow peas can 
endure. In Tennessee, when the earlv Sov 
beans are planted in April, they mature 
their seed six weeks ahead of the Whip¬ 
poorwill cow pea, which is a popular va¬ 
riety. The seed of the Soy bean is not 
attacked by weevils and similar insects to 
those which injure the cow-pea seed. On 
the other hand, as it contains so much fat. 
the Soy bean seed is more liable to heat 
and spoil. The seed decays slowly when 
left in the ground, and cases are recorded 
in Tennessee whore seed plowed under in 
the Fall actually germinated in Spring. 
It is easier to cut the Sov bean with a 
mower because of- its upright growth, and 
because of tiie fact that they ripen nearly 
all together. As grain producers Soy bean’s 
largely excel the cow peas. Some‘of the 
better varieties yield over 30 bushels of 
grain to the acre in addition to the vines 
or straw. The grain or beans arc very 
high in analysis, as the following com¬ 
parison will show : 
Average of seven varieties of Soy beans: 
Protein, 35.40; fat, 20.35; carbohydrates, 
20.10. Average of nine varieties of cow 
peas : Protein, 25.28; fat, 1.75 carbohy¬ 
drates, 36.8. Soy bean straw : Protein, 
8.25; fat. 3.OS ; carbohydrates, 30.02. Cow- 
pea straw: Protein, 0.80; fat, 1.25; carbo¬ 
hydrates, 33.57. Corn stover: Protein, 4.50; 
fat, 1.53; carbohydrates, 40.lt;. These fig¬ 
ures will show the superiority of the So.v 
bean plant both for the straw and hay, 
also for the beans, the latter being very 
high in both protein and oil. The high 
value of these beans as oil producers is 
well known. In parts of China and Japan 
the beans are being used for the production 
of oil, somewhat like linseed. The dry 
scraps after pressing are used for cattle 
food. 
While these results were obtained in the 
• South, where it is probable the Soy bean 
plant will give better average results than 
in the North, it is also true that the plant 
is well adapted to many northern farms, 
and we think that along with Alfalfa it 
will pay our northern farmers and dairy¬ 
men to experiment with this crop. The 
best variety, that is, the surest one. ap¬ 
pears to be Medium Green. The directions 
are to prepare the soil well as one would 
for a corn crop. Planting can begin at 
about corn-planting time and continue 
tl rough June under ordinary conditions. 
POLE FRAME FOR HAYMAKING. Fig. 231. 
Shallow planting of the seed has given 
better results than deep; one to four inches 
being better than deeper. One-half a bushel 
of seed is recommended as a fair amount 
for planting in rows, and 1 \<> bushel for 
broadcast drilling. When planted in rows, 
as we think will he most satisfactory in 
the North, one deep cultivation is given, 
the same as for corn, and afterwards shal¬ 
low culture and plenty of it. Harvesting 
the crop is comparatively easy. It can 
be easily cut with a mower. ‘ It is well 
to cut early while the vines are very 
green, so as to avoid shattering the leaves 
and the beans from their pods Trials 
have been made of cutting the Soy bean 
vines with both corn and wheat harvesters, 
but this has not proved satisfactory The 
vines are hard to cut in the ordinary 
way. In the South and especially during 
wet seasons if has been neeessarv to use one 
of the frames shown in Pigs. 230 and °31 
These hollow frames of poles or hoards are"set 
up as shown and tb e Soy bean vines piled 
around them. This permits a circulation 
Of air under and through the pile and 
helps greatly in drying out the vines. 
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The American Sea Green Slate Co., 
BOX 10, 
GRANVILLE, N. Y. 
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