6ot5 
July 10, 
FARMERS’ CLUB 
[Every query must be accompanied by the name 
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fore asking a question, please see whether it is not 
answered in our advertising columns. Ask only 
a few questions at one time. Put questions on a 
separate piece of paper.! 
COVER CROP FOR CAROLINA VINEYARD 
.1. /■’. A., Rock Branch, A\ C .—Will you 
ask Professor Massey what cover crop lie 
can recommend for a grape vineyard on 
our sand hills? How would oats or rye 
and Crimson clover do? I am using much 
chemical manure, but need humus, and 
cannot afford to leave the ground bare to 
wash and bleach all Winter. We get some 
humus and nitrogen in the Summer from 
stock peas, but all over this country the 
soil is bare all Winter, and we are poor 
in humus, and in fact in all plant foods. 
I think our writers and stations make a 
mistake when they advocate peas to im¬ 
prove land, that they don’t make it plain 
lhat potash and phosphoric acid must he 
used, as they draw very heavily on these 
chemicals. Our farmers say that their 
crops of peas are all our land will pro¬ 
duce; this shows exhaustion of minerals. 
A ns. —You are right in assuming 
that the sand hill country of North 
Carolina is deficient in all kinds of plant 
food, and that is the very reason why 
we located there a branch of the North 
Carolina Experiment Station years ago 
Sor the study of the effects of fertil¬ 
izers. You are right also in believing 
that the greatest lack is humus. When 
Ihe sand hills are first cleared of the 
Long-leaf pines it is found that the soil 
is intensely sour, and lime acts finely, 
but the forest fires have so continually 
burnt out the. humus that the trees 
Avould have made, that the first thing is 
to get organic matter in the soil. Mr. 
Tufts, at Pinehurst, has done this by a 
liberal expenditure for feed for cows in 
order to get the manure for the land, 
till now on that barren sand lie has a 
farm that rivals the best in production 
of feed for cattle. The average man 
has not the means usually to do this as 
Mr. Tufts did, and Mr. Tufts has re¬ 
lied too much on his manure and has 
not kept up as much Winter cover as 
he should. It is true that cow peas 
will abide an acid condition in the soil 
better than other legumes, but after 
cow peas, sown on the sand hills with¬ 
out any fertilizer and left on the land, 
one sees very little humus-making ma¬ 
terial in Winter, and the sand will blow 
badly. What is needed is a living crop 
on the land to save the nitrates that 
will he formed from the nitrification of 
the organic matter even in Winter in 
that mil.d climate. Any green growth 
will do this, but a legume growth is 
better of course. T am satisfied that 
in the first start in the improvement 
of that land through the use of cow 
peas a little readily available nitrogen 
will he of advantage in getting a heavier 
growth of organic matter. Not that the 
peas will fix as much of the aerial ni¬ 
trogen as they would with only the acid 
phosphate and potash, as they will take 
the nitrogen at hand. Still the growth 
is so largely increased that I would at 
first use some nitrogen. Mr. Tufts 
showed me a spot in his field of peas 
where a little nitrate of soda had been 
applied, and it seemed that there would 
he double the growth on that spot. But, 
as you suggest, phosphoric acid and 
potash are what the legumes mainly 
need, and usually these are all that I 
Avould use. But the conditions on the 
sand hills are peculiar, and a little 
nitrate at first will certainly increase 
the amount of organic matter or 
humus-making material. Then to fol¬ 
low the peas there is nothing so good 
in my experience as Crimson clover. 
But to get a good Winter cover of this 
the seed must be sown early enough to 
make a good Fall growth, and at times 
there is danger that the sun will de¬ 
stroy the young plants. In a vineyard, 
1 found at Southern Pines that it was 
best to plant the cow peas in two rows 
between the vines after the growth is 
fairly complete, and not to sow them 
broadcast. Having used phosphoric 
THE HU HAL 
acid and potash liberally on the land 
with nitrogen for the vines in Spring, 
I would add some phosphate and pot¬ 
ash alone for the peas, and would sow 
the Crimson clover among the peas as 
the leaves begin to fall, previously go¬ 
ing through the rows with a small 14- 
tooth cultivator to freshen the soil. 
Sow 15 pounds of seed per acre. Half 
a bushel of rye sown at same time will 
help shade the young plants and pre¬ 
vent their being scalded out after a 
shower. The sowing should be done in 
early September, before the intensely 
dry weather you are apt to have in 
September after the rainy season is 
over. If you get a stand from this sow¬ 
ing, all right, but if not, you can repeat 
the sowing at any time up to Novem¬ 
ber, for the best stand I ever had in 
North Carolina was made November 1, 
after an intense drought in September 
and October had prevented a stand. In 
Spring, in February, give the clover a 
dressing of basic slag, which you can 
get in Wilmington, N. C. This has 
about 40 per cent of lime in it, and will 
be a valuable dressing both for the 
clover and the vines. w. f. massey. 
DODDER IN CLOVER. 
We and our neighbors got a wonder¬ 
ful weed either through clover seed or 
Alsike. Last year a few had it a little, 
hut this year whole fields are ruined. I 
mowed to-day; it is so thick that it 
killed the clover in spots. It is in some 
places 12 inches thick on the ground and 
as thick as the hair on my dog, and I 
do not believe that it would dry in a 
week. Nobody knows what it is, and 
how we got it. Would you tell us what 
it is and whether we got it through 
clover or Alsike? Many blame Alsike. 
We farm a four-year rotation; sod for 
corn, after corn tobacco, then Avlieat 
and grass. Can you tell us how it is 
after this? Does the weed remain in 
the ground, or can we get rid of it until 
it comes in grass again? I send you a 
bunch along. h. r. b. 
New Holland, Pa. 
R. N.-Y.—This letter contained about 
the worst specimen of dodder that we 
ever saw. This is a parasite which 
grows on and around the clover plants 
and chokes them to death. Most of the 
dodder comes in clover >seed. In Con¬ 
necticut last year out of 51 samples of 
clover seed tested 45 contained more or 
less dodder. In one case there were 
1899 dodder seeds in a pound of clover! 
Plowing and thorough culture of one 
or two hoed crops will kill out the 
dodder, as it cannot live unless it can 
grow on clover or similar plants. In 
some places where the clover is to be 
cut two or more years efforts are made 
to kill the dodder by cutting the patches 
where it grows, pouring kerosene on the 
dried plants and burning. 
Business Jerseys. —The picture at Fig. 
386 shows some young stock in the 
Jersey herd of Fanny Morris Smith of 
Litchfield Co., Conn. You will remem¬ 
ber her recent article on the exhibition 
of grade dairy cows at fairs. This is 
the sort of cattle, that can not only win 
prizes as purebred stock if required, but 
also improve a herd of dairy cattle. "I he 
blood from such animals will give a 
farmer cows that will give more and 
better milk. No one will claim that 
“pure blood” will enable a cow to make 
milk out of air and water, but a well- 
bred animal can give a better account 
of the food she consumes. The picture 
shows a New England stone wall—a 
strange sight to many of our western 
readers who rarely see a rock or stone. 
They grow sturdy crops of men and 
cattle among the stones. 
Visitor: “You haven’t got half as 
nice a cemetery here as we have in Elm- 
ville.” Prominent Citizen (of Haw- 
villc) : “No; I’ve always heard that the 
cemetery is the only part of your town 
that holds out any inducements for per¬ 
manent residents."—Credit Lost. 
NEW-YOH KEH 
“ Old-Fashioned Iron Nails.” 
C. IF. IF., Grand Rapid*, Mich .—There 
are old roofs in this section 50 years old; 
the shingles have worn or rotted away and 
the nails have stood exposed for the last 
20 years; those nails are good yet. There 
are shingle roofs here that were put on 
with steel cut nails and wire nails not 
over eight years ago. and in many places 
patches of shingles are sliding off on ac¬ 
count of the nails being all rusted off. 
Ans. —We find a lively demand for 
the “old-fashioned iron-cut shingle 
nail.” There is no doubt about the last¬ 
ing quality of these nails. Examine 
any old building that has stood for 40 
years and compare the nails left in it 
with the steel nails used within 10 
years. It was this awful waste of mod¬ 
ern steel nails and wire that started the 
investigation at the Agricultural De¬ 
partment. Before long we shall have 
our choice of good or had—that is more 
than we have had in the past. 
Cow Peas Before Wheat. 
I. C. B., Brooklyn, A*. 1'.—In a recent 
issue I note tlie advice to plant cow peas 
nr Invarf Essex rape and Cow-horn turnips 
in corn at the last cultivation, to he fol¬ 
lowed by wheat in the Fall. AA*ill either 
of these make a satisfactory growth in 
time to turn under for wheat in northern 
Maryland, eastern shore (Kent County)? 
Will the turning under of a green crop 
make a satisfactory seed bed for wheat? 
Our land is a clayey loam, clay sul>soil, 
and needs organic matter, hut I wondered 
whether it is advisable to turn under a 
green crop before wheat. 
Ans. —Peas alone, sown as soon as 
early July, will make a fine growth in 
Kent County, and will make a fine 
preparation for wheat. But do not turn 
them under, for plowing at that late 
date will prevent you getting the land 
into the properly compacted condition 
that wheat requires. Plow well and 
deeply for the peas and put the land 
in good order, and drill the peas at 
rate of a bushel to a bushel and a half, 
and as soon as the pods show signs of 
maturing, mow the crop for hay and 
cure as you would clover hay, and you 
will have as fine cow feed as can be had. 
Then disk the surface till very fine for 
the wheat, but do not replow deeply, 
for the July plowing of the land for 
the peas will be all that is needed. 
Never turn under a green crop in this 
climate in hot weather for a sown crop, 
for the danger is that you will sour the 
soil. Then, too, it is not good farm 
economy to bury as manure direct a 
crop that can be profitably fed first and 
the feeding value secured, for you can 
save by far the greater part of the man- 
urial value of the crop in the droppings 
to return to the land. A green crop 
like Crimson clover may he turned under 
in Spring for a hoed crop, but even that 
would better be cured and fed. Soav 
Whippoorwill peas. w. f. massey. 
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„ A selected list of the newer kinds 
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older sorts, are fully described in 
DREER’S 
Mid-Summer 
Catalogue 
Also the best varieties of Celery, Cabbage 
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A most complete list of the Best Hardy 
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HENRY A. DREER PHILADELPHIA 
Peach 
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109 & 111 Warren Street, New York. 
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C HOICK CLOVER AND GRASS SEEDS sold 
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CAI C—Crimson Clover Seed, $5.00 bushel 
Cow Peas, $1.75 to $2.00 bushel 
Cow-llorn Turnip Seed. 40c. pound. 
J. E. HOI,LAND, Milford, Dela. 
QNE 
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