<THK jxukal NEW-VORKKR 
July 24. 
OATS IN SOUTHERN ALABAMA. 
The picture given at Fig. 395 shows an oat har¬ 
vest in Baldwin Co.. Ala. This crop was grown on 
very poor soil, and made a good yield. We print 
the picture to show how such oats are grown in 
the Gulf States. Instead of broadcasting the grain 
nr drilling close together the oats are put in drills 
or furrows very much as we plant fodder corn in 
the North. Bv comparing the width of these drills 
with the size of the men you will see how far 
apart they are put. Sometimes these furrows are 
tunneled out with a small plow, and the oats scat¬ 
tered thickly along. There is time enough in the 
long southern season to grow cow peas, Crimson 
clover or other crops following the oats. 
GOOD SENSE ABOUT FARMERS’ INSTITUTES 
On page 644 1 notice you ask for opinions on 
farmers’ institute work, i do not think that there 
ii; any question that they are doing a great deal of 
good. In my opinion one thing that should be 
guarded against is the sending out of young men who 
have not had practical experience in the work that 
they are talking about. At an institute that I at¬ 
tended last Winter, the effect of a good address was 
entirely lost by the inability of the speaker to an¬ 
swer correctly a comparatively simple question on the 
subject that he had been speaking about. My ob¬ 
servation has been that the men on the back seats get 
more benefit from the discussions and answers to 
questions than they do from the address of some of 
the younger institute workers who have been out of 
college but a year or two, and who are quite apt to 
use too many technical terms. Plain everyday lan¬ 
guage from men who have actually worked at the 
branches of farming they are talking about is what 
COUntS. L. C. WILLIAMS. 
You ask for expressions of opinion on the relations 
of farmers' institutes to the farmers. From my ob¬ 
servation of them held at our Grange they are far 
from being practical. They are talking to kill time 
and for money. When we ask them for more definite 
directions or to be more explicit, they switch off on 
another tack, leaving us where we were in the dark. 
What we want is men who can do things and show 
others how to do them. h. hallenback. 
Columbia Co., N. Y. 
THOSE FINE ASPARAGUS STALKS. 
On page 501 were shown some stalks of asparagus 
grown by C. \V. Prescott. Were these plants grown on 
tile experiment farm which Mr. Prescott told us about 
last year? 
Yes, the two stalks of asparagus were grown on 
the three-acre fertilizer area of the station here, 
and are a part of the experiment looking towards 
eradicating the rust. This field was part of an 
“abandoned" farm and was cleared of birches 16 
to 2Q years old, and was full of “piper" or “witch” 
grass. The soil was sandy loam (good corn land), 
and was quite level, being a little higher in the 
middle of the field. It was plowed the middle of 
May, 1906, nine inches deep: wheel-harrowed eight 
times, lapping one-half each time. Each acre had 
2,000 pounds lime. 1.000 pounds fine ground bone, 
550 pounds muriate of potash, 600 pounds acid phos¬ 
phate and 150 pounds of nitrate of soda. These 
chemicals were applied June 20 to 26. and well har¬ 
rowed in. Two bushels of buckwheat to the acre 
were sown on July 18. and well harrowed with 
smoothing harrow; July 19 rolled whole piece. 
September 19 buckwheat was plowed under 3 Yi feet 
tall and very even and thick. September 29 whole 
piece was wheel-harrowed, and again October 3. 
October 5 sowed rye thickly and next day rolled. 
In 1907 I plowed rye in (five to six inches tall) 
on April 17 to 23; April 25 harrowed well, and on 
April 26 rolled and laid out in 40 plots. April 30 
began to make furrows; went twice in a row, made 
five furrows in each plot, planted one-year-old Ar 
genteuil roots 2 r l> feet apart in the row, rows five 
to the rod. May 10 hoed green rye. which did not 
decay; cultivated and hoed during the Summer when 
necessary. Beetles and slugs were kept down by 
using dry Boxal early in the morning, when the 
dew was on. August 16 there were some stalks 
seven-eighths of an inch in diamenter and five feet 
three inches tali. August 20 I sowed 12 bushels 
of oats on the three acres and cultivated in. Sep¬ 
tember 7 not a weed was to be seen. September 16 
all nice and green; no rust. December 12 oats all 
green and alive; January 12. 1908, oats all green 
and alive. Tops were cut. carried off the field and 
burned; all plots fertilized differently. Bed cut four 
times and produced good grass; well cultivated and 
hoed during the Summer. 
In 1909 tops were heavy and all wheel-harrowed 
in, leaving ground rather rough. We began cutting 
May 7, and continued till June 6. Many stalk- 
weighed four to five ounces; 10 inches long. The 
plot produced over two tons of fine asparagus. \\ e 
stopped cutting June 6; stalks on June 20 were five 
to seven feet tall, and some are 1V> inch in diameter. 
It is growing well and not a slug to be seen. 
C. \V. PRESCOTT. 
SOME STRAWBERRY MATTERS. 
Keep Away From Old Sod. 
r have a piece of old meadow which lias been in sod 
for some years. 1 intend to plow it this Fall, manure 
in Spring and then plant to strawberries. Is this right? 
No. You are likely to have a double trouble on 
hand at once if you plant strawberries on an old sod. 
The weeds and old grass will work in and make cul¬ 
tivation a nuisance. Such old meadows arc usually 
filled with white grubs—the worst insect pest for 
strawberries. The safest place to plant strawberries 
in on soil where crops have been thoroughly culti¬ 
vated for at least one year—two would be better. 
Such cultivation kills out weeds and white grubs. 
We have a piece of sod which we would like to 
put in strawberries next Spring, and expect to take 
the risk after the following preparation. Plow the 
sod at once after haying and sow fodder corn in 
drills. Give the most thorough culture—working 
with horse cultivator at least a dozen times before 
the corn is cut. This will tear up and destroy the 
old sod and kill many of the grubs. In September 
sow rye. Give a good coat of manure in Spring and 
plow all under. Even with this the white grubs may 
work great injury to the plants. 
The White Grub. 
My land is infested with white grabs: they are from 
1 I/, to two inches in length, and alwut as thick as a lead 
pencil, with a black head. They destroy my strawberries 
by cutting off the roots. They are worst in dry weather, 
hut they were ending them off last Spring, and the 
weather was very wet. Would it he possible to dissolve 
some kind of poison in water and pour a small quantity 
around the roots to kill them, or would it kill the plants? 
They also damage potatoes by boring through the tube rs. 
Glen Hope. Pa. o. d. 
We do not know of any way of killing white 
grubs when they are once at work in the soil. Any¬ 
thing that would kill the grub would be like’y to 
hurt the strawberry plant, and it would cost too 
much to put it on. The only sure way is to plant 
on soil where there are no grubs, if you can find it. 
Thorough cultivation during late Summer is the 
surest cure for these grubs, for this will destroy 
thousands of the eggs and young insects. 
Strawberries in Corn. 
Can I set a few acres of strawberries in corn the last 
time I cultivate the corn? The land is very fertile 
new ground that has been cultivated in corn two years, 
and is in very good condition: can apply fertilizer be¬ 
tween the rows and make a good hill to set them. Would 
you advise Fall setting? If so. what month would you 
advise, and shall I get a fair crop the following Spring? 
The land is very rich limestone soil. c. s. w. 
Atkius, Va. 
You cannot grow good strawberries in this way, 
since you cannot give the plants good culture, and 
the corn will give too much shade. The strawberry 
needs sun and air. Some' gardeners plant early 
sweet corn among the Spring-planted berries and give 
good culture. They get the corn off early and leave 
the ground for the berries. We have never suc¬ 
ceeded in growing berries among other crops. Bet¬ 
ter give them a full show. Spring is the best time 
for setting. We plant mostly in Spring, hut at any 
time from the middle of June till October provided 
the soil is moist. These Summer set plants will 
not give you a full crop. 
Oats for a Mulch. 
lias it proved a success to sow oats in a strawberry 
bed after the last working, and let them go down as a 
mulch? If so. how long before they would freeze down 
should they he sowed? lias it been proved that more 
strawberries of as good size can be grown h.v the hill 
system as there can in the matted or hedge row? h. h. 
From our limited experience we do not call this 
mulching with oats a success. While the oats are 
growing we want to cultivate the crop. In a dry 
season the oats are as had as weeds, taking moisture 
from the soil and interfering with growth. There 
are some cases where growers report good results 
from this practice, hut it pays us better to give 
thorough culture through the Fall and then cover 
•with manure or straw. We think most of the grow¬ 
ers who sow oats in this wav have large crops and 
find it hard to obtain mulch. No one seems to have 
proved anything definite about hill or matted row 
culture except that it is a matter of variety. Some 
kinds evidently are better suited to matted rows 
where they can make many runners. We prefer 
hills, as we get more and better berries in that sys¬ 
tem. 
HOW TO HANDLE MANURE. 
I was Viroiight up on a farm to plow green sward, and 
we spread tin manure on the land before it was plowed. 
It seems to me, and I have tested it thoroughly, that 
manure goes down (after plowing in the old-fashioned 
way). We put on the Cutaway and smoothing harrow 
to mix it and get it hack to the top of the ground again. 
Why not plow first, then put on harrow, mixing the sur¬ 
face thoroughly, and get the benefit of all the fertilizer? 
1 have tried this method for the past four years and find 
it not only works better than the old way. but I get 
much better results? fron: the manure. What do other 
people think? 1 have tried ground that has been plowed 
the year before with the same results. m. i,. e. 
Norwich. Conn. 
When we call for a discussion of this we shall 
probably find people coming with exactly opposite 
opinions and proving them by their results. We 
shall have to consider both the character of the 
soil and the condition of the manure. In a heavy, 
compact soil we should plow the manure under. It 
would help open and break up such a soil, and the 
plant food in it would not he likely to leach away. 
This would he best for coarse manure such as F 
usually hauled to the field and spread on the sod. 
In light open soil we would prefer to have the 
manure nearer the surface, as there would he more 
danger from leaching if it were plowed under. The 
most economical plan on many farms is to haul the 
manure at frequent intervals and spread it on the 
sod. Then this sod is plowed and the manure put 
under with it. Of course in such practice it would 
not be possible to plow first, then spread the man¬ 
ure and harrow it in. The condition of the man¬ 
ure also counts. When manure has been fermented 
it comes out of the pile fine and open so it can he 
spread almost like fertilizer. It would he a mis¬ 
take to plow this fine manure under, for it is much 
better harrowed into the upper soil. Coarse chunks 
of manure spread on the surface cannot be harrowed 
in like fine manure, and on most soils we should 
prefer to plow them under. 
THE MILK BUSINESS. 
The trouble with the milk business comes in when we 
have to juit down $.'50 per ton for mill feed, and some 
people seem to he looking for just such trouble. The 
dairymen have become too careless about their meadows, 
and are depending loo much on the feed store. They 
have simply got to stop this or go out of business. Milk 
is not going up, and feed is nol going down. 
That is what we get from a man who is making 
money from cows. “That awful grain bill” has hurt 
us both ways. It drives the cost of milk out of all 
reason and gets men in the "feed stoic habit," so 
that they let their meadow go to the dogs—or wood¬ 
chucks. Clover, oats and peas or Alfalfa would 
cut that feed hill down, as anyone can see who will 
take a trip through the dairy regions near Syracuse. 
N. Y. Part of the money spent for feed might well 
go to buy lime which will give us better clover and 
a better chance at Alfalfa. We must include the 
robber cow and the feed bill among the other middle¬ 
men who take most of the price of milk. 
PARCELS POST NEEDED. 
The express companies not only prevent us from 
having a fair parcels post, but spoil many a chance 
to develop a good retail trade. A farmer some 3fi 
miles from New York started to ship goods direct 
from the farm to city people, lie obtained the cus¬ 
tomers and started in. Early on the morning of July 
1 he sent a shipment by express. It was not deliv¬ 
ered until past noon on the next day. The customer's 
report follows: 
My servant took the package and signed the hook before 
I saw it. Every egg except 40 was broken. I telephoned 
and had the hall hoy call the expressman hack. lb' 
would not take the package, as my girl had signed the 
hook. I just write you this to tell you how very badly 
the express company has acted. 1 will pay for the eggs. 
Do not ship anything more, for I cannot have this con¬ 
stant worry with the express company. 
A short time before a shipment of broilers had 
been made to this same customer. They were 
so long on the road that they were spoiled when re¬ 
ceived and of course refused! We have had very 
much the same experience with fruit. Customers 
will not stand the annoyance caused by the defective 
express service and thus they give up trying to buy 
goods direct from the farm, and go back to the 
dealers—paying large prices for what they can get 
In England and Europe such goods are promptly 
carried by mail at low rates and with careful serv¬ 
ice. It is humiliating to admit that here in a Repub¬ 
lic. we are unable to obtain public rights which are 
granted in the Old World monarchies. 
Tt appears tn rain at times in Florida. “We have been 
having n rain for the past t'-nv days that beats the 
record. I had an ordinary galvanized iron tub standing 
In yard and it was filled to the brim in three hours. The 
rain came down in regular cloudbursts, and with it a 
driving wind that blew it everywhere.” 
