1909. 
68 T 
CHEMICALS AND CLOVER IN WISCONSIN. 
Eliminating the Dairy Cow. 
I have noted with interest the articles printed by 
The R. N.-Y. on page 584. giving the figures of E. S. 
Lovell regarding cost of milk production, and note 
also some of the opinions that are printed on page 
629. The condition which seems to exist in the 
East is analogous to that which exists here except 
with this difference, that the price received for milk 
and creqm is lower, while at the same time the 
price of grain purchased at the feed stores is sub¬ 
stantially the same as in the East. I have been of 
the opinion for some time past that the road to 
wealth by the cow route is a long and hard one. If 
possible I would like very much to make money on 
the farm in some other way than through cows, and 
I write to ask your advice on a different crop rota¬ 
tion than that which is generally practiced in this 
locality. The opinion that seems to exist around 
here is that cows are indispensable to the proper 
maintenance of the fertility of the soil, and that is, 
I believe, one reason, as much as any, that cow$ 
are kept so extensively. I do not be¬ 
lieve there is one farmer out of a hun¬ 
dred through this section who is mak¬ 
ing money on cows, and what few there 
are, are generally those who are retail¬ 
ing their milk in town or disposing of 
it through other sources than the 
creamery or evaporator. 
Our feeding season here is about 
eight months long, which only allows a 
short period through the Summer for 
pasturage, and that is the only time the 
cows bring in any profit. 1 should like 
to ask your advice as to a two-year crop 
rotation. The usual rotation as prac¬ 
ticed around here is a three and four- 
year crop rotation; that is, a clover 
sod plowed under generally, but not al¬ 
ways manured, and the land put into 
potatoes or corn and the next year put 
into oats or barley and seeded to 
clover; the third year cut for hay, and 
the fourth year either left for i asturc 
>r where there is other pasture avail¬ 
able it is plowed and again put into 
some hoed crops, preferably potatoes, 
as this is a great potato section. Would 
it be feasible simply to divide the till¬ 
able land into two lots instead of 
three or four, and the year that the 
clover would be taken for hay instead 
of that to wait until it was high 
enough, say between the middle and 
20th of May, when it generally has a 
good growth of top, and then plow 
under this green clover and possibly 
-supplement it with some commercial 
fertilizer and put it into potatoes or 
corn, and then the following year put 
it into grain again and seed it down, 
and so on? In that way one could do 
without the necessity of keeping stock, 
as well as a large expenditure of 
money for buildings to accommodate 
them, provided that this green manur¬ 
ing would work with potatoes. I can¬ 
not see any profit in cows with the 
conditions we have around here and 
the prices paid for butter fat and milk. 
Grain has gone away out of sight, and 
gives promise of continuing so. The 
income derived from stock does not 
'.-eem to be commensurate with the 
mount of labor and cost of up-keep of 
same. If I continue to keep stock it will be only a 
question of a few years before I will have to build 
a new barn, which means an outlay of three thous¬ 
and dollars or more, whereas if I could side-step 
this stock issue I could get along very easily with 
the buildings I now have. 
I note that the Hope Farm man says on page 595 
that he seeded Crimson clover and turnips in his 
"Hi last year early in August, and that on May 22 
he measured off a plot a yard square and dug up 
he clover and shook the dirt off from the roots 
well, and measured the tops and roots from this 
-quare yard, and obtained seven pounds and five 
■unces, which he estimates would at least give him 
4 tons of tops and roots to the acre, and by analysis 
t is equal ton for ton to manure of fair quality. 
\ T ow what is the reason that could not work in 
his country? To be sure Crimson clover does not 
1° well here, but we have the Medium and the Mam- 
noth, which make a good root growth and a heavy 
op the year after it has been seeded, and I have 
'ever had any trouble in ordinary seasons in getting 
THE KU-KA.L NEVV-VORKER 
a good stand of clover. In case this plan is feasible 
and we followed it out, how much fertilizer in your 
opinion would you consider necessary for the potato 
crop? Would it be necessary to use commercial 
fertilizer on the grain? e. h. s. 
Waupaca, Wis. 
R. N.-Y.—In the Eastern States we feel satisfied 
that a good many farmers keep cows because they 
think the manure is needed to keep up the soil. Ex¬ 
cept for a fair valuation put on the manure most of 
these cows are kept at a loss. There are many 
rough farms where the land will give greater profit 
in pasture than in anything else, but on many others 
there would be more money in selling hay, grain and 
potatoes, and using chemicals as plant food. 
This would also give dairymen a better chance by 
reducing the supply of milk. There can be no ques¬ 
tion about the possibility of keeping up the fertility 
of land by means of chemicals and green crops. 
Thousands of farmers are doing that very thing. 
Mr. D. C. Lewis of Middlesex Co., N. J., has fol¬ 
lowed the method of “chemicals and clover - ’ for over 
phosphate and fine bone. The Crimson clover will 
not be sure in Wisconsin but Dwarf Essex rape, 
turnips, Medium clover and rye will give large 
crups to be plowed under. In some cases these 
crops arc seeded in the corn and their pastured off 
by sheep in late Fall. The stubble, plowed under in 
Spring makes a good place for potatoes. The prin¬ 
ciple of the plan suggested by E. H. S. is sound. The 
details must be worked out in the locality. 
14 RILLED OATS ON AN ALABAMA FARM. Fig. 395. 
GRAFTING ON ALFALFA. 
I am sure the following will hit The R. N.-Y., for 
it hits your three hobbies—prohibition. Alfalfa and 
strawberries, all at one shot. There is a new use for 
water, a new use for Alfalfa and a new use for 
strawberries. Water is a great thing. I have al¬ 
ways believed in water since I was old enough to 
wash my own face. Before that water was my 
chief enemy. I am trying best to prove my faith in 
water by breeding water into my milk, for I have 
two registered Holstein bulls. But this item raises 
a doubt in my mind as to whether or not I am work¬ 
ing it the best way. I might graft my 
cows on Alfalfa, and I am trying to 
do that, but if I grafted them on my 
pump I could get five times as much 
without irrigation. I should not be sur¬ 
prised if the Colonel dug down on 
those Alfalfa roots next Winter he 
might find the juice had turned to 
strawberry ice cream. a. f. k. 
R- N.-Y.— This letter refers to the 
following statement taken from the 
Scientific American under a column 
headed “Science.” 
Col. Frank Touvelle, a rancher living; 
near Medford, Ore., is said to have pro¬ 
duced a deep-rooted vine which brings forth 
three crops of berries in a season, which 
result has been obtained by grafting Al- 
falfa roots on the roots of the strawberry 
vine. Alfalfa roots deeply and produces 
three to five crops a year without irrigation. 
It occurred to him that strawberries might 
do the same if the vine could be made to 
extend down far enough, so as to receive 
moisture from the soil throughout the sea¬ 
son. 
We wish to say right off as a mat¬ 
ter of justice that Luther Burbank had 
nothing to do with this grafting. He 
has denied it in language headed to¬ 
ward “strong words.” Now, if Col. 
Touvelle will cross this berry witth the 
milkweed and sugar beet we may have 
strawberries and cream with sugar from 
the plant! Some of our crow-bar hole 
peach trees act as if they were rooted 
on Alfalfa. Any cow will enjoy a 
quiet “graft” with a good bunch of 
Alfalfa before her, but as for grafting 
her to the pump handle, there is too 
much risk of a good sized fine. Yet 
the man who does that is a good citizen 
beside the fellow who robs the public 
by selling them some worthless plant at 
a high figure when he knows it is 
untested! Usually he does not want it 
tested until he has sold what he can. 
A GREAT FRTF.XD OF THE FAMILY. Fig. 396. 
thirty years. During thirty-four years he sold from 
his 100-acre farm $88,343.72 worth of produce— 
largely potatoes, wheat, corn and hay. Only enough 
stock is kept to eat up the cornstalks and what is 
needed to go with them. Such experience demon¬ 
strates the principle of farming with clover and 
chemicals. We could not agree to lay down any 
definite rotation, for that must be worked out to suit 
local conditions. Rye and rye straw will be likely 
to bring good prices in the future, and rye can be 
seeded late in the season after potatoes arc dug. The 
plan of a three-year rotation is feasible. We have 
a reader in New York who lets the clover stand a 
year extra and pastures sheep, growing wheat and 
potatoes in addition to the clover. As for fertilizers, 
with good clover crops, potash and phosphoric acid 
would be mainly needed. It is doubtful if any or¬ 
ganic nitrogen need be used, but small quantities of 
nitrate would help. Grain of all kinds will be high, 
and the time has come when on many farms it will 
pay better to sell grain than to feed it to stock. For 
phosphoric acid we should use a combination of acid 
OUR BROTHER THE OX. 
I send you a picture from our farm; 
the ox will be three years old next 
November 25th. He is of the St. Lam¬ 
bert strain of Jerseys; the boy and girl 
are eight and six respectively. They 
can go to the field and get him and gear 
him up and work or ride him as they like. We make 
him do the work of one horse. He is nice for plow¬ 
ing cabbage and tomatoes, etc.; he does not tramp 
down so much at the ends as a horse does. 
West Virginia. d. m. jones. 
0 
R. N.-Y.—We have often shuddered at some of 
the pictures showing children handling a bull. We 
would not have it, for a bull is always dangerous 
and should never be fooled with. This ox, however, 
seems like a different proposition. We have records 
of several cases where oxen are worked singly on 
cultivators. They seem to be successful at the job. 
Do not bo afraid of “getting loft” when left is right. 
Thus far there have been few if any rats in the grain 
districts of western Canada. Now great armies of rats 
are on their way from this country—working north. 
It is now stated that the old-fashioned “cure" for 
snake bite of filling up on whisky is a “fake remedy.” 
The whisky does not act to overcome the effects of the 
venom. Bind a ligature tightly around the body between 
the bite and the heart, suck out the wound and bathe 
it with permanganate of potash. 
