1909. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
736 
FARMING OLD LAND IN KENTUCKY. 
I have in my possession about 400 acres of old rolling 
land, so-called worn-out laud. The land has been prac¬ 
tically "lying out" for the last 10 years, only small patches 
having been cultivated, and that in corn with the use of 
no fertilizer or manures and by the crudest of methods. 
Last year I cleaned up 40 acres of that which lay the 
best and had the fewest gullies washed in it: plowed 
down the gullies and put a little stable manure on these 
places. T turned under a tolerably good Japanese clover 
sod, and cultivated in corn. I then began reading Tim 
It. N.-Y. and am interested In your plan of sowing Crimson 
clover and turnips iu the corn. I cleaned up 40 acres 
more this Spring for corn, and am just sowing the last, 
of my last year’s corn land in Whippoorwill peas to cut 
and follow with wheat, and would like to sow Crimson 
dover and turnips in this year's corn. My land shows a 
slight acid reaction by the litmus paper test, yet grows 
Japanese clover luxuriantly. Would it be necessary to 
lime the 40 acres now in corn to grow Crimson clover? 
Would my land now in peas require a commercial fer¬ 
tilizer containing large quantities of nitrates, or would 
phosphoric acid alone be sufficient; that is, ground rock 
phosphate treated with sulphuric acid? I have learned 
from our State agricultural bulletins that most of our 
clay lands contain sufficient potash for an ordinary crop 
unless they have been heavily cropped with tobacco. My 
land is common yellow clay with a hardpan base about 
two to four feet from the surface: it is not the rich red 
limestone clay we have in some parts of the State, that 
is very rich. My land has not been cropped in to¬ 
bacco in over 15 years. How would you put in the wheat 
after the peas, sow how much wheat, use how much 
fertilizer of what kind? The land is tolerably thin, is 
possibly lacking somewhat in humus, and made only an 
average of 25 bushels of corn last year per acre. I'lease 
recommend some brand of fertilizer, or some reliable com¬ 
pany near me, as T have never bought any fertilizer, and 
no one near mo uses it. I am three miles from Smith- 
land, which is located on the Ohio River at the mouth 
of the Cumberland, and is 12 miles above Paducah. If 
my land must have lime to grow Crimson clover, is it too 
late to apply ground limestone at $2 per ton? >r. d. 
Livingston Co., K.v. 
\\ hat your land needs is evidently good, deep plow¬ 
ing or subsoiling. It is not always well to plow loose 
soil into the gullies to be washed out 
again. I have found that the best way 
to cure gullies is to plow the land well 
and run a subsoiler after the breaking 
plow, so as to make a deep, loose bed 
for the water to sink into, and leave 
a hard rim next the gully to keep the 
water out. Then make dams at inter¬ 
vals in the gully by driving stakes 
across and packing sods above so that 
the silt will collect and gradually fill 
the gully. If straw is plentiful it is a 
good plan to cover the gullies and galled 
places with straw left to decay there. 
Then you should plan, as you get the 
land cleared up by degrees, to estab¬ 
lish a regular rotation of crops over 
the whole area. Land of that character 
that will make only 25 bushels of corn 
per acre is evidently lacking in humus 
and plant food, too. Rut just what it 
lacks no one can find out but the man 
who cultivates it, and he can find out by 
experimenting with the various carriers of plant food 
alone and in combination, applying to one plot only 
phosphoric acid, to another only potash, to another 
potash and phosphoric acid combined, then nitrogen 
and phosphoric acid, nitrogen and potash, and then all 
three iu proper proportion. Your land may have a 
large store of potash, but generally in clay soils it is in 
a very insoluble condition, and it was found by the 
Indiana Station that on clay soils in the southern part 
of the State, which were rich in insoluble potash, it 
paid to use some potpsh salts. But you may be assured 
that the main deficiency in your soil is phosphorus 
and nitrogen. The nitrogen you can get by a proper 
rotation of crops, in which the legumes come in 
frequently in the shape of peas and clover, but the 
land was called worn out, I believe, mainly because 
the crops grown and the animals raised have taken 
the phosphoric acid from the soil. In sowing the 
peas I would have applied to part of the land at 
least 300 pounds of dissolved rock phosphate and 25 
pounds of muriate of potash, and on the remainder 
only the acid phosphate, and in this way you could 
have formed some notion as to the value of potash 
on the land. The peas can get all the nitrogen they 
need from the air, and will accumulate it in the soil 
through the decay of their roots and the applica¬ 
tion of the manure made from feeding the hay. 
I he 1 ennessee phosphate rock pulverized and sold 
as floats” can be used profitably by mixing it with 
stable manure at rate of 100 pounds to each ton of 
manure, but this pulverized rock will be very slow 
in giving result's if applied to soil deficient in humus. 
I he main thing in the improvement of any old land 
is to make a rotation of crops thcit will tend to re¬ 
store the humus that has been wasted from the soil 
tn the past, to bring back the conditions that pre¬ 
vailed in it when it was newly cleared from the 
forest, for it was the abundance of this vegetable 
decay that made it productive when new, and it 
was the failure to maintain this new ground con- 
d'tion through rotative cropping that made it poor. 
Commercial or chemical fertilizers are useful if 
properly used to increase the production of the legume 
crops, but a dependence on anyone’s “brand” to get 
crops for sale from the land will inevitably lead to 
poverty of soil and farmer, too. I would never use 
any company’s brand of complete fertilizer, but 
would buy only such as I need, and if any mix¬ 
ture is to be made I would mix it myself. 
For the past 40 years I have been trying to con¬ 
vince the grain farmers and the cotton farmers that 
no Southern farmer who farms right and grows 
plenty of peas and clover and feeds them to his stock, 
saving the manure carefully and returning it to the 
fields in succession, ever needs to buy an ounce of 
nitrogen in any form. Many of the most success¬ 
ful wheat growers in this State have adopted this 
idea, and have used no nitrogen in a chemical fer¬ 
tilizer for more than 20 years, while their crops 
have regularly increased. If the land has been 
properly plowed for your Whippoorwill peas, I 
would mow them as soon as the pods approach 
maturity and make them into hay, curing this 
mainly in cocks and in the barn. I would not 
replow the land for wheat, but would simply disk 
the surface shallowly, going over it as often as neces¬ 
sary to get the surface as fine as possible, rolling 
and disking till the clods are fined, knowing that 
the finer the surface is made and the. more the un¬ 
der soil is compacted the better chance for wheat. 
Late plowing for wheat is not advisable, and the 
breaking for the sowing of the peas should be 
deep and thorough and then let the soil settle. Then 
I would drill the wheat at rate of six pecks per acre 
on thin land, or five pecks as the land grows 
stronger, for it will tiller thicker on strong land. 
Sow after the first slight white frost in order to 
have a better chance of avoiding the Fall Hessian 
fly, which is apt to get into early-sown wheat. I 
would use on the wheat 400 pounds per acre of the 
dissolved acid phosphate only. 
In your locality I would try finally to get the 
land into a four-year rotation, say corn on a turned 
sod, on which all the manure made has been spread 
during Fall and Winter. Cut the corn and cure 
in shocks and then disk the stubble well and fine and 
seed to wheat. Plow the wheat stubble after har¬ 
vest thoroughly and sow cow peas for hay. Disk 
the pea stubble and sow wheat again, applying to 
both crops of wheat the 400 pounds of acid phos¬ 
phate. Seed clover on this wheat in the Spring. 
After the ragweeds start on the stubble, mow the 
stubble over. Let the clover stand one year, mowing 
it once and pasturing the second growth with 
horned cattle. Then get out on the clover during 
the Winter all the manure made from feeding the 
pea hay and corn stover and plant to corn again. 
Peas may be sown among the corn at last working, 
and mown off after the corn is cut. Or yog can sow 
Crimson clover among part of the corn and use that 
part for a potato crop the next Spring, or for to¬ 
bacco if you propose to grow it. But in your sec¬ 
tion I would depend mainly on the old Medium 
Red clover. Use lime once in the rotation, harrow¬ 
ing it in well after the land is broken for corn; 
apply 25 bushels of freshly slaked lime, or if you 
wish to try the pulverized lime rock apply at least 
a ton per acre. I prefer water-soaked burnt lime 
for this use myself. w. f. massey. 
Maryland. 
About 150 years ago the suggestion was made that 
the host way to get rid of the Indians was to give them 
access to unlimited free rum ! A sure way that to get 
rid of either red men or white men. 
BUYING A CHEAP FARM. 
In considering the purchase of a farm, and particu¬ 
larly in selecting from the many that are for sale in 
our Southern and Central New York dairy section, 
many questions arise. The sort of farm for one 
to select depends much upon circumstances. Among 
other farms that might be named is one of 200 acres 
that is offered, I think, for $2,500. Perhaps less 
would bin it. It is well watered, a very good dairy 
farm. It is situated some four miles from one vil¬ 
lage, and about five miles from the next. Roads 
out are comparatively level, and are pretty good dirt 
roads. School is near at hand, and is about such as 
the inhabitants make it. Sometimes it is good, and at 
other times indifferent. When it is good, it is better 
than the town school, especally for young pupils. The 
farm is within driving distance of a good town 
school, however. This farm has not been fixed up 
very much. It will keep 20 or more cows as it is, 
and that is all the present owner cares to keep. The 
buildings are fair, and perhaps for the most part one 
can make as much profit with them as with those 
that cost more money. Iir short, it is a place where 
two men. with good cows, can get an income of 
$1,500 or more. Poultry may also be. kept, and thus 
increase the income very materially. The outgo need 
not be heavy, except for grain feeds. These might 
partly be grown, and two able-bodied men could take 
care of quite a lot of stuff, such as corn, oats, buck¬ 
wheat and potatoes, all of which wo.uld be profitable. 
Take another farm, situated in the same direction 
as the one just mentioned, but only a mile or so 
from town. The. mowing and tillable lands are 
mostly level, while the pasture is hillside. This farm 
is probably in as good a state of cultivation as any in 
the vicinity, and is perhaps in the best condition of 
any that are offered for sale. While there are only 
110 acres in the farm, it is capable of carrying, under 
its present condition more stock than 
the larger one previously mentioned, 
and I doubt if any more labor, perhaps 
not as much, would be required to 
maintain the farm and stock. Prob¬ 
ably the income froln this farm would 
be somewhat greater than from the 
other. The buildings are very good, 
and as a residence it is one of the best 
in the community. I do not know the 
exact price at which this farm may be 
purchased, but I suppose it to be about 
$<3,000. Possibly the cost might be 
nearly three times that of the farm first 
mentioned. The question naturally 
arises, which is the better farm to pur- 
. chase? In case a man has money to 
pay down for a farm, or even if he has 
four or five thousand dollars, it would 
seem as though the second farm might 
be the better one to buy. This would 
seem to be especially true if a person de¬ 
sired a place particularly for a home, and 
where educational and social advantages were of 
first importance. It might be remarked in pass¬ 
ing, however, that there is but small reliance to 
be placed on the usual village school as a place to fit 
young persons for farm life, unless there has 
been a good grounding previously at the home and 
in the rural school. The tendency at the vil¬ 
lage school is directly away from the farm. Re¬ 
turning to these farms, it is not to be supposed that 
a man may not buy a six thousand dollar farm, run 
iu debt for it mainly or entirely, and finally win out 
in paying for it, as has been done by others. It 
would seem, however, that one could more readily pay 
for the cheaper farm and could, in that way, acquire 
a somewhat larger property in the course of time. 
He could improve it more, at least, although he 
could probably never bring it to the point where it 
would be worth as much by the acre as the other 
farm, granting the same state of cultivation. The 
cheaper farm means more labor and greater isola¬ 
tion, but it might mean quite as much comfort and 
security. That would, in many cases, depend upon 
the capital that is ready for investment. In either 
case it would be difficult to get the buildings for very 
much less than the farm would cost. The buildings 
on the larger farm would most certainly cost all that 
is asked for the farm. h. h. lyon. 
Chenango County, N. Y. 
R. X.-Y.—The picture at Fig. 425 shows a scene in 
the section which Mr. Lyon describes. There arc not 
many oxen in that country. The picture shown was 
taken during a time (tf severe drought, when the 
water was scarce and people went to the unfailing 
spring for a supply. 
Planting crops “in the moon.” The latest claim lw 
the advocate of this scheme is that the Department of 
Agriculture has tested the matter. There is no founda¬ 
tion for this statement. 
