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THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
October 10, 
drawn from this experiment would be that the ashes 
caused the Alfalfa to grow and this naturally con¬ 
veys the idea that the potash is the chief fertilizing 
element, but as this very thin layer of ashes had 
leached for more than a year on the lightest kind of 
sandy soil, it is very doubtful if any potash remained. 
We think it is more reasonable to suppose that the 
fire burned up the nitrogenous material in the soil, 
and thereby prevented the growth of anything but a 
leguminous plant, although no doubt the lime and 
small amount of phosphate that remained in the ashes 
was a favorable factor. 
We now sow Alfalfa with as much assurance as we 
would plant corn, although it was not supposed to be 
possible to raise it in this country until we made a 
success of doing so. There is one fundamental dif¬ 
ference in growing Alfalfa in the East and growing 
it in the irrigated districts of the West, namely, in 
the East there are frequent showers that will permit 
the surface-rooted plants to develop and grow and 
appropriate all the water and plant food, and prevent 
a proper amount of moisture from reaching the deep¬ 
feeding roots of the Alfalfa, where its presence is 
necessary in large amount in order to meet the de¬ 
mands of a heavy crop. In the West, during long 
periods of drought, the surface-rooted plants are ex¬ 
terminated, and only deep-rooted plants survive, and 
when irrigation is given, enough water is added to 
wet the ground clear down, so that no chance is 
offered a surface-rooted plant to start except at a 
time when the Alfalfa is growing the fastest and is 
best able to crowd out a competitor. Another means 
must, therefore, be found for giving the deep-rooted 
plant the advantage that it has in the irrigated dis¬ 
tricts of the West, and we believe that a surface 
layer of sterile soil will provide these necessary con¬ 
ditions. H. H. D. 
Midland Co., Mich. 
WHEAT GROWING IN MARYLAND. 
In preparing for wheat I prefer to sow Crimson 
clover in my corn the last working and in the Win¬ 
ter top-dress it with 300 pounds acid phosphate 16 
per cent, and 50 pounds of muriate of potash to the 
acre. Cut the clover for roughage, plow the land 
deep and sow in peas, in August or first of Septem¬ 
ber. Cut the peas for roughage, and thoroughly disk 
it with a double-action Cutaway harrow at least three 
times in different directions each time; then harrow 
and roll each week until the soil is thoroughly pul¬ 
verized. Then after the first frost, seed two bushels 
of wheat to the acre with a disk drill, with fertilizer 
the same as for peas, my nitrogen being supplied by 
the preceding leguminous crops. The soil should be 
so thoroughly packed that the drill will just be able 
to cover the seed, and you can then expect a large 
yield of wheat and a great deal of straw, which is 
the most important part for us dairy farmers, as 
we have a hard time to get bedding enough after 
raising the feed for our live stock. If I had not the 
leguminous crops preceding the wheat I would plow 
my land before the fifteenth of August and then 
thoroughly disk with Cutaway harrow, and each week, 
run the spring-tooth harrow over it to thoroughly 
pulverize the soil and mix it well to set free the 
plant food locked in it, and also to make all weed 
seed germinate that is possible; sow the seed in the 
same way as above and use 300 pounds acid phosphate 
16 per cent, 100 pounds cotton-seed meal 42 per cent 
and 50 pounds muriate of potash per acre. I use 
either Fultz or Fulcaster wheat. R. m. j. 
Laurel, Md. 
HOW TO KEEP SWEET POTATOES. 
Before I was born my father moved to Kentucky 
from Georgia. As an Alsatian he did not esteem 
this tuber particularly, but we children acquired na¬ 
tive tastes, and I am free to say that to have been 
one of Marion’s men and to have lived on their sim¬ 
ple fare would have been no hardship, especially if 
with his military knowledge there was coupled equal 
information about the art of making a sweet potato 
what it ought to be. Whether my father learned from 
the Georgians, or, as a florist dealing with perishable 
bulbs, roots and tubers, could keep these so certainly 
I do not know. At all events we children were happy 
in his admirable management. And this was his plan: 
Above the kitchen stove (there were no “ranges” in 
those days) he hung a swinging shelf. In October 
after digging and a few days’ drying, it was packed 
to its full capacity, and there they stayed for “keeps.” 
In 1877 I hung my own “crane.” In the building 
there was constructed a closet with shelves as is 
usual. From the top of this closet to the ceiling was 
about 18 inches. When well filled it would hold 
about eight bushels of tubers, and their keeping was 
perfect. Two subsequent additions were added, with 
similar arrangement, thus giving opportunity to study 
the keeping of sweet potatoes, in the dry air of a 
sitting room, the moister air of a dining room, and 
the exceedingly variable conditions of a kitchen. 
Those in the kitchen invariably kept best, but in the 
dry room all little tubers shriveled, and we could 
only store those of some size; there was some dis¬ 
position also to decay. 
We never dig our crop till October, and on a dry 
day. They are then spread six or eight inches deep 
in an airy barn. After 10 days or two weeks all 
rot is over, and we fill our shelves, nor in the 30 
years of this practice have we lost as much as one 
per cent by rot. One year when the weather was very 
dry the filling was done directly from the field, and 
in two weeks we had to unpack and re-dry, the decay 
being great. Of course this practice was not repeated. 
For some purposes a small tuber is preferred. These 
are harder to keep. They do not rot, but dry hard 
as a bone; in heat burn equal to a walnut. There have 
always been three resident men on the place, and 
these have been furnished liberally for Winter and 
Spring use, and their success has been exactly" as mine. 
The sweet potato disappears from our market about 
Christmas, and the opinion is ventured that not one 
grower in 10 in the Ohio Valley has, on'New Year’s 
Day, tubers of his own growing. The opinion is 
further ventured that not one grower in 10 is aware 
that the same subtle agency that changes the fresh- 
gathered apple or pear from one thing to another, 
can do likewise for this. The hope is entertained 
that The R. N.-Y. will take up this matter with its 
readers. Col. John Burall, as the editor of a Ken¬ 
tucky farm journal, did more for Kentucky when he 
ding-donged into his patrons’ minds the possibilities 
of the second-crop white potato, than was accom¬ 
plished by all his labor besides. If The R. N.-Y. can 
convince its widespread family that it is just as easy 
to have two kinds of tubers in the locker as one, it 
will be a benefactor as is he who makes grow two 
blades where grew but one before. h. f. h. 
Kentucky. __ 
THE ORCHARD CRAZE IN THE FAR WEST. 
We send you a photograph which is as true to life 
as is the average printed matter used in the booming 
methods on this northwest coast to bring newcomers 
to build up prosperity out here. And it will be prac¬ 
tically impossible in material of this kind to sift 
the false from the true, for the reason that most or 
all is gross exaggeration. Most pertains to the claims 
put forth as to the great fortunes made in fruit grow¬ 
ing. It ought to be better understood that the profit¬ 
able orcharding here in this State, on this northwest 
Pacific coast, is only in certain limited areas east of 
the Cascade range of mountains, and as a rule the 
actual value of such orchard lands, from any actual 
or prospective returns that can be assured from them, 
is not one-quarter, and in many cases not one-tenth, 
of what is claimed for them. The money is made 
not from the fruit, -but from the enhancing selling 
value of the lands themselves. There is the greatest 
campaign in the line of fleecing the lambs who are in¬ 
vesting in orchard properties out here, so as to be 
almost beyond the limits of credence. The news¬ 
paper writers, knowing nothing of such subjects, and 
whose common honesty is nowhere in evidence, print 
every tale relating thereto that interested exploiters 
bring to them. And so the booming expands. 
Washington. J. f. c 
R. N.-Y.—A portion of the photograph mentioned 
is shown at Fig. 369. In an ingenious method of 
touching up the negative, the apples are made to ap¬ 
pear larger than the men. 
LOANS FOR THE FARMER. 
In its issue of September 19 The R. N.-Y. points 
out how much more difficult it is for the farmer to 
get a loan than for the city operator. Here in the 
South it is practically impossible for the farmer to 
borrow money on farms. There are many capable 
men with good land and skill to use it who need 
money only to make a success. They could use it 
profitably to buy sheep, hogs, dairy cows, horses and 
the best modern tools, and in many other ways to add 
to their incomes, the value of property and comfort 
of living. Of course they need long-time loans to 
get started and be able to repay. These loans should 
be within reach of every honest, industrious man at 
low rate of interest. Please tell your readers what 
the great English colonies on. the other side of the 
world are doing along this line. New South Wales, 
for an example, loans cash directly to her farmers. 
I think about fifty millions are thus loaned at three 
per cent. We have gone to Australia to get an honest 
ballot; we might also get a lesson in a rational sys¬ 
tem of public finance from the same place. We, in 
our corporate capacity as a nation, are now loaning 
our credit at half of one per cent to the national 
bankers; then as individuals we borrow it back from 
the banks on short-time loans at from five to 12 
per cent. Even the Government itself borrows its 
own credit! Just thrash this out when you have time. 
Tell us about New South Wales, how that young 
State slew monopoly of land and money to save her 
farmers! edward Daniels. 
Virginia. _ 
A BEAN GROWER ON SELLING BEANS. 
I am much interested in your bean discussion. I 
reside in the Middlesex Valley, which is noted for a 
great many good things, No. 1 Red Kidney beans 
being one of them. We used to sell at a stated price 
and then take off five cents per bushel for dirt. Now 
the rule is two cents per pound for all the waste in a 
bushel. If your beans are fairly good, shrinking 
only two or three, pounds to the bushel, you come 
out pretty well, but if they are poor you are in a 
serious state. I inclose you statement of a sale of 
less than 400 bushels Red Kidney beans, which you 
will see cost me $47.60 for the picking beside losing 
the cull beans. No sane man will claim that it cost 
this firm nearly $50 to pick over less than 400 bushels 
of beans. This custom of bean dealers has driven a 
good many farmers out of the business. I hope good 
will come out of your agitation of this question. 
Rushville, N. Y. l. c. m. 
THE EXPRESS COMPANIES AND BEEHIVES. 
After vainly attempting to secure redress I think it 
proper to communicate to you the action of the United 
States Express Company regarding shipment of a 
hive of bees delivered to that company at Plainfield, 
N. J., for transmission to Rye, N. Y. I personally 
packed the bees in what I understand to be the usual 
approved and safe manner for such transportation. 
The consignee being naturally unable to open the same 
immediately upon receipt, and the hive being without 
exterior damage, signed the usual formal receipt blank. 
Upon examination it proved that the hive had been 
so roughly handled that I was obliged to purchase 
a new queen, although the usual excess express rate 
was charged. I made careful statement of all the 
facts, asked the Company to assure themselves that 
my standing was such as to *show that I would not 
make an unfounded claim, and requested reimburse¬ 
ment either of the express charge, or of the cost 
of the new queen, as the Company might think just. 
This action was taken by me practically at the re¬ 
quest of one of the largest bee supply and bee dealers 
in this country, who stated that the express compan¬ 
ies’ negligence in handling such shipments, although 
charging one and one-half or double rates, had be¬ 
come unbearable. The company refused to do any¬ 
thing in the premises, stating that the package had 
been delivered without showing injury, and receipted 
for, taking advantage I presume of the knowledge 
that the loss was so small that it would not justify a 
suit. I ask you to give this communication such 
prominence as you may think it deserves in view of its 
possible interest to the bee fraternity. 
henry crofut white. 
R. N.-Y.—We have had the express companies fall 
back upon this plea that a package was receipted for 
before being examined. They seem to figure that the 
average man will write two or three letters and then 
quit in disgust, rather than push a small matter to a 
finish. In every case we have known where the sender 
or receiver stuck to them long enough they have 
finally settled. The way to bring them to time in this 
bee-hive case is to let loose a swarm of stinging let¬ 
ters from bee men, who have suffered from their 
negligence. _ 
GROUND LIMESTONE AND GREEN BONE. 
A recent issue of The R. N.-Y. had an inquiry for 
a preservative for green or raw bones that would not 
injure them for chicken feed or fertilizer use. An 
answer will be found in application of the much 
misunderstood carbonate of lime, which chemically 
fixes and conserves nitrogen, acting just the opposite 
from the nitrogen-dispelling caustic form. I have 
known of the extensive use of true carbonate of 
lime as a calcareous marl being mixed with slaughter¬ 
house offal, which served as a disinfectant without 
injuring the fertilizer value for such material, and 
for which it was ultimately used, the lime also giv¬ 
ing an additional value. I myself have used this 
marl on cut bone, prepared in Summer, and used 
in Winter for chicken feed—the birds eating it 
readily, appreciating the lime s well as the bone, 
and all odors were dispelled. Marble dust, or fine 
ground lime rock or oyster shells can be used if rich 
calcareous marl is not obtainable. The proper appli¬ 
cation of this form of lime must be as a fine pow¬ 
der, and should be dry; if needful a sprinkling of 
moisture can be added. Subsequently repeated addi¬ 
tions of more bone can be made to the mixture 
when dry. In your recent article by Mr. Wing stat¬ 
ing the benefit of a $100 crop per acre of Alfalfa 
from applying $12 worth of ground carbonate of 
lime, the statement can well be supplemented by the 
fact that such an application of that carbonate of 
lime is good to produce other large crops of the Al¬ 
falfa for numerous years subsequently. 
FRANKLIN NOBLE. 
R. N.-Y.—Carbonate of lime will, if used in suffi¬ 
cient quantity, keep green cut bone or raw meat dry; 
it will also assist in preserving it. In order to have 
it do so, it will be necessary to experiment, so that 
the quantity required (which will vary according 
to the proportion of meat adhering to the bone), 
may be determined. 
