872 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
November. 14, 
FARMERS’ CLUB 
[Every query must be accompanied by the name 
and address of the writer to insure attention. Be¬ 
fore asking a quostion, 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.] 
VALUE OF PEA VINES. 
This year I had several acres of green 
pea vines at my disposal—after the pickers 
had pulled them up by the roots and 
stripped off tlie pods. What were they 
good for? Ilay? Fertilizer? Compost? 
While partly green the cows ate them 
readily, but didn’t want them when wholly 
dry. Our farmers rake them up and burn 
them, as a rule. As material for compost 
farmers say that without the addition of 
other material the pea vines will rot and 
dry to so small a proportion of the orig¬ 
inal mass as to be of no “paying” value. 
Buffalo, N. Y. K. A. E. 
A ton of green pea vines will contain 
10 pounds of nitrogen, 10 of potash and 
three of phosphoric acid—nearly as 
much as a ton of average stable manure. 
A ton of the dry vines contains 45 
pounds nitrogen, 46 of potash and 13 
of phosphoric acid. The vines should 
never be burned, for that will drive 
off all the nitrogen. At some of the 
large canning factories the vines are 
run through a cutter and put in a silo. 
This silage is sold during the Winter 
to patrons of the factory. Our cows 
eat the vines when green. They are 
hard to cure unless put around a frame 
such as wa^ shown on page 805. When 
well dried—like oat and pea hay—our 
stock eat them well in Winter. If 
they mold or begin to rot we would put 
them in a compost heap with manure or 
plow them under. We have disposed of 
them when plowing the pea ground for 
a second crop by raking into the fur¬ 
row behind the plow and throwing the 
next furrow over them. This puts them 
out of sight and if the ground is packed 
above them they will rot quickly in the 
soil. If those farmers would think for 
a moment they would see that the bulk 
of a manure is no test of its fertilizing 
value. If a ton of stable manure be 
fully burned there would be only a 
little over 100 pounds of ashes left. Out 
of the other 1,900 pounds only the 10 
pounds of nitrogen lost in the burning 
would feed the plant. These green pea 
vines may rot down to a small com¬ 
pass and still contain all their plant 
food._ 
Treatment of Drained Swamp. 
G. G. T.. Senecaville, O .—I am draining 
a piece of swamp land of about 50 acres. 
The soil is black and very sticky when wet, 
but inclined to break up into little round 
lumps when dry. The surrounding hills 
are mostly red limestone and a little White 
oak soil. We are thinking of putting this 
piece in corn next Spring. When shall we 
plow it? Will it need any kind of fertil¬ 
izer? The soil is about as rich as it is 
possible for soil to get. It has never been 
plowed and has the accumulated sediment ol 
untold ages. 
Ans. —How glad the writer would be 
if this could be answered from actual ex¬ 
perience rather than observation, for the 
owner of such swamp land that can be 
drained has in his possession a veritable 
gold mine if worked correctly. Some 
knowledge of such land has come to me 
by observation of such lands near by, 
and conclusions lead me to advise the 
plowing of this land as soon as possible. 
There are two objects in view in doing 
this. When plowed it can be easily told 
whether the drainage has been sufficient, 
for paying crops cannot be expected till 
the water is got out of the way. In 24 
hours or less all water after the hardest 
rains should be out of sight. This swamp 
soil is doubtless filled with wild grass 
roots. The plowing, if well done, will 
cut off their source of life, and the ab¬ 
sence of water will end their existence. 
These small lumps of soil that follow 
drying out are not in shape to give up 
the rich plant food they contain, but 
need frost action to break them down 
and mellow them, and the more of this 
the land can have before planting time 
the better. No mechanical agency will 
put this land in the desirable condition 
that can be obtained by weather condi¬ 
tions, such as frost, wind, rain and snow. 
It may take more than the freezing of 
one Winter to put it in crop condition, 
but if the water is properly drained off it 
will soon be ready for a corn crop. It 
is hardly likely that it will need any 
fertilizer; this possibly can only be found 
out by trying a crop and finding what 
the land will do. Under good cultiva¬ 
tion, with the weeds cut down, it should 
pioduce a wonderful crop of corn. 
Ross Co., O. JOHN M. JAMISON. 
R. N.-Y.—We know of cases where a 
ton of air-slaked lime per acre har¬ 
rowed in after plowing has helped make 
such lumps crumble. 
Mixing Bone Meal With Fertilizer. 
B. F., Tennessee. —If bone meal is mixed 
with a fertilizer containing acid phosphate, 
or dissolved bone, will it cause some of 
the available phosphoric to revert, and be¬ 
come insoluble? I have had good results 
from the use of bone meal and a complete 
phosphate fertilizer, but I applied them 
separately, and would like to mix them and 
save the time used in applying separate. 
Ans. —Very little if any. Ihere might 
be a case where a large excess of acid 
was used in dissolving the phosphate and 
this excess might dissolve some of the 
bone. The effect upon the phosphate 
would be slight and hardly worth consid¬ 
ering. For one reason ground bone is 
a good mixer with phosphate, muriate 
or other moist fertilizers. It dries them 
out so that they drill better. We should 
follow “good results.” 
Fertilizing Thin Land. 
R., McKee's Rocks, Pa. —I am putting 
about 30 tons of stable manure per acre 
on land that is very thin, and plowing it 
under this Fall. I intend to plant to 
sweet corn and cabbage next Spring, using 
500 pounds of the following home-mixed 
fertilizer: One ton acid phosphate, 500 
pounds nitrate of soda, 500 pounds muriate 
of DOtasb. This will analyze about 6 
per cent ammonia, 12 per cent phosphoric 
acid, eight per cent potash. What do you 
think about this? 
Ans. —This mixture as we figure it 
should contain the following: 
Nitro-Phos. Pcjt- 
gen Acid ash 
2,000 lbs. acid phosphate.. 280 
500 lbs. nitrate . 80 
500 lbs. muriate . 
This makes about 55 pounds nitrogen, 
185 pounds phosphoric acid and 165 
pounds of muriate per ton. When using 
that much manure in the Fall we would 
not use all the nitrogen in the chemicals 
in the form of nitrate. All three of the 
chemicals you name are moist and sticky, 
and will not make a good drilling mix¬ 
ture. For an average season we would 
rather have half of that nitrogen in the 
form of dried blood or fine tankage. The 
cabbage will need more nitrogen than the 
sweet corn. __ 
Killing Hen Lice.— There is consider¬ 
able discussion in your paper upon the best 
method of eradicating mites and lice from 
the chicken coops. I have been much inter¬ 
ested in this subje'/ct and found it a contin¬ 
ual light with whitewash, spraying with 
kerosene emulsion, etc., to keep the pests in 
check. In August, 1907, I painted the roosts, 
supports, nest boxes and inside walls of the 
chicken coops with one coat of Carbolineum 
Avenarius, and they have received no atten¬ 
tion since, except to keep the coops cleaned 
out. Careful inspection from time to time 
shows the entire absence of mites, although 
more than a year has passed since this ap¬ 
plication. Before the application the hens 
were continually seeking roosts in the trees, 
but since its application to the roosts, they 
have contentedly roosted in the coops. 
North Carolina. D. s. H. 
When you write advertisers mention The 
R. N.-Y. and you'll get a quick reply and 
“a square deal.” See guarantee page 10. 
WE IVEAKE 
STRAWBERRY PLANTS 
A. SPECIALTY 
We are now ready to mail you our Fall and Spring 
Catalog. We sell choice plants at reasonable prices. 
LOUIS HUBAOH, R. R. 2, Judsonia, Ark. 
mam ba mam mmm Booklet on CATALPA TREES 
■■ IV ■■ ■■ Let me tell you about the 150 acres 
■ ■ m la lam growing for Telephone Boles. 
This wood takes the place of Ash and Hickory for Car¬ 
riage-makers’ uses. Beats farming Two to One. 
II. C. ROGERS. Bo* ll.Mecliauicsburg, Ohio 
0 1 
National resources 
Fuel is wasted—wasted in enormous quan¬ 
tities in every home or other building which 
is heated by old-fashioned meth¬ 
ods. If everybody used IDEAL 
Boilers and AMERICAN Radi¬ 
ators our country’s annual sav¬ 
ings in coal and wood would simply be 
colossal, to say nothing of the increased 
comfort, the health protection, conven¬ 
ience, cleanliness, and lessened care- 
taking that each family would enjoy. 
Boilers 
for Hot-Water or Low-Pressure Steam heating are the most scientific, simple, 
safest, surest outfits for wanning any building, large or small, OLD or new, 
FARM or city. IDEAL Boilers consume less coal or cheapest screenings to 
heat the whole house than a stove consumes of expensive hard coal to heat a 
few rooms. Every known improvement and many exclusive features make 
IDEAL Boilers and AMERICAN Radiators the most efficient and economical 
in the world, yet our enormous volume of sales enables us to put the price 
within reach of all. No tearing up necessary. 
Why not at once preserve your own resources as well as the nation’s fuel supply ? Find 
out about it, anyway. Six months’ cold weather ahead! Ask for our book, ‘Heating 
Investments Successful"—it tells much—it’s free. Sales Offices and Warehouses in all 
large cities. 
A No. 020 IDEAL Boiler and 262 ft. of 38-in. 
AMERICAN Radiators costing the owner $185, 
were used to Steam heat this cottage, at which 
price the goods can be bought of any reputable, 
competent Fitter. This did not include cost of 
labor, pipe, valves, freight, etc., which installa¬ 
tion is extra and varies according to climatic 
and other conditions. 
A No. 3-22 IDEAL Boiler and 600 ft. of 38-in. 
AMERICAN Radiators, costing the owner 
$295, were used to Hot-Water heat this cottage, 
at which price the goods can be bought of any 
reputable, competent Fitter. This did not 
include cost of labor, pipe, valves, freight, 
etc., which installation is extra and varies 
according to climatic and other conditions. 
DEPT. 9 A MERICANR-IDTATOR r OMPAN Y CHICAGO 
I want every onion grower to have Free 
Samples of our onion seed for testing. We 
think we have the best onion seed there is, 
and we supply lots of the largest growers. We 
would like to supply you. We have an enor¬ 
mous crop of onion seed this year in the best 
commercial varieties and can make special 
prices to good buyers. Tell us how many 
acres you are going to plant in onions and what 
varieties, and we will send you liberal free 
samples of our seed for testing and quote you 
special prices. Box 26 Shenandoah, Iowa 
Henry Field Seed Company 
EXCELL 
ROOFING 
nd SIDING 
IRON 
and 
steel an _ 
Send today for Free Book and bottom 
Factory Prices on Metal Hoofing and 
Siding. Made In our own factory. 
Better than you can buy elsewhere at 
any price. Shipped at our risk. You 
Send No Money 
so you take no risk. Our guarantee 
and see-what-you-buy-before-paylng- 
Flan specify you pay nothlngunless 
fully satisfied. Lowest prices on all 
roofing and roofing supplies sold 
straight to you from Factory at real 
Don’t buy till you get our prices and 
Guide— Write for this Book today. 
The United Factorlee Co., Dept. 31 -R, Cleveland, O. 
E Factory Prices, 
FREE Rooters' Guide 
2 
WE 
CHALLENGEALL 
HAY PRESSES 
No “hot air” about this. We’re “ready 
with the goods” to prove that a Spencer 
Hay Press will out-work, out-bale all comers 
in open competition. We guarantee more 
tons per hour than any other horse press 
not forming larger bale, or no sale. Don’t 
buy a slow press that chews up your profits: 
or a press,that will break down and need 
constant tinkering to keep it going. Buy and 
run a Spencer—then you’ll be happy—free from 
worry. Trial free. Catalog free and sent promptly. 
Write today for it. 
J. A. SPENCER, 
SPENCER 
HAY 
ADVERTISEMENT 
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN : 
On account of several articles, 
appearing' in The Rukau New-Yorker, 
which cast reflections on our business 
methods and honor, we are placing this 
advertisement and paying regular 
rates for the same. 
We earnestly request any person 
or persons who answered our advertise¬ 
ment in which we offered 6 Evergreens, 
2 years old, and who did not receive the 
same in good condition, to write to us 
at once and we will send them 6 
Selected Spruces % to ]/z foot tali, either 
this fall or next spring as they prefer. 
We will also be glad to hear from 
any person having other grievance and 
we will cheerfully adjust any matters 
wherein we have made error or in any 
ways to blame. We cannot correct 
errors without first being notified ol 
same. Make your complaints direct tc 
ns first, and then if we do not make 
good it’s time to call on the publishers. 
ADDRESS 
THE GARDNER NURSERY COMPANY, 
110 North 10th Street, - Osage, Iowa 
CALIFORNIA PRIVET 
Shade Trees, Spruce and Arbor 
Titse Hedging. 
Cherry Trees a Specialty. Trees and Plants by 
Mail Postpaid will save you express costs. Send for 
our Catalogue, (It is Free), it will tell you the rest. 
JOS. H. BLACK, SON & CO., Hightstown, N. J 
WE MAIL OUR CATALOGUE FREE. 
'THE ENORMOUS YIELD of 50,000 quarts of 
* Strawberries now growing by my system on 
one acre, Send for CHART. 
LEVITT S PLANT FARM. Athenia, N. J. 
PAR Q I I r 700,000 Lncretia Dewberry PlantM. Price 
lUn OAL*Ci list free. Michael N. Bonuo, Vineland, N.J. 
RASPBERRY PLANTS WANTED. ' 
We wish to purchase large quantities of Cuthbert, 
Plum Farmer and other kinds. Write us 
OSWEGO COUNTY NURSERIES. Oswego, N. Y. 
ROWN FENCE 
B l 
Strongest, most durable fence 
made. Heaviest, closest wires. Double 
. galvanized. Practically indestraotible. Stock 
I strong.Cbicken tight 15 to 35c per rod. Sample Free.We pay frt. 
| The Brown Fence & Wire Co,, Dept. 59, _ Cleveland. Ohio. 
