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THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
WORKMEN, “ BACK TO THE LAND.” 
A leader who has worked a piece of land in order to help 
out his earnings in the shop gives this advice to the baek- 
to-the-landers. This man has hired land and grown crops 
at odd hours. 
The thing it all amounts to is this: Start small, 
keep out of debt, and hustle. Many would not think 
it worth the trouble, many more could not stand the 
work, and many more still have families that are a 
handicap instead of help in any such venture. About 
two-thirds of these would-be farmers are bound to 
lose all they put into farming. I think it’s because 
the standard of living is too high, but the whole 
problem will solve itself in time. We may talk and 
talk, but the people will go right on having what they 
want, as long as they have the price, regardless. And 
if they have not energy enough to want anything, 
they will not have anything, for demand does create 
supply, whether the demand is for country life, fresh 
eggs and real cream on our oatmeal, or a steam- 
heated flat and electric lights and the moving picture 
shows. °- H - R - 
Massachusetts. 
MAKING CEMENT TILE AT HOME. 
rioase give instructions for making cement tile at home. 
Biddeford, Me. 
Personally I have had no experience in the manu¬ 
facture of cement tile, but I have taken some little 
pains to look the matter up with a view to purchasing 
a machine this coming season. The only experiment 
station publication I have been able to find relating 
to this subject is Bulletin 55 of the Arizona Station, 
which deals chiefly with cement pipe for irrigating 
systems, and since much larger pipe are required for 
this purpose than for ordinary farm drainage the 
data as to costs are not pertinent to our conditions, 
although the general details of manufacture are valu¬ 
able. The following advice is given: The sand 
should be selected with great care. It should be 
free from clay or dirt and preferably composed of 
grains of varying sizes. Roughly speaking, the strong¬ 
est and densest sand for mortar contains two-thirds 
coarse grains and one-third much finer grains. <■ A 
cement should be selected which is very finely ground, 
rather slow setting and of unquestioned soundness. 
The sand and cement should be mixed dry and turned 
three times with shovels. Water is then added in 
amount sufficient to bring the mortar to a dry con¬ 
sistency, that is, in such condition as will require 
much tamping to cause water to stand on the surface. 
The batch should be turned twice or three times and 
coned. Labor is cheaper than cement and it is profit¬ 
able to work the mortar thoroughly. An important 
feature in the manufacture of cement pipe is the cur¬ 
ing. About 24 hours after the pipes are made they 
should be sprinkled with water so long as they seem 
to absorb it freely. For a week or 10 days there¬ 
after they should be wetted every day. They should 
be cured in the air for an additional week or two 
weeks before being laid in the ground. 
The moulds used by the Arizona Station would not 
be adapted to the making of drain tile because of 
their size, although smaller sizes might be obtained. 
I have manufacturers’ catalogues at hand illustrating 
two types of moulds. One type has an outer and 
inner shell equipped with devices so that these shells 
can be expanded and contracted. The shells are set 
up and the cement mixture, made up dry as above 
mentioned, filled into the space between the shells, a 
little at a time, each layer being thoroughly tamped 
by hand, and the process continues until the mould 
is full. Then the outer shell is expanded and care¬ 
fully lifted off and the inner shell made smaller and 
pulled out. The tile of course cannot be handled 
much until the cement is set. These moulds are not 
very expensive, but their capacity is not large. An¬ 
other type consists of a machine into which is in¬ 
serted a mould lined with a flexible inner casing. 
Sufficient cement mixture is put into the mould to 
make a tile, then a packer is turned up through this 
mixture, packing if firmly against the inner casing. 
The mould is then opened and the tile still protected 
by the inner casing is removed. This casing is left 
on the tile for about three hours, when the cement 
is hardened enough so that the casing may be removed 
without injury to the tile and used again. This cas¬ 
ing is said to protect the tile from too rapid drying 
and insures a perfect tile being made every time if 
the cement mixture is made of the right consistency. 
These casings are not expensive and enough are pro¬ 
vided with the machine so that the operator may work 
continuously. The makers of this machine claim for 
it a capacity of about 600 tile per day when operated 
by hand and 1,200 per day when operated by power, 
the concrete being prepared for the operator in each 
case. 
A mixture of one part cement to five parts sand 
is recommended for tile up to 8 inches diameter, this 
size requiring a one to four mixture. One thousand 
three-inch tile are said to require about two barrels 
of cement and \ l / 2 cubic yards of sand. From the 
cost of these materials in his locality one can easily 
compute the cost of making tile. For our conditions 
I am convinced that it will be a good proposition for 
us' to make our tile, especially since we need quite 
a little help in the Summer and it is quite a prob¬ 
lem to keep the men employed if there are long 
periods of rainy weather. If the claims of the manu¬ 
facturers are true the making of tile will enable us 
to keep the men profitably employed at such times. 
Vermont. e. s. brigham. 
A NEW YORK OAT CROP. 
Fig. 33 shows a picture of a field of oats grown by 
It. N. Lewis of Dutchess Co., N. Y. They look like oats, 
and Mr. Lewis has this to say about them: 
In 1908 this 14-acre field was sown to peas and oats, 
no fertilizer. The crop was a failure. In 1909 it was 
again sown to oats (no fertilizer) and produced three 
small loads. Last year, 1910, it came in my pos¬ 
session and I thought I would see if I could do as 
well as the former manager. The last week jn March 
I plowed one-half acre, using a sulky plow turning a 
12-inch furrow five inches deep. The day following 
it was harrowed with an Acme harrow in the same 
direction it was plowed, and the day after it was sown 
broadcast with 55 pounds of oats, top-dressing cost¬ 
ing $1.65. It was then harrowed twice in one direction 
with the Acme harrow. The day following it was 
sown broadcast with one bushel of 50 pounds of 
Clydesdale oats, and harrowed twice across the fur¬ 
row with the Acme. The soil is sandy loam and 
A HUDSON VALLEY OAT CROP. Fig. 33. 
gravel. It was a perfect even stand; 1 never saw its 
equal. Still I think if I had sown the bushel of seed 
on one acre it would have been still better; many of 
the heads were 12 inches long. This one-half acre 
yielded in bulk twice as much as the 14 acres did last 
year, and thrashed out 47 bushels of 42 pounds to 
the bushel. I cannot give the date of harvesting, but 
it was about a week earlier than my neighbors har¬ 
vested theirs. R- N. lewis. 
Dutchess Co., N. Y. 
VETCH IN NEW JERSEY. 
I have been reading in The R.N.-Y. of an Indiana man’s 
success with Hairy or Sand vetch as a soil restorer. 
Would you advise planting in this section of New Jersey? 
My land is of a clay body and a stiff top soil. Could I 
plant this vetch in corn at the last cultivation? This 
would be the middle of July, and then have it to plow 
under the next Spring and plant to corn again. I would 
like to coin this field two seasons. I have just plowed 
under a stiff sod of clover and Timothy and expect to put 
30 bushels of lime to the acre. f. t. 
Salem Co., N. J. 
We have used Winter or Hairy vetch at the New 
Jersey Station here for several years, chiefly as a 
cover crop, with most excellent results. It is more 
hardy than Crimson clover, and is especially adapted 
for use in the central and northern portions of New 
Jersey, due to its hardiness and its usefulness as a 
gatherer of nitrogen. In all of our cornfields last 
year we used the following mixture, which was seeded 
with a Cahoon seeder just prior to the last cultiva¬ 
tion of the corn during the latter part of July. The 
mixture was as follows: 40 pounds of wheat, 25 
pounds of Winter vetch, and secured a most excel¬ 
lent stand in all the fields. A smaller amount than 
this can be satisfactorily used, say 30 pounds of wheat 
January 28, 
and 15 pounds of vetch per acre, depending of 
course upon the cost of the mixture. Two years ago 
we used a mixture consisting of 30 pounds of rye, 
15 pounds of Winter vetch, six pounds of Crimson 
clover, and two ounces of turnip seed, and were able 
to plow under in the Spring in all these fields a 
most excellent cover crop. The turnips were pulled 
and fed as a sort of succulence for the cows in the 
Fall, and the remainder plowed under during the 
latter part of April, and the field seeded to corn 
about May 10. We have always used W inter vetch 
with good results as a mixture with rye for use as 
forage for the dairy herd; the mixture being 50 
pounds of rye, 25 pounds of vetch; the same when 
seeded during the month of September can easily 
be fed during the first week in May. A more desir¬ 
able mixture for use as forage would be wheat and 
vetch, as the two products mature more evenly, and 
make even more palatable forage. It is common prac¬ 
tice, especial ly in the section F. T. writes from, to 
use vetch as a cover crop, and it is possible as he 
suggests to grow corn two years in succession on the 
same soil by means of a cover crop of this mixture. 
It would be well to cover the growing mixture dur¬ 
ing the Winter months with a light coating of man¬ 
ure if possible in order to secure a little earlier start 
of growth in the Spring, and furthermore if the 
application was put on late in*the Fall, very little 
food nutrients would escape by leaching at that time. 
The expense of the above mixture ranges from $1.25 
to $1.50 per acre, but this is well worth while in my 
judgment, and is easily restored when one considers 
the nitrogen that is accumulated and stored, and like¬ 
wise values the condition of the soil made possible by 
the added humus. On two of our small fields we 
cut the rye and vetch for use as green forage, and it 
made most excellent feed for the dairy herd, and in 
one instance where the rye ripened and was in the 
woody stage before being harvested, we cut this for 
use as bedding. The vetch can be purchased for r i/ 2 
cents per pound as a rule, and when seeded just 
prior to the last cultivation of the corn makes suffi¬ 
cient growth to withstand the Winter, and is one 
of the first plants to start growth in the Spring. Our 
experience so far goes to show that it is a most prom¬ 
ising legume. There is a distinct advantage of seed¬ 
ing a mixture of rye, vetch and Crimson clover, due 
to their variation in hardiness, as vetch has success¬ 
fully pulled through where the Crimson clover was 
winter-killed, while the rye serves as an excellent 
support for climbing vetch. F. c. minklek. 
“L.L.D.”—LIME, LEGUMES, AND DRAINAGE. 
Keep up your articles on lime (stone vs. burnt) 
and drainage (by machinery). As to the legumes (to 
be specific. Alfalfa) I don’t feel too certain since 
reading in Bulletin 125 of Texas Agricultural Ex¬ 
periment Station, by G. S. Fraps, chemist, the table 
given below showing that Alfalfa removes more min¬ 
eral fertilizer, both potash and phosphorus, from the 
farm per acre (and cotton less) than any other 
crop: $46.35 worth as against $9.14 of corn and $32.61 
for cane, the next nearest. Just think of that! In¬ 
stead of L. L. D., after a dozen years or so of Alfalfa, 
your farm has the degree of L. D. (lame duck). But 
you have not told us anything about that! Let’s hear 
from you on that point. 
Table No. 1.—Plant Food Removed by Crops in rounds 
per Acre. 
Phosphoric Nitrogen Potash Valua¬ 
tion 
Acid 
Per at re. 
Coin, 40 bu. corn and cob. . 
19 
38 
T3 
89.14 
Wheat. 25 bu. 
13 
29 
s 
0.77 
Oats, 40 bu. 
10 
05 
7 
5.77 
Cotton, 250 lbs lint. 
O.l 
0.8 
0 . 
7 .20 
Potatoes, Irish. 100 bu . . . 
10 
20 
r.o 
( .56 
Potatoes, Sweet, 200 bu.. 
20 
28 
72 
10.84 
Alfalfa, 4 tons . 
50 
183 
143 
40.35 
Sorghum, 3 tons. 
29 
84 
134 
25.74 
Sugar cane, 20 tons. 
15 
1 53 
44 
32.01 
Onions, 30,00 lbs. 
3 i 
72 
72 
20.21 
Rice, 1,900 lbs. 
12 
23 
5 
5.39 
A part of the nitrogen in Alfalfa comes from the air. 
Texas. george w. colles. 
R. N.-Y.—Take the figures as they stand. The Al¬ 
falfa stubble and roots remaining in the soil where it 
grew will contain more nitrogen than the cotton 
land—after the lint and seed are removed. You do 
not give the amount of nitrogen in cotton seed. Our 
advice is to feed the Alfalfa on the farm and put 
the manure back. If this is done there is little if 
any loss of plant food. Practically all the potash and 
three-fourths of the phosphoric acid in the Alfalfa 
go back to the land in manure. In such event what 
does it matter if the Alfalfa does take plant food 
from one field and carry it to another? The nimble 
dollar beats the sluggish one for investment. Not 
only is this so, but the Alfalfa with its long, deep 
roots draws a good share of its plant food from 
down deep in the subsoil, while most of the other 
crops mentioned feed in the surface soil almost en¬ 
tirely. Thus the Alfalfa helps in another way by 
bringing up this reserve of plant food where other 
crops can use it. So far as nitrogen is concerned, the 
Alfalfa on average soils will take care of itself. You 
may sell off the Alfalfa hay and still have a gain in 
nitrogen. As for the potash and phosphoric acid, $10 
will buy, in the form of chemicals, all of these min¬ 
erals that the four tons of Alfalfa contain. In fact 
$6 worth of these chemicals on soils of good fertility 
would keep up the yield if required. Alfalfa with us 
is worth $16 per ton. The four tons named will bring 
at least $60. Where do you get a better interest on 
your investment than by spending an average of $8 
in chemicals to get $60 worth of hay? No “lame 
duck” about Alfalfa. Besides, Alfalfa is not the only 
legume. What about vetch. Crimson clover or cow 
peas, which may be grown as “catch” crops and all 
plowed under? 
