1911. 
1ST 
THE RURAIj NEW-YORKER 
GOOD FARMING AT THE SOUTH. 
On page 1114, issue of December 3, 
1910, under the caption “Hunting for 
Cheap Nitrogen,” you say, in referring to 
the farmers raising their own nitrogen: 
“The Southern agricultural departments 
and experiment stations have not done 
their duty in this respect. A share of their 
income is obtained from the sale of fer¬ 
tilizer tags to manufacturers. Whether 
this has influenced them or not, they have 
done little to encourage the use of green 
manure crops, which are the great need 
of Southern -.farming.” So far as Tennessee 
is concerned I consider the above statement 
false and libelous, nor can it be sustained 
by one single fact. I am personally ac¬ 
quainted with the Hon. John Thompson, 
Commissioner of-Agriculture for Tennessee, 
and know that he. is an earnest advocate 
of legumes and green manurial crops, while 
his live stock inspector, Col. John II. Mc¬ 
Dowell, is one of the' most enthusiastic 
live stock men . I ever met, and never 
misses a chance to. advise the feeding on 
our farms of cattle, hogs and sheep, with 
especial emphasis on the latter. I am also 
intimately acquainted with most of the 
faculty, of our experiment station. When I 
read your presumptuous insinuation I men¬ 
tally exclaimed, “You do not know Mor¬ 
gan ; you are not acquainted with Prof. II. 
A. Morgan, Dean of the agricultural de¬ 
partment of the University of Tennessee, 
for if you were .I am sure you would not 
talk that way.” For he is continually in 
school and out, day and night, earnestly 
pleading and advocating cover crops for 
Winter, to be turned under in the Spring, 
and the planting of Soy beans to be fed 
on the land. I have often heard him say, 
“The land. is-humus.hungry ; feed it.” The 
other members of his faculty try to go him 
one better. I make a yearly pilgrimage to 
the West Tennessee Experimental Farm and 
there I see the exemplification of their 
teaching, rye and vetches in the Winter to 
be plowed under, Soy beans, clover and 
cow peas to-be fed on the farm. 
-W. ,T. G. WEBSTER. 
Pres. Shelby Co. Farmers’ Institute. 
R. N.-Y.—This is somewhat like sev¬ 
eral other letters. The writers over¬ 
look the fact that we stated distinctly 
that we merely gave the opinions of a 
number of farmers. We recently trav¬ 
eled nearly 1,500 miles through the 
South, over three main railroads. There 
was very little of this superior farming 
or live stock growing to be seen from 
the cars. One rarely if ever saw land 
covered with a growing crop, or giving 
evidence of good yields. We stated this 
fact and said that after talking with 
Southern farmers we found that they 
had various reasons to offer. Will Mr. 
Webster or anyone else tell us where 
superior farming can be seen from the 
train? That is where it ought to be 
on view. Thousands of people travel 
through the section we have mentioned 
and see little except bare ground and 
poor crops. How can they have any 
idea of the great possibilities of South¬ 
ern soil? The car window ought to be 
the best medium for advertising the 
evident advantages of the South. The 
railroads might take advantage of this 
by cultivating strips of land along the 
track. We should think the experiment 
stations or agricultural departments 
could take a hand in this. Strips of 
improved land, showing what can be 
done with clover, cow peas, vetch and 
other legumes right alongside the rail¬ 
road would attract great attention and 
impress many a traveler who at present 
can see nothing but poor farming. If 
the South wants to attract new farmers 
this is one good way to interest them. 
CHEAP PLAN FOR STARTING TREES. 
O. T., Congress Heights , D. C .—I have 
l about 50 acres of woodland, and would like 
to have 25 or 30 acres of it planted to 
apple trees. The cost of pulling the stumps 
and getting this land ready for planting 
would be about $35 to $50 an acre. I am 
not able to bear this cost at this time. 
My idea is this; to sell all the marketable 
timber off. The remainder of the wood I 
think I can get cut and hauled off and 
the brush piled for nothing. Then burn 
the brush and the land will be clear, ex¬ 
cepting the stumps. Then plant to apple 
trees without attempting to plow, and 
would “shank” the suckers off these stumps 
twice a year, once in July and again dur¬ 
ing the Winter. I think in four or five 
coma c thes * e u stum P s would die out so I 
Wti,scratch through with a plow. Dur- 
mii,nii flrs J fow y° ai 's I would follow the 
ainnnri ; n f 0thod ’ kee P in £ the trees dug 
aiound if necessary. I think if our New 
England friends with their rocky ground 
and steep hillsides can grow trees that 
way, why should not I ? I understand 
they have much land they cannot plow, and 
stones so thick one can walk on them 
without touching land for rods at a time. 
I think it womd cost from $2 to $5 an 
acre each year to keep the bushes cleared 
off. This land is mostly level high land, 
an excellent soil, mostly clay loam, in¬ 
clined to be sandy in some places. I am 
sure apple trees would grow fast and 
should be vigorous and healthy. I would 
like you to put this letter before the 
readers of The II. N.-Y. so I can get the 
general opinion as to the practicability of 
this plan. 
Ans. —The plan proposed might be a 
very good one, but I have serious doubts 
of it. It would seem to me far better 
first to clear a part of land well and 
cultivate after planting the trees. A 
small orchard well put in on ground 
that is in such shape that it could be 
thoroughly tilled would be worth much 
more than a big one that could not be 
well cared for. If the stumps are left to 
rot out they will be a long time about 
it, especially the chestnut and oak 
stumps. They are always in the way 
of using the modern implements, which 
are the cheapest ones to use. Next to 
clearing the land perfectly before start¬ 
ing to plant a tree would be to clear off 
all the tops and brush, plow the ground 
among the stumps, plant the trees and 
put .corn or potatoes in the spaces be¬ 
tween them and cultivate all perfectly. 
This will give the trees a good chance 
to grow and the crop will pay for the 
work. To keep down the sprouts, brush, 
weeds, etc., with the hoe and • scythe 
would be a lot of work, and nothing 
could come back from the ground in 
return for the labor, only the growth 
of the trees. They would grow just as 
well with the tillage, or perhaps better,: 
and the ground would be in far better 
condition. The plan of mulching the 
trees with the weeds and other trash 
might work quite well, but in case of 
very dry spells they would likely suffer. 
In moist soils of a clayey nature and 
in a cool climate this would be far more 
likely to succeed than in sandy land 
and in the climate of the District of 
Columbia, where the Summers are al¬ 
ways hot and sometimes very dry. A 
small plot might be tried as a test. 
H. F.. VAN DEMAN. 
When you write advertisers mention The 
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