306 
THE RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
March 11, 
EXPERIENCES WITH THE USE OF HAIRY 
VETCH FOR COVER CROPS. 
Vicia Villosa as a Cover Crop for Tobacco Lands. 
( Continued, from page 226) 
ADVANTAGES OF VETCH COVER CROP.— 
There are several important known advantages of the 
use of cover crops for tobacco and corn lands, among 
which might be mentioned the following: Prevention 
of soil waste. In open unprotected fields, or locations 
on slopes or hillsides, the vetch crop holds the soil and 
protects it against washing in floods, or from drifting 
in dry weather; increase of the water-holding capacity 
of the soil. The rains and melting snows follow down 
the root system of the living vetch plants, instead 
of running off the sifrface of the soil; improving soil 
tilth, the soils where vetch crops have been plowed 
under are more mellow than similar land where vetch 
or other legume has not been grown, and is in better 
condition for the cultivation of other crops; it has 
more “life” as it is sometimes termed; it is now the 
opinion of competent authorities that the growing of 
legume cover crops, and their incorporation into the 
soil improves the condition of the soil for the action 
of favorable bacteria; the plowing under of the mass 
of vegetation adds to the humus content of the soil; 
and through the nodules that develop so freely in the 
vast root system of this crop, nitrogen, the most costly 
of plant foods, is trapped and added to the soil’s 
plant food supply. How much nitrogen is thus added 
to the soil is not definitely known, although experi¬ 
ments have shown that in some cases it amounts to 
about one hundred pounds per acre. 
OTHER USES FOR VETCH.—In the course of 
plant breeding vvork in Southern California, the 
writer has recently come in contact with the extensive 
use of vetch for cover crops in Citrus orchards. In 
this semi-tropical region, the Summer vetch, Vicia 
sativa, is used, although Vicia villosa has been tried 
with good results. Thousands of acres of orange and 
lemon groves are now annually seeded to this vetch, 
which is allowed to grow as long as possible, then is 
plowed under. Some of the most- extensive and suc¬ 
cessful Citrus growers depend on the vetch crop sole¬ 
ly for their supply of nitrogen to be added to the 
groves for fertilizer. They have stated to the writer 
that this method gives them better results than the old 
method of using commercial fertilizer for nitrogen, 
and with a mere fraction of the expense. One leading 
Citrus grower estimates his saving, from the use of 
vetch cover crops, at about seventy-five thousands of 
dollars annually. Surely such a saving should compel 
the attention of every thoughtful farmer, especially 
when this grower says that his orchards are in better 
health and more productive than when he used other 
fertilizers. The use of vetch for improving the soil is 
what the writer thinks of as the natural method. There 
are many reasons for this idea, too many to be treated 
of in this brief account. Mr. J. H. Hale, the great 
peach grower of Connecticut, is experimenting with 
this crop in his peach orchards in Connecticut, with 
favorable results so far. Perhaps it may be found to 
be as useful, if not more so, in northern orchards, than 
in the case of tobacco and corn lands. No doubt 
mistakes, wrong methods, and naturally unfavorable 
conditions, will cause disappointments in some cases 
where a trial of this crop is made. There is absolutely 
no doubt, however, that the value of the vetch crop 
as a cover crop has now been sufficiently proven, so 
that its use will continue to grow, the more rapidly as 
its merits are more fully appreciated. The root de¬ 
velopment is fine and permeates the surface soil in 
infinite numbers. The tops and roots rot quickly 
when plowed under. A. d. shamee. 
U. S. Dept, of Agriculture. 
TRUTH ABOUT “BACK TO THE LAND.” 
I have wondered for some time why you did not 
ask some of us who have been “over the road” to tell 
our experience for the benefit of those who contem¬ 
plate removing from town to country. My wife and 
I have had enough in the past five years to fill a big 
book; and no doubt there are others also. At GO 
years of age my nerves warned me that I must stop 
the wear on them or they would knock me out. Our 
resources were considerable courage and lots of 
hope that $2,000 and a boy boarder for six years 
would enable us to squeeze into something on a few 
acres that would support us. City people don’t want 
to get far from a railroad, etc., so we found it im¬ 
possible with our small means to get the acres with 
buildings where we wanted it. Finally I got hold of 
a worn-out piece of six acres in a nice town, with 
no buildings or trees, or even grass. It cost $300, and 
if I had known what I now know, that land with no 
humus in it is no better than a bare rock to make a 
living from for several years, I would have left it 
alone. I had been reading farm papers for several 
years, and thought I had picked up enough of farm 
lore so I could make a success of it. But the papers 
I read had not taught me that land without humus 
is worthless until time and money puts the humus 
into it. The worst of the outlook for would-be pur¬ 
chasers now is that good land cannot be bought in 
small parcels near a town except at a long price— 
occasionally. 
For five years we have put all we could save in 
any way into this land. I notice now that it has 
need of more liming, for clover looks sickly, but it is 
much improved. As the seasons have been dry, in 
spite of all our care and fertilizing, crops have been 
very disappointing. With almost nothing to sell, and 
everything to buy, and our capital all invested, in 
buildings which we had to have, we have had a 
problem on our hands every day in the year. We 
have kept out of debt by refusing to buy when we 
did not have the cash, and cutting ourselves off from 
everything which social beings prize. We swallowed 
our pride and told a few city friends that we'could 
get a lot of good out of garments they could no/: 
appear in the streets in. We bought our groceries, 
in quantities, and saved at every possible turn, for the 
taxes are $21 per annum. I have had to work out: 
to get teamwork done, for we have no horse. I got 
a cow at one time, but found that we could not make, 
it pay, buying so much of her feed. I tell you the 
land was poor when you could not grow enough to 
feed a cow. 
The summary is, we have added five years of hard 
labor to our life and learned a lot about land and itsi 
culture, seeds, fruits, bushes and trees, also no little 
about poultry and its losses. It makes me warm when 
I read “There is money in poultry,” because not one 
in one hundred can get any money out of them on a 
village lot, unless they can invest $1,000 and have had 
ten years of experience. My health is helped, but I 
cannot work now as I did the first three years, and 
my wife feels the steady grind. If prices and our 
health stay good and the weather permits, we hope our 
land will now respond favorably this coming year, and 
we shall get on our feet. If we get another year like 
the last, and we lose our boarder, nothing will be left 
us but to sell out and eat up the proceeds, for no one 
will hire us, and children we have not. Will our place 
bring us what we have put into it in money ? I doubt 
if it will. But it may; for it is well located and has 
considerable small fruits coming forward, and I have 
put in a good deal of tile and fertility, and such places 
are very much sought. My experience says that no 
one without up-to-date knowledge of farming should 
leave the city or town for farm life unless he has an 
annuity of some sort; or a lot of energy and good 
health which he can sell to neighbors by the day, or a 
large bank account, or a rich friend to put up for him. 
VERITAS. 
PARCELS POST IN GREAT BRITAIN, 
In a recent issue you speak of the benefits of parcels 
post in England and ask “Why cannot we have parcels 
post?” We can, and will have it when the people say 
so definitely. I think there is no doubt the people of 
England are benefited by it. They also have other 
good things which we do not have in the line of public 
utilities; to wit, the telegraphs owned and operated by 
the government. It is very convenient to step into any 
post office in Great Britain, mail a letter or a large 
parcel, deposit money in the savings department, or 
send a telegram anywhere for a small charge. Bui: 
there are some things they do not have. They have 
no express companies with capital stock highly watered 
paying dividends on same, occasionally carving a melon 
in the shape of a stock dividend and then paying divi¬ 
dends on that also. In this regard they are much 
behind their cousins on this side of the Atlantic. The 
“effete old monarchy” is a little slow, you know, but 
it is careful to heed the voice of the people. The 
average Briton is a great stickler for what lie believes 
to be his rights, and while he is sometimes slow get¬ 
ting them, yet his innate tenacity enables him to hold 
on until he gets what he asks for. I think we can 
truly say that government in Great Britain to-day is 
“by the people.” I don’t think an express sompany 
on the American plan could live there one day, and it 
might be hard for the president of an express company 
to obtain a seat in Parliament. If he did, he would 
hardly dare to protect the interests of his company as 
against the wish of the people for a parcels post. There 
seems to be a fear with some lest a parcels post should 
encroach upon private interests. The sheriff en¬ 
croaches upon private interests when he arrests the 
highwayman and stops the pursuit of his business, but 
the people are benefited by it. No company, express, 
telegraph, electric, railroad, gas, water or any other 
operated for public utility should be allowed to oper¬ 
ate against the public good. The issue of stock and 
the payment of dividends thereon should be under 
government control. john stout. 
Michigan. 
SHADE TREES FOR PASTURE. 
A reader in Pennsylvania says that the scale has killed 
the apple trees, 60 in number, which were in his pasture. 
These trees gave shade for his cattle. As they are dead 
he wants to plant new ones, but does not want fruit trees 
or nut trees, as he thinks they would be too long in 
growing. What he wants is a tree of yuick growth and 
bushy habit. What kind of trees would you advise him 
to plant in that pasture? 
The most practical tree for this purpose without 
doubt is the Carolina poplar. It grows vigorously, es¬ 
pecially when young, in about all soils not too wet 
for the apple, and would likely afford shade much 
earlier than the elm or Norway maple, though at all 
times it is less attractive than these highly ornamental 
trees. The main objections to the Carolina poplar are 
the liability of damage from storms, owing to the 
quick growth and brittle nature of the wood, and the 
rather shabby decay of the foliage in Autumn. The 
habit of growth is naturally pyramidal and capacity 
for shade can greatly be increased by pruning out the 
leaders after the young trees have become well estab¬ 
lished. For best results only good nursery-grown 
trees should be set, and protection from the browsing 
and trampling of cattle should be afforded for some 
years. w. v. f. 
He will have to take into consideration the kind of 
soil, whether wet or dry, rich or poor. If the soil is 
fairly good and moist, probably the Carolina poplar 
will make a little the fastest growth of any tree he can 
plant. The poplar has the disadvantage of being 
somewhat affected by scale, and cows and horses are 
very prone to eat both leaves and bark of this tree. 
If the soil is fair the Catalpa speciosa would prob¬ 
ably come next in order of rapidity of growth, and is 
not bothered by scale, and stock will not bother the 
leaves of this tree. There seems to be something 
very offensive to both cows and horses in the leaves 
and bark of the Catalpa. The Norway maple and 
elm are both comparatively slow-growing trees, but 
are both fine trees when once grown. H. c. Rogers. 
Ohio. 
The poplar will of course grow very rapidly, most 
so of all, but when full grown you have an inferior 
wood, and it would be foolish to neglect the advan¬ 
tages that would be secured by planting such trees as 
the Black walnut, Catalpa and others of this kind that 
are valuable for timber. If it is desirable some pop¬ 
lars may be grown, but even then we would urge a 
mixture of these other sorts. The maple and elm 
are both good. The elm is of course much slower in 
growth. The maple certainly gives dense shade, and 
the pasturage would be very much reduced by such 
trees. Under walnut, grass grows clear up to the 
trunk. J. p. PIEESbury. 
Pennsylvania State College. 
SHALL IT BE HENS OR HOGS? 
I was considerably interested in a note by S. H. 
Burton, on page 197, on hens and hogs, in which he 
tries to show that hogs will make money, and chick¬ 
ens will lose it, for beginners. He buys a sow for 
$2.50, keeps her a year, sells four of her pigs for $20, 
feeding her $5 worth of corn, feeding kitchen waste, 
green corn, and pasturing her, which he evidently 
does not count as worth anything. Then he tries 
chickens, pays $6 for four bens and rooster, expends - 
$40 for house, fencing and fixtures, raises 38 pullets 
and seven cockerels, which he values at $19, about 
44 cents each, feed costing $12, and claims to be $32 
out by first of year, pullets not laying first of January. 
It is not the pullets’ fault that they were not hatched 
at the proper time or did not receive proper care, that 
they should not be laying by first of November, when 
eggs would be worth considerably more than 30 cents 
a dozen, but not considering this, figuring the same as 
Mr. Burton figures his hogs, and granting no eggs by 
first of January (and by the way, Mr. Burton must 
be an expert in picking pullets’ eggs for hatching, to 
get only seven cockerels out of 45 chickens raised), 
his outfit costs $40, interest on this investment and 
allowance for wear and tear would be about $4. 
Feed cost, $12. As Mr. Burton figures, the pigs raised 
were worth twice as much each as the sow when she 
was bought. The chickens ought easily to be worth 
on an average a dollar a head, or $45, and the old 
stock should be worth at least $5. This leaves a profit 
of $28 according to our way of figuring, and even at 
Mr. Burton’s estimate of the value of stock raised he 
is $3 ahead on his chickens. I would like to know 
how he figures out a loss of $32. I have no doubt 
that there is good money in raising pigs, for one who 
knows the business, and so is there good money in 
raising chickens under the same circumstances, and a 
beginner has just as good a chance with one as with 
the other. There has been just as large a proportion 
of failure in the hog business as there has been in 
the chicken business. Mr. Burton does not expect 
these pullets to lay over $2 worth of eggs during 
January, February and March, with eggs at 30 cents 
a dozen. If those 38 pullets could not lay over 80 
eggs in those three months, they must be pretty poor 
stock, or Mr. Burton does not know much about tak¬ 
ing care of chickens. I should expect them to lay 
around a thousand eggs in that time, as pullets hatched 
so as not to lay before the first of the year should 
lay exceptionally well for the next three months, and I 
should certainly want to know the reason why if they 
did not come up to that figure. j. e. willmarth. 
New York. 
