1911. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKEiJ 
435 
farm $45.70. It was proposed to use 
four tons of carbonate of lime per acre. 
This is the ground limestone. This 
lime costs at the quarry $1.75 per ton. 
The freight on each ton from the quarry 
to Long Island is $2.89 for each ton, so 
that a ton costs delivered at the station 
$4.64, or $18.56 per acre for the lime and 
$185.60 for the field. It was proposed 
to use on the 10 acres eight, tons of 
basic slag. This costs $16 a ton in New 
York, and the freight $2.20 more, or 
$18.20 a ton each, and eight tons on the 
10 acres costs $145.60. We have, there¬ 
fore, the following table to show the cost 
AN OHIO FARM BOY AND HIS FRIENDS. Fig. 146. 
falfa so as to sell it at a profit of $9 
or $10 a ton will wonder why these Long 
Island farmers do not move out West, 
where most of these expenses might be 
avoided. The answer will be the same 
as most usually given in such cases; 
“There is no place like home.” 
Ball Game for the Peach Crop. 
The peach situation in Texas is pretty 
much like a game of baseball, with the crop 
on one side and “favorable conditions” on 
the opposing side. The bloom has reached 
first base safely, but the crop has three 
more bases to run before it gets homo, if 
the shouts of the rooters are to ring out 
INTERESTING THE BOY. 
In every issue of The R. N.-Y. we try 
to say something about Alfalfa and par¬ 
cels post. These are to have a mighty 
influence upon the future of , this coun¬ 
try. We must remember, too, that the 
future which we refer to rests in the 
hands of the children. Whatever we 
can leave behind us will be made worth 
while, if at all, by the little ones— 
now gaining their first views and im¬ 
pressions of life. We do not therefore 
like to have an issue of The R. N.-Y. 
appear which does not contain some ref¬ 
erence to the children. The Ohio boy in 
the picture is being started right. As 
long as he lives he will remember the 
farm and the wholesome work he 
did to make it worth living on. No 
finer thing can be done in the country 
than to give a lot of children a happy 
childhood and a clean, industrious and 
hopeful view of life. Where can you 
do it to better advantage than among 
growing things—plants and animals? 
COST OF TEN ACRES IN ALFALFA. 
Much has been said now about grow¬ 
ing Alfalfa in the East. Farmers must 
realize that this is an expensive crop to 
get going on many of our farms. Of 
course there are soils where Alfalfa 
easily fits in and where it is compara¬ 
tively easy to start the crop. Often, 
however, these locations are not the 
places where Alfalfa is most needed, 
and it seems to be true that where one 
starts in to fit Alfalfa into a farm where 
it would do the most good he must ex¬ 
pect to pay the full price. For example, 
we have the figures showing the cost of 
starting 10 acres of Alfalfa at the west 
end of Long Island, where this crop 
ought to be most useful for feeding 
cattle. Here are the figures as worked 
out by a farmer: 
On this land corn was grown last 
year and it has been well manured this 
Spring. To seed the 10 acres there will 
be required 20 pounds of Alfalfa seed 
per acre at 15 cents a pound. This 
means $30 for the field. One bushel per 
acre of the beardless barley is recom¬ 
mended by the Alfalfa experts, which 
will cost $1.25 per acre, or $12.50 for 
the field. The freight on the above 
amounts to $3.20, which makes the cost 
of seed delivered at the Long Island 
of seed, lime and phosphate for a 10-acre 
field: 
Seed ..$45.70 
Lime .185.60 
Phosphate .145.60 
Total ......$376.90 
Out of this total of $376.90 must come 
$140.40 for freight, and yet this Long 
Island field is located only 20 miles from 
New York City. Some of our Alfalfa 
farmers in. the West will smile at these 
figures, and think them all out of pro¬ 
portion, yet the figures are exact and 
show to a cent the cost of preparing this 
land in order to follow out the advice of 
the Alfalfa experts. Some of the West¬ 
ern farmers who are able to grow Al¬ 
at harvest. In our little simile the ball will 
represent our spirits, soaring with a fly-ball, 
firm with a liner and drooping with a 
grounder, and which when batted about 
will mean some severe jolts, but it is made 
to last through the game, and as it lands 
safely in a pla.ver‘s hands the impact is 
mild, when patience is exercised. There 
will be no unfair decisions in this game 
that can be ascribed to “bad luck,” for our 
good umpire’s word is final. If the coachor, 
whom we will call Old Boreas—the heating 
pot—can rattle and baffle the pitcher, who 
is .Tack Frost of old-time fame, the crop can 
steal second base shortly, and the shouts 
of the rooters in the form of little 
peaches will burst forth ; then, • if the 
batter can succeed in getting to first on 
balls, a good deal of time will be gained 
for the crop to steal into third base safely, 
provided the runner has been properly 
trained—pruned and fertilized—and the 
short-stop doesn’t trim him up on the run 
and see-saw him for a few anxious moment? 
between an April cold snap and favorabh 
April showers. The run to home will b> 
the hard final battle. Drought or hail, o: 
unseasonable weather in the shape of a 
“strike-out,” or insects or disease, or care¬ 
less cultivation and spraying in the shape 
of reckless base-running, or an alert catch¬ 
er on to his job may mean a “put-out,” 
while the improper marketing may mean 
“side-out” before our runner reaches home 
I do not expect that the batters will make 
any “home runs,” for it’s too early in the 
game; the sides are evenly matched now, 
and it is likely with a cold, late and wet 
Spring the game will be unduly prolonged 
and the spectators, who are peach-eaters, 
kept at the point of anxiety until about the 
seventh inning, which the almanac says will 
occur in June. In the interim, if the play¬ 
ers are careful, we will have just “ordinary 
ball.” After then the chances are the op¬ 
posing side will lose interest in the game 
and the encouragement of the grand-stand, 
who eat peaches, will do much towards add¬ 
ing to our final victory. But it will be an 
interesting game. victor labadie. 
Texas. 
Lime and Potatoes. 
On page 186, under heading of “A Dis¬ 
cussion of Lime,” you say : “Much will de¬ 
pend on the crops you grow. If it be 
potatoes the annual use of lime will cause 
too much scab.” Ought lime to be used 
at all on new land where potatoes are to 
be raised? We bought a farm last Novem¬ 
ber and plowed at that time 10 acres of 
new land (worthless mowing land) which 
we propose to plant to potatoes. It is 
hard clay land which has probably not 
been plowed in 20 years, and gives evi¬ 
dence of being very sour. We proposed 
putting on stable manure and 1,000 pounds 
of air-slaked or burned lime to the acre, 
and then use a good grade of commercial 
fertilizer in the hill. f. s. s. 
Rhode Island. 
Wo would not use lime anywhere when 
potatoes are to be planted. Some few re¬ 
ports indicate no trouble from scab, but 
our general advice is keep lime away from 
potatoes. 
Flax Diseases. —The failure of the flax 
crop in the Northwest is a serious thing to 
many industries, as the oil is used for 
making many articles. The flax crop failed 
because attacked by root diseases. The 
North Dakota Experiment Station has found 
that the spraying of the seed with formalde¬ 
hyde will largely destroy the germs of this 
disease, and they are going at it in the most 
practical way to induce farmers to use the 
remedy. Among other things a circular has 
been issued entitled “Who Could Help Save 
the Flax Crop of the Northwest?” It is 
said that 30,000,000 bushels of seed can be 
used to advantage next year, and that every¬ 
one in North Dakota should help save the 
crop, from the seedsmen to the newspapers. 
All should tell the story of spraying the 
seed with formaldehyde, and how to do it 
to the best advantage. Linseed oil is used 
in making paint, oil-clotli, printer’s ink and 
dozens of other necessary things, and this 
wholesale plan of education is commendable, 
and only one of many practical things which 
the North Dakota people are doing. 
Corn Grown at 
Spartanburg, 
South Carolina, 
on Ground Blasted 
with 
IMS 
RED CROSS 
DYNAMITE 
Yield Increased 33% 
Reference—Col. E. J. Watson 
U. S. Commissioner of Agriculture 
Columbia, S. C. 
Write for “Farmer’s Handbook ”—Free 
E. I. DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
POWDER CO. 
Established 1802 WILMINGTON, DEL., U. S. A. 
