1911. 
the RURAt NEW-VOKKKR 
801 
LATE SEEDING ALFALFA OR VETCH. 
A. It., Waukesha, Wis .—I have six acres 
of Alfalfa badly choked out with June 
grass so must seed a*new piece this year, 
as we depend upon this crop in our soiling 
system. If corn were cut in September, 
ground plowed at once and seeded to Al¬ 
falfa alone, would there be any results? If 
this plan cannot be used on Alfalfa could 
the same plan be used for vetch and rye, 
to be cut in the Spring for hay or silo, 
and followed at once with Alfalfa and nurse 
crop? We would seed between corn rows 
now but the corn ground I have in mind 
has such tall corn on it now that the horse, 
in cultivating, would destroy a good portion 
of the field. 
Ans. —Our judgment is that Alfalfa 
seeded so late in your latitude will fail. 
We think it would some up, grow 
through the Fall and be killed out in 
Winter. It would also be a gamble with 
the vetch. Late August should be your 
season for that crop. It would be a fair 
thing to try the vetch and rye, but the 
chances are against a stand that will 
satisfy you. Both wheat and rye can 
be seeded for a soiling crop next Spring. 
Of course wheat is best. 
“GUINEA PIGS AS LAWN MOWERS”. 
Consul Taylor of Nottingham, England, 
mentions an experiment in using guinea 
pigs for clipping a lawn. “Around the 
lawn is arranged a low wire barrier, and 
into the inclosure are turned a number of 
guinea pigs; or better, a passage is made 
from their hutch to the lawn. The animals 
at once attack all the worst weeds—the 
plantains first, then the dandelions and 
daisies. These broad-leaved plants, which 
ho mowing machine will touch, are killed 
by the persistent cutting of the guinea 
pigs’ teeth. When they have finished the 
weeds, which are broad-leaved and succu¬ 
lent, they proceed to the grass. In a short 
time the lawn looks as if it had been cut 
by the closest machine. The persistent cut¬ 
ting of the leaves kills the weeds, which 
can stand almost any other treatment, but 
does no harm to the grass. One lawn, for¬ 
merly a mass of weeds, has been made to 
grow nothing but the finer grasses. An¬ 
other is still under process of treatment. 
The half of it in which the guinea pigs 
were first set to work has been cut quite 
even and very close. For golfing it is as 
fast again as it was under the administra¬ 
tion of the mowing machine, and not a 
weed is visible. The other half, where the 
animals have just been turned loose, is a 
mass of dandelions.” 
Now then, take this for what it is worth. 
Do not rush into raising living lawn 
mowers as a get rich scheme! 
THE CONSUMER’S DOLLAR. 
If the many farmers knew what we have 
to pay for produce up along Amsterdam 
avenue we think some of them would tell 
you you were giving them “taffy18 cents 
for potatoes, 15 to 25 cents for asparagus, 
when we are flush, even a cabbage head, five 
to 10 cents, and everything in proportion. 
New York. c. H. cox. 
I am enclosing sales bill from a New York 
commission house which will show how little 
the producer gets of consumer’s dollar. I 
have helped make and handle quite a lot 
of maple sugar and syrup, and know what 
is good and what isn’t. Twelve cans of this 
syrup were first-class goods and will not re¬ 
tail for less than .$1.25; in New York City, 
I presume it will go $1.40 per gallon or 
higher. I think the lot of 24 gallons would 
probably average to retail for $1.25 per gal¬ 
lon or a total of $80. I get 57 7-12 cents 
per gallon, or a total of $13.82; the other 
fellows get $10.18, taking out freight and 
commission, $1.78, leaves the retailer $15.40 
for his part, or 64 1-6 cents per gallon profit. 
Following is sales account:. 
2 crates syrup- 
12 cans at 70 cents. $8.40 
12 cans at 60 cents. 7.20 
$15.60 
Fr’t and cartage ... $1.00 
Commission.78 
- 1.78 
$1.78- 
$13.82 
Market glutted. 
Vermont. L. E. 0. 
Stuffing Soil with Humus. 
I have a piece of sandy loam which has 
been manured sparingly for a number of 
years, but is still very deficient in humus 
on account of manure not being available 
to give it the heavy dressings which it 
seems to require. Would you tell me how, 
beginning this Fall, I can put a large 
amount of humus into it by plowing under 
green crops? It is very doubtful if a good 
stand of clover could be started. Land is 
now in potatoes and corn, which look excep¬ 
tionally fine, the season so far having been 
favorable, I would be willing to let the 
land lie idle next year so far as paying 
crops are concerned if by so doing I can 
get the land full of humus for a crop the 
following year. A. c. M. 
Wisconsin. 
We are not so sure about suitable crops 
for Wisconsin, but in New York or New 
Jersey we should sow rye and Hairy vetch 
this late Summer or Fall at the last work¬ 
ing of the corn. After the potatoes are 
dug we should seed rye alone. Plow this 
crop under next Spring and sow oats and 
Canada peas. With us this crop can be 
plowed under early in July, the ground 
worked up and Japanese millet seeded. This 
In turn goes under by September and rye 
seeded again. Buckwheat may be used in¬ 
stead of millet, but the latter will make a 
heavier growth. Y'ou must remember that 
all this green stuff going into the ground 
will ferment and make the soil sour. You 
should use at least one ton of lime per acre 
to overcome this. 
Avoiding Spraying Troubles , 
A fortnight since I noted In reading 
The It. N.-Y., the trouble one man had in 
spraying arsenate of lead mixed with lime- 
sulphur as a Summer spray. Spraying as 
the petals were falling we had much dif¬ 
ficulty also. But in spraying three weeks 
since, all trouble was avoided by thoroughly 
agitating dilute lime-sulphur before adding 
the thoroughly stirred arsenate of lead 
paste, and then continuously agitating. 
Pump worked finely, with no clogging, and 
pumped the tank out clean. A beginner 
should be thoroughly informed of this point, 
as it will save him many hard thoughts (if 
not words) later on. J. R. s. 
Sweet Potato Rooting; Seared Corn. 
1. Should sweet potato vines be al¬ 
lowed to take root in the soil ? 2. The 
top leaves of some cornstalks dry up like 
those of a mature stalk in September. We 
find this in perhaps one out of 50 stalks. 
Is the extremely hot weather the cause 
of it? d. R. 
1. Yes, let them run and root as they 
please. It will do more harm to tear them 
loose than to let them alone. 2. Doubtless 
it is the drought and heat that causes the 
upper leaves of the corn to wither. Down 
here they are all withering, as we have had 
a drought since the middle of April, still 
unbroken. Where the withering is only here 
and there it may have been caused by too 
deep cultivation cutting the roots. 
w. F. MASSEY. 
NOTES AND COMMENTS. 
Vetch. —Whether vetch is tares or not, 
I think it is a plant to be avoided by 
wheat growers, for it is certain to reseed 
the land, and will appear in the wheatfield, 
and the seeds are hard to separate from 
the wheat. Hence it may well have been 
the tares which the enemy sowed in the 
farmer’s wheat that we read about in the 
Bible. 
Camphor Trees. —Noting what Mr. Per¬ 
kins says, page 769, I would say that the 
camphor tree is far more hardy than is 
genex-ally supposed. I have seen fine cam¬ 
phor trees at Jasper in the extreme north 
Florida, which have never been injured by 
frost. In Greenville, Pitt Co., N. C., there 
is a camphor tree many years old, which 
has been repeatedly frozen back some in 
hard Winter, but always sprouts again, and 
as such growth is valuable for camphor 
making it is evident that a large part of 
the southern coast could produce camphor. 
Sawdust. —It is hard for me to under¬ 
stand why so many people want to utilize 
sawdust heaps. I have found that stable 
manure where sawdust has been used for 
bedding is vastly inferior for use to ma¬ 
nure made from straw bedding. In fact 
the results from such manure were such 
that I did not want any more of it. Or¬ 
dinary pine sawdust in fresh state sours 
the soil and does far more harm than 
good, and even old black rotten sawdust 
should not be used until it. has been com¬ 
posted with lime over Winter. 
Clothing. —When one has a suit of 
clothes made to order he must pay from 
$35 to $50 for a decently made suit. It 
seems then to be no wonder that late in 
the season the retail clothing stores cut 
their prices for ready-made suits so greatly, 
since it is evident that they still have a 
good profit left, and this is the. reason 
why so many clothing stores flourish and 
their owners grow rich. The actual value 
of the goods in a $50 made-to-order suit 
bear a very small proportion to the price 
of the suit. All-wool ready-made suits are 
as scarce as hen’s teetcli. w. v. m. 
Dumping Loads of Hay. —In regard to 
the inquirer in Connecticut putting in a hay 
fork and track, I think that if he could 
build a barn like a large number which have 
been built in northern Vermont he would 
be better satisfied than he would be with 
a horsefork. The plan is to build near an 
elevator so that a wharfing and bridge may 
be built and drive in as near the shingles 
as possible. The hay then is pitched or 
rolled off into the bays. There is often a 
bent on one side floored over so that the 
wagon may be backed into it, the horses 
swung around and driven out of the same 
door that they came in. Where there is 
grain raised on the farm there might be a 
granary built under the lloor and grain 
emptied into it from the machine when 
thrashing. Where a barn is built on level 
ground it would require a longer drive to 
get in the top or the unloading floor might 
be built lower. I have known a man to 
go into such a barn alone with a big load 
of hay and unload it quicker than could be 
done with a fork. geo. h. white. 
Northern Vermont. 
Fish Pond and Power. —Consul Greene, 
who writes from Bermuda, describes a new 
scheme for utilizing the ocean water. A 
large pond is to be prepared connecting with 
the ocean by a single narrow opening. This 
pond covers about live square miles. A sill 
or wall of concrete Is built across the chan¬ 
nel leading to the ocean, and a screen is to 
be fixed so that fish cannot get back away 
from the pond. The salt water will be ad¬ 
mitted and the pond supplied with young 
fish. There will thus be formed a preserve 
with every variety of game fish known in 
that locality. It is expected that this will 
prove an additional attraction to Winter 
visitors of tourists who are fond of fishing 
but do not care to risk themselves on the 
ocean away from the island. It has also 
been suggested that a very thick wall of 
cement or two walls could be prepared with 
gates so as to use the ebb and flow of the 
tide for power purposes. The tide can be 
admitted through one opening by arrang¬ 
ing a series of gates so as to let water 
enough in to turn a large turbine wheel. 
When the tide reaches its flood and begins 
to ebb this opening can be closed and an¬ 
other gate opened so as to permit the water 
in the pond to flow out as the ocean re¬ 
cedes. This water in its turn would pass 
through another turbine mill with screens 
at the opening to the pond, so as to hold the 
fish back and prevent their escape. 
46 Bushels and 10 Ounces Per Acre 
The Straw Weighed 40,230 Pounds 
Our business fs^growing wheat tor seed. We have varieties that 
greatly outyield the. common sorts. We grow upon a large 
scale. Clean and grade with the best equipment. Sell direct to 
We are so confi¬ 
dent of the 
ity of the wheat 
we ship that A we 
invite customers to return 
it‘and pay their money back with 
round-trip freight—if upon its arrival they findjt 
other than first-class, . (The customer to be the judge.) In 
this small spaceTwe can only hint of the help we can give to 
progressive wheat growers. 
OUR SEED WHEAT CATALOG FOR 1911 
now ready, is an authority on wheat^arieties.^ It contains photographs'—* 
not drawings—of big crops we have grown. It points the way for better? 
things in wheat culture. It is Free. Ask for it in time. 
A. H. HOFFMAN. BAMFORD, LANCASTER CO- PA. 
THESE WHEAT HEADS 
are from an actual photograph..See how compactly the spikelets of grains 
—four abreast—are arranged. From 10^Acres and 69 / 5^5 Perchea of 
this wheat on our farm we secured a yield of*480. Bushels and 9 Pounds. 
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Irvine Street Warren,Pa. 
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