THE RURAIi NEW-V ORKER 
32 
January 13, 
SOME ILLINOIS CORN HUSKERS. 
Everyone knows what a hustling, ag¬ 
gressive, devoted set of workers consti¬ 
tutes the ladies’ aid society of the aver¬ 
age church, either in a small or large 
town. Much of the improvement in 
either building or furnishing is owing to 
the untiring efforts of the female part of 
the membership. They are always study¬ 
ing up some good thing to do, and then 
planning a way to secure the means for 
carrying out their project. They are 
the “live wire” in the church. Henry 
Rail, a good brother in the Methodist 
Episcopal Church here, who lives 2^4 
miles out of town, offered the ladies a 
load of corn—all they could put on the 
wagon—if they would go out there and 
gather it themselves. They accepted the 
offer promptly and eagerly. Ten 
women were on hand at the appointed 
hour (12 o’clock). Bob Gray furnished 
team and wagon, and gallantly offered 
his services as driver. By 1 o’clock 
they were in the field, and moving down 
corn rows just a quarter of a mile long. 
How the ears did fly! Bob had put on 
an extra high “bat board,” but neverthe¬ 
less a good many ears went clean over 
the top. A good brother who had been 
privileged to go along was drafted in 
to pick up the ears that missed the 
wagon. He was about the busiest per¬ 
son in the field. The driver got out on 
the foot rest of the wagon box to 
escape the fusillade, and was in terror 
all the time of being hit by the big eaj;s 
that rattled against the side-boards like 
hail. As the load was built up, some 
of the boards that constituted the “bat 
board” were transferred to the other 
side of the box, and the big pile of white 
corn went higher and higher. At four 
o’clock—just three hours after the work 
commenced—they pulled to the house, 
and the photographer who had begged 
.to be allowed to go with them, took a 
snapshot at the bunch of tired workers 
and the result of their labor. Then they 
went in to the fine lunch Mrs. Ran had 
prepared, and which was very pleasant 
to appetites made keen by the bracing 
November air and the exercise among 
the rattling stalks. 
What is your guess as to the number 
of bushels in that load, seen in Fig. 13, 
page 27? Just 79 bushels, as weighed 
over the scales of one of our dealers, 
who allowed them 70 pounds to the 
bushel, and bought the corn at the mar¬ 
ket price. Illinois farmer. 
Macon Co., Ill. 
considerably lighter. After the potatoes 
were dug I again asked the farmer if those 
two acres were different from - the rest. He 
said he had got about 40 barrels more from 
those two acres than ho had from the two 
acres next to them. The soil was prac¬ 
tically the same. As the price at the time 
those potaoes were sold was .$2.50 per bar¬ 
rel or better, the value of the crop of the 
two acres had been increased about $100, 
by spending $4.40 for the Crimson clover, 
which was 40 cents more than wheat would 
have cost. T do not know what would have 
been the result with anyone else, or on any 
other field. But I thought I got some 
valuable information by the experiment. 
Monmouth Co., N. J. b. c. taylor. 
FERTILITY IN WASTES. 
PART II. 
Boxes. —Every year we have at least 500 
questions about bones and bone fertilizers. 
In many neighborhoods it is possible to ob¬ 
tain large quantities of waste bones at a 
low price. As a boy the writer lived on a 
New England farm at the time when bone 
was coming into use as a fertilizer. It was 
then thought a sin to let a bone remain 
above ground. Boys hunted for them and 
sold what they could find at a good figure. 
Keep the following table for reference: 
Pounds 
in One Ton. 
Raw ground bone. 
Nitrogen 
Phos. acid 
. 70 
500 
Fresh out bone ... 
. 60 
320 
Fish bone . 
450 
Bone ash . 
700 
Bone black . 
600 
Bone dust . 
350 
You notice first that bones contain no 
potash and of course bone ash which is 
burnt bone, has no nitrogen. The problem 
with the bone supply on the farm is to 
crush them as fine as possible; The manu¬ 
facturers do this by means of powerful 
machinery and by the use of sulphuric acid. 
The farmer has no such machinery and we 
would not advise the use of acid on the 
farm. In some cases the farmers pile the 
bones with wood and burn. This gives 
bone ash, but all the nitrogen is lost. In 
a ton this amounts to $10 or more loss. If 
there is a steam boiler a stout tank can be 
made for steaming the bones. This will 
take out the grease and leave them softer, 
so they will smash up quite easily. If 
there is no bone mill handy the bones can 
be packed in layers of wood ashes. A 
barrel or box is used for this. First a 
layer of ashes, then one of bone, then an¬ 
other of ashes and so on to the top. The 
whole mass should be kept moist. Liquid 
manure is good for this, or‘chamber slops. 
In about three months the bones will be 
softened so they can be smashed up. As 
will be seen, some substance containing 
potash should be used with bones and on the 
average farm wood ashes serves this p’ur- 
pose well. 
Fish Waste. —At many places along 
the shore or near lakes it is possible to 
obtain fish or waste from fish cleaning. Here 
are average analyses : 
Nitrogen Phos. Acid 
Dry ground fish . 160 170 
Fish (under 40% water) . . 120 140 
Fish (over 40% water) .. 100 100 
Fish bone . 80 450 
Economical Experience with Clover Seed. 
During the Summer of 1910 Crimson 
clover became scarce, and the price high, 
so high that many of my farmer neighbors 
decided that they could not afford to use it 
for a cover crop on fields where they in¬ 
tended to plant potatoes this Spring. My 
farm is leased to a tenant. We had one 
field of 12 acres in potatoes. This had 
been preceded by a crop of corn in 1909, 
and Crimson clover had been sown in the 
corn during the Summer. The season, how¬ 
ever, was hot and dry, and the clover did 
not do well. We expected to put potatoes 
on the field again this Spring, and I was 
anxious to improve the condition of the 
soil. As - wheat was worth $1 a bushel, 
and two bushels were needed to the acre 
for a cover crop, and as I could get the 
Crimson clover seed for 11 cents per pound, 
though I could not get much, I decided to 
put clover on two acres .and wheat on the 
rest. I sowed only 20 pounds to the acre, 
and the seed for the two acres cost me 
$4.40. 
The clover was not sown till the 22d of 
August, and while it stood thick enough, 
it did not make a very largo growth during 
the Autumn. I did not see it this Spring, 
but my farmer said it got to be quite a 
good size before it was plowed under. Dur¬ 
ing this season’s growth, I asked him if he 
could notice any difference in the size 
of the potato -Anes where the clover was 
and where the wheat had been sown. He 
told me the vines were better on the two 
acres. I thought the extra growth might 
all be in the vines. An experienced farmer 
told me he would not use the clover at all 
on his farm, as it made big vines and no 
tubers. From this field in 1910 we had got 
nearly 100 barrels to the acre. This year 
the crop throughout the whole section was 
Here again we see there is no potash. 
Fish waste of this sort decays rapidly, and 
is very offensive to handle. It is some¬ 
times hauled and spread in front of the 
plow and turned under at once, but is apt 
to sour the land. The best plan is to dust 
it thickly with land plaster and use it in 
a compost with manure, muck or any or¬ 
ganic matter. It will decay rapidly, and 
in a compost heap give good value. Use 
potash of some sort with it. There are 
many places where fish waste will prove a 
very cheap source of nitrogen if handled as 
mentioned. 
Mock or Peat.— By this is meant the 
dark or black soil found in swamps or low 
places—such as old pond holes or pockets. 
It is the decayed refuse of leaves and 
coarse grasses or bushes. Thus it is not 
unlike manure in composition except that 
much of the potash and phosphoric acid 
have been leached away. While the nitro¬ 
gen in manure is more or less available 
that in the muck or peat is sour and inert. 
It must be fermented or “chemically 
cooked” before it is worth much as plant 
food. Therefore active lime is the first 
thing to be thought of in connection with 
muck. The stuff varies greatly. For ex¬ 
ample 62 samples recorded at the Massa¬ 
chusetts Station ran from ..19 to 2.10 per 
cent of nitrogen—one being over 10 times 
as rich as the other. The following are 
average analyses from Massachusetts : 
Muck (dry) 
Muck (wet) 
Feat ashes 
Mud . 
Mussel mud 
Turf . 
Wood mold 
Pounds Per Ton. 
Nitrogen. P. Acid. Potash. 
. 18 6 
. 10 1 1 
. 0 14 6 
. 6 1 3 
(dry).. 14 7 
. 38 .. 1 
. 77 1 
This mud was scraped from the bottom 
of a pond. The “turf” represents sod used 
in a compost. The roots in it provided 
the nitrogen. The wood mold is the black 
stuff scraped up in woods representing de¬ 
cayed leaves and sticks. 
You will see that all these things are 
weak in potash and phosphoric acid. In 
spite of the reputation some of them have 
there is not much plant food value to 
them. They are mostly so sour that di¬ 
rect application of large quantities would 
do the soil more harm than good. They 
should be mixed with lime before using. 
Dry muck is a fine absorbent for the 
stables and should be used freely for that 
purpose. The best way to use muck is to 
haul it out six months before using and 
pile it in a dry plaee. For each load scat¬ 
ter at least 200 pounds of air-slaked lime 
over the pile—which should be eight feet 
wide, about four high and as long as 
needed. Drive over the pile, dump out and 
spread and scatter on the lime. Fork it 
over in about three months and in three 
months more you will have material con¬ 
taining available nitrogen. You should use 
potash and phosphoric acid with it. We 
are not enthusiastic over the use of muck 
on the farm except where labor is cheap 
and plant food high. You will often see 
statements about the use of peat for fuel. 
In Europe some progress has been made 
with this, but in this country there is 
little to it thus far. 
Rural New-Yorker No. 1 Potato. 
We have a man in our country selling a 
potato he- says is called the Rural New- 
lorker No. 1. Is there a potato of this 
name? I have had the Rural New-Yorker 
No. 2 and want to find out if there is a 
Rural New-Yorker No. 1 or not. c. w. 
We do not know of any such potato. Mr. 
Carman, who originated this group of va¬ 
rieties, called them Carman No. 1, R. N.-Y. 
No. 2. Carman No. 3 and Sir Walter 
Raleigh. This man may have named a po¬ 
tato as he states, but it is not one of the 
famous old group. 
That Storage Building. 
I notice an article by D. A. Clapp on 
page 1195 about frost-proof farm storage. 
About 13 years ago I built a cellar pur¬ 
posely for keeping potatoes, and if Mr. 
Clapp puts a lath and plaster ceiling in 
his cellar I fear he will make a mistake; 
so much moisture will gather (or condense) 
on the ceiling that the lath will likely rot 
and let the whole ceiling drop in a few 
years. Ours is ceiled on the under side 
of the six-inch joists with flooring, and 
filled between the joists with sawdust, and 
a year ago we put on the third ceiling. 
High-priced lumber and the work added 
make that kind of a cellar expensive. It 
seems to me that when first building a re¬ 
inforced concrete coiling would be the best 
and cheapest in the long run. L. c. b. 
Crown Point. Ind. 
Top-Working on Kieffer. 
J. P. n., Griesemerville, J’a .—I have 
some Kieffer pear trees four and five years 
old, which I would like to top-work with 
some other good variety. Will you tell me 
what varieties will do well on Kieffer 
stocks? I have tried the Bartlett on sev¬ 
eral trees, and found that they s do not do 
well. 
Axs.—Kieffer pear trees are not good 
stocks on which to graft other varieties, 
except those of the Oriental class, such as 
Garber. It has often been tried with 
Bartlett and other varieties of the ordinary 
elass, and has not worked well. It would 
be well to make the most of the Kieffer 
trees as they now are and plant other pear 
trees between them with the intention of 
cutting out the old trees in due time. 
H. E. VAN DEMAN. 
The Illinois State Entomologist gives the 
following facts regarding Fall and Winter 
measures that may be taken in dealing 
with this serious pest. The chinch-bugs 
are now in Winter quarters and full grown. 
They are hidden in the roots of grass 
clumps, and sometimes several hundred can 
be found in bunches of briers and leaves 
under sticks and in any other sheltered 
place. Large numbers may now be de¬ 
stroyed by burning over bare fields and 
raking up rubbish that harbors them. Even 
though the insects are not all burned, the 
majority will die if their protection is re¬ 
moved in cold weather. Here is an oppor¬ 
tunity for the farmers of a section where 
the cliinch-bug has been in evidence the 
past season to get together and do a thor¬ 
ough job. If only here and there a farmer 
clears them out the work will not amount 
to much, as his neighbors will keep over 
enough to infest the whole district, hut by 
concerted work a great saving in next year’s 
crops may be made. 
---- 
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