428 
THE RURAL* NRW-VORRER 
March 30, 
WHY SOW TIMOTHY WITH ALFALFA ? 
>7. J. Canandaigua, N. Y .—Why do they 
sow Timothy seed with Alfalfa? I see they 
nearly all do near Syracuse, but why is 
it better than seeding alone? 
Ans. — I will tell you some of the 
many reasons why we sow Timothy with 
Alfalfa: 1. We believe that Timothy 
with Alfalfa makes a better ration for 
horses than Alfalfa alone, and the mix¬ 
ture sells better on the city market. As 
the Timothy does not appear on the 
second and third cuttings, we have 
clear Alfalfa for our cattle. 2. Some 
Timothy in the first cutting helps in 
cutting and curing the naturally heavy 
crop. 3. There are in most of our 
fields some hollows where the water and 
ice will gather during the Winter and 
kill the Alfalfa, and in these spots we 
prefer a good stand of Timothy to a 
patch of weeds. I hope these points 
will help you a little. I think some of 
us sow Timothy just because we like to 
see it grow. hamlet worker. 
New York. 
PREPARING FOR PASTURE. 
J. A. S., Madi8onville, O .—I recently 
bought a piece of ground that has lain idle 
for 10 years. It was grown up to golden- 
rod and a kind of wire grass. 1 cut the 
golden-rod all off last Summer. The soil 
seems to be a yellow clay with a great 
many pebbles in it, and it is a natural 
locust land ; Blue grass takes very well in 
the low damp places. The ground slopes to 
the east. 1 wish to make this a permanent 
pasture. There is about eight acres of it. 
Can I sow anything this Spring that could 
be pastured this Summer with one horse 
and tw'o cows? 
Ans. —Perhaps this field will need 
manure and lime and some cultivation 
before it will afford good pasture all 
over. A good plan would be to prepare 
as for oats after manuring the high, 
thin portions and then to sow Kentucky 
and Canadian Blue grass, Red-top, Tim¬ 
othy, Alsike clover and perhaps Orchard 
grass. Do this late in March or in 
April. A light seeding of oats, Spring 
barley or even rye, as a nurse crop, 
might be made, which would afford some 
pasture the first Summer. Pasturing 
will do more or less harm to the young 
grass, and should be avoided if possible. 
The field may be clipped once or twice 
the first Summer and occasionally there¬ 
after to keep down the golden-rod and 
other weeds. The more one looks over 
the pastures the more one becomes cer¬ 
tain the permanent pastures must be 
fed, and even limed, just as we now do 
the so-called cash crops. Perhaps the 
inquirer does not care to take the trouble 
and incur the expense of the above plan. 
A less expensive plan would be to disk 
up the bare places, sow the grass seed 
and top-dress with manure or chemical 
fertilizers. Top-dressing pastures with 
manure during Winter or early Spring 
greatly thickens the grasses and such 
treatment may just suit this case, but 
the more elaborate preparation will give 
greater satisfaction, w. e. duckwall. 
BEAUTIFYING A CORN CRIB. 
I have an old-fashioned corn house 
perched high upon stone posts that had 
long been an eyesore; occupying as it 
does, a somewhat prominent position in 
the back part of the farmyard. Last 
THE BARE CORNCRIB. Fig. 153. 
Spring I thought I would see what I 
could do to improve its appearance. I 
first thought of boarding and clap¬ 
boarding the open space between the 
ground and the base of the building, 
but decided that this would make the 
height of the house look out of pro¬ 
portion to its size. Then I concluded 
that a planting of some hardy shrubs 
around the base of the building would 
accomplish my purpose of hiding the 
open space and at the same time very 
much improve the appearance of the 
building. I considered using Spirasa 
Van Houtteii, which in early Summer 
would form a perfect bank of snowy 
bloom, or Berberis Thunbergii which is 
at its best in the Fall with its richly 
colored foliage, and later with its 
wealth of bright red berries. However, 
both of these, although very beautiful 
during half of the year, failed to fulfill 
my purposes of a screen for the whole 
season, so I finally decided to use hem¬ 
lock, which is as pretty in Winter as 
in Summer and indeed its green foliage 
and gracefully drooping branches are 
even more appreciated when the ground 
is white with snow. 
I dug out the old sod and dirt to a 
good depth around the three sides of 
the building which I wished to screen, 
and filled in with good rich garden 
soil. TTien harnessing the horse into 
a large market wagon I invited my 
wife and children to go with me for 
an outing in the woods. We carried 
spade and grubbing hoe, and also plenty 
of burlap and strong string. We first 
got a supply of wet sphagnum moss an(j 
CORNCRIB WITH “TRIMMINGS.” Fig. 154 
then proceeded to a place where the 
old timber had been cleared off some 
years before. Here we found plenty of 
little hemlocks with all the room they 
had needed in which to develop sym¬ 
metrically. We had no difficulty in 
getting a good ball of earth with each 
little tree, as the soil was filled with 
a mass of old roots and leaf mold. As 
fast as we dug the trees we wrapped 
the roots up in the wet moss and bur¬ 
lap, which effectually prevented them 
from drying until they were set out 
at home. We felt that we got enough 
pleasure out of this little trip into the 
woods to repay us abundantly for the 
work of digging and setting out the 
little trees. Fig. 153 shows the corn 
house as it originally looked, while Fig. 
154, taken soon after, shows the result 
of but a few hours’ work transplanting 
the evergreens. Alfred c. durgin. 
New Hampshire. 
R. N.-Y.—A criticism of this plan is 
that by planting these trees Mr. Durgin 
has made a fine stepladder for rats and 
other vermin. The first principle in 
making a rat-proof crib is to leave noth¬ 
ing up which the rats can run so as to 
jump into the crib. We even make 
movable steps and avoid piling rubbish 
near the crib. These trees will give Mr. 
Rat the chance of his life. 
Discussion of Disk Harrows. 
In the selection of disk harrows, if the 
ground has numerous flat stones, the spading 
harrow will be found preferable to either 
the Cutaway or solid disk, as the latter 
often get such stones wedged between the 
disks and is a source of much annoyance, 
but if practically free from stones I would 
prefer the original Cutaway to all other 
disks made. I say original because the 
patent on the Cutaway blade or disk has 
expired, and all manufacturers now make 
both solid and Cutaway disks. The points 
of the Cutaway blade will penetrate the 
soil easier and to a greater depth than 
will the solid blade, but if the soil is 
very hard will cut out little holes, leaving 
uncut soil between. On the other hand the 
solid blade will cut continuously, but not 
so deep, and leave a continuous but shallow 
and narrow furrow. Some time back a cir¬ 
cular emanated from the Iowa Agricultural 
College at Ames stating the solid disk was 
preferable to the Cutaway. I am inclined 
to think the original Cutaway was con¬ 
spicuous for its absence in the trial. Again, 
not long since I noticed a manufacturer in 
setting forth the merits of his disk made 
a strong talking point of its drawing from 
the axle. I have reset several different 
makes of disks of solid and Cutaway styles, 
and one of the spading style on stony soil 
in New York State and I found none draw¬ 
ing from the axle would penetrate as 
deeply or do the work as thoroughly as 
the original and only Cutaway drawing 
from top of frame, nor can they be backed 
to loosen trash if becoming clogged, as 
they often do, as the one drawing from 
top. The pull in this is more direct, whereas 
in the axle pull is up, tending to lift the 
blades out. A disk of some kind is almost 
indispensable on the farm, but I want the 
best made and from both reasoning and 
experience choose the original Cutaway. 
F. C. JOHNSON. 
What’s the “Best” Silo.—How would 
it do to have opinions regarding silos from 
different materials? Is the wooden hooped 
silo with flooring for sides all right, cost 
considered? J. M. J. 
Roxabell, Ohio. 
It would be an excellent thing. We gave 
a good account of the wooden hooped silo 
last year. Let us hear what form of silo 
you prefer—and why. 
The Mapes Complete and 
Special Crop Manures 
The Standard for Generations 
EXTRACT FROM A LETTER RECEIVED FROM ONE OF OUR CUSTOMERS 
<C 
Would state that last year (1911) our Eureka corn yield was 65 tons from 2 % acres. 
The largest stalk measured 15 feet 9 inches and the entire field averaged over 15 ft. high. This 
corn was cut green and when placed in the silo the largest green ear weighed 3 lbs. 6 ounces. 
The average run of green ears weighed 2 lbs. 8 ounces. The combined weight of stalks and 
ears was so great that our corn harvester could hardly handle the crop. It was drawn by a 
17-hand pair of heavy Percherons. Most of the stalks were 2 inches in diameter and it was all 
the horses could do to draw the machine at times. 
“ This field of corn was the'talk of the countryside, passersby in motors and carriages 
stopping to gaze at it. Although we had some heavy wind and rain storms this corn did not 
fall to any extent, while some flint corn across the road was badly tangled.” 
Send for Descriptive Pamphlet 
The Mapes Formula & Peruvian Cuano Co 
143 LIBERTY STREET, NEW YORK 
