1042 
other story and installing another engine so the pres¬ 
ent engine can be used for silo filling without inter¬ 
fering with churning and separating. One did not 
need to ask if all this were profitable. The fact that 
these buildings have been erected, the herd built up 
and finally the farm bought answers such a question. 
Until recently Mr. White had only a lease on the 
land, though he had put up the barn, silos and dairy 
and had built up the soil, but now he is sole owner 
and well on his way to financial prosperity, which 
he so well deserves. w. e. duckwall. 
FERTILIZER ANALYSES FOR FARMERS. 
I note from your editorial on page 764 that there 
is some trouble in obtaining analyses of fertilizing 
material. Evidently the Eastern States are consid¬ 
erably behind Florida in this respect. Our State law 
permits any farmer in the State to draw samples of 
fertilizers and transmit these to the State Chemist 
and have an analysis made free of charge. Of course 
if you were to advocate such proceedings in a place 
where they have had no experience along this line, all 
the people interested will at once throw up their 
hands and say that it would be impossible to hire a 
sufficient number of chemists to do the work. Now, 
this is absolutely not the case, since we have tried it 
here in Florida. We have a State Chemist and one 
assistant chemist, who take care of all the fertilizer 
samples that are submitted; possibly once in a while 
they need to call on another one of the assistant 
chemists to help them out somewhat. 
But why should not the farmer have the right to 
have his fertilizers analyzed' free of charge, since he 
has to pay for the analysis made? I believe it is 
conceded everywhere that the fertilizer tag tax turns 
more money into the treasury than it requires to make 
the analyses. Now if the farmer, or consumer of 
the fertilizer, is not the man who pays for these an¬ 
alyses I should like to know who is. Certainly not 
the manufacturer or dealer in fertilizers. 
If your State will try it for a year or two there is 
no probability of it ever receding from that position. 
The Experiment Station, of course, is not permitted 
under the law to make such miscellaneous analyses. 
It is, however, a very easy matter to change the State 
law in such a way as to permit the Fertilizer Con¬ 
trol Chemist to make these analyses. p. h. rolfs. 
Florida Exp. Station. 
FERTILIZING VALUE OF COVER CROPS. 
What would be the fertilizing value of a crop of rape 
disked or plowed in? What would be the comparative 
value of muck and lime composted, compared with barn¬ 
yard manure, for strawberries, for instance? w. f. j. 
Mayfield, Mich. 
The Delaware Experiment Station (Newark) in 
1903 reported some experiments in green manuring 
from which the following figures are taken. They 
represent the amounts in pounds of plant food found 
in the crop produced on one acre: 
Phosphoric 
Rape— Nitrogen. Acid. Potash. Value. 
Tops . 116.2 41.8 148.2 
Roots . 18.2 51. 13.1 $24.99 
Cow-horn turnips— 
Tops . 64.4 14.3 S0.3 
Roots . 44.7 11.6 62.4 21.01 
Crimson clover— 
Tops . 128.2 59.2 84. 
Roots . 6.2 2. 4.2 22.37 
These values were figured at what was then the 
value of plant food in chemical fertilizers. The rape 
and the turnips were valued on November 16—about 
at the end of their growing season. The Crimson 
clover was estimated on November 20. Of course 
this clover in Delaware will grow on through the 
Winter and give considerably more value in plant 
food in the following Spring. A crop of rye and 
vetch left to grow through the Winter and estimated 
on May 22 of tire following year gave an average 
value of $22.76. The value of the rape and turnip 
crops will surprise many of our readers w r ho have 
not seen how rapidly these crops grow in the cool 
weather of Fall and what an immense mass they give 
for plowing under or leaving on the ground. Of 
course no part of this nitrogen, potash or phosphoric 
acid is added to the soil by the rape or turnips. The 
clover and vetch add nitrogen, but the rape and tur¬ 
nips simply take what they find in the soil and utilize 
it Thus we see the force of the argument for “cover 
crops” which The R. N.-Y. has so frequently made. 
The rape and turnips utilize the soluble nitrogen in 
the soil. Much of this would be washed away and 
lost if there were no living crops to hold it. Again, 
these crops can undoubtedly utilize forms of potash 
and phosphoric acid which some other plants cannot 
do. Thus turnips may store up large amounts of pot¬ 
ash and then in decay enable other crops to use it. 
The value of muck of course depends on its quality 
or the amount of nitrogen which it contains. This 
will run all the way from next to nothing to twice as 
much as average manure contains. After six months 
thorough composting with lime an average sample of 
true muck should be worth as much as manure—ex¬ 
cept that it has little or no potash. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
THE COLLEGE SHORT WINTER COURSE. 
In connection with your editorial on page 934 let 
me put down here my' experience at the Cornell Win¬ 
ter course, where I attended some time ago. 
Compared with the regular students we were treated 
much more eagerly by the college. Our time was 
short and ambition so big that we would waste no 
time, and went through it like a wind, hardly getting 
into the regular college life. The instructors took up 
the work more heartily, for they seemed to under¬ 
stand the importance of the Winter student, as he 
would naturally go back to the farm, while the regu¬ 
lars were not always bound to farming, but were 
rather looking for high-grade positions. We were 
like some messengers sent to the seat of learning to 
get the knowledge and bring it back to the farm. We 
were thus first-hand tools to reach the farming com¬ 
munity, and the college understood this fact. Look¬ 
ing back I see that only one from our class is outside 
the pale of farming; all the rest are 'interested in 
agriculture in one way or other. 
As to the value of the course to the student himself, 
it all depends upon the man. In my opinion and per¬ 
sonal experience the course may mean a great deal to 
the man who has some education beforehand, and 
also practical experience of farm work. Thus a 
farmer’s son or a farmer with high school training 
is the right kind of man to use the advantages of the 
Winter course best. It is entirely a waste of time 
to take the course without previous experience on 
the farm. I would advise nobody to take such a 
course (nor a regular course, for that matter) who 
knows nothing of farm work. I often see persons 
who have made the mistake and are sorry for it. 
For the intelligent and educated man who takes the 
course as a supplement to his practical experience I 
consider farming to become pleasanter and more at¬ 
tractive. As to the length of practice in farming, let 
me say that I put in three years of hard work on the 
JACOB WHITE’S NEW BARN. Fig. 428. 
farm between the time I left the city and the Winter 
course I took, and if I were to start over again I 
would be liable to put more. d. 
. New York. 
In reply to your editorial on page 934, will say, 
Tell that young man to take the Winter course in 
agriculture. I took a course at the Kansas Agricultural 
College, and when I got there I met a very nice class 
of young men and women; I also found out that I 
did not know as much as I thought I did when it 
came time to judge seed corn. I never regret the 
time I took to take a course. • I raised 10 bushels more 
corn per acre by seed selection alone, learned at 
college; also doubled my profits from my cows, gfad- 
ing up, studied the characteristics of different kinds 
of soil and the root system of the different kinds of 
crops, and learned why land should be prepared a cer¬ 
tain way for certain kinds of crops, and the main 
thing I learned was to observe — see how other people 
do things and what i^ going on around you. It has 
been a great help in many ways, and I would like to 
see everyone interested in farming take a course, no 
matter what his age is. a. w. 
New York. 
I am interested in the first article on your editorial 
page of September 7, regarding the young man who 
•is considering a Winter course at Cornell. I took 
an agricultural course at Purdue University, and am 
supposing that the Cornell courses are similar, and 
can therefore encourage the young man to avail him¬ 
self of the opportunity if he is so favored. First, I 
believe that the association one has at a university, 
even for a short Winter course, broadens him enough 
to pay for the time invested. Secondly, it will give a 
thinking young man a definite basis for reasoning his 
problems, and make possible the intelligent reading 
and understanding of farm problems. His appetite 
for farm literature will become keener if he is inter¬ 
ested in his work. Thirdly, the courses put farming 
in one’s mind as a business, and emphasizes the ne¬ 
cessity of business methods. The importance of the 
small things is made clear, and the price of careless¬ 
ness impressed on one’s mind. And, last of all, it 
helps one appreciate the fullness of agriculture. I 
find little to criticise the courses for. We all know 
that varying conditions make different answers to our 
problems, but a man of to-day must have an ideal and 
know what it looks like. h. j. reed. 
Indiana. 
October 12, 
A HARD DRAINAGE PROBLEM. 
I am up against what is to me a peculiar situation 
in regard to draining some land. Tile draining is 
little understood or practiced in this locality, so there 
is no precedent to go by. As briefly as I can intelli¬ 
gently, I will state my case, in hopes that somewhere 
the problem has been solved, and I may profit by the 
experiments of others. The soil in question is a 
gravelly loam underlaid with a substratum of hard- 
pan; at just what depth is not known. Lying to the 
east and above me is a large basin or swamp that is 
filled each year with surface water to the depth of 
10 or more feet, and the only outlet is by percola¬ 
tion ^through this top soil or gravel. This takes 
from four to six weeks to reach my land, and as 
many more to pass me after the aforesaid swamp 
becomes dry. The passage of water appears to be in 
the form of a slow wave reaching in height from 
the substratum to a height of many feet so that at 
its height the wave of water will be at a level of 10 
feet or more up the elevation in clear gravel soil, 
the height gradually receding as the crest of the 
flow passes, bloods of water will ooze from the 
gravel slope, forming a good-sized stream. After the 
passage of the water the land becomes dry, and is of 
a very fine sand, gravel and muck combined and very 
fertile. However, the water keeps it wet until too 
late ‘ for cropping, and so goes practically to waste. 
After the flood water passes and the land becomes 
dry surface rains do not render it untillable, and at 
this time the land is fit for any tillage that one might 
wish to employ. The land I wish to drain lies in a 
sort of basin; through the lowest point of the rim I 
have a ditch that carries off the water. A practical 
working plan to get rid of this flood of water is 
what I am after. a. p. williams. 
Jefferson Co., N. Y. 
R- N.-Y.—This is a problem for our readers. We- 
have no doubt some of them have had much the 
same problem. 
WASTES FROM LIME-SULPHUR. 
On page 929 a question is raised regarding the 
possible value of the sediment or sludge left after 
cooking lime-sulphur, and J. P. Stewart, of the Penn¬ 
sylvania Experiment Station, says: 
If the proper ratio of materials, viz., one pound of first-grade 
commercial lime to two pounds of sulphur, is being used in this 
factory and the manipulation is right, there should be very 
little of either free lime or sulphur in the sediment. 
\\ ithout any purpose of entering into any contro¬ 
versy with Mr. Stewart regarding this matter it may 
be suggested that the quantity of water used in the 
preparation of lime-sulphur is a controlling factor 
as well, and unless this element is used in the proper 
proportion there may be a waste. In Michigan there 
is quite active competition among makers and dealers 
in commercial lime-sulphur, and as each brand must 
undergo an inspection by a State official before being 
placed upon the market there is a natural rivalry 
among these people to outdo each other in the matter 
of test. In order to be regarded a standard article 
it is considered necessary to maintain a Beaume test 
of 33 degrees; but to secure a test as high as this it 
seems to be necessary to use excessive quantities pf 
both lime and sulphur. A manufacturer with whom 
I am acquainted uses 200 pounds of sulphur and 100 
pounds of lime to each barrel of 50 gallons, or there¬ 
abouts, of water. By this means he is able to produce’ 
an article that shows a test of 34 degrees, and he can 
guarantee a test of 33 degrees. Another man who 
puts out a brand with a lower test uses 150 pounds of 
sulphur and 75 pounds of lime to 50 gallons of water, 
and shows a test of 30 degrees. In my own experience 
in making the homemade article I use 130 pounds of 
sulphur, 60 of lime, to 50 gallons of water, and secure 
a test of 28 or 29. 
Now, I understand that among chemists it is 
agreed that 50 gallons of water cannot be made to 
carry over about 150 pounds of sulphur with half the 
quantity of lime, and ordinarily 140 pounds of sulphur 
and 70 of lime would be about the limit. This being 
the case, it is evident that the manufacturer who tries 
to get 200 pounds of sulphur and 100 pounds of lime 
into solution in 50 gallons of water must throw 25 per 
cent, of his material, at least, out in the sludge. If 
this be true, then it follows that there is something 
besides land plaster in the sediment, as Prof. Stewart 
suggests in the article referred to. In all probability 
this is the nature of the sediment which Prof. Stewart 
is asked to consider, and the question still remains, 
Can this material be profitably applied to the land in 
any way? Further, is it perfectly safe to apply a sub¬ 
stance carrying so high a percentage of lime and 
sulphur as a coating around trees as a protection 
against borers, mice, etc., as Prof. Stewart recom¬ 
mends? Will not this residue, having undergone the 
cooking process, be so soluble that it may be washed 
down upon the rootlets of the trees in sufficient 
quantities to produce damage? 
Will it not, too, be the part of economy for users 
of the commercial lime-sulphur to accept a liquid 
with a slightly lower test, at a correspondingly lower 
price, of course, as it is quite apparent that the last 
four or five degrees in the high-testing article are 
only obtained by the addition of an excessive quantity 
of costly material? There will be less temptation for 
unscrupulous manufacturers to put in other salts for 
the purpose of raising the test, as well, as it is 
claimed is sometimes done. E. H. 
Fennville, Mich, 
