October 19, 
1066 
German land mortgage association has been due to 
the fact that it has been under direct Government 
supervision and indirectly Government control. 
FIFTH :—The credit institution that serves the 
farmer must he close at hand. Whether it is a bank, 
a land mortgage association, or wherever the farmer 
gets his credit, it needs to be close at hand where 
he can go personally and make his arrangements. 
For this reason the large centralized institution lo¬ 
cated in the cities will not serve the purpose. The 
farmer needs a decentralized system that has its 
branches in every township. The success of the 
European rural banks is due to the fact that they 
are established in the rural communities where they 
are convenient for the farmers and they conduct their 
business to suit the convenience of the farmers, in¬ 
cluding business hours. 
The reason the present situation of credit and bank¬ 
ing facilities for the American farmer is so unsatis¬ 
factory is because the banking business has been 
developed to suit the needs of the city and not the 
country. The farmer has been left to adapt himself 
to the rules and regulations of banks conducted for 
city customers. And now the banks are awakening to 
the fact that they do not meet the situation as far as 
the farmer is concerned; moreover, that the farmers 
are threatening to take over their own business and 
establish their own financial institutions along lines 
that have proven successful in other countries. 
The farmers and bankers may well confer together 
in this matter, and the bankers in their deliberations 
will do well to call upon the farmers to express what 
they think could and should be done. The farmers 
in turn can well afford to consult the bankers and get 
their point of view. The elimination of selfish in¬ 
terests and the promotion of American agriculture 
should be the goal of both bankers and farmers. 
H. C. PRICE- 
FARM EXTENSION WORK IN ILLINOIS. 
The soil expert work in Dekalb Co., Ill., is under 
Mr. N. G. Eckhardt. It is practically a branch of the 
extension work of the University of Illinois taken 
up and pushed by the farmers and business men of 
our county under a county institute organization, 
and is an outgrowth of the experimental field work 
carried on in different fields throughout the State. 
Our far-seeing men and leaders in this work of the 
county reasoned that if we could get an expert in 
soils and their needs and a general advisor in agri¬ 
culture among the farmers of the county, crops would 
be increased, the soils built up, and bank deposits 
multiplied, because of better methods and general 
education along these lines. Accordingly solicitations 
were started in every township of the county through 
the institute directors, among farmers and business 
men, to raise $10,000 per annum for this purpose, or 
until Federal and State aid should be secured to pay 
said expert. This money was raised, the 21 banks of 
the county pledging $100 each toward the project. 
Landowners and tenants each pledged very liberally 
toward this fund. N. G. Eckhardt, who has been one 
of the ablest State workers, was secured to take up 
this local work. He was furnished with a centrally 
located home and by use of auto can reach all parts 
of the county quickly. His work among the farmers 
is to make a date or appointment when solicited by 
them to go over the farm and analyze their soils, and 
any soil needing special treatment is prescribed for by 
him. I le carries a two-inch extension auger and can 
bore down five feet and examine. He tests for acidity, 
alkali, etc. He advises with the owner or farmer in 
regard to the use of different fertilizers, and explains 
the needs of different kinds of growing crops, the 
best crops for certain soils, and value of crops as 
feed and fertilizer; gives advice and makes sugges¬ 
tions as to best crops for certain fields; explains the 
work of some of the injurious insects he finds in 
some of the fields, such as corn root-louse, white 
grub, corn ear-worm, etc. His time has been 
scheduled with dates so that no time is lost, the 
farmers being given a date in order of their call. 
His time is all taken until late in the Fall. This 
shows that the farmers are very much interested and 
have great faith in Mr. Eckhardt. 
Of course outside of this personal work among the 
farmers, upon their farms, Mr. Eckhardt has a wide 
range of other duties. Among them he has over¬ 
sight of the “poor farm” for which the county super¬ 
visors allow him $2,000. He is supposed to make a 
model farm of this. He has lectures to give both in 
and out of the county, farmers’ clubs to address, field 
meets to plan; in fact he is a very busy man and 
much in demand. This promises to be a great step in 
agriculture, because it furnishes the fanners a means 
of finding out, from one who is thoroughly compe¬ 
tent to advise, those things that they really wish to 
know' about their fields and crops, frank s. greeley, 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
TIME TO SEED ALFALFA. 
The picture at Fig. 438 is taken from a circular 
issued by Cornell University, entitled “Alfalfa for 
New York.” This circular gives an interesting story 
of the cultivation of this crop in New' York State, 
and surely everyone who thinks of trying this crop 
should obtain this work. The picture referred to 
show's the result of midsummer sowing, the work 
having been done at the Nebraska Experiment Sta¬ 
tion. These plants w r ere all dug up April 13. As will 
be seen, the plant at the left of the picture was 
seeded August 19, the middle one September 15, and 
the smaller one October 1. The picture is intended 
to show the necessity of getting the Alfalfa into the 
soil early enough so that it may make a root strong 
enough to hold it in the ground. It remains a dis¬ 
puted question as to whether it is better to sow the 
Alfalfa in Spring with a nurse crop, or in midsum¬ 
mer alone. In the circular we mention, this matter 
is discussed as follows, and probably for the latitude 
of Ithaca or central New York it is a good state¬ 
ment of the case. The picture show's, however, how' 
necessary it is to have the Alfalfa in early enough 
so that it may root properly. 
There are three times of seeding, known as early Spring 
(April), late Spring (June), and midsummer (August) 
seeding. When the land is suitable, midsummer seeding 
is probably preferred by the majority of growers, as it 
not only enables them to secure some other crop from 
the land the same year, but does away with the necessity 
of clipping in order to keep down weeds and with general 
care of the crop for the first year. The commonest cause 
of failure in Spring-sown Alfalfa is weeds: but these 
seldom give trouble in midsummer seeding, as the Summer 
weed crop has practically been destroyed by that time. 
Midsummer seeding should be trom July 25 to August 10. 
Seeded Aug. 19. Seeded Sept. lf». Oft. 1. 
SHOWING THE ADVANTAGE IN SEEDING ALFALFA 
IN MIDSUMMER. Fig. 438. 
and never later than August 15. The soil should be in 
good preparation and thoroughly packed, as Alfalfa will 
not winter well in a loose seed-bed. 
The two principal objections to midsummer seeding are : 
(1) the season may be too dry to prepare the land and 
sow’ the seed by August 10; (2) on heavy soils or those 
with hardpan subsoil the young plants are not strong 
enough to withstand winter-killing. There is a large area 
of such heavy soil in New York State, especially the type 
known as Volusia silt loam' and the hardpan hill lands 
in the south-central part of the State. 
For the heavy types of soil mentioned above, prepare 
the land thoroughly and sow about May 1; or. if the 
land is weedy and not in first-class tilth, plow early and 
fallow for about two months, killing the Spring crop of 
weeds and putting the soil in fine tilth. Sow about June 
1 to 10. 
A nurse crop is seldom used except on land especially 
well adapted to Alfalfa. The young plants are delicate 
and must be favored in early growth. However, in Spring 
sowing it is often good practice to sow a half-seeding 
(one bushel per acre) of oats or barley to be cut green at 
heading time for hay. 
“RAIN MAKING.” 
I have a long circular from an association at Battle 
Creek, Mich., in which certain experiments at “rain 
making” are described. It is claimed or intimated that 
the use of explosives caused rain to fall. What are the 
facts about this business? A. u. 
We received the circular issued by the Central Fruit 
Growers’ Association at Battle Creek, Mich., in regard 
to the rain-making experiments held at that place on 
July 23. I am sending you herewith a statement 
issued by me to the press a few days before the date 
of the experiments. This circular indicates the atti¬ 
tude of the Weather Bureau—and, I may add, of all 
scientific men who have given the matter serious at¬ 
tention—with regard to attempts to produce rain by 
artificial means. If such attempts held out the slight¬ 
est prospect of success, the Weather Bureau would 
give them every encouragement. Moreover, if rain¬ 
making were merely a harmless popular delusion this 
bureau would not feel called upon to take an active 
part in opposing it. This, however, is far from being 
the case. The advocates of rain-making, whether act¬ 
ing in good faith or for some selfish motive, have 
already been responsible for the waste of a great deal 
of money on the part of the public, and at present a 
deliberate propaganda appears to be in progress in 
behalf of these absurd and extravagant undertakings. 
The fact that rain followed the explosion of dyna¬ 
mite at Battle Creek on the afternoon of July 23 has 
been given great publicity in the daily papers. How¬ 
ever, anyone who wishes to learn exactly what im¬ 
portance should be attached to this fact, as bearing 
upon the claims of the rain-makers, need only consult 
the daily weather map of the date of explosions, 
which is on file at Weather Bureau stations through¬ 
out the country and in many public libraries. This 
map, published on the morning of July 23, before 
the explosions took place, presents the results of 
simultaneous observations made all over the country 
at 8 a. m., Eastern time. On that morning a wide¬ 
spread barometric depression covered the States of 
the upper Mississippi Valley and western lake region, 
accompanied by' rainy and cloudy weather extending 
as far east as the western border of Michigan. A 
very' slight knowledge of meteorology, or even such 
familiarity as the general public might be expected to 
have with the movements of storms as shown from 
day to day on the weather maps, would have indicated 
to anyone who consulted this map on the morning in 
question that rain was almost sure to occur at Battle 
Creek in the course of the day in connection with the 
regular eastward drift of the storm; and in fact the 
Weather Bureau is informed that light showers actu¬ 
ally occurred at Battle Creek during the early morning 
of the 23d, and that the weather was generally cloudy 
and threatening up to the time that heavier rain set 
in during the afternoon. The rain that fell at Battle 
Creek was therefore not local, but part of a rain¬ 
storm that extended over many thousand square 
miles of territory and that originated somewhere in 
the Canadian Northwest days before the experiments 
took place. 
These facts should make it evident to everybody 
who is not absolutely blinded by prejudice that in the 
case of the Battle Creek experiments, at least, the 
explosion of dynamite cannot be credited with the 
production of rainfall. I wish to add, however, that 
even if the meteorological conditions had apparently 
not favored the occurrence of rain, but if rain had 
nevertheless followed the explosions, no scientific man 
who is familiar with the processes involved would 
have regarded its occurrence as other than a coin¬ 
cidence. It is of course somewhat difficult to explain 
to laymen why the attitude of the scientific world 
is so uncompromising on this subject, especially as the 
erroneous idea has taken root firmly in the public mind 
that rain is actually caused by great battles and by 
explosions in general. The gist of the argument, 
however, is that the aqueous vapor in the air can be 
condensed by only one process, viz., cooling. More¬ 
over, even if the vapor is already condensed into 
minute drops—i. e., if clouds are present—the ex¬ 
plosion of a quantity of dynamite is without the 
slightest effect in accelerating the aggregation of 
these into drops large enough to fall as rain. This 
fact can easily be demonstrated by an experiment pro¬ 
posed some years ago by the late Professor Simon 
Newcomb. The condensed steam escaping from a 
tea-kettle represents water in approximately the same 
condition as that of which the clouds are formed. 
Now if we stand in this column of steam and clap 
our hands we shall certainly not produce a. shower of 
rain, although the agitation of the air due to the 
clapping is actually much more violent than that pro¬ 
duced in the clouds by the explosions on the surface 
of the ground. Any of your readers who wish to 
pursue this subject further will do well to consult an 
article by Professor Newcomb published in the North 
American Review for October, 1891, pages 398-404. 
WILLIS L. MOORE, 
Chief U. S. Weather Bureau. 
Under the new English National Insurance Act all 
“insured persons under the Act” must join an “ap¬ 
proved” society to gain full benefits. The approving 
standardizes such societies, which are of course of a 
benefit character. Mutual benefit societies are very 
common in Great Britain, many working people pro¬ 
viding for funerals, buying coal and clothing, and 
even Christmas dinners, through benefit clubs. This 
brings the idea of cooperation very close to working 
people, while the “approved” benefit societies will 
bring people of similar occupations together in a man¬ 
ner somewhat different from the trades unions. 
“People are tired of waiting on the cow for pleasure." 
says an Ohio farmer, referring to the decline in dairying 
in his section. IIow does that sound to dairy farmers 
generally, with milk and meat higher than ever to the 
consumer—yet giving scant returns to producer. 
