107 O 
THE RURAI> NEW-YORKER 
October 19, 
“COVER CROPS.” 
The picture on the first page shows 
samples of the cover crops at Hope 
Farm, all dug October 1. It is very 
hard to picture such plants so that they 
will convey a really fair idea of their 
value. The crop must be seen growing 
in the field to be appreciated. At the 
left is a plant of Soy bean. As will 
be seen this plant is about three feet 
high. It was seeded late, after July 1 
and followed rye. This plant was 
pulled up on October 1. It was grown 
in a young apple orchard on a hard hill¬ 
side. Last Fall rye was seeded in this 
orchard. In June of this year the rye 
was cut and piled around the trees. 
Later the stubble was broken up with 
the disk harrow and Soy beans seeded 
in rows about three feet apart. They 
were not fertilized but were well culti¬ 
vated. Half of these beans were inocu¬ 
lated with culture, but we are unable 
to find any difference in size or growth. 
It was intended to sow rye among the 
beans and cultivate in but continued 
rains prevented it. The beans were cut 
for fodder October 4, the soil disked 
and seeded to rye. Thus in this way we 
have two crops a year—the rye for 
mulching and the beans to give culture 
and a fodder crop. 
To the right of the yardstick is a 
plant of Cow-horn turnips. You will 
see that the root is a little over eight 
inches long and the top 13 inches. 
These turnips were seeded on August 
14 in a mixture with rye and Hairy 
vetch. The seed was scattered through 
the standing corn. The cultivator fol¬ 
lowed at once to cover the seed and the 
spaces between hills were raked over. 
Of course these turnips will keep on 
growing until Thanksgiving. At that 
time the roots will be nearly or quite 
15 inches into the ground. The plants 
mostly die during the Winter—a few 
living over and going to seed. The 
effect of these turnips upon the soil is 
remarkable. The long root opens the 
deeper soil and lets in air and water 
which freezes and prys the soil open. 
The turnip, as we see below is a potash 
plant—that is, it seems to have the 
power of taking potash out of the soil 
from forms which would not be availa¬ 
ble to many other crops. Having ob¬ 
tained this potash the turnip, on its 
decay, leaves this plant food available 
for other crops. This explains what we 
have noticed about corn. When this 
crop follows a cover crop of clover or 
vetch it makes a fine development of 
stalk and leaf but not always the best 
ears and grain. When turnips have 
grown with the clover the corn ears are 
always better, for potash is the needed 
element in grain and cob. 
Next comes rye also seeded August 
14 with the turnips. You will see that 
the top is nearly 17 inches high though 
it does not stand erect but mats on the 
ground. It is imposible to give in a 
picture a fair idea of the root system 
of rye. The fine roots fill the soil and 
seem to go everywhere. This makes 
rye one of the most useful crops to hold 
the soil during the Fall. At that time 
we are most likely to have a serious 
loss of nitrates', for they are formed 
rapidly in the warm soil. Rye quickly 
fills the soil with its roots so there is 
little loss of plant food by drainage as 
would be the case if the soil were left 
bare. Farmers sometimes cut the rye 
crop for hay or grain, and plow under 
the stubble. They are surprised at the 
way the soil turns up yet there would 
be no surprise if they would examine 
this soil and see how the rye roots have 
completely filled it. In our orchard 
work we have found it best to cut the 
rye early and pile around the trees, 
plowing the stubble rather than turning 
all the rye under. This prevents loss of 
moisture from the growing rye, gives 
mulch for the trees and prevents 
damage from souring the land. 
The Crimson clover shown next the 
rye was also seeded August 14. The 
height of six inches in 45 days is fair 
for it was made in the shade of the 
corn crop. This clover dies out in 
March with us seven times in 10, the 
it more than pays for itself in the 
growth it makes up to Thanksgiving. 
The Hairy, vetch at the extreme right 
of the picture was seeded with the 
others. The seed was not inoculated and 
for a time the plants made little growth. 
Now they are coming on and bid fair 
to cover the ground by the end of the 
season. Should they live over and do 
well next year they will make a growth 
that would astonish one who had never 
seen the crop at its best. The other 
day we saw plants of vetch grown in 
Dutchess County about twice as large 
y as ours. They were inoculated and 
grew on soil where vetch was seeded 
the year before. 
We have some 25 acres in cover crops 
of one kind or another this year. We 
do not begin to believe that $300 invested 
in stable manure would give us the soil 
benefits which these crops will. We 
should be obliged to haul that manure 
up our steep hills while these cover 
crops are up there now. It is a great 
satisfaction to see this rye filling the 
soil and saving the nitrates, the turnips 
storing up potash, and the clover and 
vetch stealing nitrogen from the air. 
Some one will want to know how much 
fertilizing work these crops do. Some 
years ago the Delaware Experiment 
Station made some elaborate experi¬ 
ments with these cover crops. We have 
given some of these figures before but 
we may well repeat them here. These 
figures show what one acre of these 
crops yielded as green growth and the 
plant food which the crop on one acre 
would contain. 
Nitro- 
Pot- Phos. 
Crops. 
Weight. 
gen. 
ash. Acid. 
Soy Beans— 
Top .... 
. . . 10,952 
Roots .. . 
756 
140.2 
48. 46.2 
Vetch— 
Top . .. . 
... 13,150 
Roots .. . 
600 
121.2 
85.5 27.2 
C.-H. Turnips— 
Top .. . . 
... 11,297 
Roots .. . 
. . . 2,902 
109.1 
142.7 25.9 
Rye . 
... 7.611 
24.7 
39. 11.4 
C. Clover— 
Top .... 
... 3 8.744 
Roots .. . 
413 
134.4 
88.2 61.2 
You see 
from this 
what 
we mean by 
calling the Cow-horn turnip a potash 
plant. An acre of turnips gave a crop 
containing nearly as much potash as 
you would find in 300 pounds of muriate 
or in 3,000 pounds of wood ashes. Of 
course the turnips did not bring a 
pound of this potash to the soil. They 
were able to utilize what they found. 
It is doubtful if a good crop of corn 
could have been grown on that soil 
without using potash as a fertilizer. Yet 
after the turnips had been grown there 
and plowed into the ground a large corn 
crop would follow since the turnips on 
decaying produced available potash. It 
is not likely that our cover crops are 
as large as those in Delaware for our 
seasons are shorter and the Southern 
climate is more congenial for all except 
rye. However, we would not take $12 
an acre at a very low estimate for the 
plant food and soil value in an acre of 
our cover crops. The cost will average 
about $2. 
PECANS IN NORTHERN ARKANSAS. 
A possible oversight or so in the an¬ 
swer of Prof. Van Deman to the in¬ 
quiry of M. T. B., Truman, Ark., page 
1003, leads to the suggestions which fol¬ 
low. The inquirer states among other 
things that “a heavy growth” of timber 
has just been removed from the land. 
If this means that it is a fresh clearing, 
then it would be well to cultivate it a 
year or two before planting to pecans; 
but if the very land intended for plant¬ 
ing is the same that has produced 60 
bushels of corn and a bale of cotton 
to the acre, then the case is different; 
and it may be added that such land 
needs no fertilizer to grow pecan trees. 
Again, if the water which stands upon 
the land in Winter and Spring could be 
drained off, it would be a decided bet¬ 
terment. Now for a supplementary 
word or so. 
A better selection of pecans than that 
recommended by Prof. Van Deman for 
planting in that region could hardly be 
made in our present state of knowledge. 
The Moneymaker has been reported as 
resisting severe cold in Indiana and Il¬ 
linois. Here in North Texas, latitude 
of Dallas, the Stuart and Van Deman 
ripen before frost and have withstood 
our occasional Winter blizzards without 
injury. Thus far they have not been 
caught by late frosts in Spring. The 
Mantura and Appomattox, originating 
in Southern Virginia—a little higher in 
latitude than the northern boundary of 
Arkansas—would in all probability be 
well suited to the purposes of your cor¬ 
respondent. The same may be said of 
the Major, Indiana, Green River and 
Warwick, all of which originated in 
Northern Kentucky and Southern In¬ 
diana. 
For the encouragement of M. T. B., 
it may be mentioned that Messrs. A. & 
J Grier, in one of the northwestern 
counties of his State, planted large 
Louisiana nuts on bottom land and now 
have a fine grove of about 40 acres. 
The trees being all seedlings, did not 
bear until 20 years old, the nuts varying 
in size from small to large. A photo¬ 
graph of this grove shows the trees to 
be well grown and remarkably hand¬ 
some. This places northern Arkansas 
within the pecan area. 
CHAS. L. EDWARDS. 
Proofing 
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|\ 
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FEED COOKER AND 
AGRICULTURAL BOILER 
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Write for Free Catalog 
LEWIS MFG. CO. 
Box C Cortland, N. Y 
SAVE REPAIR BILLS 
Sews leather. The 
T speedy stitcher. Lat- 
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delivered to you. 
Agents Wanted. International Wholesale Co., Girard, l*a. 
2 *$ 
Pull Out 
Stumps^ 
With the Famous 
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HERCULES MFG. COMPANY 
130 21 st St., Centerville, Iowa 
...SPECIAL. 
SPRAYER 
PRICES 
to those who buy 
or exchange for 
new model 
N OW 
“Friend” Mfg. Co. 
GASPORT, N. Y. 
Spray 
with 
SAN-U-ZAY 
Scale 
OIL 
That is what every user of “San-U-Zay” is saying to 
this neighbor. Perhaps you feel.that your orchard enn^ ^ 
get along just as well without winter spraying, but do 
vou know that “San-U-Zay ” has increased tho crop 
and quality 30 to 50 per cent, in scores of orchards 
which were considered fairly clean ? 
Perhaps you are spraying liberally and getting fair 
results, but wouldn't you change to “San-U-Zay" if we 
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“BETTER SPRAYING” 
is a new and interesting book, telling you all about 
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“Misty-Make” Sprayers. 
The Gardiner-Johns Company 
210 Livingston Bldg., Rochester, N. Y. 
Spray for More and 
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Right spraying is of the biggest Impor¬ 
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the best sprayer for use on our 
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illustrated catalogue. 
Box 5. Benton Harbor, Mich, 
MORRILL & M0RLEY MFG. CO., 
San Jose Scale Killer 
KIL-O-SCALE is the most reliable 
remedy for Scale. Ready for use 
by simply mixing with water. A iso 
Lime, Sulphur and Spraying Out¬ 
fits. Write for catalogue. 
Henry A. Dreer, Philadelphia,Pa. 
SURE CURE FOR SAN JOSE SCALE 
CHEAPEST AND BEST 
Jarvis Spraying Compound has no superior. Buy 
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Sold in bbl. lots <50 gallons), 30 cents per gallon. 
References—J. H. Hale, the "Peaoh King," or Prof. 
Jarvis of the Connecticut Agricultural College. They 
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The J.T. Robertson Co., BoxR, Manchester, Conn. 
Don’t grow cider apples. Rid your trees of scale and fungous pests and grow 
number one apples by using ‘‘Scalecide’’—the one absolutely sure scale spray. 
“Scalecide” is easy to handle, it will not clog or corrode the nozzle or injure me 
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YOUR TREES 
AMERICAN 
Here are the prices lumber brought in 
New York this summer, per thousand 
feet:—birch, $18 to $55 ; chestnut, $19 to 
$57; cypress, $26 to $60; maple, $18 to 
$50; oak, $25 to $62; pine, $20 to $42; 
spruce, $22 to $30. Ten 16-foot logs 
averaging 14 inches thick make 1000 feet 
In the largest mill or on the farm the American is recognized as Standard. 
AMERICAN SAW MILL MACHINERY CO • 1582^Termina 1^Btdg^New’Yorkl 
Chicago_Savannah New Orleans 
SAW MILL = BIG PROFITS 
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Do you see the profits ? Look over your 
trees and see what you have. Ask for our 
new book No. 26 which tells the whole 
story. Do it now, while you are inter¬ 
ested. Address nearest office. 
