1913. 
THK RURAb NEW-YORKER 
165 
Fertilizer for Clover. 
M. L. 8., Camden, N. Y. —In view of the 
fact that ashes are a great help to our soil 
in producing clover, and are becoming more 
expensive each year, how would 1200 
pounds of lime, 400 pounds of muriate or 
sulphate of potash, 400 pounds of acid 
phosphate, basic slag or bone meal com¬ 
pare with commercial ashes as a fertilizer 
for clover? Would one ton of this mixture 
equal in fertilizing value three tons of 
ashes on land to be seeded in the Spring? 
Ans. —The average ton of unleached 
wood ashes will contain 600 pounds of 
lime, 100 of potash and about 40 of 
phosphoric acid. The combination you 
mention will contain twice as much 
lime, twice as much potash and less 
than twice as much phosphoric acid un¬ 
less you use the bone meal. Thus your 
combination is hardly equal to two tons 
of the ashes in actual plant food. We 
have never yet seen a combination of 
chemicals which would give, with equal 
amounts of plant food, the same results 
as natural ashes. 
Motor Cars and Farm Power. 
L. L. A., Bernardston, Mass .—1 have a 
problem, the solution of which will be of 
interest to many beside myself. Wanted; 
Information from farmers who have made 
a practical application of the automobile 
as a portable farm power, giving particu¬ 
lars, if possible, as to range of adaptabil¬ 
ity, method of transmission and comparative 
cost of doing ordinary jobs with this power 
instead of an ordinary gasoline engine. I 
want the information and believe this will 
be a very good way to obtain it. If 
some one has purchased a kerosene engine 
that is simple, works right in every way, 
with little or no trouble, and which works 
as much cheaper accordingly than a gaso¬ 
line, as kerosene is cheaper than gasoline, 
will he inform us what “make” it is and 
the particulars? 
Ans. —We have had this question 
about the automobile as a farm power 
up before. The uniform reply has been 
that the character of the engine used in 
motor cars does not fit it for farm 
power, while its use as such is likely 
to injure the car’s working parts. It 
seems like a very pretty theory to claim 
that the car can hustle us over the road 
and then back up to the farm machinery 
and run it. In practice it seems like 
expecting a horse to trot home at a 
three-minute gait and then go on the 
manure spreader or plow. We would 
like experience with both of these mat¬ 
ters. The automobile manufacturers, 
wisely as we think, do not claim this 
double utility for their cars. 
Fertilizer for Peach Trees. 
A. P. 8., Vineland, N. J .—I have a small 
orchard of 500 peach trees planted last 
Spring on a Crimson clover sod, and fer¬ 
tilized with chicken manure, and a little 
muriate of potash, and at the last culti¬ 
vation in August seeded again to clover. 
These trees made a phenomenal growth. 
From what I can read from the horticul¬ 
tural reports, ground bone is the material 
to use for the nitrogen and phosphoric 
elements. Can I not use this home pro¬ 
duced nitrogen as well (clover and chicken 
manure) if properly balanced? What form 
of potash would be preferable, muriate or 
sulphate, and how much applied per 100 
trees for each succeeding year? The 
phosphoric acid element can be supolied 
by the acidulated rock or basic slag. Which 
would be preferable and how much? It 
will be understood that in the nitrogenous 
stimulating care will be taken not to over¬ 
do. 
Ans. —Evidently these trees have had 
too much nitrogen. They will need 
both potash and phosphoric acid. The 
Crimson clover adds nitrogen and so 
does the chicken manure in an available 
form. The result of depending on 
these alone is to drive the trees into 
rapid growth. They will look well, but 
the wood will be soft and likely to be 
killed in cold weather. A mixture of 
three parts fine ground lime and one 
part sulphate of potash or four parts 
acid phosphate in place of the bone will 
bo good to use with the clover sod. We 
should put the chicken manure on some 
other crop. Use about three pounds of 
this mixture to each tree. In this par¬ 
ticular case we think the phosphate bet¬ 
ter than the slag. The lime in the lat¬ 
ter might make the nitrogen in the 
clover too rapidly available. 
Trimming Thorn Apples; Old Alfalfa Seed; 
Hen Manure. 
F. M. N., No. Pitcher, N. Y. —1. Is there 
any particular time of year wheu thorn 
apples may be cut without having them 
sprout from the stumps? 2. I have some 
Alfalfa seed purchased last Spring which 
I did not use. Will it be all right to use 
next Spring? 3. We use no dropping 
board in our poultry houses. We put in 
straw and chaff and let the hens "mix it 
up.” About once a month or as soon as 
the litter gets dirty we clean out and 
spread on “new seeding” or on plowed 
land which will be seeded next Spring. 
Do we not get full value of the manure 
in this way? 
Ans. —1. Late Summer is the best 
time for cutting such sprouts. The 
theory is that in this season the bush or 
tree has just finished its Summer 
growth and is exhausted. Left to itself, 
it would make no more growth, but re¬ 
cuperate by storing up nourishment for 
another season. If we cut off the 
sprouts at this time Nature prompts the 
tree to start a new growth. This weak¬ 
ens it still further and it cannot recover 
before Winter. Y-ou cannot always kill 
the stumps by this treatment, but it 
weakens them. 2. The seed ought to 
sprout. Try it. Put a few seeds be¬ 
tween pieces of moist blotting paper or 
plant in flower pots or boxes. You can 
tell by the way they sprout. 3. You 
probably lose some of the nitrogen in 
the manure, but this is a good way 
when labor is an item. 
A Discussion of Irrigation. 
I wish to irrigate about 15 acres of 
land (not all at the same time, but a few 
acres at a time). I have a sump 5x7 feet 
and 22 feet deep, holding from two to eight 
feet of water according to season, the 
amount of water being controlled by river 
about 100 yards distant. I propose to in¬ 
stall a 2% horse-power gasoline engine and 
centrifugal pump with 2 1 / 4 -inch suction and 
two-inch discharge. The lift would be from 
14 to 20 feet, or I could make it less if 
necessary, by lowering pump a few feet 
inside of sump. I would want to raise 
the water about 10 feet. Let me know if 
this plan would be practicable. j. w. 
British Columbia. 
The irrigation of any piece of land is a 
complex problem, especially with but a 
small amount of water to draw from. In 
many places, it has been very successfully 
accomplished by pumping from wells or 
reservoirs either direct into the distribut¬ 
ing system or into an overhead tank, and 
then by gravity to a distributing system. 
In loose porous soils especially the object 
Is to get the water spread over the land 
as quickly as possible. 
The first work is to smooth or grade the 
land carefully. It is important to see that 
the surface is not covered with humps and 
hollows which will prevent even distribu¬ 
tion of the water. Then plan to irrigate 
your highest land first, if possible, since 
you expect to extend the system. The 
mode of distribution may be by main 
ditches and side branches, by wooden or 
cement troughs or by pipes. Pipes are 
expensive for a large piece. If used, they 
may be installed as a sort of network 
under the surface with openings for the 
water to seep through into the soil, or oc¬ 
casional standpipes may be brought above 
the surface for a hose to be attached and 
the water sprayed over the ground. In 
general the above are the methods used 
in this country. As each individual case 
presents its own peculiar problems, how 
ever, more specific description cannot be 
given with the information at hand regard 
ing your land. 2% horse-power engine will 
be plenty large enough for any system you 
may decide upon while, if the lift is not 
over 15 or 20 feet a centrifugal pump will 
be satisfactory. If the lift is much greater, 
a double-acting cylinder pump will be much 
more desirable. For a complete descrip¬ 
tion of irrigation systems and quite specific 
directions and advice. Farmers’ Bulletins 
116, 138, 158 and 263 are of value. They 
may be obtained without cost by applying 
to the Secretary of Agriculture, Washing¬ 
ton, D. C. _ R. p. C. 
The deer are not only spoiling our crops 
and fruit trees but also the sport of the 
fox hunter. An uncle of mine dropped in 
on us this evening dead tired and dis¬ 
gusted, and affirmed this was the last time 
he would attempt hunting foxes. His dogs 
had left him in the early morning in full 
chase after a deer, and that’s just a repe¬ 
tition of his Winter’s sport. His most 
valuable hound and pet was shot and killed 
by a man who said he found him chasing 
a deer. On account of the deer several 
of our best fox hunters have given up keep¬ 
ing hounds. r. a. S. 
Connecticut. 
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