l nc/ K UKAlv IN tty W - V CJ Jbc IN hC Tx 
made the farm keep a cow to the acre. I have en¬ 
joyed my farmwork well when 1 could see improve¬ 
ments going on that paid, and I have enjoyed ray 
newspaper work when it has helped me to he a 
more successful or better farmer.” 
I express a hope that the ending of the contro¬ 
versy between the conservative father and the pro- 
action Cutaway harrow, and cut it up thoroughly 
before plowing. It was then plowed under and 
planted with sweet corn, not an ounce of fertilizer 
being used. Adjoining this piece I planted another 
acre of sweet corn of the same variety to which I ap¬ 
plied fertilizer at the rate of $20 peV acre. The 
vetch seed cost me 10 cents per pound, or $5 per 
acre. Now for the results. From the vetch piece I 
picked and sold $200 worth of ears, or $100, per 
acre. From the fertilized piece I got $05 worth of 
ears. At no time during the season was the growth 
of the stalks on the fertilized piece at all compara¬ 
ble to the growth on the vetch. 
Last Fall I bought 400 pounds of vetch seed, but 
did not get in but about five acres. This time I sowed 
no rye with it, as I do not like the rye with it, where 
you wish to cut it up with the harrow. Again I was 
too late in sowing, but I have vetch standing more 
than three feet high and so thick you can hardly 
walk through it. I am pursuing the same course 
again, cutting down with harrow and then plowing 
under, and I find it works much better without the 
rye for that purpose. A friend of mine whom I told 
of my experience last year, ’phoned me last night 
saying his vetch which was sown last August was 
now standing four feet high, and he had found 
nodules on it as large as Black walnuts. For my 
part, I consider it, the vetch, one of the most valua¬ 
ble acquisitions in the way of a cover crop that we 
have in this section. From the appearance of the 
nodules on the roots as I have seen it, it would ap¬ 
pear to be twice as valuable as Crimson clover for 
our use. f. a. tabek. 
Dutchess Co., N. Y. 
l»i«. 
THE LITTLE BLIND BEE-KEEPER. 
I send you the picture of our little blind child that 
we have adopted; he is our little bee boy. lie loves the 
bees; he says they make music, for they do not sting 
him. lie was three years old when this picture was 
taken of him, and the principal food he eats is potatoes. 
We moved here to take him to the blind school; lie is 
learning very fast. f. o. blumiiakt. 
Oregon. 
We are glad to show a picture of this boy at 
Fig. 255. There are two remarkable things about 
this case which our readers may well think over. 
Here is this little blind child learning to become an 
expert bee-keeper. “The bees do not sting him.” 
The child naturally understands the bees, and in 
some way they understand that he is their friend. 
You know how people say that a man must be half 
hen in order to succeed with poultry: 
“The man who does not love a hen 
Should not be ranked with gentlemen. 
The man who does not love a cow 
Is but a poor stick anyhow.” 
There seems to be some form of mutual language 
between brute and human which certain people are 
able to learn. They seem to be able to talk to their 
pets and thus 'make them understand. When we 
speak of a true hennian or a real dairyman or a 
natural horseman we have in mind one who can 
communicate in this way with certain animals and 
make them do their best because they have full con¬ 
fidence in him. 
The other remarkable thing is this willingness on 
the part of a liard-worldng farmer to adopt a blind 
child. Most people who think of taking a child into 
the family seem to have an eye on the business side 
of the bargain. They want a perfect child—one 
capable of working for his board, smart enough to 
excel in school and handsome enough to prove a 
credit to them. Yet here is a man who takes a 
blind child—not for his own advantage but for the 
sake of the child! It is a beautiful thing to do. 
A WESTERN N. Y. OAT STACK. Fig. 254. 
gressive sou will be as happy as was the partnership 
of Mr. Oheever and his father e. s. hrigham. 
Vermont. _ 
GREAT SUCCESS WITH HAIRY VETCH. 
I notice on page <!50 you ask for others experi¬ 
ences with cover crops. Perhaps my experience with 
Hairy or Winter vetch for the past two years may 
interest some of your readers. An article published 
by you about three years ago, first interested me in 
this crop, so in the Fall of 1911 I sowed two meas¬ 
ured acres with 50 pounds per acre of the vetch and 
one bushel of rye per acre. This was not sown until 
late in September, too late for best results; but I got 
through just the same. An extremely late Fall that 
IS THERE DANGER FROM SPRAYING ? 
In these days of much spraying and many sprays, 
doubt arises in one’s mind sooner or later as to 
whether there is not a modicum of danger in their 
use. There is the possibility of injuring the soil, 
the likelihood of poisoning edible plants, and finally 
the question of poison being carried on or through 
plant parts to domestic animals and even to our¬ 
selves. It may be stated conclusively that the lime 
and sulphur spray used for scale insects is not only 
non-injurious but actually helpful to the soil. The 
lime acts as a corrective on acid land, bringing 
it to a condition where it is a better medium for the 
soil bacteria that turn non-available nitrogen into 
nitrogen compounds that the plants can use. As to 
copper in Bordeaux mixture and the arsenic in the 
sprays for biting insects, there is more doubt about 
its ultimate effect. There is no question but that 
certain beneficial animal life in the surface soil, 
such as worms, run some chance - of being destroyed. 
But the harm from an economic standpoint is prob¬ 
ably negligible. 
The only real danger that is likely to come from 
the accumulation of copper and arsenic in the soil 
through continuous spraying, is to the plants them¬ 
selves. No one can say just what the dangerous 
quantity is, but if the salts of these heavy metals 
behave according to current chemical belief and re¬ 
main in the surface soil, there may certainly come 
a time when the amount is large enough to prevent 
normal growth in many plants. Plant physiologists 
have found that extremely small quantities of both 
copper and arsenic compounds when taken up by 
plant roots, cause the cells to be paralyzed. They 
either cease dividing normally or are unable to per¬ 
form their regular functions, and the plant soon 
dies. This toxic effect is felt first of all by quick 
growing herbs, such as the species to which most of 
our Summer vegetables belong, but even the slow 
growing trees are not immune. 
These statements answer the question of whether 
vegetables may carry within their tissues sufficient 
quantities of the poisons to injure animals. There 
can be absolutely no danger from poisons in the soil 
in planting a vegetable garden between the rows of 
a young orchard, no matter how many times the 
latter is sprayed. Plants are as susceptible to cop¬ 
per and arsenic as animals. They may be killed 
by the presence of these poisons in the soil water, 
but they cannot mature normally and contain suffi¬ 
cient poison to hurt anyone. 
Of course the danger from sprays falling on edible 
fruits and sticking there, is another matter. No 
one wants to eat strawberries that are white with 
arsenate of lead, therefore no one will. They 
wouldn’t be either beautiful or appetizing. The only 
danger one is likely to incur is eating fruit on which 
only a trace of the poison remains. The risk here 
varies with the amount of spray, the time that has 
elapsed since the spraying, and the amount of rain¬ 
fall that has occurred. If no trace of Bordeaux, 
Baris green or arsenate of lead can be seen on the 
fruit in question, there is no danger. The amount 
of poison remaining on ripe apples after spraying 
during the season for Codling moth has been estL 
mated, and the conclusion was that a barrel of the 
apples at one sitting might make one ill. but would 
not kill him. E . M EAST 
THE PROGRESSIVE SON AT HOME. 
I have been very much interested in the discus¬ 
sion of the problem of the conservative father and 
the progressive son. Some years ago. when I was a 
boy in the high school, and was trying to decide the 
question as to what I would take up for my life 
work, I corresponded with Mr. A. W. Oheever, one 
of our most successful Eastern farmers, who was for 
many years a contributing editor to the “New Eng¬ 
land Farmer.” Mr. Oheever wrote me a sketen of 
his life, a portion of which I now copy as a con¬ 
tribution to the discussion of the case of a con¬ 
servative father and a progressive son. 
"I have tried to he more than an average farmer 
because in my part of the country the farmer is not 
looked upon as quite the equal of business men or of 
those in the professions. I believed that farming 
well and intelligently followed would enable one to 
live such a life as one need not be ashamed of. I 
have never regretted my choice. Your outlook ap¬ 
pears far better than mine did when at your age. 
My father’s was a small poor farm and not produc¬ 
tive. I left home at 19 because I wanted a little 
money for my work, so that I could feel that I had 
a dollar of my own. My father did not see how he 
could pay me wages, and besides he thought I had 
no right to expect any till I was 21. lie said it I 
could not be contented to work at home for board 
ami such clothes as lie could afford me I might go 
somewhere else to work, which I accepted. I went 
upon a market garden and milk farm combined, and 
it was there that I made up my mind that I would 
he a farmer, but a better one than my father had 
been. I engaged at $13- a month and board, and 
worked from April 1 to the last of August, when I 
was taken down with a fever which lasted six 
weeks. My folks took good care of me and I came 
out all right, but did not get tit to work much that 
year. The" next year I worked at home for $8 a 
month, enough my father said to get me a “freedom 
suit." I told my father that yeav that if he would 
change methods and farm better so he could afford 
tu pay me wages I would stay at home. Some 
changes were made, and I remained at home, but it 
" is very hard for father to work differently from 
"hat had been his custom. It was a constant stvug- 
glc for several years, but as profits increased he 
finally yielded and I had things much my own way. 
't (he end of 10 years he became quite proud of our 
•success in improving the farm. During those years 
* had two tempting offers to go «.n to large farms 
•is foreman, but I decided to stay with father, and 
•lid so as long as he lived and I have never been 
son,v 1 did so. lie was very happy in his later days 
seeing the great improvements made, and for the 
•hst time in his life had more money than was im¬ 
mediately needed to meet bills. Father’s failing 
had been in going over too much land for the crops 
pioduced. My ideas were in the direction of larger 
on smaller areas; intensive farming. We 
year was favorable to its growth, but it was not 
over two or three inches high when Winter set in. 
The vetch was slow to start in the spring, and the 
rye got so far ahead that when it was about a foot 
high 1 put on the mower and cut it all off, leaving 
it on the ground. The vetch then started growing 
and kept up with the new growth of rye. and when 
it was all about three feet high I put on my double¬ 
