1913. 
THE RURAI> NEW-YORKER 
836 
A SERIOUS DRAINAGE QUESTION. 
I have a farm of 25 acres, more or less, 
on which I have lived nearly 21 years. 
A year or so after I bought my place 
the street railway changed from horse 
cars to electric and of course built a 
power station and excavated for a pond. 
The brook that feeds this pond flows 
through my land, under a railway, 
through a culvert,, which is at least four 
feet deep into the pond of the street 
railway. The other end of this pond 
has been stopped with a dam which is 
high enough to back the water onto my 
land, or high enough so that the brook 
is on the level with some of my land, 
so that the water does not get a chance 
to drain off. When I first moved on I 
mowed it for several years with a pair 
of horses and machine, but it got worse 
and worse year after year, and some 
years I have had to wear rubber boots 
and carry the grass off about two acres, 
as there was water on it and a horse 
would get mired if I tried to drive onto 
it. The water in the brook stands about 
16 inches above the top of the culvert on 
my side, and about 12 inches on the other 
side of the steam railroad bank. It does 
not do any good to clean the ditch, as 
I have tried it two or three times until 
either the electric road lowers the dam 
on their pond or the steam railroad 
cleanses the culvert which is no doubt 
filled with mud. What can I do? 
Northampton, Mass. l. n. 
This seems from an engineering point 
of view, to be a hopeless case so long 
as the dam holds the water at its present 
level. If the creek running through 
the meadow is the only source of supply 
for the traction company’s generating 
power, it is very certain that there is a 
free channel through the culvert, and of 
course dredging in the creek, as the 
owner has mentioned, would produce no 
results whatever. The fact of the cul¬ 
vert being submerged four inches deeper 
on the upstream side might be caused by 
water banking due to a swift stream 
striking the embankment above the cul¬ 
vert, or the culvert may not be quite 
level; in any case it would require 
more than four inches to relieve the 
meadow. Probably the traction company 
has a franchise which privileges the dam, 
but if justice is done, it also imposes 
the responsibility of settling with the 
owner of the property damaged by the 
change of natural water conditions. 
Most of our States look upon the flood¬ 
ing of lands for power purposes as con¬ 
stituting a public use and therefore de¬ 
clare it constitutional, but it is likely 
that provision is made in all such laws 
for damaged property. In New York 
State, in Section 6, Article 1, of the 
State Constitution, the ground is well 
covered by the provision: “Nor shall pri¬ 
vate property be taken for a public use 
without just compensation.” 
J. F. VAN SCHOONHOVEN. 
SORREL AND ACID SOILS. 
M ill you tell me whether sorrel is al¬ 
ways an indication that land is sour? 
In places in this section it conies in quite 
thick on both new and old seeded land, 
but more on the newly seeded. The soil 
is a light sandy loam. I understand that 
there is more of a tendency for this to 
grow on mucky soils and those rich in 
organic matter. I have seen it grow in 
clear sand. Would it be advisable to 
use nitrate of soda on a poor sandy loam 
tor grass, or would a complete fertilizer 
be better? F- v 
Farmington, Me. 
No, a growth of sorrel is not always an 
indication of acid soil. We have seen it 
growing on the edge of manure piles and 
>t is reported as thriving around lime¬ 
kilns. On our own farm an application 
of lime usually drives out the sorrel so 
we should use lime whenever we find it 
coming in thickly. We think the sorrel 
often indicates a lack of potash. While 
a poor sandy soil will probably respond 
to nitrogen we would not depend on ni¬ 
trate of soda alone. Potash and prob¬ 
ably phosphoric acid also will be needed, 
and it is always safer to use a complete 
fertilizer on such soils. 
AN ALFALFA FARMER. 
The Spencerport (N. Y.) Star recentl 
jointed the following item: 
°i lrist ! e . J- Pierce brought som 
‘ , a office Tuesday, whic 
measured 56 inches. The crop ws 
f„ r r n ™ llls farm in Pos town. Th 
was made in September, an 
the hist tins year, last week. He expect 
get two more cuttings this Suminei 
in* C «r about lline tons to the acre dui 
!ug the season. 
Mr. Pierce has sent us a statement c 
the history of this Alfalfa field: 
A*” 1 ia » limestone clay loam. W 
-V he field ,? arl y in the Spring, an 
Plant to corn (it was sod, clover an 
.Tune grass), gave good care to crop. The 
next Spring, plowed early and Summer- 
fallowed to kill all weeds; put 500 
pounds of lime and 500 pounds of two 
per cent nitrogen, eight per cent potash, 
10 per cent phosphoric acid to the acre. 
The weather being just right, moist, etc., 
we sowed 20 pounds of seed to the acre 
the last week in August, with a grass 
seeder; harrowed it in with a peg-tooth 
harrow and rolled it down. The season 
being favorable it came up quickly, grew 
well and we cut about one ton to the 
acre the following October; the next year 
three crops, the next or last year we cut 
four times. The last was the last of Sep¬ 
tember. During the past Winter we 
spread on the field eight or nine loads of 
manure to the acre, drew it out as fast 
as made. Early this Spring we har¬ 
rowed the field with a peg-tooth harrow. 
I believe in cutting before it blossoms 
very much, as the next crop will start 
very soon after: it seems to try to re¬ 
produce itself. The first crop is estimat¬ 
ed from 2*4 to three tons per acre. 
Should the season be favorable I shall 
cut four times. I think it is a paying 
crop. c. J. PIERCE. 
Preparing for Potatoes. 
I would like to put quite a patch into 
potatoes next year. How would it be to 
haul manure on it in September, then 
plow it and sow it into rye, then plow 
it again in the Spring and no manure 
in Spring? . r. s. 
Pandora, O. 
This is a good plan. Manure plowed 
under directly for potatoes is likely to 
increase scab on the crop. Fall-plowed 
manure would not be so likely to do this, 
and the green crop, plowed in the Spring, 
will fit the soil well. It will pay you to 
add 15 to 20 pounds of Hairy vetch seed 
per acre to the rye. This will make a 
more valuable crop to plow under. 
SELLING DUCKS; LAVENDER. 
1. I have 80 young ducks that I wish 
to sell at the age of eight or 10 w£eks. 
Could you tell me when and where I 
would he likely to find the best market 
for them? 2. I would also like to know 
something about the cultivation of lav¬ 
ender. Is there any sale for it and what 
would it be likely to bring. b. e. 
Virginia. 
1. You will probably be able to market 
your ducks to best advantage through 
some reliable commission house in a 
nearby city to which poultry products 
from your section are shipped. Not 
knowing your markets, I cannot advise 
you where to send them but you will 
doubtless have little difficulty in secur¬ 
ing the name of some reliable firm by 
inquiry among your local shippers. Hav¬ 
ing learned of some firm to which you 
wish to ship, you will do well to write 
them and ask how the ducks should be 
packed for shipment and when they can 
handle them to best advantage. 
2. The Bureau of Plant Industry of 
the U. S. Department of Agriculture 
sends the following information with re¬ 
gard to the culture of lavender: The true 
commercial lavender, Lavandula vera, 
thrives best in rather dry loamy soils 
containing a fair amount of humus and 
available plant food. It is useless to 
plant it in low, water-logged, localities. 
It is a dwarf shrubby plant, best propa¬ 
gated by cuttings, or by pulling apart 
old clumps and planting separately the 
stems with attached roots. Propagation 
by seeds is very uncertain, as they ger¬ 
minate with difficulty and in an ex¬ 
tremely irregular manner. Plants or 
rooted cuttings are set in the Spring in 
well prepared upland, 20 or more inches 
apart, in rows far enough apart to permit 
of horse cultivation. The soil is kept 
loose and free from weeds during the 
whole of each growing season. Not many 
blooms can be cut the first season, but 
full crops may be expected the second 
season and the two following years, after 
which it will be best to start new plant¬ 
ings. The flowering tops are harvested 
m .Tune or July when in full bloom, 
cutting the stems as short as possible, 
and are immediately distilled for oil. or 
carefully dried in the shade if to be 
marketed as dry herbs or flowers. Yields 
on ordinary soil vary from 600 to 1.200 
pounds per acre of fresh flowers which 
lose fully four-fifths of their weight by 
drying. The present wholesale price of 
ordinary dry flowering tops ranges from 
eight to twelve cents per pound. Se¬ 
lected dry flowers stripped from the stems 
£ an f® from 20 to 25 cents per pound. 
It distilled, the yield of oil varies from 
12 to 15 pounds per acre, worth at cur¬ 
rent quotations from $.8.25 to $4 per 
pound. Before attempting the culture 
of lavender upon a commercial scale, I 
would advise that you write some large 
firm of manufacturing chemists, and in¬ 
quire as to the demand for this plaut in 
this country, and the possibilities of 
marketing it successfully after producing 
it. I am of the opinion that our manu¬ 
facturing druggists import their supplies 
of this herb from France and England, 
and that it has no importance as a com¬ 
mercial product in this country as yet. 
__ M. B.' D. 
Destroying Morning - Glory.— An¬ 
swering L. H. G„ page 712, tell him to 
soou some of his worst morning-glory 
land to Alfalfa. I have had considerable 
experience with the stuff and found that 
one season with a good stand of Alfalfa 
cleaned it out entirely and gave me 
something besides. J w D 
Avon, N. Y. 
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