1078 
of cantaloupes and tomatoes. The soil is very light 
and exceedingly poor in organic matter. Since the 
entire cultivation was flat, no difficulty was encoun¬ 
tered in working the seed into the ground with a 
light cultivator passing between the rows. The 
cantaloupes and tomatoes have been harvested, and 
there is nothing to interfere with the growth of the 
turnips and clover. Unfortunately the field is not 
fenced, so it will not he possible to pasture hogs or 
sheep upon it during the late Fall and Winter. The 
clover is expected to make its best growth after the 
turnip leaves have rotted down and the whole crop 
is to be plowed under next Spring. If it is true that 
the turnip has the power to make available the 
crude potash and phosphate of the soil for succeed¬ 
ing crops, as the clover makes available the nitro¬ 
gen of the air, then we have a combination which 
is a “complete fertilizer” plus organic matter for an 
impoverished soil. If we can prove that, then we 
shall have relieved the little “one-horse trucker” in 
that community of the necessity of hauling sawdust 
horse manure from town during the coming Winter. 
This may not be real church work, but it is never¬ 
theless real social service. Cow-horn turnips and 
Crimson clover are a good cover crop to sow after 
early potatoes or in cultivated orchards. It would 
also be a fine combination for tobacco fields, if the 
seed could be properly put in during the first or 
second week in August. 
A combination of rye and Crimson clover is, how¬ 
ever, best adapted for late seeding in tobacco fields. 
As this should be seeded between September 10 and 
September 25, early tobacco can be cut before the 
cover crop is put in. The rye, which is very certain 
to grow, protects the clover against winter-killing. 
It makes a splendid pasture in the early Spring, and 
after being grazed the sod may be turned under for 
corn, tomatoes, melons, or potatoes; or it may be 
used as a preparation for Alfalfa and grass. 
A combination looking toward the securing of a 
stand of Alfalfa, may also be worked out; provided, 
of course, that the land is not too poor and that it 
has been well limed and given a liberal dressing of 
phosphate in preparation for corn, tomatoes, tobacco 
or melons. Under such conditions a mixture of 10 
pounds each of clover and Alfalfa may be seeded at 
the last working of the crop (about August 15 to 
September 1) with the expectation of securing a 
crop of hay the following Spring. After the hay 
crop is taken off, the land should bo thoroughly pre¬ 
pared and seeded to Alfalfa in August. On excep¬ 
tionally good land, where the last working is as 
late as September 1, a bushel of Winter oats may be 
sown with the clover and Alfalfa. This will give 
us a combination cover and nurse crop. 
Other combinations will no doubt suggest them¬ 
selves to the man who studies his soils and who tries 
to work-with some well-defined object in view. They 
will all come back to the same fundamental prin¬ 
ciple; that bareness and barrenness are closely re¬ 
lated; and that nature hates the one as much as it 
hates the other. As the Maryland farmer realizes 
this, so will he try to have some sort of a Winter 
covering upon every field of his farm. 
D. II. STEFFEN. 
MASSACHUSETTS AND THE PHEASANT. 
Will you state through Tiie It. N.-Y., so that the 
information may he spread broadcast, just what posi¬ 
tion the State of Massachusetts is taking or proposes 
to take in regard to damage and loss done to the farmer 
by the pheasant? There is considerable loss through¬ 
out this neighborhood by the pheasants eating and 
destroying corn and grain of all kinds. One of my 
neighbors estimates 25 bushels sweet corn rendered un¬ 
fit for sale as his loss along that line. ii. w. s. 
East Billerica, Mass. 
Pheasants were imported by the State authorities 
for the purpose of affording better shooting for our 
sportsmen and for no other purpose. In Massachu¬ 
setts they have been protected at all times with the 
exception of one season, when people were allowed 
to shoot cock pheasants only. During that season 
a great number of the pheasants in the State were 
killed of both sexes, and since then the public senti¬ 
ment has maintained a law to protect them at all 
times in Massachusetts. 
These birds are very destructive to the farm 
crops whenever they become numerous, particularly 
to peas and green corn. They are said also to at¬ 
tack potatoes and other crops. They eat many in¬ 
sect pests, such as the Asparagus beetle and the 
Gypsy moth. They probably do considerable good 
in that way. I have studied their habits, their re¬ 
lation to the fanner and the general problem of 
pheasant raising, and my own personal conclusion 
is this: The pheasant is a good bird to raise on a 
game farm or preserve for those who wish to shoot 
it for sport or sell it in the market. It is not, how¬ 
ever, of great value as an insect-eating bird. Where 
it becomes too numerous it drives out native game 
birds, and there is some evidence that it kills them. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
It is much larger than they, and a better fighter, 
and if it comes to a question of a battle for exist¬ 
ence the pheasant will win out, except that it cannot 
stand hard Winters so well as the ruffed grouse. 
While I believe in the pheasant as a bird for a 
game farm or preserve, and while it is one of the 
most valuable species for a game farm, I do not 
believe that it should be propagated and protected 
by the State and allowed to overrun the State. Per¬ 
sonally I am opposed to the introduction and pro¬ 
tection of any foreign bird in general which will 
destroy crops or injure or displace native birds, most 
of which are much more valuable to our people. 
I have come to this conclusion after a study of the 
bird for many years. If our native game birds had 
received the same protection and care that has been 
lavished on the pheasant we should now have them 
with us in great numbers, and would not need the 
pheasant at all. 
Under a statute passed by the Legislature of 1913 
the Commission on Fish and Game was empowered 
to investigate the status of the pheasant to show 
where they are doing damage and to make a report 
to the next Legislature stating their recommenda¬ 
tions, if any. No one can tell what the next Legis¬ 
lature may do. The prospect seems to be that an 
open season on pheasants will be allowed. If the 
farmers wish any further action taken they will 
have to make their wants known in no uncertain 
terms to the next Legislature. e. ii. forbush. 
Mass. State Ornithologist. 
DANISH SETTLERS N NEW YORK. 
It is now about a year since I first went to Otsego 
County to see how well the Danish settlement there 
was getting along. At that time only two families 
were actually on the farms there, but several had 
been purchased and the owners proposed to come at 
an early date. Since then reports have come in one 
T^HITE GRUB ATTACKING POTATO. Fig. 413. 
way or another, so that it has been apparent that 
some progress is being made. Yesterday I went to 
the locality again, but by another route. I found 
that now there are IS families in that section with 
at least three others coming this Fall. Others have 
signified their interest, and are likely to arrive in 
the Spring. There is for the most part an air of 
hopefulness among the settlers. Some are quite 
enthusiastic. One whom I saw last Fall, but who 
then had not been there long enough to know much 
about the conditions, said that he had not done as 
well as he expected, but thought the prospect is 
better for another year. He has made a living 
and the season has been a poor one. He came from 
Nebraska, and does not care to return, nor does he 
care to go back to the old country. One other who 
came on here from the same State has made some 
improvements on the property, hut I judge that he 
is a bit homesick for a farm of many acres, where 
he can raise a hundred acres of corn and keep a lot 
of hogs and cattle. I think that he will stay, espe¬ 
cially as he can get no land in Nebraska of the sort 
he wants for less than $150 an acre, and that is 
more than he can ever expect to pay. He paid 
somewhere near $20 for his present farm. He suf¬ 
fered from drought in the West, and I think he is 
as well suited as he could exi>ect. It is all in being 
contented. 
There was one family, which I would have ex¬ 
pected to feel dissatisfied, which is the most enthu¬ 
siastic of any. They bought less than a hundred 
acres, and the buildings are somewhat run down. 
The husband was once an architect in the metropolis, 
but his health failed. Both he and his wife are 
educated and she used fine English. They are fond 
of reading, especially the wife, but the farm as 
they have it now under way has so much work for 
them that they do not read much. The reading has 
done a good deal for their English, however. After 
leaving the city they went to farming in Southern 
Pennsylvania. There land is so high that they could 
only rent. They worked hard, kept as many as 5(1 
cows, but at the end of each year they had only 
October 4, >■ 
enough to keep them and nothing to lay aside. This 
was the condition when they learned through the 
State Department of Agriculture of the cheap farms 
in our section of the State. They bought the farm, 
and this season they have done well. As yet they 
have only two cows, but they have a good crop of 
potatoes and considerable hay. They will sell some 
hay and buy as many cows as they can. Perhaps 
they will have six cows if they can be bought at a 
fair price. Mrs. Peterson, for that is the name, says 
she is Mr. Peterson’s hired man for the present. 
I am not sure how many hours a day they work. 
It is more than eight, and may be eight before din¬ 
ner, and as many after. Some of these folks will 
work too hard if they do not look out. They hope to 
get the farms paid for and then take things easier. 
That is all right in a way, but there is something 
else to be said. As I looked affairs over, it seems 
to me that these people will as a rule succeed. I 
do not know that they can find a better place for 
them to begin. There is no section where land is 
so cheap as in this vicinity, covering some six or 
more counties. It is not necessary to all go to one 
township, and I hardly think that is desirable, but 
they have the right section in general. I am not 
going to say that other States in the East are less 
favorable, but I think none is better for a man 
with small means to get a start. h. ii. l. 
• ___ 
A CONSIDERATION OF PLOWING. 
Part I. 
The most important and fundamental operation in 
the tillage of the soil is plowing. On its excellence 
more thau on that of any other one operation de¬ 
pends the crop produced. It is not strange, there¬ 
fore. that when farmers come together casually or 
in meetings of various kinds their conversation 
should often turn to the subject of plowing. There 
is always unanimity of opinion on one or two points; 
that is, that the plowing should be deep and that 
the furrows should be straight. On such questions, 
however, as the relative value of different plows, 
the relative ability of different plowmen, and the 
proper time at which to plow there is always an 
honest diversity of opinion; as well as on the desir¬ 
ability of practices, such as disking before plowing, 
which are not yet generally adopted. Such being 
the case, a discussion of some of the factors which 
influence the effectiveness of the operation of plow¬ 
ing can hardly be out of place, and it is in view of 
these facts that this has been prepared. 
As to the question of the best time to plow, there 
is, as has been suggested, considerable difference of 
opinion. This is especially true of plowing for' 
Spring crops, such as corn. Some would plow in tin' 
Fall, and some would plow just as early in the 
Spring as a plow can be got through the soil, while 
some insist on waiting until the soil is in just ex¬ 
actly the proper condition. In hilly regions where 
the soil is of a refractory texture, it is necessary to 
put off plowing until the moisture conditions are 
just right. It will not do to plow in the Fall, be¬ 
cause the Winter rains would wash away a large 
part of the surface soil; and it will not do to plow 
early in the Spring, because of the sticky nature of 
the soil and of the tendency when worked wet to 
form clods of boulder-like consistency. With this 
exception, however, I think plowing should be done 
early. I have a very distinct recollection of a job 
of plowing on which I was engaged a few years ago. 
The work was put off until the soil was ready; and 
that, because of the sticky nature of the soil, was 
rather late. When the work was begun, things went 
beautifully. The plow ran well, the furrows turned 
over smoothly, and the draft was not excessive. The 
weather remained dry, however; and by the time 
the work was half finished, the plow was turning 
over clods of a tremendous size, and the way the 
handles would take me a jolt in the ribs about 16 
times to each round if I happened not to be con¬ 
stantly on the alert was disconcerting, to say the 
least. I walked in the furrow, on the plowed 
ground, or on the unplowed ground, just as the plow 
saw fit. It was a horse-killing, man-killing, nerve- 
racking grind. Now, I know that to those who have 
never plowed any soil hut the black prairie soil 
these statements will seem exaggerated. They, how¬ 
ever, who have had the good fortune (or the oppo¬ 
site) to farm in some of the less-favored localities, 
will know that I speak exactly the truth. The worst 
part of it, though, was that, to my mind, there was 
really no good reason why the task should be put 
off so long. The land was only gently rolling and it 
could have been plowed late in the Fall. This 
method would have made the work easier, would 
have produced a better job, would have got the land 
in readiness for the crop sooner, would have guar¬ 
anteed a larger amount of moisture for the crop 
to use, and would have produced a better crop. 
II. E. HERN. 
