.tin a. 
l'Hii HUKAL Nti V\ r -VUKKt;K 
iaia 
TREES BROKEN BV SNOW. 
Winter is approaching, and in many places the snow 
will be deep and heavy. Young fruit trees are often 
broken down by the accumulation of snow in valleys or 
<»n side hills where the wind blows the snow into drifts. 
The picture at Fig. 51S shows how such trees were 
smashed down last Winter in Oregon. Had they been 
fastened to strong stakes they would not have broken 
down. The following note tells about them. 
We had an unusually heavy fall of snow, and 
high winds drifted it over these hilltops into piles 
Yearling Tkee After Snow. Fig. 518. 
often 15 feet deep. Two of these drifts covered 
about half an acre of our orchard, and in settling 
broke the young trees so badly that many will have 
to he replaced. Some we may grow again from buds 
on Ihe trunks, but we shall lose a whole year in 
heading them. We had the trees close set for class 
purposes, and when the drifts melted it looked as if 
and in the Spring as soon as the ground is dry 
enough to work perfectly, tit it with various tools 
until the soil is fine and compact as deep as it was 
plowed, with the top especially fine and smooth. 
This will probably be about May 1. Leave the field 
for 10 days, so that every weed seed that has been 
brought near enough the surface to grow will do 
so, then wait for a shower, and when the ground is 
dry enough to work after the shower sow the seed, 
not less than 30 pounds per acre, (one-half in each 
direction), and drag the field both ways with some 
tool that will not stir the soil more than one inch 
deep. A new spring-tooth harrow, or one with a 
rigid frame, so that the depth of the teeth can be 
controlled by the levers, would be good for this pur¬ 
pose, the object being to cover the seed lightly, to 
kill every weed that has germinated and to avoid 
bringing up fresh weed seeds to grow with the Al¬ 
falfa. If the ground is dry enough roll it imme¬ 
diately, but if not, smooth the surface with a plank 
drag. An application of 500 pounds per acre of 
either acid phosphate or slag would be beneficial 
and should be applied during the first fitting of the 
field in the Spring. When the Alfalfa is two inches 
high finely pulverized nitrate of soda, 100 pounds 
per acre, sown broadcast on a dry day would be a 
good investment. 
Sown in this way many fields, on my own land 
and on that of others in this section, have yielded 
two to three tons of clear Alfalfa, in two cuttings, 
the first year, and four to six tons, in three cuttings, 
annually afterwards, while in cases where the 
ground was not perfectly fitted in the first instance, 
or where it was dragged three or four inches deep 
therefore passed out of the average farmer class 
and became a specialist. lie has several specialties 
about which I would like to tell R. N.-Y. readers. 
One of his special crops for several years has been 
onions, and he has some original ideas about the 
management of this crop. The pictures, Fig. 421 
and 422 show two special tools made and used by 
him in his onion field. The harrow in the picture 
does not look unlike any old wooden harrow. The 
trouble with the photograph is that there is nothing 
near the harrow with which to compare it in order 
Light Harrow For Onions. Fig. 521 
to show its real size. T wanted the owner to stand 
beside it. but he was too modest to have his picture 
taken. The harrow is made of lx2-inch pine stuff, 
and the teeth are 20-penny finishing nails bent 
slightly backward. A very simple tool, you will say. 
True enough, but a very useful one. for by dragging 
it by its two little ropes over five acres of onions 
STRING OF PRIZE ANGUS AT INTERNATIONAL LIVE STOCK 
a heavy roller had gone over the trees. The illustra¬ 
tions Fig. 51S and 520. only partly picture the de¬ 
struction. Where snow is ordinarily deep the trees 
should be headed higher and tied to stakes, or the 
branches tied together in a bunch. We expected no 
such heavy snows, or this would have been done. 
Our snowfall totalled s0 inches and the greatest 
total recorded before this year has been 54 inches. 
Another Damaged Apple Tree. Fig. 520. 
11 seems to show how great a factor the unexpected 
is in the orchard business. w. u. brierly. 
Washington Agricultural College. \ 
ALFALFA FOR WESTERN NEW YORK. 
Will you advise me how to start a piece of Alfalfa, 
five acres of gravelly strong ground; had 10 tons horse 
and cow manure per acre plowed under last year for 
silo corn; 1913, peas for canning factory. Both crops 
were extra good; land is considered extra good, drain¬ 
age excellent. I wish to plow this Fall if I can; would 
like to got a cutting next Summer. What kind of 
lime and liow much to the acre? T don’t think land has 
had lime for years. I am anxious to get this started, 
as I shall he short of cow hay next year. w. s. 
Ransomville, N. Y. 
I .should advise W. S. to plow the field this Fall, 
at about the time of sowing the seed, frequent cut¬ 
tings have been necessary to check the weeds, with 
no yield of Alfalfa, the first year, and a very doubt¬ 
ful stand afterwards. Grow the weeds first and then 
grow the Alfalfa, don’t try to grow them both to¬ 
gether. 
If the stones in the neighborhood are largely 
limestone, or if lime coats the inside of tea-kettles, 
a further application of lime would be of no benefit, 
and if Sweet clover grows by the roadside and in 
neglected places inoculation is not necessary. If 
lime is needed hydrated lime is the best form and 
should be applied at the rate of one ton per acre 
after plowing the field in the Fall. If inoculation 
is necessary 200 to 300 pounds per acre, of soil from 
an old Alfalfa field, should he sown broadcast on a 
cloudy day and immediately dragged in, during the 
first fitting of the field in the Spring. Ransomville 
is in or near the natural Alfalfa belt of New York 
State, and in that belt I have never seen any bene¬ 
fit from either lime or inoculation. 
A top-dressing of manure (six or eight loads per 
aci-e), soon after the ground is frozen the first Win¬ 
ter, would serve the double purpose of fertilizing the 
Alfalfa and decreasing the danger of Winter-killing, 
and a similar coating each succeeding Winter would 
greatly increase the yield of Alfalfa. This may seem 
to W. S. an expensive way to start an Alfalfa field, 
but it will pay. If lie lias good land, well drained, 
and will sow good seed and enough of it. on land pre¬ 
pared as I have directed, practically every seed will 
grow, and there will be no room for noxious weeds 
and grasses to get a foot-hold and in a few years 
crowd out the Alfalfa. iiarry g. chapin. 
TOOLS FOR WORKING ONIONS. 
Just outside the city limits of St. Paul, and join¬ 
ing University Farm, lives a modest farmer who is 
tilling the land on which his father, one of Minne¬ 
sota’s pioneers, settled in the early days. Land in 
this neighborhood is so valuable, and consequently 
taxes so high, that ordinary crops as raised by the 
average farmer would not pay. Our friend has 
SHOW. Fig. 519. 
that were just coining up, Mr. Gibbs, (for that is 
our friend’s name), saved $50 in weeder’s wages, 
lie knows just what he is talking about, for he left 
a strip of the field as a test plot, and did the weed¬ 
ing on it in the old way. The time to kill weeds 
is before they are big enough to be pulled. 
Sometimes after onions or other small crops are 
planted, we have rains which leave a crust on the 
ground through which it is almost impossible for 
the young plants to push up into daylight. To 
remedy this condition. Mr. Gibbs has made the tool 
shown in the other picture. It is a roller made 
of two-inch pine lumber. Ir is two feet in diameter 
Roller For Breaking The Crhst. Fig. 522. 
and four feet long. The "bristles"’ are eight-penny 
nails driven through the planks before the planks 
are spiked to the heads or ends of the cylinder. It 
is found that sometimes when the crust is quite 
stiff on the ground, it will be taken up iu chunks by 
the nails. This can he avoided by going through 
the rows with a hand cultivator first. This cracks 
the crust, and none is picked up by the roller. Both 
of these tools are run by hand. j. m. drew. 
At the Illinois Agricultural College, Prof. Hopkins 
and his. aids are. preaching a crusade against the use 
<>t chemical fertilizers. In the Chicago high schools the 
ehiet agronomist of the National Fertilizer Association 
is teaching agriculture! 
