THIS RURAt NEW-YORKER 
367 
1914 . 
COVER CROPS IN EASTERN STATES. 
The interest in this method of im¬ 
proving the farm continues unabated, 
and with good reason, for many 
owners of poor sandy land have been en¬ 
abled to grow profitable crops with the 
aid of Crimson clover, vetch, cow peas, 
Soy beans, Alfalfa, etc. Many farmers 
no doubt use some of the legumes noted 
above with good results, but there are 
countless thousands who need a little en¬ 
couragement of a practical nature. The 
county agent, by public demonstrating, is 
working on the right line, and gives the 
farmer something definite to think about. 
But cover crops are not always a suc¬ 
cess and some thrive in one part of the 
country, while they are a failure in 
others. This being so, this article will 
deal only with conditions in New Eng¬ 
land, Long Island and Delaware and 
vicinity. In New England the cover crop 
question has not been taken up in a 
general way until lately. The boom in 
Alfalfa has only been with us since 1010. 
Hairy vetch has been grown in the Con¬ 
necticut Valley for several years, but 
outside of that locality you rarely see it 
growing. Crimson clover grown as a 
cover crop is almost unknown. Probably 
the most valuable cover crop for New 
England will be Hairy or Winter vetch. 
The high cost of seed has prevented 
many from trying out the various le¬ 
gumes for green manure or cover crops. 
It is not necessary for the average farm¬ 
er to pay out a lot of money for ex¬ 
pensive seed, for he can grow it on the 
farm and thus make a great saving. The 
writer has been growing Hairy vetch for 
seven years, and has never bought a 
pound of seed. Anyone can do the same. 
A small quantity was presented for trial 
purpose, and one cupful of excellent 
seed was saved for Fall planting. Three 
seeds were planted by hand at the base 
of asparagus plants, the cupful planting 
three rows .300 feet long. The vetch 
plants used the asparagus plants for 
support and the next year in June over 
30 pounds of seed was harvested. That 
year in August the seed was planted in 
rows and the plants were bushed with 
small birches. The next year after hai’- 
vest the land was wheel-harrowed and 
smoothed, enough seed escaping to self¬ 
seed the whole area. Rye is now sown 
with the vetch to support it enough-to 
ripen a fine lot of both kinds, these being 
harvested together for future plantings. 
For obtaining the above crop of seed 
sandy land was used, out no manure or 
fertilizers, inoculation or lime have been 
applied, the land getting richer each. 
year. Vetch and rye make a good Sum¬ 
mer fodder cut early to feed green and 
later makes a good hay. This crop 
should be sown broadcast in July or 
early August and covers the ground com¬ 
pletely during the Winter. Vetch and 
rye start very early in the Spring, thus 
giving a lot of green material to plow 
under or to feed the cows. 
Crimson clover sown with vetch in 
July or August makes a wonderful cov¬ 
er crop. In New England the vetch is 
sown with it to help it through the severe 
Winters. The open changeable weather 
of March is likely to kill Crimson clover 
alone, hence the value of vetch planted 
with it. Crimson clover in New England 
is used to protect the barn soil 
in Winter and to hold the snow. The 
soluble nitrogen in tne soil during the 
Fall is also taken up by the clover plants 
is used mostly to protect the bare soil 
and stored for use by future crops. In 
Delaware a great many crops are planted 
to Crimson clover after the last cultiva¬ 
tion. It is refreshing to learn in these 
days of lime and inoculation that neither 
lime nor inoculation are deemed neces¬ 
sary by many farmers in Delaware and 
New Jersey. In this section Crimson 
clover furnishes the crop with about half 
of its nitrogen. Asparagus is greatly 
helped by Crimson clover and vetch, 
keeping the ground well covered and stor¬ 
ing great quantities of the costly nitro¬ 
gen. For asparagus beds the sowing 
should be made in late July or August 
1 to 10. The Fall growth of Crimson 
clover in New England will pay for the 
trouble of planting even if you are sure 
it will winter-kill in March or April. 
The writer has knowledge of Crimson 
clover being grown for 22 years in Massa¬ 
chusetts with very slight winter-killing. 
Give it a chance, grow your own seed 
and in time you will make the word 
failure in Crimson clover look very small. 
On Long Island, N. Y., cover crops of 
numerous kinds have been very success¬ 
fully grown at the Long Island Rail¬ 
road’s experimental farms. Farmers will 
be well paid to take the trip out to Med¬ 
ford, L. I., to see what is being done to 
demonstrate the possibilities in sandy 
land. Most of the legumes are planted 
there and have made good. Alfalfa makes 
wonderful crops. Cow peas, Soy beans. 
Crimson clover and vetch give good ac¬ 
count of themselves when intelligently 
cared for. Velvet beans planted on 
sandy soil has made a growth of 30 feet 
in one year. The foliage is profuse and 
causes a great improvement in fertility. 
It should be planted about May 10. For 
orchard planting Soy beans should be 
sown middle of June and in asparagus 
every four rows in between two rows. 
I to Soy bean makes a wonderful lot of 
foliage and carries enormous quantities 
of nodules on the roots. The Volunteer, 
a cross between Ito and Nuttall, is a 
big yielder and carries quantities of 
nodules. Crimson clover should be sown 
June 1 and Hairy vetch in August. Al¬ 
falfa is sown there in April. Soy beans 
mature seed at Medford and it should 
be saved by all means. Crops grown on 
Crimson clover sod are three to four 
times as large as those grown elsewhere. 
Cow peas do well here and can be 
sown broadcast in asparagus to stay 
through the Winter as a cover crop thus 
improving the soil. This cover crop 
question is so large and so much should 
be said that one hardly knows where to 
stop, however if demonstration plots can 
be arranged for and farmers will show 
up, great progress will surely be made. 
With inoculation and lime where neces¬ 
sary and an honest desire to learn on the 
farmers’ part, great results may be ex¬ 
pected in the near future. 
Massachusetts. c. w. prescott. 
“You think the American people lack 
a sense of humor?” “Yes,” replied the 
frank visitor from abroad; “otherwise 
you wouldn’t find so many people weigh¬ 
ing over two hundred pounds who dance 
the tango.”—Washington Star. 
COVER CROP OF RYE AND VETCH. 
“DEATH, TAXES 
AND 
Are the Only Three Things in This World 1 Am Sure of” 
WROTE AN OLD CUSTOMER OF OURS 
• Passing by the first two, he and every other farmer cer¬ 
tainly has every right to be sure of THE MAPES MANURES. 
They have been used for fifty years by the most intelligent, 
the solidest and most successful farmers, who have banked 
absolutely on 
I. THE RECORD OF MAPES IN THE FIELD. 
Our record in the field for the past fifty years is too well- 
known to require more than a mere reference. In this connec¬ 
tion, “lest we forget,” in the American Agriculturist’s Prize 
Contest, open to the entire United States, the largest crops 
of Potatoes and Corn grown on commercial fertilizer alone 
were grown with Mapes; 669 bushels of Potatoes on one 
measured acre with the Mapes Potato Manure, and 213 bush¬ 
els Shelled Corn on one measured acre with the Mapes Corn 
Manure. 
II. THE MAPES RECORD WITH THE EXPERIMENT 
STATIONS. 
We are equally proud of our record with the Stations. 
There may at times have been an occasional chance analysis 
which was not quite what we would have liked, and not fairly 
representative of our goods, but on the grand average, year 
in and year out, our record has been something to be justly 
proud of. 
III. SAME FAMILY MANAGEMENT FOR THREE 
GENERATIONS. 
Not only have the Mapeses continued successively in the 
business for three generations—grandfather, father and son— 
but the Lanes, who have been associated with the Mapeses 
from the start, follow the same identical record in the business, 
grandfather, father and son, successively. Could there be a 
better guarantee than this family management, with the ele¬ 
ment of family pride deeply involved, that everything has 
been done and will continue to be done to make the Mapes 
Manures as good as the knowledge of fertilizer science per¬ 
mits for the crops for which they are intended. 
The Mapes Manures have never stood still but have been 
constantly improving as the knowledge of scientific plant 
feeding broadened and progressed. 
“The Mapes business had its inception in the scientific 
research and experiments of Professor James Jay Mapes, and 
scientific research and experiment, coupled with the most 
exact practical experience, have been the dominating factors 
in the Mapes business to the present day.”—The Florida 
Grower. 
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