665 
1914. 
THE RURAL NE2W-YOKKE2R. 
THE USE OF COMMERCIAL “HUMUS.” 
Utilize Your Own Supply. 
Part II. 
Practical Illustration. —To give a 
practical illustration, the analysis of a 
six-year-old hen, or rooster, might be 
identical with that of a broiler or a 
Spring chicken, yet who would pay the 
same price for the two kinds of meat, 
even when they were told that the analy¬ 
sis was the same? The same might be 
true of an ancient sheep and a hothouse 
lamb. In fact the chemist would hardly 
be able to tell the difference in his labor¬ 
atory between a piece of flesh cut from 
a wolf, and another cut from a pet ter¬ 
rier dog. The flesh of the wolf, or of the 
hardy rooster, might actually show that 
the meat was stronger and contained 
more protein than that of the dog or the 
broiler, but those who bought the broiler 
or the dog would go beyond the analysis, 
and find out whether what they were 
buying was exactly suited to their needs 
or not. It is just exactly the same with 
regard to the purchase of fertilizers, 
and also in the purchase of this black soil 
or humus. No farmer should consider 
the argument that the nitrogen in this 
humus would last longer than that in 
chemicals. If a farmer were investing 
his money, he would want to put it where 
he could get sure and immediate returns, 
and not tie it up so that an equal amount 
of interest would come dribbling to him 
through a long series of years. It may 
well be laid down as a sure, definite rule 
in farming, that when a man buys plant 
food at all, it will pay him to buy the 
available and soluble kinds, rather than 
the inert, insoluble material for which 
he must wait years in order to obtain 
returns. Any man who has a pond hole, 
or muck swamp on his farm, can obtain 
the humus he needs through the use of 
lime largely as a return for his own 
labor. 
Fill The Land. —By means of cover 
crops grown in the months when the land 
would otherwise be *iclle, he can by the 
use of available plant food, fill his land 
with humus or organic material very 
much cheaper and in very much better 
shape than by buying these unavailable 
forms of humus at a high figure. These 
chemical forms of black soil or humus 
have a fair place in agriculture. That 
is proved by the fact that it pays a 
farmer who has a swamp to haul this 
material out and use it. Such a man, 
however, who has a swamp of this kind, 
would not be justified in buying humus 
from another man’s swamp at three or 
four times what it would cost him to 
haul the material out of his own pond 
hole or pasture. So long as this humus 
is presented for just what it is, without 
extravagant claims or unfair compari¬ 
sons with manure, it is a legitimate pro¬ 
duct, and there are places where its use 
might be economical. In buying it, how¬ 
ever, a farmer should remember that the 
greater part of its nitrogen is inert and 
not immediately available, and that he 
is paying when he buys such material 
about IS cents a pound for nitrogen 
which the chemists declare is not worth 
over four cents. 
Bad Farm Economy. —We heard from 
one farmer in Georgia who thought of 
buying this “humus” in carload lots as 
a fertilizer for cotton! The freight 
would be $3 or more per ton. Right on 
his own farm was a low piece of land 
with thick layers of black soil. This 
stuff hauled out, limed and dried and 
spread on his land would enable this 
farmer to grow cow peas and Crimson 
clover to plow’ under. This would form 
the finest “humus” in the world. An¬ 
other man in Ohio with a ledge of lime¬ 
stone right in his own neighborhood was 
considering the purchase of a fancy 
brand of lime at $10 per ton! Under 
a fair system of farm management it 
would be hard to think of a more ex¬ 
travagant way of farming than either of 
these plans. 
Training Young Trees. 
I am going to set out about 200 apple 
trees this Spring. I would like to know 
which would be the better way to do 
with these trees, cut them back, or leave 
them just as they come from the nursery, 
merely cutting out limbs that cross each 
other? Some people recommend plant¬ 
ing the trees just as they come from the 
nursery, claiming they come to bearing 
at an early age, then cutting them 
back. Which do you think is advisable? 
Adams Basin, N. Y. R. F. E. 
Cut the trees back severely. They 
will not make a good shape if left as 
they come from the nursery. By cutting 
the tree back you are able to shape the 
head to suit your plan. We buy young 
trees, one year, and cut back to a single 
stem below the crotch—leaving two feet 
or a little more above ground. The roots 
are also cut back to five or six inches 
long. On an older tree we should cut 
so as to leave three or four buds above 
each limb of the .crotch, leaving an out¬ 
side bud at the end of each limb. A tree 
cut back in this way will make a better 
growth and a better head. Some planters 
put the tree in as it comes from the 
nursery and trim it later. We find it 
better to trim root and top before plant¬ 
ing. 
Smudging to Protect Fruit. 
Smudging to prevent frost damage may 
bo practical in some instances; however 
the writer’s experience was a failure on 
several occasions. Having half an acre 
in strawberries in full bloom when frosty 
nights occurred, we collected a lot of 
stumps and other trash, wet corn fodder, 
etc., in the evening then arose after mid¬ 
night and started fires all around, creat¬ 
ing a dense smoke on one of 
those clear crisp frosty mornings when 
the heat is forced upward by the 
cold air pressing down. The smoke or 
smudge rose straight up skyward, re¬ 
sulting in no value but that of exper¬ 
ience. I have decided to buy what ber¬ 
ries and fruit we want in future when 
we lose the crop through frost. 
Pennsylvania. w. n. stout. 
Commercial Apples. 
I have often thought a great mistake 
was made in planting for market the 
fancy varieties of apples which do not 
bear well. I believe in planting a com¬ 
mercial apple orchard quality should by 
all means be considered, but it must be 
combined with quantity if the orchard 
proves a success financially. It is true 
very often the finer varieties are not 
so hardy, neither do they bear as well, 
and after all they do not bring any more 
money on the market than many of our 
good standard varieties which have been 
grown successfully for years, and proved 
themselves money-makers. I should ad¬ 
vise planting such varieties as are known 
to be regular bearers, and at the same 
time of as fine quality as possible. 
New Jersey. joiin h. Barclay. 
“My idea of happiness is to see the 
statue of Liberty in New York harbor 
from the deck of a returning steamer.” 
“And why do you think you would enjoy 
seeing it?” “Because I’ve never been 
abroad.”—Cleveland Plain Dealer. 
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