1914. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
ns 
rather than the air, where it surely goes when lib¬ 
erated and has half a chance. f. l. adams. 
Florida. 
It. N.-Y.—All we ask is that you state the case 
fairly. What .T. A. Y. said was that the action of 
the manure pile would he about the same as that 
of sulphuric acid on the phosphate rock. The pow¬ 
erful acid “cuts” or dissolves the rock, and makes 
the phosphoric acid available. There is no such 
action as this in the manure. We stated that the 
experiment station had been unable to find any such 
action. As proof of this statement we offer the 
following, dated May 1: 
So far as I am aware there is no experimental evi¬ 
dence published by any of the stations to warrant the 
statement that manure makes the phosphoric acid of 
phosphate rock available to any appreciable extent. We 
tried for a number of years by both laboratory and field 
experiments to determine the effect of manure on phos¬ 
phate rock mixed with it. We came to the conclusion 
that the effect at best was inappreciable. 
Tennessee Exp. Station. c. a. mooers. 
Chemist and Agronomist. 
There have been some good reports from our 
readers regarding the results from the use of ground 
rock phosphates with manure hut most of them do 
not show positively whether the gains were due to 
the phosphoric acid or to some action of the rock 
phosphate in preventing the escape of ammonia as 
land plaster would do. 
ARSENATE OF LEAD AND SEED CORN. 
Is there any solution that can be put on seed corn 
to keep the crows from pulling it, besides coal tar? I 
have used coal tar for a number of years with good 
success, but it cannot be used in any kind of plantings. 
I would like to plant a field of silage corn on a farm 
about a mile from where I live. I have never raised 
corn there before, but it is in between two woods, and 
I think that crows would make short work of it. Is 
there a law that prevents sowing corn saturated with 
strychnine on the field, broadcast for the crows to eat? 
E. s. 
For many years farmers, in New England at least, 
have been treating their seed corn with tar to pro¬ 
tect it from crows. To accomplish this the tar must 
he thinned until it does not form a waterproof coat¬ 
ing over the seed, or germination would he impos¬ 
sible. Tn course of time the crows seem to have 
learned to attack corn thus treated, making this 
method less successful, and an opportunity for ex¬ 
periments has offered itself. The Massachusetts 
Agricultural Experiment Station took up this sub¬ 
ject several years ago, first applying tar to the seed 
as usual, and following this, while the tar was 
fresh, with a mixture of Paris green and road dust. 
The seed thus treated was planted with an ordinary 
planter, and was entirely unmolested both by crows 
and wireworms. The results were so satisfactory 
that they were published, and apparently tested by 
many, for many reports, both favorable and un¬ 
favorable, were received. Most of the unfavorable 
reports were to the effect that the seed failed to 
germinate, which was evidently due to applying the 
tar improperly. 
One real defect in this method, however, is that 
two treatments of the seed are necessary; one with 
the tar, the other with the Paris green and dust. 
Accordingly, arsenate of lead paste was diluted to a , 
thick paint and the seeds were thoroughly covered 
with this, and were then allowed to dry before 
planting. None of the corn thus planted was 
touched by crows, though adjoining untreated fields 
were attacked. Wireworms were found around the 
seed in the ground but did not touch it until the 
plants were two inches or more high. At this time 
they were found inside the seed, but the plants were 
no longer dependent upon this, so that no harm was 
done. It should be noted that in some tests of this 
material in the West, it was found that the wire- 
worms entered the seed after sprouting, at the point 
where the sprout left the seed, thus escaping the 
poison and destroying the plants. This was not the 
case in the Station tests. h. t. fernald. 
Massachusetts Exp. Station. 
MEDIUM RED CLOVER SEEDING. 
Medium Red, the most common and most valu¬ 
able of Ohio’s family of clovers, is a biennial plant 
that thrives in every county of our State. When 
the conditions necessary for its growth are com¬ 
plied with, these conditions are a well-drained soil 
with abundance of organic matter and plant food, 
including lime. The usual method of seeding is 
with wheat or oats as a nurse crop. When sown 
with wheat the seed can be sown any time from 
Ihe middle of February until the first of May with 
fair success. In the early seeding, a time when 
the ground is frozen and more or less honeycombed 
should be selected, as then many of the seeds will 
fall into crevices and become covered by the soil 
later on. This covering of the seed is greatly to be 
desired. The late seeding should be done when the 
surface of the ground dries and is full of small 
cracks, into which the seed may fall and become 
covered. Thus we find that both early and late 
seeding has the same end in view—the covering of 
the seed. Very often the seed that is not covered 
starts to grow the first warm day, and then per¬ 
ishes either by freezing or by drying out before it 
lias sufficient root to carry it through even a few 
days of early dry weather. At best the present 
method of sowing the seed on top of the ground is 
a wasteful one, resulting in the loss of from one- 
half to two-thirds of the seed used annually. When 
COMMON MUSHROOM. AOARHT'S CAMPES- 
TRIX. Flo. 202. 
the seed is sown late and the ground is dry a thor¬ 
ough harrowing with spike-tooth harrow is of great 
value in covering the seed and will not injure the 
wheat, but is often a benefit to it. Before many 
years a machine that will sow and cover the seed 
and not damage the wheat will be used for seeding 
on wheat ground, and at least half the seed be 
saved by so doing. Seeding with oats is very much 
more successful if a very early oat is used and a 
somewhat lighter seeding of the oats; also if the 
soil is well firmed and a good seed bed prepared, 
HAIR BALLS FROM CRIMSON CLOVER HAY. 
Fig. 293. 
as the young clover will suffer less from dry 
weather if these directions are followed. After the 
nurse crop, especially the wheat, has been removed 
the clover begins to grow rapidly, and if left alone 
will bloom considerably and ripen some seed the 
first year, and that is what we want to prevent, 
as the plant is weakened for the next year by al¬ 
lowing it to do so. To prevent this we clip it about 
a month after wheat harvest if the growth is fairly 
good, cultivating it about four inches from the 
ground. By doing this we .get rid of the annual 
A SCREEN 
FOR PROTECT I NO 
Fio 294. 
MELON PLANTS. 
weeds and prevent the clover blooming and cause it 
to make a stockier growth. However, this clipping 
must be done early enough to have a good growth 
for Winter protection. With a full stand treated 
in this way on fairly good soil at least 2*A tons of 
hay per acre should be cut. instead of the present 
average crop of 1 l-.'l tons per acre for the State. 
We believe the present low average is largely due 
to an imperfect stand, due to bad method of seed¬ 
ing and lack of care the first year. If after cutting 
the nurse crop the growth is not vigorous the appli¬ 
cation of five tons of manure per acre, put on with 
spreader, .will do wonders for it. If two crops, one 
of hay and one of seed, are to be cut the next year 
it is imperative that the hay crop be taken off as 
early as possible, for if allowed to become fairly 
mature the chances for seed crop are greatly re¬ 
duced. If a large crop of seed is desired, and the 
hay not needed, pasture the clover through May 
and then clip about two weeks before the usual 
time for cutting for hay, thus giving the seed crop 
an earlier start. By so doing a large crop of seed 
is almost assured. horatio markley. 
COVER CROPS, LIME AND FERTILIZER. 
We have been dairy farmers. A few years ago we 
built a nice sanitary stable with cement floor, sanitary 
fixtures and three large silos. We had 75 cows and 
the new stable was for 100 with 50 on either side. Be¬ 
fore we could get well started and get in the new stock 
intended, the cattle were not found just right, and in 
the end we sold off all the stock and the part of farm 
where we built the new stable, and went out of the 
dairy business. The cows were sold in other dairies. 
All our trouble came from a Borden inspector’s call, 
and the news somehow spread that he condemned our 
stock, which was not the case, but it put us out all 
the same and sickened us of the dairy. But without 
the stock we cannot have the manure. We have quite a 
start with poultry and some hogs. Last Fall some 
Crimson clover was sown with buckwheat in an oat 
field. It was put in with a cutaway harrow. The 
buckwheat did not do well, as the drought kept it back 
at the start. But a fine crop of oats came in, and the 
clover looked well at beginning of Winter. This is our 
first trial with Crimson clover, and it was put in to 
turn under this Spring. Can we break up the sod 
this Spring, put in corn and at the last cultivation put 
in buckwheat and Crimson clover, plow under in Spring 
and put in oats or barley for the grain? In Fall sow 
to rye to plow under in Spring, and then go over again 
with the corn and others as before in a two-year rota¬ 
tion. Can we do this without manure, and bow shall 
we come out in the end? Will our soil keep up and 
grow better, or must we use manure in some shape. 
Land is naturally well drained, I think, and mostly 
up-land and rolling, but not very high. We could have 
the manure from the poultry, keeping a large number, 
and also hogs and some cows. I. b. 
New York. 
There is no question whatever about the possi¬ 
bility of producing good crops of corn year after 
year without manure. We are doing this very thing 
on our own farm, and have continued it for six 
years or more. We plant a flint corn which gives 
a short season of growth, so that planting may be 
delayed in order to obtain the largest growth in the 
cover crop. At the last cultivation of this corn, 
which with us comes in early August, we seed about 
20 pounds of Hairy vetch, and three pecks of 
rye to the acre. In a season of sufficient moisture 
we should add to this one pound of Cow-horn tur¬ 
nip seed, and about eight pounds of Crimson clover. 
This is scattered on top of the ground through the 
corn, and then gone over with a shallow cultivator. 
It pays to rake over the spaces between the hills left 
uncovered by the cultivator with a rake. With a 
fair amount of moisture this crop properly starts, 
and grows in the corn. Cutting the corn crop tram¬ 
ples it down somewhat, but does very little perman¬ 
ent injury. The following Spring the rye and the 
vetch are usually shoulder high early in May. The 
Cow-horn turnips do not live over Winter, and the 
Crimson clover is thrown out of the soil during 
March about six times out of ten. The rye and 
vetch are plowed under by dragging a heavy chain 
at the front of the plow. As soon as possible after 
plowing under, we broadcast each year 500 to 000 
pounds of slaked lime, which is at once harrowed 
into the soil. In plowing under cover crops of this 
sort in Spring, when the winds are high, packing 
with a roller or heavy drag, and a prompt harrow¬ 
ing is necessary. 
The corn is planted at the usual time and fertil¬ 
ized in the hill with a mixture of chemicals, or 
crushed hen manure re-enforced with these chem¬ 
icals, as we have often advised. Again in August 
the cover crop is put in as before, and year after 
year this plan follows. Our crops of corn have 
been heavy, both stalk and ear. They increase from 
year to year, and the soil itself is growing more 
mellow, and is in better condition generally. This 
plan of cover crops, lime and fertilizer, with corn 
following corn, could be kept up indefinitely, but for 
the trouble with corn smut and corn insects. After 
a number of years in many localities corn smut 
becomes so bad that in order to kill out the dis¬ 
ease a rotation is necessary. The same becomes 
true of the corn worm, but except for these troubles 
the system may be kept up year after year in a 
very satisfactory manner. Your plan of corn two 
years followed by small grain is practical. 
The southern part of New York is too far north 
to be sure of Crimson clover. We should not de¬ 
pend on it for a Winter legume, but should sub¬ 
stitute Hairy vetch, using a small quantity of Crim¬ 
son clover and Cow-horn turnips as indicated above. 
