758 
THE RURAL NEW-VOKKER 
maintaining or increasing the fertility of the soil. 
As is well known. Alfalfa is a legume and can secure 
its nitrogen from the air. Table 3 has been com¬ 
piled from the percentages of the three essential 
fertilizer ingredients, nitrogen, phosphoric acid and 
potash, found in Alfalfa and Timothy hay as given 
in Hunt’s “Forage and Fiber Crops in America.” 
TABLE 3. 
Fertilizer Ingredients In 1 Ton Of Timothy And 
Alfalfa Hay. 
FERTILIZER TIMOTHY ALFALFA 
ELEMENTS Pounds Value Pounds Value 
Nitrogen . 25.2 
Phosphoric Acid.... 10.6 
Potash . 18.0 
Total . 
Less N. secured from air 
$5.04 
43.8 
$8.76 
.42 
10.2 
.41 
.72 
33.6 
1.34 
$10.51 
8.76 
$6.18 $1.75 
Of course all the ingredients found in the hay 
must have come from the soil in the case of the 
Timothy, and when the hay was removed from the 
land or marketed, these soil fertility ingredients 
were removed as well. In the case of the Alfalfa 
only the phosphoric acid and potash ingredients 
were removed from the soil, for the Alfalfa has 
furnished its own nitrogen from the air. In all 
probability, it has either left as much nitrogen in 
the soil as was found before the Alfalfa was grown, 
or it has actually increased the amount of nitrogen 
in the soil. The values of these ingredients were 
taken as 20 cents per pound for the nitrogen and 
four cents each for the phosphoric acid and potash 
found. It will be seen from the table that the value 
of the fertilizer ingredients on the above basis is 
$6.18 for each ton of Timothy liay, and $10.51 for 
each ton of Alfalfa hay. But inasmuch as the nitro¬ 
gen content of the soil has not been reduced by the 
Alfalfa crop, the value of the nitrogen should he 
subtracted, which makes the total value of the in¬ 
gredients removed and not returned $1.75 per ton. 
Figuring on the acre yield, the value of the ingre¬ 
dients removed by the Timothy is $6.61 and by the 
Alfalfa $4.31, or $2.30 more, in spite of the fact 
that the yield of Timothy is less than one-half that 
of Alfalfa. When a man sells a ton of Timothy he 
sells $6.18 worth of fertilizer constituents from his 
land; when he sells a ton of Alfalfa hay he sells but 
$1.75 worth of ingredients. From the standpoint of 
the maintenance of soil fertility, the culture of Al¬ 
falfa presents important considerations with which 
we must deal. 
ACREAGE OF ALFALFA.—With a knowledge of 
the foregoing facts before us we still find the rela¬ 
tive acreage devoted to Alfalfa ludicrously small. 
The thirteenth census reports in New York for 1909: 
1,078,358 acres Timothy alone; 2,935,470 acres Tim¬ 
othy and clover mixed; 87,267 acres clover alone; 
35,343 acres Alfalfa. Much must yet be done in the 
way of selection and development of Alfalfa varie¬ 
ties to meet varying climatic, fertility and soil con¬ 
ditions, and in the way of increased knowledge to 
understand various cultural methods that will in¬ 
sure the maximum yields and highest quality 
forages. J. h. reisneb. 
R. N.-Y.—Has anyone definitely jiroved that Al¬ 
falfa takes all its nitrogen from the air and does 
not rob the soil of that element? We think this 
claim is to large. Again, we do not believe, from our 
own experience, that Alfalfa will prove profitable 
everywhere in the East. It is a wonderful crop 
and should be grown wherever a reasonable expense 
in labor and money will start it, but there are some 
soils where the crop is not naturally at home and 
where, we believe, other crops will give greater 
profit. 
SEEDING GRASS IN THE CORN. 
I wish to plow one acre of sandy loam soil as early 
as I can, and sow three bushels of oats on it and when 
about eight inches high or about the first of J une, plow 
it under and plant to early sweet corn. At the last 
cultivation of the corn I would sow a mixture of Tim¬ 
othy, Mammoth clover and Orchard grass seed to make 
a meadow for the next year. When I plant the corn 
I would use about 400 pounds of a good corn fertilizer 
to the acre. Let us hear how you think it would work 
turning a corn field into a meadow the next year. 
Denmark, N. Y. G. H. v. I). 
Why do you sow the oats alone? The object is 
to obtain as much organic matter as possible to 
plow into the ground. We should sow Canada peas 
with the oats and also add one pound to the aero of 
white turnip seed. This will give you double the 
amount of organic matter that the oats alone would 
furnish. As you are seeding down the grass, we 
think that after this crop is plowed in, a ton at 
least of ground limestone should be harrowed into 
the soil before corn planting, unless you know that 
the soil itself is alkaline now. The plan of seeding 
the grass in the corn is followed by a good many 
farmers in New England and New York State. Some 
of them report success with this method, hut not 
all. The soil must be in first-class condition to 
begin with, and unless there is a fair rainfall during 
the late Summer and Fall, the grass seed will not 
do well. In time of drought such a plan of seeding 
would not be likely to go through. The culture of 
(he corn must, of course, be entirely level. The 
hills should be hoed down, and the whole surface 
left as smooth as possible, as otherwise there will 
be great trouble in cutting the hay. Many of the 
failures with this system have come where the corn 
was held up and the surface left rough and uneven, 
so that the mower could not do a good job in cut¬ 
ting the grass. You should use more seed than is 
commonly required in seeding the grass alone, and 
the seed ought to be spread both ways to obtain an 
even distribution. A very light cultivator or narrow 
harrow should be used to cover the seed and it 
will be necessary to use a rake around and between 
the hills to cover all the seed. Under right condi¬ 
tions of soil and climate and seeding this plan would 
give fair results, but with careless preparation of the 
soil, the stand of grass will not be satisfactory. 
LAND BANK OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 
System of Mortgage Credits Explained. 
Part Y. 
AN APPEAL TO LOCAL PRIDE.—No local bank¬ 
er or business man should hesitate to assist in the or¬ 
ganization of a savings and loan association in his 
town. Anything that tends to improve the conditions 
of the neighborhood will benefit the local banker and 
tradesmen. These institutions manage saving and thrift. 
They accumulate savings and convert them through 
the local bank into productive enterprises. They form 
habits of saving in the young. They encourage the 
home instinct in the laborer and clerk. They inspire 
the hired man to save up until he can make a first 
payment on a farm of his own. They will keep boys 
and girls on the farm who without thi.j incentive would 
seek city employment. If a man or woman has a dol¬ 
lar saved, the savings and loan association will keep it 
safe and pay for the use of it. If a member is in tem¬ 
porary distress he can get his money back. If he has 
real property, or if he is about to acquire it, he can 
get a reasonable loan on terms that reduce the annual 
payments below the normal rate of interest alone under 
the mortgage system of the past. All citizens are 
proud of a neighborhood where conditions like these 
exist. All interests profit by it; and all men should 
be proud of an opportunity to contribute to the con¬ 
tentment and prosperity that such a state of affairs 
creates in a neighborhood. 
NO LONGER A SUPPLICANT.—For the first time 
in the history of the United States the financing of the 
farm mortgage is, under this system, put on a level 
with large corporations, or a public utility. It puts 
the financing of the farm mortgage on an equal footing 
with the sale of bonds of a city or township, or of the 
State itself. The farmer need no longer be a suppli¬ 
cant at the door of the money-lender. No man can any 
longer claim a farmer’s vote or otherwise control his 
actions on an intimation that the mortgage may other¬ 
wise be foreclosed. Just as a city may bind all its 
citizens to the payment of city bonds, and sell the com¬ 
bined credit of its citizens at a lower rate of interest 
than the individual bonds of the citizens would have to 
pay, so the Land Bank of the State of New York may 
sell its bonds based on the security of the accumulated 
mortgages at a lower rate than each farmer would be 
obliged to pay on his individual mortgage. The farmer 
gets the benefit of this rate without incurring any ad¬ 
ditional responsibility himself. Just as the municipal¬ 
ity or public utility corporation issues its bonds, and 
goes into the market and sells them on their merits for 
what they demand in the money market, so the farmer 
or home owner through his Land Bank, will sell bonds 
based on the combined credit of the farm and home 
mortgages, on terms regulated by the supply of money 
at the time and the quality of security offered. .Since 
there is no better security anywhere the rate should 
not exceed the interest rate on municipal or State bonds. 
In this process the farmer and home-owner for the first 
time liquefy and standardize their mortgage credits. By 
this we mean lie has converted his mortgage into a 
negotiable bond and given that bond such a stable value 
that it will readily and conveniently pass from one 
person to another without fear of loss by anyone, and 
without hesitation as to its actual value. The con¬ 
sciousness on the part of the owner that he is financing 
his business on an equal footing with other business 
men, that he is the master of the situation and not a 
supplicant for favors, stimulates an independence of 
action and sense of freedom that results in greater 
business success, and in higher appreciation of citi¬ 
zenship. 
I iiifi TORRENS SYSTEM.—As we begin to develoi 
this system of mortgage credits and register mortgages 
under it, we may as well begin right, and register bott 
farm title and farm mortgage under the Torrens Sys¬ 
tem of land and title registration. This system origin 
ated with Sir Robert Richard Torrens in Australia ii 
1858. It has been adopted in England, Canada, Soutl 
America, and in some of our States, including Massa¬ 
chusetts, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, Cali¬ 
fornia, Colorado and possibly some other States. In 
New York we passed a title law in 1908. Under this 
May 30, 
law an official examiner makes one examination and 
report of the records of the property. The title is then 
approved and registered by the Supreme Court and 
afterward the title can never be questioned. After that 
transfer is made by simply surrendering the old certi¬ 
ficate and filing a new one at the nominal cost of two 
dollars. No more lawyers are needed and no further 
search of title required. There is no guarantee of title 
required and no fear that the title will ever be ques¬ 
tioned. The State guarantees the title by its own art. 
Lest, however, the official examiner should make an 
oversight in the first examination for the Torrens title, 
an “assurance fund” is provided to conpensate any per¬ 
son who through no negligence of his own is deprived 
of his rightful interest in the property and this must 
be claimed within six months of the original registra¬ 
tion. This is a simple and a safe and economic method 
of insuring title to real estate. It was opposed by 
title insurance companies, which make enormous pro¬ 
fits from the insurance of titles, owners and mortgagors 
in large cities. There is no one to oppose it in country 
districts, and in the interests of economy, convenience 
and safety, every association should provide in its by¬ 
laws that titles in the future must be registered under 
Article 12 of the Real Property Law as amended by 
Chapter 627 of the Laws of 1910. This is the title of 
the law under which the Torrens system of land titles 
is authorized in the State of New York. J. j. d. 
A FARM TRACTOR IN WESTERN N. Y. 
The scarcity and inefficiency of hired help require 
the large farmer to seek the most economical way 
to raise and market his farm crops. We wanted 
something to take the place of four to eight horses 
and relieve us of two or three men. To cut out the 
expense of feeding and care of eight horses for four 
months in. Winter is quite an item. Our land is not 
all in one body and there is much hauling to be 
done that is extremely hard for horses. We wanted 
something to do this work up and down hill with 
eight or 10 tons load, and not require to exceed two 
men. This led me to try a farm tractor. 
After studying the subject for some time we de¬ 
cided we wanted a medium heft machine, not ex¬ 
tremely light nor too heavy to move on ordinary 
soil; one that would develop its full rated power at 
the draw-bar with the least consumption of fuel. 
Almost any of the tractors can develop all belt power 
the average farmer needs, hut when it comes to a 
stiff pull up a heavy grade it is not always satisfac¬ 
tory to the buyer. We wanted a machine that would 
burn either gasoline or kerosene; by this I mean one 
equipped with two tanks so that you have the choice 
of two fuels. We also wanted a machine that could 
make four miles per hour on the road when neces¬ 
sary. 
Of course we wanted as few parts and as simple 
a machine as was consistent with durable construc¬ 
tion. We also considered how much delay in getting 
repairs in case of the breakage of any of the parts. 
The above are a few of the many points consid¬ 
ered that may seem foolish to many, but the first 
cost of a tractor is large, and one should try to get 
as near as possible to a machine that will answer 
his purpose. 
I presume that many are anxious to know what 
a tractor will do on our farm here in Western New 
York, with fields running from two to 50 acres each, 
with hollows and knolls to contend with and short 
turns to make at times. We have for plowing a 
four-plow gang, each plow independent, and called 
14-inch plows, turning about five feet in width. \Yc 
plow from eight to nine inches deep. The points of 
plows cut a little deeper, but do not turn the dirt 
out of furrow. With everything working well and 
suitable soil we can plow one acre per hour, working 
in eight or 10-acre fields. We have plowed on steep 
grade, down the hill only and went back empty, 
seven acres in 10 hours. We cannot plow as level 
and smooth as by hand or sulky, hut can plow much 
more and deeper, and so far as I can judge the 
grain crops are as good on engine-plowed ground as 
on that plowed by hand. 
We use for harrowing spring-tooth harrows, 
smoothing harrows and 12-foot plank drag, such as 
the soil may require at the time. We fit from 10 to 
20 acres per day for Spring or Summer grain. We 
like the tractor for heavy mowing, and for loading 
hay with loader it is a great success with us. In 
nauling baled hay to the car, a distance of five 
miles with heavy grade, we load one ear on average 
per day. In hauling potatoes it does the work of 
four teams. 
When thrashing time comes we have only to hitch 
on the thrasher machine, use just our own farm 
help and the engine runs itself until we want it to 
stop. A little over one year’s experience is not en¬ 
tirely conclusive as to the durability and cost of up¬ 
keep of a tractor. So far we have had but little 
trouble from breakage and the cost of fuel has been 
much less than we expected. c. c. 
