Published by 
The Rural Publishing Co. 
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New York 
The Rural New Yorker 
The Business Farmer’s Paper 
Weekly, One Dollar Per Year 
Postpaid 
Single Copies, Five Cents 
Vol. LXXIV 
NEW YORK, JANUARY 16, 1915 
No. 4290 
every farm an experiment station. 
Trying Out New Things. 
Part I. 
ALUE OF THE WORK.—Trying out new ideas 
and testing new crops is not all loss, nor 
by any means all profit. Second-hand exper¬ 
ience will not answer in all cases, as the value of a 
new crop or new idea depends entirely on its adapt¬ 
ability to the conditions in the section in which 
it is to be used. Of course, there is a possibility of 
carrying it too far, but trying these new things 
varies the monotony of one round of crops year 
after year, and I am sure I came honestly by the 
idea. Several years ago I attended a Summer meet¬ 
ing of fruit growers, held at Niagara Falls, and 
while I do not remember much else that was said, 
one thought got in and staid by me; when Prof. 
up through the two previous years’ crops of hay, 
that had been cut and left on the land and all 
turned down together. Plowing under large quan¬ 
tities of humus-making material is safe for most 
farmers to bank on in this part of the country, and 
neither the dew on it, nor raw rock, will do any harm. 
Our raw rock phosphate is deposited in v id Mother 
Nature’s bank, and she will probably honor a draft 
on it later, but most of us prefer to see some 
results without waiting so long. 
EFFECTS ON POTATOES.—Where we tried raw 
rock on potatoes, the land was quite poor, and all 
the growth of hay for two years had been cut and 
left lying. The first year the hay was very light, the 
second much better, with some clover. This was 
turned under with the raw rock after considerable 
green growth had teen made, and nothing else was 
applied, excepting a small amount of manure and 
system of general farming, might fail entirely to 
meet the needs of a trucking section, where a quick¬ 
growing crop is needed to make its growth after 
removal of one year’s crop, to improve the land for 
the next. There is no doubt about the value of 
Sweet clover, but the man who tries it first in a 
small way, instead of depending on second-hand 
experience, will probably have much less to regret 
than some of us who took too much for granted, 
supposing it would grow anywhere. 
SLOW PROGRESS.—Like many another poor 
fellow, with a big job on his hands, in building up 
a badly run-down farm, I started at the wrong end, 
and attempted first to grow legumes. While that 
is the proper thing to do if you can, but little pro¬ 
gress was made, as is often the case, until we 
started in with crops that would g row on poor soil, 
then by returning them to the land, it was getting 
THE ETERNAL FEMININE PROBLEM. DOES SHE GET HER SHARE? Fig. 15. 
Bailey told us as they sat looking out of the car 
window that morning on their way to the meeting, 
Prof. Roberts had remarked, “every farm is an ex¬ 
perimental farm , and the oivner is the director .” 
RAW ROCK PHOSPHATE.—This is one of the 
comparatively new things that you can be sure of 
getting results from, provided you follow directions 
as to the best method of using it, which is to plow 
it under with a heavy growth of some kind. I am 
not saying, however, whether the immediate benefit 
will come from the raw rock, or the material plowed 
under with it. I fear that so far as results the 
first year are concerned, under conditions similar to 
our own, it would be something like the Monroe 
County farmer, who told at the institute last Win¬ 
ter of the good results he had had from plowing 
under one or two crops of dew. Both theories are 
safe, but the dew is less expensive. It may be that 
a careful weighing of the crop on check strips, and 
where the raw rock was applied at the rate of 1,600 
to 2,000 pounds per acre, might have shown some 
increase, but the difference was too small to be 
seen. We certainly followed directions, as we 
turned it under with a heavy growth of green rye, 
also on a sod where a strong green growth had come 
old nearly rotted hay, which were spread on the 
poorest spots. The extra manure and hay showed 
up, but I could not see the slightest difference 
whether raw rock had been applied or not, as a 
strip was left untreated. The crop was not as large 
as many secured on heavily manured land, but the 
average yield was close around 200 bushels per acre, 
about double the previous crop, which had followed 
three or four years of pasturing and also manured 
on the poorest spots at that time. Under such con¬ 
ditions as we have here, and I believe the same 
would apply over a large part of the State, I am 
thoroughly convinced that the use of humus-making 
material is the key to the situation, and should be 
the first aim in bringing up poor land. Make use 
first of what you have at hand and can grow on the 
land. 
SWEET CLOVER.-—Several weeks ago, some one 
in Ohio, writing to The R. N.-Y., seemed to disagree 
with Prof. Massey, that Sweet clover was not need¬ 
ed in Maryland. While Prof. Massey does not need 
any help in defending his position, the Ohio corres¬ 
pondent evidently overlooked the fact that condi¬ 
tions are entirely different in the two sections. A 
crop adapted to use on a dairy farm or under a 
ready to grow legumes. As Sweet clover grew rank 
by the roadside, under what appeared to be very 
unfavorable conditions, and very poor soil, it seemed 
to be just the thing. Several wagon loads of the 
rank growth were gathered and thrashed, and seed 
sown over a large part of the farm, and left to it¬ 
self, the same as when it grows wild. Neighbors 
were unnecessarily alarmed at our bringing such a 
“pest” into the neighborhood, as none of us could 
grow it then. The next Spring, probably millions 
of the seed started and made some growth, but it 
soon disappeared entirely, excepting in a few spots 
where land was already rich or for instance where 
some of the Sweet clover straw was hauled out and 
left in bunches as a mulch about young trees. Now, 
after several years, it has become well established 
in spots where it grows rank and fine, and from 
these is spreading, where left to itself. On the rich 
places, under favorable conditions, it soon became 
well established and made a fine growth. It will, 
it is true, make a good growth on very poor soil 
and under very unfavorable conditions after it has 
become established a few years, and of itself made 
conditions favorable, but anyone under similar con¬ 
ditions to those here, need not expect for a minute 
