February 27, 
288 
ciating the means of supplying this valuable fertil¬ 
izing element at a minimum cost and in a sufficient 
amount. Chemical fertilizers and stable manure 
are available, hut legumes and Winter cover crops 
possess a remarkable ability to maintain a high 
nitrogen content at a minimum of time and expense. 
NITROGEN AND ANIMALS.—Nitrogen, as a 
food for animals, is always associated with a num¬ 
ber of other chemical elements. This group is called 
protein. One particle of protein contains approxi¬ 
mately 17 per cent, of nitrogen. Combined with the 
nitrogen to make this protein group are carbon, oxy¬ 
gen. hydrogen and sulphur. Common examples of 
protein are the whites of eggs, lean meat from which 
all fat particles have been washed, gluten in wheat 
flour, and the casein in milk. Protein is the most 
important group of materials found in the animal’s 
body. It: forms the base of all living matter, and 
goes to make up the life-giving material of proto¬ 
plasm. The functions of protein are three-fold. 
First, protein fed to animals goes towards the mak¬ 
ing of flesh, hence adequate protein must be pres¬ 
ent, in the rations for young growing animals, as 
ihe calf or young chick. Again, protein repairs 
waste in the mature animal; in other words, it 
builds up the loss which is constantly going on in 
'he processes of life. Lastly, its great function 
lies in its ability to furnish material for the animal 
to produce products outside of its body. Protein 
must he supplied abundantly, as its place cannot 
be taken by any other nutrient, such as carbo-hy¬ 
drates or fat. 
SOURCES OF PROTEIN.—The sources of protein 
for animal feeding are many and varied. For the 
dairy herd, cotton seed and oil meal are the most 
efficient. For the poultry flock, meat scrap and 
skim-milk, together with concentrated vegetable 
protein, such as is found in gluten meal and oil 
meal. Protein feeds are expensive to purchase on 
account of the high cost of nitrogen. The value of 
many food materials containing protein is based on 
the cost of a pound of protein present. It should be 
possible to secure a pound of protein in any concen¬ 
trated, nitrogenous food at the rate of five cents a 
pound. Again, production is limited by the mini¬ 
mum amount of protein in the ration. A cow weigh¬ 
ing 1000 pounds and producing 25 pounds of milk a 
day must consume 2*4 pounds of protein, or 10 per 
cent, of the dry matter of her ration. From this 
consumption, she produces albumen and casein in 
the milk to the amount of one pound daily, the rest 
being utilized in digestion. Of even greater inter¬ 
est is the fact that in a flock of laying hens one 
pound of protein per 100 pounds live weight is con- 
sumed daily, which is equivalent to a protein con¬ 
sumption of 20 per cent, of dry matter in the ration. 
Assuming that this flock produces a 25 per cent egg 
yield the eggs laid will contain .72 pounds of protein 
in the form of albumen. The hen is by far the most 
economical transformer of protein known, produc¬ 
ing a greater amount of high quality production in 
proportion to the food consumed than any other 
animal. 
PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION.—It is an 
interesting fact that production is directly propor¬ 
tionate to the amount of nitrogenous material con¬ 
sumed. An experiment under way at the New Jer¬ 
sey Experiment Station, which has been in opera¬ 
tion for three years, shows that three different 
flocks of birds, one receiving 10% meat scrap, an¬ 
other 20%, and the other 30%, produced eggs in 
direct proportion to the amount of meat scrap con¬ 
sumed. That is, the greater the consumption the 
heavier the production. Nitrogen it is, then, that 
makes our crops grow and enables the farmer to 
produce a crop with a good margin of profit. It is 
ihe use of nitrogen that enables us farmers to stay 
in the business, so let us look carefully to our supply, 
in Fig. SO are shown four available concentrated 
protein feeding stuffs: A, gluten meal averaging 2S 
per cent, of protein; B, linseed oil meal averaging 32 
per cent, of protein; C, cottonseed meal, averaging 
-12 per cent, of protein; D, meat scrap averaging 50 
per cent, of protein. Protein for stock feeding can 
be secured more cheaply from these concentrated 
products than from any other source. 
HARKY R. LEWIS. 
GROWING CUT FLOWERS IN MANITOBA. 
WISH to grow cut flowers for local demand; I have 
had no management of greenhouse, but am familiar 
with the work. My place is rather exposed, so I 
thought perhaps a lean-to, facing south, with a 
' anto, service building, at the back, would be warmer 
ban an even-span, and consume less fuel. Will there 
i e sufficient light, say, for carnations, etc., and will an 
< Id boiler give good service? I can get, very cheaply, 
old portable thrasher engines of various sizes. Would 
I better get a new one from some horticultural firm? 
T had thought of lean-to 12x45 feet. I would rather not 
’ nve it on east side of house. Our prevailing winds 
are from the west. Should I have glass and must 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
boiler bo directly opposite lean-to in basement of house? 
In that event I would have to build chimney up against 
house and through greenhouse. A. A. 
Manitoba. 
I do not think a lean-to would give best results, 
as nearly as good results for growing cut flowers as 
a two-thirds span roof for a location where the sun 
would strike the roo£ from a point low on the hori¬ 
zon. as it would so far north. A better arrange¬ 
ment would be if a narrow house is desired to use 
a bar on the south side about 10 feet long and a 
six-foot bar on the north side. This would make 
a house 12 feet wide and give a good pitch to the 
roof; better light than the lean-to and the flowers 
will grow much more erect and of better quality. 
If a larger house is contemplated eventually, why 
not save money by starting a house where you have 
planned to have larger building, by, say 20x30 feet, 
making the end next dwelling permanent and bolt¬ 
ing the far end on in such a manner that when you 
want to extend the house the end can be removed 
and replaced when the extension has been added? 
You will have a house in the 20 feet width much 
easier to heat, and manage, and you can grow better 
crops in it than in the 12-foot width. The best ar- 
DITGIIING MUCK LAND. FIG. 78. 
rangement for a 20-foot width would be east and 
west also, and bars could be 14 feet long on south 
side and about nine feet on north side. It would be 
well to have the south side eave of a light piece of 
cypress about 2x3 inches, so as not to cast too much 
shade and put two to three feet of glass below the 
eave plate. l T ou would also find an advantage by 
having glass in each end from a point about 18 
inches above the beds to the top. Banking earth 
as high as possible round sides would help save 
fuel. 
The thrashing engine boiler would do very well 
for heating, but be sure you get one that will not 
give out in mid-Winter. If hot water is used the 
boiler should have a 3% or four-inch outlet and in¬ 
let. The piping could he arranged as outlined in 
article recently published in The R. N.-Y. in a 
a greenhouse for the small place. I can see no ob¬ 
jection to placing the boiler in the dwelling house 
cellar, and using a chimney already built for smoke 
flue, provided the chimney would have as large or 
larger area than the smoke outlet in the boiler. 
For steam you will need 175 to 200 square feet 
of radiation and for hot water about 300 feet. I 
do not know how low your temperature goes, but 
think that amount should heat a 20x30 foot house to 
50 degrees at 20 degrees below zero, unless the wind 
would he rather high. If you have zero or below 
and high winds at same time, best use more pipe. 
That would require 460 feet 1*4-inch pipe for steam, 
or 480 feet of 2-incli for hot water. Best size for 
glass would be 16x24 inches, bars placed 16 inches 
apart. Double strength B glass would answer. 
ELMER ,T. WEAVER. 
SUBDUING MUCK. 
N many farms there are valuable pieces of 
land, unused and unproductive, because of the 
seeming impossibility of bringing them to a 
state of cultivation. Especially is this true in many 
cases with muck soil. We have a piece of about two 
acres of good muck, which when we bought this 
place, some four years ago, was overrun with cat 
tails and undergrowth, and was the nesting place 
for the red-wing for miles around. Some years be¬ 
fore loads of soil had been dug from this spot and 
sold for fertilizer, and it had left bad holes and low 
sjlots, which were full of water, making it unsafe to 
put a team on for breaking up the sod. The land 
sloped to a brook, which, while the fall was slight, 
made drainage. 
The first year we cut the undergrowth and 
worked the land as far as we could at the edge of 
the piece, deepening and widening the brook, but 
being careful to keep what little fall there was. In 
this way we reclaimed a small strip, but it was too 
slow with fine muck waiting to produce crops of 
celery. 
Last Fall we made a bargain with two men, who 
wished Winter work, to spade the land at so much 
a square rod. They would start at the dry side and, 
taking a strip a rod wide, would work it across to 
the brook. First digging a ditch IS inches deep and 
two feet wide, they turned over the sod and roots 
from the next strip into it, with the muck from the 
new strip on top, making a new ditch to again fill 
with the next strip. In this way they covered a 
large piece, leaving it broken up, open to the 
weather, and leveling it more or less as they went, 
by filling the holes when they came to them. The 
next Spring it was in first class shape, ready for 
use, and grew us high-grade celery, repaying the 
cost of the labor more than double. 
This Winter, even with the heavy snows, we have 
reclaimed another large piece with the labor of our 
regular hired man, in spare time, making no ad¬ 
ditional expense, and before Spring hope to have 
Ihe entire spot ready for use. The snow has added 
to the work, but it will well repay the labor in the 
end. The accompanying picture, Fig. 78, shows one 
end of the work, with the ditch full of snow and 
surface water, but the sod went into the bottom of 
the ditch just as well. Many a farmer could add 
much to the value of his farm and a material in¬ 
crease to his income by investing a little labor 
on the unused and low spots of his farm, and re¬ 
claiming valuable land that now is being allowed 
to lie idle. r. w. 
A BACK-TO-THE-GRASS PLAN. 
AM a manufacturer and conduct a business, but 
am a farmer at heart, being born and brought up 
on a farm, and know what hard work is. I have 
a little money to invest, and there seem to be 
two avenues open for investment. One is to invest in 
tenant houses here in the city, and as I figure it, the 
best of these will only pay about 10 per cent, interest, 
and the other, which I am thinking of, and want ad¬ 
vice or opinion on, is farm land for hay purposes. I 
know of a farm in the southeastern part of Aroostook 
County, Maine. This farm is very level and well freed 
from rocks (in that locality farms are naturally rocky). 
The land I call heavy soil or soil that holds moisture, 
and I think well adapted to a hay farm. The farm has 
been neglected by two men who fell heir to it, so 
consequently is in a poor state of cultivation and very 
sour. There are 100 acres, and it can be bought for 
$10 an acre. My plan was to buy that. First year 
plow and lime it well, sow to buckwheat to be turned 
under in Fall; refit the ground, sow to Winter rye, 
using fertilizer, turn under in Spring, then to adopt 
the Clark system of a continuous disking and harrow- 
; :rg during the Summer months, and in September seed 
to grass, using fertilizer. Next Spring top-dress with 
fertilizer, and I believe one might look for a fair crop 
of hay, which would turn a better dividend for the 
money invested on a 10-year basis than investing in 
city property. The first two or three years I would 
plan on no income at all, but to do everything to get 
a permanent grass field established, and after establish¬ 
ing it continue to use a certain percent of the income 
each year to put back on the soil in fertilizer. There 
is no stable manure to he had, so the whole work would 
depend on fertilizers. Three thousand dollars invested 
in city property will not buy much; I believe $2,000 
invested in labor and fertilizer above the cost of the 
land v would yield a better return. I would have to 
depend on having the work done on the start, but 
sooner or later I expect to be on the job, as I now own 
some property there, and when things are right I shall 
go back to the farm. My plan is, when small tractors 
become a little more practical, I will use one for 
taking care of a hay crop and make hay farming, beef 
cattle, pork and poultry my chief business and I be¬ 
lieve with a tractor and that combination I would not 
need to keep a team aside from a driving horse. Is the 
plan I have outlined for building that farm practical, 
and if so there is no question in my mind as to which 
is the safer investment. I would like to hear your side 
of it. o. s. M. 
Our advice to this back-to-the-lander is “Go ahead 
with your plans!” This is a very different thing 
from the ordinary scheme. This man does not leave 
his business, hut seeks to invest his surplus capital, 
and will not be ruined if his plan fails. Then again, 
he does not expect too much from the soil, and is 
ready to spend two years of work and needed capital 
in fitting it properly. We think this hay land fitted 
in this way will prove a better investment in the 
end than the town houses. The drawback to the 
scheme is that all the work must be hired. This is 
expensive, and it cannot be done under the owner’s 
eye. If the same plan was suggested for potatoes, 
corn or cabbage we should advise against it, hut 
grass is different, and the fitting can be done by 
proxy. When it comes to putting in the seed and 
applying the fertilizer we advise our friend to he 
right on the job and do as much of it as possible 
himself. As this man understands what to expect 
and what not to expect our advice would be to try it. 
The Mississippi Agricultural College supports a 
creamery which takes the milk of 500 cows. Iu that 
section of the South the financial condition is good. 
Dr. John J. Black, in his book “Eating to Live,” 
says that in Australia there are luncheon shops where 
fruit is given, all one can eat, with bread and milk 
or coffee. You pay 10 or 15 cents, get your bread and 
coffee and help yourself to fruit. This leads to an 
enormous demand for fruit. 
