THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
725 
Does Tobacco Ruin Land ? 
Having heard several times that land 
used for tobacco growing in Connecticut 
will be useless for farming of any other 
sort ever after I would like to know 
whether this is true. f. r. s. 
New York. 
It is an exploded tradition that to¬ 
bacco growing ruins land. In Connecti¬ 
cut, where only the wrapper leaf type 
is grown, it can be grown successfully 
only on lands which are light and sandy 
and naturally unproductive. Heavier fer¬ 
tilization is required for tobacco than for 
any other crop grown here. The crop 
has been grown on the same land success¬ 
fully for 40 years, and the soil is not im¬ 
poverished, but improved by tobacco grow¬ 
ing. I have seen large crops of corn and 
potatoes grown, following years of to¬ 
bacco growing. E . H . , Ti 
Connecticut. 
spring-tooth would give satisfaction. 
Good crops of corn are often grown on 
such soil, but the cultivators are worn out 
rapidly. Such soils are strong as a rule, 
but the labor required in picking stones 
will be too much for the average baek- 
to-the-landei\ He would do better to let 
the stones alone and plant peach or apple 
trees. After struggling with a stony farm 
we would, if we were hunting another, 
first look for the stone walls to observe 
the character of the rocks and then see 
how many smaller stones we were ex¬ 
pected to pick up. Probably “The Soil,” 
by F. H. King, is as good as any book on 
the subject. 
Thick-necked Onions. 
What causes onions grown from seed to 
grow scullions? Last Summer I had a 
large bed, enough to have grown at least 
three bushels of onions; kept them well 
cultivated and clean, but did not get half 
a peck of good onions. The rest were 
all scullions, large thick stems, with tops 
which stayed green, and would not die 
even when tramped down; almost no 
bulbs, but with great bunches of fibrous 
roots. s. M. T. 
Franklin, Pa. 
The fault complained of is sometimes 
due to inferior seed, and quite often to 
the use of too much fresh stable manure. 
Seeds produced from thick-neck onions 
are of very inferior quality, and as like 
begets like it very often happens nearly 
the whole crop will be thick necks or 
scullions when grown from such seed. 
When too much fresh manure is used, 
about the same results will ensue, no 
matter how high the quality of the seed. 
Put few crops will respond more readily 
and abundantly to the use of large appli¬ 
cations of manure than the onion, but the 
manure should be quite well rotted and 
fine. In that condition it may be used in 
quantity up to as much as 60 to 75 tons 
to the acre without overdoing it. K. 
Soy Beans for Hay. 
I have about three-fourths of an aci’e 
of ground, which I wished to sow to oats 
and peas, intending to cut them green for 
hay. I ordered the oats, peas and grass 
seed, and hired a man to drill them in. 
It came up all right, but I find that in¬ 
stead of sending me peas, as I ordered, 
they sent me Soy beans. Can I cut this 
crop as I could the peas and oats? The 
dealer I purchased the seed from claimed 
they were billed to him as peas. 
Sinclairville, N. Y. l. n. w. 
Yes. You can cut the Soy beans as 
you would peas—if they are not killed by 
a late frost. The Soy beans are tender 
and not usually planted before corn. The 
beans will not make as good fodder as the 
Canada peas, but they will help as cattle 
feed. 
Improving Tobacco Flavor. 
I raise tobacco for a money crop and 
like a cigar occasionally, but our Mary¬ 
land tobacco is lacking the pleasant 
aroma of other tobacco. IIow can it be 
treated to give a more pleasant taste and 
smell? Is there anything other than es¬ 
sence of tonka (too costly) that I could 
spray on the leaf to add to its flavor? I 
must use the flavor on the leaf and not 
the made cigars; I must not keep them 
made ahead as I am tempted to smoke 
too much, but just make one as I want 
it. F. w. n. 
Hollywood, Md. 
The lighter grades of Maryland tobacco 
might be got into condition for making 
a common cigar by treating it in the way 
the Connecticut tobacco is treated. That 
is, after taking it down, pack it in cases 
holding about 300 pounds, and leave it 
to ferment for about a year. Then by 
using this tobacco as filler and binder, 
and getting some Broad Leaf Connecticut 
for wrapper, you might make a fair cig¬ 
ar. A better one can be made by slip¬ 
ping in a sprig of Havana and Zimmer 
Spanish in the filler to add flavor to the 
home-grown article. With this ferment¬ 
ing process the Maryland tobacco will 
make a better pipe tobacco than for cig¬ 
ars. M ith a complete Havana filler, a 
Maryland binder and a Connecticut Broad 
Leaf wrapper, a very good cigar can be 
ma<3e - W. F. MASSEY. 
Cover Crop for Orchard. 
I have a steep hillside planted with 
young apple and peach trees, and I do 
not wish to put it in sod. Will Cow- 
horn turnips answer for a cover crop, 
sowing them about July 1, and leaving 
them on the ground? They root deeply 
and would keep the ground open and 
loose. Crimson clover does not appear to 
do very well here; besides, it dies down 
in Winter and does not appear to make a 
very good mulch here. Will some reader 
of Tiie R. N.-Y. give his opinion, or bet¬ 
ter. his experience, if he has had any? 
Marshall’s Creek, Pa. a. s. 
You can sow the Cow-horn turnips as 
you suggest, but our own plan would be 
to add about one bushel of rye to the 
acre. The Cow-horn turnips alone will 
not give so much organic matter as the 
combination will, and in addition to this, 
the rye will cover the ground during the 
Winter, and in the Spring give a nice 
crop to be plowed under. Some of our 
readers may have had experience with 
Cow-horn turnips alone, but we would ad¬ 
vise rye in addition. The general plan 
you speak of is feasible, and will work 
out reasonably well. 
Sun-Dried Alfalfa. —If the Alfalfa 
growers would cure their crop so that 
the leaves will not shell off the dairyman 
of New England can feed it with some 
profit. A good share of it is cured in 
the sun. I have been feeding Alfalfa for 
the past few years. Some seasons it has 
cost me over $ 1 , 000 . Some cars have 
proved to be pretty poor stuff; with the 
leaves off the stems are about as good 
as sticks. I bought a car of Idaho Al¬ 
falfa that was standing on track here. It 
looked all right in the car; when I open¬ 
ed the bales it proved to be a mass of 
stems. It was not a dead loss to me; 
I could feed it to my horses. A dealer 
that will put such stuff on the market 
should be advertised, h. w. bassett. 
Connecticut. 
Stony Soil. 
In article on page 651, “Selecting a 
1 ai ' m > what is the significance of ‘Tound 
or Hat stones” on cultivated fields? Can 
you recommend a good book on “stone- 
ology with reference to soils? e. c. m. 
Maplewood, N. ,T. 
W hat we said was this: “Are the culti¬ 
vated fields covered with sand or flat 
stones, and are there many stone walls 
around the fields?” A soil covered with 
these stones is usually strong, but great 
labor or expense will be needed to clear 
such fields for cropping. We have seen 
fields with more than one-third of the 
surface covered with flat stones, so that 
such tools as the Acme or disk could not 
l,e successfully used. Nothing but a 
Killing Brush In Fence Row. —One 
or our readers has a problem which is 
too much for him. Perhaps some of our 
people can help. This man has bought 
a large farm containing a number of old 
fields. There are from eight to 10 miles 
of old stone wall around the place, and 
as is usual, these walls are lined with 
shrubs and trees and trash of all kinds. 
This man wants some reasonably cheap 
and effective way of cleaning out this 
brush. It would be practically impos¬ 
sible to grub out this growth' without 
moving the entire wall, and this cannot 
be done at present. Is there any chem¬ 
ical which could be used cheaply enough 
to pay ! This man says he worked once 
on a place where a hand was dischai’ged 
for killing a cherry tree by pouring a 
quantity of kei'osene in the ground 
around the trunk. Will kerosene or salt, 
carbolic acid, or any combination of 
chemicals do this work at reasonable 
cost? Something is wanted that will kill 
the brush out quickly on both sides of the 
wall without costing too much. Can 
anyone make a suggestion? 
V 
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I 
'CAN YOU 
NAME 
HIS WOODf 
The United States Forest Service says of a certain wood: 
“It is Hard, Dense, Very Strong, Flexible, Straight and Even in the 
Gram; a Good , Sound Timber of a Nature Free from Weakening Defects ” 
Bulletin No. 99, 1911. 
What’s the answer? What is this wood possessing so many desirable qualities, 
proved by Government test? 
It’S Southern Yellow Pine — Nothin g Else 
The Wood of a Thousand Uses the wood the Forest Service experts 
found to be the toughest, strongest, hardest soft wood, and, in these qualities, superior 
to many hard woods. r 
Look at this table. The figures are the result of tests by the Forest Service 
and show just how much Southern Yellow Pine surpasses hard woods of pro¬ 
verbial strength in its resistance to a crushing weight—that means weight-carrying 
quality. The figures indicate pounds per square inch. 
Long Leaf Yellow Pine.4,280 
White Oak.3,500 
Liard Maple. .3,850 
Llickory, Big Shellbark.3,890 
Rock Elm. 3 740 
Blue Ash.4180 
Black Cherry.3 540 
Hackberry.! .2^520 
ABOUT THE ONLY GOOD QUALITY THE GOVERNMENT DOES 
NOT MENTION IN CONNECTION WITH SOUTHERN YELLOW PINE IS 
Low Cost to the User 
and your lumber dealer will mention that if you ask him. 
. The Government’s purpose in testing the qualities of wood is to aid you — 
assist you in a choice of a wood suited to your needs in building about the farm 
and in the home. You can depend on the Government’s tests; they are accurate 
and thorough, and made without prejudice. You cannot go wrong in acting on 
the information provided, and buying the strongest, most durable, easiest worked 
and most economical wood for all-around farm and home use— 
/ 
/ 
Southern Yellow Pine 
Whether you are building a house, barn, silo, feed shed, granary, /\ 
hog house or water tank, or only replacing a tool handle, you’ll '/ pine ^ 11 
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Before you begin that new building on the farm, send to / New 
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plete specifications. r 
We have nothing to sell you—we / 
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in usefulness and money-saving of Southern / 
Yellow Pine. Town 
Silo Book 
P'ans of Farm'Buildings 
Table of Lumber Testa 
House Plans 
Name_ 
R. F. D... State 
