THE RURAL NEW-YOR KER 
When to Begin Haying. 
W HAT is the best time to cut grass or clover 
for hay-making? It requires very few words 
to tell what I think about two of the most 
important ones, that is Timothy and Medium clover. 
If Timothy is cut when in full bloom, or just a 
little before this it is inclined to he dusty, it will 
he more so the greener it is cut. If it is cut just as 
the blossoms, or I presume I should say as the 
anthers are falling, there will be much less dusti¬ 
ness, and it will still be green and tender enough 
to make prime hay. This is the condition it should 
he in for best results. Sometimes it is unavoidable 
that Timothy becomes too ripe, because we may 
have wet weather to interfere with its harvest 
But if it is not cut until some time after the blos¬ 
soms have fallen its feeding value is little more 
than that of oat straw. 
Medium clover should he cut when in full bloom. 
I prefer cutting it a little hit too green rather than 
letting it get too ripe. In the latter case it cures 
quickly, hut in the former case it makes very much 
nicer feed. I would prefer to begin cutting before 
hardly any of the blossoms had started to wither, 
even if a portion of the plants were only in hud in¬ 
stead of full bloom. The same rule to a consider¬ 
able extent would apply to Alsike as to Medium 
clover. With Alfalfa many of your readers already 
know the signs. For myself I am about as likely 
to go into a field and look to see whether the plants 
have stopped growing as not, hut this requires some 
practice. The plants when they have stopped grow¬ 
ing will turn a particular shade of green that a 
practiced eye will recognize all right. With the 
first cutting this time would probably come when 
about one-fifth of the plants show some bloom. With 
the later cuttings I pay very little attention to the 
blossoms. The best rule, however, for your readers, 
especially those who are amateurs, to go by is to 
watch for the little shoots at the crown of the plant. 
When these appear and are about one-half inch 
long the meadow is ready to be harvested. Before 
that time it is very dangerous to harvest, and after 
that time the plants may be injured on account of 
the mowers snipping off the tops of these little base 
shoots. CHAS. B. WXXG. 
Ohio. 
How Soils Become Acid. 
EOLOGISTS divide rocks into two classes, 
acidic (or acid) and basic. A basic rock is 
one which contains so much lime, magnesia, 
soda, or potash that they combine with all of the 
silica, forming silicates. An acidic rock contains so 
much silica that it does not all combine with these 
bases and hence it crystallizes out in the rock as 
quartz or silica, which is an oxide of silicon, and 
acts as an acid. Granitic soils are naturally of an 
acidic character because of their derivation from 
granite rock, which contains an excess of silica at 
the outset. The same is true of soils derived from 
some sandstones, many conglomerates, gneiss, mica 
schist and some slates and shales. 
Those soils which are derived from acidic rocks 
usually need liming at once, and by the continual 
growth of crops which are gradually removing more 
and more of the bases and by the natural leaching 
of the soil in rainy regions, where the rains carry 
carbonic acid to the soils which aids in dissolving 
and removing the bases, the soils become gradually 
more and more acidic in their character. It is also 
true in the case of basic volcanic soils and even in 
the case of soils which were originally derived from 
limestone that the lime and magnesia may be re¬ 
moved to such an extent by cropping and leaching 
that these soils eventually become acid, whereas 
in the beginning they were basic, or the opposite of 
acid. 
By the decay of legumes, which are very rich in 
nitrogen, the first effect may be to produce so much 
ammonia in the soil as to exert a slightly alkaline 
reaction, but when this ammonia has changed to 
nitric acid the tendency may be the other way, de¬ 
pending upon the amount of lime, magnesia, soda, 
and potash present in the plants. In the case of 
non-legumes and residues of them the tendency is 
to create acid conditions at the outset, for the rea¬ 
son that the amount of ammonia formed is too lit¬ 
tle to create an alkaline condition at first because 
of the relatively larger amount of acid compounds 
which are formed. A typical illustration of this is 
the alkaline silage produced when legumes are put 
ui the silo and the acid silage produced when In¬ 
dian corn is placed in the silo. 
Whenever organic nitrogenous substances, such 
for example as blood, fish, and tankage, are added 
to the soil a considerable amount of nitric acid is 
created by the transformation of the nitrogen into 
ammonia and by the subsequent change of this into 
nitric acid. The nitric acid thus produced combines 
with these bases which have been mentioned and 
what is not taken up by plants leaches away in 
the drainage waters in combination with the bases. 
If sulphate of ammonia is used in considerable 
quantities, the ammonia is not only nitrified to ni¬ 
tric acid but there remains a residue of sulphuric 
acid. Hence, two acids are acting in the soil in¬ 
stead of one as in the case of organic ammouiates. 
Hence, where sulphate of ammonia is used as the 
exclusive source of nitrogen more lime is needed 
than otherwise. In the case of nitrate of soda the 
tendency is to leave a basic residue behind rather 
than an acid one. 
Tt is possible, as in the manufacture of complete 
commercial fertilizers, by the choice of the right 
materials and by using the proper proportions to 
Country Elevator at Isabella, Manitoba. Fig. 296. 
(See First Page) 
adjust a fertilizer so that it will have neither an 
ultimate acid nor an ultimate alkaline effect. It is 
also possible to compound fertilizers for use on soils 
where potato scab prevails so that they will be acid 
in their final effect and thus lessen the tendency 
to favor potato scab. Many other similar illustra¬ 
tions could be cited if space permitted. 
Massachusetts. h. j. wheeler. 
The School-Consolidation Bill. 
Last Fall I believe a bill was presented to the 
Legislature to combine the rural schools in New York 
State. For some reason ’t failed to pass. Could you 
give me the following information? Who was the 
author of this bill? What did it consist of exactly? 
What was the opposition? Why was tie bill with¬ 
drawn? Was it compulsory for all districts, or op¬ 
tional? In event of a district building a new two-room 
school-house this year, would the town have to assume 
the debt next year, provided the bill passed next Fall? 
Syracuse, N. Y. mrs. n. r. w. 
A MEMBER of the Legislature, who took some 
little interest in the bill to which you refer, 
tells me that it was introduced at the instance 
of the State Department of Education, that depart¬ 
ment being in favor of its provisions. The bill pro¬ 
vided that the town, rather than the school district, 
should be the unit of administration of school af¬ 
fairs, control being vested in a town board of edu¬ 
cation which should be elected as are other town 
A 
___ 
Terminal Elevator at Fort William. Fig. 297. 
(See First Page) 
officers, and which should administer the affairs of 
the township schools in such manner as it believed 
would best serve the interests of the town as a 
whole. This board would be, in a measure, sub¬ 
ordinate to the State Department of Education and 
to its representative, the District Supervisor. Such 
a board might discontinue certain schools, if it 
seemed advantageous to do so, making other pro¬ 
vision for the pupils in those districts, or it might 
combine districts in whatever way seemed best 
adapted to serving the interests of all school pa¬ 
trons in the most efficient and economical manner. 
The bill was compulsory, bringing all township 
school districts within its provisions. It was never 
reported from committee, the State department 
feeling that it was not advisable to bring it to vote 
until there was a better general understanding of 
its principles and until the bill itself had been per¬ 
799 
fected through discussion and criticism. Under the 
provisions of this bill, the town would take over all 
school district properties, and with them, of course, 
all debts and liabilities. The money then raised 
by school tax and received from the State would be 
applied to the support of such schools as were main¬ 
tained. being divided according to the needs of each 
school. 
The opposition to the bill comes largely from 
those who fear that the interests of the pupils in 
sparsely settled districts would not be as well pro¬ 
vided for as now, as transportation to the more cen¬ 
tral schools would doubtless have to be provided 
for such pupils, and from those who object to hav¬ 
ing the township assume the indebtedness, bonded 
or otherwise, under which some districts, particu¬ 
larly the union school districts, now labor. The De¬ 
partment of Education takes the position that the 
methods of administering public schools in the State 
have become antiquated, having been devised at a 
time when conditions in rural districts were differ¬ 
ent from those that obtain now; and that the 
changes which they advocate will increase the effi¬ 
ciency of the vast sum spent annually for educa¬ 
tional purposes. yj. B . n. 
Sweet Clover. 
Does It Supply a Need in New York State? 
ARRING Alfalfa, no other leguminous plant has 
received as much advertisement during the past 
10 years as Sweet clover. The hoom started in 
some of the Middle Western States, as usual; re¬ 
ceived considerable impetus in Ohio in particular, 
and is now knocking at the barn doors of the East¬ 
ern States. Can a plant, so long looked upon as a 
roadside weed, win for itself the respect of the con¬ 
servative farmer, by showing that it possesses latent 
economic value? The question can be answered in 
the affirmative. Sweet clover, a roadside weed, is 
winning for itself a place among our useful forage 
and pasture crops. 
The average farmer sees little that goes on outside 
the environs of his farm or immediate neighborhood. 
Important agricultural developments may take 
place within ten miles of his home and yet remain 
unknown to him. Few farmers know anything con¬ 
cerning the use of Sweet clover as a farm crop, be¬ 
cause few have ever seen it included among the 
other farm crops. They still look upon it as a 
weed. To be appreciated it must be seen growing 
as a crop. So too the average county agent sees 
little that happens, agriculturally speaking, outside 
of his immediate county. It would be better that 
both farmer and county agent should have occasion 
to extend the horizon of their observation. 
Our experience with Sweet clover is confined for 
the time to Jefferson County. Here it appears to 
have established a place for itself among other for¬ 
age crops. It also abounds in waste places. The acre¬ 
age of this crop is on the increase. It was 18 acres in 
1918; 36 in 1914; and this year we have approxi¬ 
mately 65 acres growing and recently seeded to 
Sweet clover. It is being used mainly for forage 
and pasture and is seeded in two ways: 1. Mixing 
Sweet clover seed with other grasses and Alfalfa 
at seeding time, using about five pounds 
of Sweet clover in the mixture per acre; 
2. Using seven to nine quarts of Sweet clover seed 
per acre, seeding with a light nurse crop 
of oats, or with the regular seeding of oats. With 
either practice the seed germinates well and good 
stands of Sweet clover result. The crop is now to 
be seen growing on stiff clays, sandy soils and 
broken limestone soils, and appears to be little con¬ 
cerned as to soil environment. 
Sweet clover has not been grown here as a forage 
crop long enough to secure data as to yields, or 
desirability as dry forage, but as a pasture for cat¬ 
tle it has well proven its value. Cattle pasture it 
with great relish and a marked increase in flow of 
milk results. By the way, it would he well to make 
note of any Sweet clover found growing in the 
pasture. If it will grow, and cattle relish it why 
not grow some? 
Sweet clover has its enemies. The most of these 
may be found among the so-called conservative 
farmers who have never had any experience with 
this plant as a farm crop. Naturally the experience 
of such men would be of little value. In this sec¬ 
tion all who have given Sweet clover a fair trial 
are enthusiastic. Ought we to advise the sowing of 
Sweet clover? Yes. but do not neglect to sow, also, 
some Alfalfa. Winter vetch, Red and Alsike clover. 
Soy beans and other legumes. No one should be ad¬ 
vised to sow all of any one legume. We would ad¬ 
vise .anyone to sow some Sweet clover, for how else 
can one learn to appreciate the place or value of 
any forage crop in New York State? 
Jefferson County, N. Y. f. e. robertsox. 
