THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
983 
Early Sweet Com Ground. 
What Can We Plant? 
A PROFITABLE CROP.—The question is fre¬ 
quently asked "What shall we do with the early 
sweet corn ground?’’ Thousands of acres are grown 
in this crop each year within a radius of 500 miles 
of New York City. There is always a brisk demand 
for sweet corn early in the season. The farmer 
finds it a profitable crop because the small stalks 
can stand closely together, making it possible for 
several hundred more ears to grow on an acre of 
early corn than on an acre of late sweet corn where 
the ears and stalks are larger. Furthermore, the 
price per hundred ears is practically the same, and 
the early corn being smaller is much easier to haul 
to market. The early corn is soon picked off leav¬ 
ing the ground available for another crop of some¬ 
thing else. 
UTILIZING TIIE STALKS.—The early sweet 
corn stalks are usually very short and. because of 
the hot weather and high sugar con¬ 
tent. are hard to cure properly without 
spoiling. The most extensive and suc¬ 
cessful growers do not hesitate to use 
these stalks for soil improvement. 
.lust as soon as the last ears are gath¬ 
ered the disk harrow is run over the 
field in all directions. These stalks, 
while still green and soft, cut up easily 
and mix with the soil, putting it in 
ideal condition for plowing. This 
quickly decaying vegetable matter is 
evenly distributed through the soil; it 
furnishes quickly available plant food 
for (lie succeeding crops, and m> weed 
seeds are introduced into the soil, as 
would he the case if stable manure 
should he applied instead. 
PLOWING UNDER.—It is no diffi¬ 
cult matter, however, to plow under 
the undisturbed stalks of the early 
corn so slick and clean that within five 
minutes after the job was completed 
no one would imagine that corn had 
just been occupying the field. The 
plow should be properly adjusted and 
rigged up to do the job. The colter 
should he lowered to (lip quite deeply 
and the clevis at the head of the plow 
should be dropped as low as possible. 
Remove the wheel, as it would only 
clog up and bother. Ilitch the whiffle- 
trees close to the plow, so as to bring 
them close to the ground. This will 
have a tendency to push over the stalks 
before the mold-board gets to them. 
Lowering the whiffle-tree in this man¬ 
ner and causing it to push down the 
stalks has a tendency to make the plow 
lift out of the ground. This is com¬ 
pletely overcome by lengthening the 
traces and by putting a new point on 
the plow. Furthermore, a chain is 
needed to hold down the stalks just 
while the mold-hoard is rolling dirt 
over them. An ordinary log chain is 
about right for this purpose: it is 
fastened to the middle of the single¬ 
tree of the horse in the furrow. The 
other end is fastened to the lower edge 
of the beam near the colter, giving it 
enough slack so that it drags just in 
front of the rolling furrow. If the 
chain is too light, a few knots may be 
tied in it right where it strikes the 
corn. These knots soon fill up with 
soil and bring extra weight right where 
it is needed. The harrow should fol¬ 
low the plowing to pulverize the fresh 
s<di before it becomes dried out <>i‘ baked. Partly 
packing the soil also helps the decomposition of the 
green material which was plowed under. 
THE SUCCEEDING CROP.—During the first 
part of August, turnips and clover may be broad¬ 
cast. using less than a pound of turnip seed per 
acre. By all means harrow in 500 pounds of fer¬ 
tilizer to give the crop a start and also a ton of 
limestone unless lime has been recently applied. 
The turnips may be harvested for market or cattle 
feed. They seem to be able to collect their own sup¬ 
ply of potash from the subsoil as they grow, there¬ 
fore. if they are left in the ground, they will help to 
furnish a potash supply for the succeeding crop the 
next year. The effect of a growth of clover, how¬ 
ever is well known. Early corn ground is generally 
ideal soil for Alfalfa. Many farmers who are not 
growing this valuable crop, give as their excuse that 
they never have a piece-of ground available at the, 
right time. Here is their opportunity. Plow quite 
deeply, lime reasonably heavy, fertilize, inoculate 
the seed or soil and plant, doing all things accord¬ 
ing to the well established principles laid down for 
successful Alfalfa culture. 
FALL VEGETABLES.—If the soil is rich and 
sweet, the sweet corn may be followed by Fall spin¬ 
ach planted from the tenth to the twentieth of Au¬ 
gust. Wood ashes and chi'ken manure are wonder¬ 
fully helpful in the growing of this delicious and 
healthful food. The crop is harvested during Oc¬ 
tober and November. There are several other vege¬ 
tables besides those mentioned above, which may be 
planted under certain conditions. They are such as 
quirk-maturing beans, peas, lettuce. Chinese radish¬ 
es. savoy cabbage and kale. Under no circumstances 
should the field be abandoned after the sweet corn 
is marketed. If a cash crop is not to be grown, by 
all means plant a leguminous cover crop to increase 
the nitrogen and humus content of the soil, and to 
prevent the washing away during the Winter of the 
plant h i d that is already in the soil waiting for 
Unfavorable Conditions for Silos. 
All Have Weak Points. 
T HE rivalry between the cement industry and 
the wood stave silo interests has caused a 
good many theories to be advanced toward the 
weak points of the different types of silos. At Iowa 
State College we have the clay block, wood stave, 
and the monolithic concrete silo. The results of 
the use of these three types of silos have been satis¬ 
factory. There are certain conditions which are 
likely to prove unfavorable for either type. The 
following information is given as advice in the use 
of cement for any purposes. 
An inspection of concrete foundations under silos, 
and other buildings, and in sidewalks in North¬ 
western Iowa during the Summer of 1014 has 
prompted the writer to advance the following the¬ 
ory. which should be regarded no more than a work¬ 
ing hypothesis. 
Most of the sand in this section of the State con¬ 
tains a very high percentage of shaly 
particles. These particles may consti¬ 
tute 25% of the total volume of the 
sand. They are soft enough to be 
scratched by the thumbnail. Good 
quartz sand is so rare that few peo¬ 
ple have a correct idea of what good 
quartz sand is, and this inferior sand 
is used indiscriminately. Disintegra¬ 
tion is most apparent in concrete sub¬ 
jected to alternate wetting and dry¬ 
ing. The first year after a silo is 
emptied the foundation will appear t<> 
he sound, but during the second season 
disintegration increases rapidly from 
year to year. The writer has seen 
foundations which had scaled off to a 
depth of three or four inches in five 
or six years. 
The following theory is advanced: 
“These shaly particles when dry ab¬ 
sorb moisture readily when the con¬ 
crete comes in contact with moist sur¬ 
faces. and the concrete swells, due 
t<> the action of the moisture films be¬ 
tween the integral particles of the 
shale. This breaks the bond of the 
cement. The moisture is given up 
when the concrete dries, and with re¬ 
peated wetting a re-entrance of the 
moisture films repeats the stress on 
the cement bond and the destruction 
continues from year to year.” 
It is known that sugar is a very de¬ 
structive agent in its action on con¬ 
crete. The writer’s information in re¬ 
gard to silage is that alcohol may be 
present in the juices. It is possible 
that sugar is sometimes formed. If it 
is, it is not generally present in quan¬ 
tities sufficient to affect concrete. Mor¬ 
tar joints and door jambs which are 
made from good sand show no signs of 
disintegration after several years. 
M. F. P. COSTELLOE. 
Iowa State College. 
Soy Beau. Cow-horn Turnip. K.ve. Crimson Clover. Hairy Vetch. 
Various Cover Crops. Fig. 371. (See Hope Farm Notes.) 
roots to take it up. Growers of early sweet corn, 
who have hogs to fatten in the Fall, can do so very 
economically if they will sow from three to five 
pounds of rape seed to the acre at the last cultiva¬ 
tion, or after the ground is plowed. The pigs will 
grow very fast, “hogging down” the rape and the 
field will become very rich. 
The fields from which the early sweet corn is 
1 ic-ked may have already given a fine profit for the 
year, yet they may contain greater possibilities than 
we realize. They may be made to produce a profit¬ 
able catch crop or they may be made to wonderfully 
increase the fertility of the soil for the succeeding 
years. roscoe w. de baits'. 
New Jersey. 
“Summer resorts for boarder cows” is the Wiscon¬ 
sin name for pastures where scrub cows run. 
Potash in concrete! Where? When the concrete 
makes a liquid manure pit. for most of the potash in 
farm manure is found in the liquids. 
Sorting Potatoes by Machinery. 
O NE of our readers asks for the 
best arrangement for grading or 
sorting potatoes by machinery. He 
says he has heard there is a large 
drum with a sifter running through it. 
which is turned by a crank, the pota¬ 
toes running slowly through this drum 
and dropping out through various-sized 
holes. 
There are many mechanical potato 
sorters on the market, each doing satisfactory work 
as far as sorting or grading is concerned. All of 
them, however, tend to abrade the skin of the po¬ 
tato and impair its keeping qualities. The less 
handling potatoes receive the better. Our own prac¬ 
tice is to sort them in the field, picking up the mar¬ 
ketable ones first and taking them directly to the 
car or storehouse with as little handling as possible, 
then going over the field a second time for the culls 
and seconds if they are of sufficient value. This cor¬ 
respondent evidently has in mind a sorter consist¬ 
ing of an open-ended cylinder made of hoops, prop¬ 
erly spaced and hung in a frame and arranged to 
turn with a crank. The potatoes are fed into one 
end of the revolving cylinder and as they work 
through are sorted by means of spaces between tin* 
wicker slats or hoops. This device does rapid work 
but cannot be changed to sort into different grades. 
A very cheap and quick, but not altogether satis¬ 
factory, sorting of potatoes can be effected by run- 
