1510 
tory of this crop. But the final test that we must 
apply to all farm experiments, as well as to es¬ 
tablished practices, is “Does it pay?” Unfortunate¬ 
ly, or perhaps fortunately, I am compelled by finan¬ 
cial circumstances to restrict myself rather closely 
to practical rather than experimental farming, and 
as all the extra jobs add to the expenses we did not 
leave a check plot in the field, so comparison must 
lx made in other ways. The hay crop plowed down 
in 101.3 was worth not to exceed $100, and the tab¬ 
ulated cost on the field was as follows, leaving the 
land in the same condition as regards labor of 
fitting for the next (1914) crop as though the hay 
bad been harvested, leaving a sod to plow the next 
Spring. 
On account with green manure crop in field L (10 
acres) (1913) : 
Value of hay plowed down.$100.00 
Labor of plowing, fitting and seeding. G2.54 
Seed—1 bu. Crimson clover.$8.00 
% bu. Mammoth Red clover. 7.50 
100 lbs. vetch .11.00 
5 bu. rye. 4.50 31.00 
Interest, taxes, overhead, etc., on land. 67.81 
Total (10 acres) .$261.35 
EFFECTS ON POTATOES.—We have a compari¬ 
son of the potato crop on this field with that on a 
6 7-10 acre old pasture field (E) near the barn, 
which had about SO loads of manure applied to a 
good sod that had been pastured three or four years. 
Without either green or stable manure on either field 
r should expect E to turn out at least 25 bushels per 
acre more potatoes than L. To support that state¬ 
ment we can go back to the records for 1910. In 
that year potatoes in another 10-acre field (G) 
which is in about the same state of fertility as E, 
yielded 250 bushels per acre, while those in L yield¬ 
ed only 200 bushels, a difference of 50 bushels per 
acre, indicating that the estimate of 25 bushels dif¬ 
ference in the capacities of E and L is conservative. 
For the sake of clearness the comparison is reduced 
to the per acre basis. 
Cost of growing potatoes in fields E and L in 1914: 
Field E 
(Old pasture Field L 
Per aere. manured.) green manure. 
Labor . $24.60 $21.66 
Materials (seed, fertilizer, spray 
materials, etc., except manure) . 24.12 22.21 
% the value of stable and green 
manure applied (balance charged 
to future crops). 7.S9 13.07 
Fixed charges (interest, taxes, 
overhead, etc.) . 16.00 16.00 
Total cost per acre. $72.61 $72.93 
Yield, per acre.236 bu. 223 bu. 
Cost per bu.30Sc .327c 
FURTHER COMPARISON.—While the green ma¬ 
nure on L did not quite bring the yield of potatoes 
up to that on E, which was manured, it did ap¬ 
parently more than equal the application of stable 
manure in increasing the yield of potatoes, since it 
overcame at least half of the estimated difference 
in capacity of the two fields. Furthermore, if only 
one-half of the benefit of either kind of manure is 
used by the first crop, which is probably a reason¬ 
able estimate, we have a residual value of $13.07 
per acre from the green manure as compared to 
only $7.89 from the stable manure. 
COVER CROP ARGUMENTS.—These figures are 
not given in an attempt to show that green manure 
should replace the good old standby from the sta¬ 
bles, but rather to show that in a system of farm¬ 
ing where not enough stock is kept to make all the 
manure that is needed, or where a field is so lo¬ 
cated as to make the cost of hauling stable manure 
to it excessive, there is reason to believe that a 
green manure crop can be made to supplement the 
Supply from the stables. The cost may appear to 
be rather high, but A No. 1 goods are seldom found 
on a bargain counter, and personally I am satis¬ 
fied that even in this instance, although the crop 
made a poor start, and at the best was only a par¬ 
tial success, the investment was returned with fair 
interest, certainly a lot more of it than appeared 
probable in the Fall of 1913. 
REPEATING THE CROP.—Present plans call 
for a repetition of the green manure crop, we hope 
with some improvements, on this field every four 
years, no hay to be removed and no stable manure 
applied. Otherwise it is to be handled in the four- 
year rotation just as the other fields are which have 
the hay crop removed, and all available manure ap¬ 
plied to the sod ground and plowed under for pota¬ 
toes. I should like to see a discussion of this idea 
by practical farmers, and I don't care how hard they 
knock so long as they knock with facts and figures. 
If the idea is wrong they can save me some cold 
hard dollars by knocking it out of my head before 
the rotation comes around to hay again in 1917. 
Orleans Co., N. Y. oka lee, jb. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
The “ Figures” of an Apple Crop 
E NCLOSED please find a Clipping from a farm 
paper that can do much harm, as it is con¬ 
trary to facts. You will note in the text that they 
thin carefully They make no allowance in their 
expenses for this thinning. You will also note that 
they give $1,477 for harvesting and marketing, with¬ 
“Some Corn” from Poor Land. Fig. 576 
December 25, 1915. 
public to these figures as it is wrong to start people 
off chasing sunbeams in this manner. 
Minnesota. Sydney siieldon baker. 
R. N.-Y.—The article criticized by Mr. Baker de¬ 
scribes a business in New England of contracting 
with owners of unproductive orchards for a term of 
years. These orchards were then pruned, sprayed 
and handled scientifically. As for thinning the fol¬ 
lowing statement is made, although nothing is said 
about it in the expense account: 
Thinning was carefully attended to. When the fruit 
was about the size of English walnuts all superfluous 
apples were removed. In some cases two-thirds of the 
crop was taken off. No apple closer than four inches to 
an adjoining one was allowed to remain, and all those 
showing insect stings or other imperfections were re¬ 
moved. The thinning was an expensive operation and 
often the advisability of it was questioned. But the 
results amply justified the extra expense and effort. 
The following tables shows the expenses of grow¬ 
ing the crop and the sales: 
expenses 
Land rental—twenty-one acres. $525.00 
Pruning—70 days, at $2.50. 175.00 
Plowing—14 days, at $5.00. 70.00 
Cultivation—84 days, at $5.00. 420.00 
Cover crops, seed and sowing. 245.00 
Snraving—labor and materials. 385.00 
Fertilizer . 1,400.00 
Ilaxwesting and marketing. 1,477.00 
Total .$4,697.00 
The selling price varied from $3.50 for number one 
boxes to $1 for number three barrels; the average was 
$2.80 a barrel of orchard-run fruit. The trees averaged 
five barrels each. 
RETURNS 
Gross income. 
Cost of production . 4,69(.00 
Farm income.$3,25o.60 
Would any one who knows what full thinning is 
undertake it in this orchard for less than $400? 
If it cost $1,477 to harvest and market, the cost of 
packages would be at least $1,000 more! The trou¬ 
ble with such figures is that they will not figure 
out and they deceive many a baek-to-the-lander who 
never paid expenses for handling an apple crop. 
out stating how many barrels were harvested. In 
checking this amount I took their stated average 
selling price and divided into their gross returns, 
$7,952 divided by $2.80 equals 2,840 barrels. The 
empty barrels would cost, delivered in the orchard, 
40 cents apiece, or $1,136 total. Deducting $1,136 
Hairy Vetch, with Branches 30 Inches Long. Fig. 577 
from $1,477 would leave $341 to pick, sort, pack, 
team, freight and sell 2,840 barrels of apples. 
I am in this same branch of the orchard business, 
and when I break even I consider myself lucky. If 
I could forget my expenses as this writer does I 
would be getting rich, but my expenses have a 
way of making themselves felt and I can’t forget 
them. I wish you would call the attention of the 
Alfalfa in Worcester County, Mass. 
I T is not often the writer disagrees with you, but 
I believe you are wrong on Alfalfa in New Eng¬ 
land. For Worcester Co., Mass., I am absolutely 
sure you are not right. Nov. 20 there was a meet¬ 
ing of the Worcester County Farm Bureau at which 
Alfalfa was discussed, and the county agent stated 
that there were at present 200 acres of Alfalfa 
growing in this county. The writer was asked 
to be prepared to say something on this crop pre- 
viously to the meeting, and I placed upon a board 
three cuttings from a field of Alfalfa which was 
put down with the long tap-rooted variety from seed 
grown in Kansas, and sown on this farm in 1912. 
The total length of the three crops of 1915 was nine 
feet. This crop is growing on the poorest piece of 
land I own, and on which grass does not do par¬ 
ticularly well. Alongside of my crop I showed one 
from a neighbor’s field, the three cuttings totaling 
ever 10 feet. This latter field was sown in 1911. 
I have put down a piece of Alfalfa every year 
since 1912, and have only lost one field. Last Fall 
I tried to make a record, and took off a crop so 
late that the plants did not start before freezing 
weather, and so much winter-killed that I put corn 
in that plot this year. With only 1200 pounds of 
fertilizer per acre I got 100 bushels of corn off this 
Alfalfa sod. 
Last Winter I carried 12 head of stock through 
the Winter on three acres of corn in the silo and 
two acres of Alfalfa. I am so strong on this crop 
that I dislike to see anything which will prevent the 
trying of the crop. I am sure that the forage will 
grow anywhere in Worcester County with drainage, 
lime, inoculation and a start on barnyard manure. 
Dairying in New England is in bad repute, due I 
believe entirely to lack of bookkeeping and keeping 
an individual record of each cow’s production. I 
am a back-to-the-lander of five years’ standing. I 
started my herd with two cows. Last Winter I 
milked five animals, one a six-year-old cow, the re¬ 
mainder two-year-old heifers with their first calves. 
I am inclosing a balance sheet for the year ending 
May 1, 1915. I keep an account of all labor and 
materials used on each crop, and with my system 15 
minutes each day at the desk will do the work; 
often not over five minutes is required. 
C. R. HARRIS. 
R. N.-Y—We want all such reports we can get, so 
that every acre of Alfalfa in New England can be 
located. Instead of 200 acres in Worcester County 
there should be 20,000! We feel sure that the new 
Siberian varieties like Cossack and Oienbuig and 
also Grimm will prove superior for New England. 
