•She RURAL NEW-YORKER 
487 
General Farm Topics 
Management of Vegetable Garden 
1. Will you toll me how to use manure, 
acid i)hosphate, bone meal and ashes in 
vegetable garden? Also, tell me what to 
plant and when to plant to have vegeta¬ 
bles all through the Summer? My gar¬ 
den plays out entirely about last of Au¬ 
gust. 2. I would like to have a bit of 
bright color among woods ferns at north¬ 
east of house. Would Begonias be smoth¬ 
ered ? B. M. 
1. I would not mix these materials at 
all. For vegetable culture it is best that 
stitble manure be well rotted, since in the 
fresh state it is of little immediate u.se 
as plant food. I cover my ground thickly 
in the Fall with manure and let it lie all 
Winter. It would be of advantage to 
the manure to mix acid phosphate with it 
at rate of 100 pounds in a ton of manure. 
This vill very greatly increase the effi¬ 
ciency of the manure. Bone meal, too, 
would be to some extent useful for mix¬ 
ing in manure, but the acid phosphate 
has proved better and more economical. 
Then hard wood ashes carry a large per¬ 
centage of lime in a very caustic condi¬ 
tion. If the a.shes were mixed with ma¬ 
nure, bone meal or acid phosphate, the re¬ 
sult would be a great loss of nitrogen 
from the manure and the raw bone, and 
the reversion of the phosphoric acjd to a 
less available condition. Where the ma¬ 
terials are available the best fertilizer we 
can make under present conditions is cot¬ 
tonseed meal and acid phosphate mixed 
equally. This will make a fertilizer with 
about .‘>.05 per cent, ammonia, 8 per cent, 
of |)liosphorie acid and one per cent, pot- 
asli. Spread what manure you have and 
what ashes you have. Your garden jdays 
out in August simply because you play 
out. and fail to keep up succession crops 
and start the late ones for the Fall. I 
have never known a garden to play out 
till the gardeners did. 
2. The evei’blooming Begonias are 
among the best bedding plants we have. 
Down here the geraniums w'hich are bed¬ 
ding out so finely in the North are per¬ 
fectly worthless for this purpose, but the 
liegonias stand the sun and bloom con¬ 
stantly. w. F. MASSEY. 
Limestone in Wet Weather 
'I'he subject of lime and its applica¬ 
tion has received much space in the agri¬ 
cultural press, but I think there is one 
important point that has been overlooked. 
If ground limestone is used, it should be 
si)i-ead in fair weather, and worked into 
the soil before it is wet with rain. Last 
.Tune I received a car of ground lime¬ 
stone during a wet spell, and as de¬ 
murrage is a big item now, I teamed it to 
the farm and applied it with a spreader, 
leaving it on the surface of the ground 
until the car was unloaded. About two- 
thirds of it was wet from heavy rains 
after being spread, and washed into 
the depressions left by disking. There it 
solidified into scale-like masses, some of 
which are still intact after six or eight 
diskings and eight months of weathering. 
'Phe last few loads were not wet. The 
lime was thoroughly worked into the 
soil, and there I have a good catch of 
clover. Where it was wet there is 
scarcely a clover plant. It looks as 
though about 18 tons were thrown away 
—although we may get some benefit from 
it in future. G. H. 
Westchester Co., N. Y. 
Seeding Stony Pasture 
I have a piece of pasture land, about 
two acres, and would like to seed it down 
to pasture again. It is too stony to 
work. Can you prescribe a good pas¬ 
ture mixture and how much to sow to 
the acre? j. c. P. 
St. I.awrence, N. Y. 
I would suggest the following: Ten 
lbs. Timothy, two lbs. Red-top, two lbs. 
Orchard grass, five lbs. Kentucky Blue 
grass and two lbs. of Alsike clover. 
Some pastures in this country have been 
improved cheaply by applying seed very 
early in the Spring, without plowing, 
and by adding a ton of ground limestone 
to the acre, followed a few Aveeks later 
by 200 or 300 lbs. of acid phosphate. If 
the land in question is very difficult to 
idow. it may be advisable for J. C. P. 
to consider this method of rencAA’ing his 
pasture, rather than going to the heavy 
expense for plowing and fitting in order 
to (stabnsh a good seed bed. c. s. p. 
Sweet Clover on Subsoil 
I Avas much interested in the article 
about soAving SAA’CCt clover uoav, by Mr. 
A. Bloomingdale. I have on one 
side of my house a piecre of ground 
about 50x130 ft., the top had been 
taken off Avith a vieAV to building 
house.s and left Avith nothing but the sub¬ 
soil. I planted about 25 peach trees last 
year, also planted in betAA'een in sugar 
corn. This year it Avas my intention to 
soAV cloA-er for young chicks to run on. 
All M inter I haA'e been throwing my 
chicken manure, and fine coal ashes on 
this ground. If I leA-el this off could I 
raise SAveet clover, and if I wished Avould 
it help the ground if turned under the fol¬ 
lowing year? I haA'e been scattering this 
same mixture of fine coal ashes and 
chicken manure oA'er the same amount of 
ground on the other side of my house 
where I raised other vegetables hist year. 
I)o you think this mixture will be suffi¬ 
cient to turn under Avithout stable ma¬ 
nure, or AA'Ould it be necessary to have a 
coA’ering of stable manure? .t. k. m. 
Philadelphia, Pa. 
►Sweet clover Avill do Avell on either of 
the lots mentioned, and Avhile it does not 
need manure,-fertilizer, lime nor inocu¬ 
lation, yet like any other crop it Avill do 
better Avith any or all of these helps. It 
has been knoAvn to make a tremendous 
groAvth on clay from the bottom of a Avell 
100 feet deep. In fact it Avill groAV any- 
AA'here if it has a solid seed bed, AA'hich it 
must have for results. J. B. M. should 
not ploAV these lots, simply harroAv them, 
SOAV the seed and harroAV again, and it 
Avill take care of itself. The application 
of hen manure Avill be fine for it—all the 
coal ashes are good for is the small quan¬ 
tity of lime content. All legumes are lime 
loA'ers. The cloA’er can be plowed under 
the first year, but should be left until the 
second. It is a biennial, and if plowed 
then he will get the full benefit of the 
sod, and will be surprised at the amount 
of vegetables or anything else he will get 
from these lots. a. bloomingdale. 
A Farmers’ Vigilance Society 
I send you the by-laws of the Bergen 
Vigilant Society. I belieA’e every toAvn 
should have just such an organization. 
I attended the trial of tAvo chicken 
thieves at Bergen yesterday and had the 
pleasure of seeing these two men, father 
and son, of our town, held for the grand 
jury in .^1,000 bail each. I Avish you 
Avould organize or help organize a society 
like that of Bergen, only make it to 
coA'er all of Ncav Y’ork State. 
AVM. AV. SCHAFFER. 
Monroe Co., N. Y. 
Mr. Schaffer sends a little pamphlet 
entitled “Constitution and By-Laws of 
the Bergen Vigilant Society.” It Avas 
organized in 1839, evidently by the 
pioneei-s, to guard against horse stealing. 
Article 11 reads: 
"The object of the society shall he the 
detection of thieves and the recovery of 
property stolen from its members." 
The fees are one dollar a year and 
membership is limited to the towns of 
Bergen and adjoining towns, and if any 
member moves aAvay he forfeits all bene¬ 
fits and advantages. When a member 
dies his widow receives his benefits “while 
she remains a widow and resides in the 
toAvn.” 
We take it this is a stei*n business-like 
organization for dealing with thieves and 
Ave imagine that a thief operating in this 
territory would get the limit of punish¬ 
ment if these members got him. Most 
likely stealing is con.sidered an unhealthy 
job in that town. There should be just 
such a society in every town, with a fed¬ 
eration to cover county. State and na¬ 
tion. That is the Avay to handle the 
thieves; by organized effort. No use 
waiting for the State to come and do 
such work for us—and thus make a lot 
more fat jobs to be paid for. We must 
get right out and do the Avork ourseh'e-s 
with something of the old-time spirit of 
independence. 
A THREE-HUNDRED POUND man StOOd 
gazing longingly at the nice things dis¬ 
played in a haberdasher's AvindoAV for a 
marked-doAvn sale. A friend stopped to 
inquire if he was thinking of buying 
shirts or pajamas. “Gosh, no!” replied 
the fat man. Avistfully. “The only thing 
that fits me ready-made is a handker¬ 
chief.”—Toronto Sun. 
The Farmer’s Year 
Record Prices for Farm Products 
Every Likelihood of Their Continuing 
Farms should be run to capacity and big factor 
of proper Fertilizers not overlooked 
USE MAPES 
MANURES 
Their Standard Absolutely Maintained in 
Field and State Experiment Stations 
The Mapes Manures for 1916 and 1917 were made, 
and are being* made precisely as in the past, under 
pledge to supply the Phosphoric Acid from Animal 
Bone and Guano, made available without acidity, no 
Rock or Acid Phosphates used. While they do not con¬ 
tain as much Potash as formerly, they do hold enough 
to greatly aid the present crop to more perfect growth 
and development and thus insure the balance of its 
necessary Potash being taken from latent soil supplies. 
We give below all the station analyses which we have 
received of our prominent brands for 1916. 
1916 ANALYSES 
MAPES POTATO puos. acid 
STATION 
AM.AIONIA AVAILABLE 
TOTAL 
POTASH 
Ncav York . . 
9.32 
10.58 
1.12 
Connecticut . 
8.38 
10.06 
1.00 
Pennsylvania 
9.30 
10.28 
1.18 
New Jersey . 
8.20 
10.29 
1.32 
Massachusetts 
8.81 
9.82 
.97 
Massachusetts 
8.90 
10.20 
1.18 
Guarantee .. 
8. 
8. 
1. 
Connecticut . 
GENERAL SPECIAL 
. 7.79 0.31 
9.21 
1..35 
New York .. 
7.97 
9.07 
1.45 
Pennsylvania 
7.89 
9.09 
1.77 
1.85 
New Jersey . 
5.48 
8.72 
Massachusetts 
7.00 
8.88 
1.47 
Massachusetts 
. 8.10 
7.09 
9.34 
1.20 
Guarantee . . 
0. 
8. 
1. 
Connecticut . 
TOBACCO STARTER, 
. 5.02 
IMPROVED 
0.41 8.87 
1.10 
Connecticut . 
. 5.04 
0.11 
9.58 
1.07 
Pennsylvania 
0.52 
9.20 
1.50 
New York .. 
0.15 
9.21 
1.23 
New Y'ork .. 
. 5.30 
0.57 
9..39 
1.14 
Massachusetts 
. 5.54 
8.18 
9 07 
1 2(> 
Guarantee .. 
. 5. 
0. 
8. 
1. 
Connecticut . 
CORN MANURE 
. 3.35 8.28 
11.58 
.85 
Pennsylvania 
. 3.20 
10.37 
11.97 
1..50 
NeAV York . . . 
. 3.07 
9.24 
11.40 
1.04) 
New Jersey . . 
. 3.24 
7.59 
11.35 
1.08 
Massachusetts 
. 3.28 
9.71 
11.74 
1.16 
Guarantee . . 
. 3. 
8 . 
10. 
1. 
Connecticut . . 
TOP DRESSER, FULL 
. 10 OO 
STRENGTH 
0.38 8.84 
1 84 
Pennsylvania . 
. 11.90 
7.27 
8.20 
1,55 
New Jersey .. 
5.11 
8.60 
1.5*’ 
Massachusetts 
8.28 
8.88 
l!.‘t5 
1. 
Guarantee ... 
5. 
8 . 
Connecticut . . 
f'onnecticut 
Penn.sylvania 
Massachusetts 
Guarantee .. . 
TOBACCO MANURE tot.vi. 
AMMO.NI.V I'HOSPHORIC 
. 10.07 8.99 
. 10.99 8;e5 
ACID 
POT A. sir 
1.20 
1.44 
1..59 
1.57 
1. 
We are equally proud of the results in the field. 
They have been most excellent, fully substantiating our 
theory as to the advisability of suppl 3 dng at least limited 
Potash to aid the crop to make a start, and so enable it 
to avail^ itself to the utmost of the latent supplies of 
Potash in the soil. 
Order early and so avoid*all possible dela^L 
The Mapes Formula and Peruvian Guano Co. 
Central Building, 143 Liberty Street, New York 
Branch—239 State Street, Hartford, Conn. 
