792 
TShe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
The Season. —Thus far, in our sec¬ 
tion. the season has been the worst we 
have known in 20 years. May was cold 
and wet, and June starts in on the same 
line. Now and then there will come a 
few pleasant days, just to show us that 
Rummer has not forgotten her trade, but 
after this brief showing there will come 
a hard, dry wind or a cold rain. In spite 
of all this we had more land plowed and 
planted by June 1 than ever before. 
Some of the seed may never show itself, 
but we got it in at least. At present the 
outlook for gardens and truck crops is 
not promising. The weeds grow fast, 
and the soil is in poor shape for work¬ 
ing. You either transplanc the weeds 
from one place to another, or pack the 
soil into a hard brick. Thus far I must 
say that Nature has not backed man 
very far in his efforts to produce a war 
crop. Usually it runs the other way, 
and man fails to do the backing up. This 
year most of our people realize that they 
rnu.st get going. However, we shall have 
Rummer yet. We eat all the asparagus 
and rhubarb we can and keep at it. 
Rpraying. —The worst trouble with us 
at the present time is wet trees. The 
constant rains make it impossible to 
finish spraying. If we can once get the 
spray mixture dried on the trees these 
hard showers do not bother, but the trees 
must be reasonably dry when the spray 
goes on. We did not start this year until 
Memorial Day. the season being at least 
one week late. We are using about three 
pounds of lead arsenate and one gallon 
of lime-sulphur to .50 gallons of water. 
This has given us good results in the 
past. A little dam is built in the brook 
and this forms a small pond. The Avater 
from this pond is pumped into the tank 
by the sprayer engine, and the poison 
thoroughly stirred in. As I write about 
half the orchards have been spi’ayed, and 
with a few days of clear weather we can 
finish. Rome of this Avork may be a little 
late, but let’s hope the Avorms are a trifle 
lazy this year and not quite on deck yet. 
PoTATOE.s.—We usually alloAv 21 days 
for the potato sprouts to get above 
ground. This year some of the crop has 
waited 40 days and still not in sight. 
That gives an idea of the condition of 
the ground. Yet I have not been able to 
find any dead or rotten seed. Apparently 
they are all coming, though A’ery tardy. 
I think the sulphur used on the seed has 
helped preserve them. When they do get 
above ground the sprouts start groAving in 
great shape—thick and green and strong. 
Ro do the grass and weeds. We are ex¬ 
periencing this year the full trouble of 
planting potatoes on sod. In a Avarm, 
quick season—Avhen the potato crop 
comes up Avitliout delay—you can take 
care of the sod. When, as in this case, 
the potatoes do not come Avhile the grass 
and clover start in ahead you haA’e all 
sorts of trouble. Ruch grass needs deep 
and rough cultivating to get it out—the 
weeder or the harroAv Avill not do the 
Avork fully, Avithout Avorking so deep as 
to rip up the potatoes. As soon as the 
rows shoAV you can Avork deep Avith the 
cultivators and tear out the grass and 
clover, but in a season like this one they 
get a bad start. That must’ be consid¬ 
ered in planting potatoes on a Aveedy sod. 
Except for this late starting and the 
grass our potatoes look well. 
Saveet Clover. —We are now getting 
experience which enables us to talk about 
this clover. We seeded it in various 
ways last year. One piece of oats and 
peas had a good seeding of SAveet clover. 
We find only a scattering stand this year. 
This is in an old orchard, and by letting 
this clover go to seed and then cutting I 
am sure Ave can finally get a full stand, 
and it makes a good mulch crop. Seeded 
with buckwheat there is only a light 
showing left. Alsike clover is far better 
for such seeding. Drilled in rows two 
feet apart in May or June the Rweet 
cloA'er made a Avonderful growth, and has 
seeded the entire space. Used as a cover 
crop in the corn at last cultivation the 
Rweet clover must be called a failure 
with us. It is too late in the season for 
such seeding, and the conditions do not 
suit it as they do Alsike. Seeded in early 
Rpring and again in early Summer right 
on top of the soil^the SAveet clover has 
June 16, 1917. 
given us fair results. Thus far it has not 
given as large a crop as I expected, but 
there is more than enough of it to pay 
Avith such handling. 
A Success. —When seeded alone in 
early Slimmer this clover is a wonder. 
East year Ave plowed up a strawberry 
field, put on lime and seeded to Sweet 
clover alone in early July. The soil is 
naturally hard and tough, Avith little 
humus in it. I gave that field up in Sep¬ 
tember, and A'oted the Sweet clover a 
nuisance, for it had hardly begun to shoAv. 
By November there was a fair showing, 
and I let it go into Winter as about .a 
half and half chance. During the early 
Rpring it did little, but by the middle of 
April it began to jump. By June 1 it 
Avas as thick as a mat, and much of it 
stood .SO inches high. I never saw any¬ 
thing groAv as this SAveet clover has done, 
and the soil is fairly alive with it. It 
Avill be cut Avith the first cutting of Alfal¬ 
fa and cured for hay. All our stock will 
eat it greedily. I am satisfied, however, 
that if left to groAv beyond June 1.5 it 
would become too hard and Avoody for 
hay. By cutting it early and letting it 
make a neAv groAvth Ave can get a seed 
crop and a gi-eat lot of stuff for mulching 
or ploAving under. This piece is unques¬ 
tionably a great success, and from it we 
seem to learn how to handle SAveet 
clover. 
Both Rides. —We conclude that Sweet 
clover Avill prove a failure as a cover crop 
in corn or after potatoes. That makes 
the seeding too late, and Avith us it is 
doubtful if Sweet clover seeded after 
July 15 Avill live through the Winter. 
With a “nurse crop,” like oats, barley or 
oats and peas, I doubt the value of the 
Sweet clover. I would rather seed Alsike 
clover under such conditions. At least it 
did not fully succeed with us. It ought 
to do fairly well with buckAvheat in a 
good sea.son though I Avould take my 
chance Avith Alsike or Crimson. Seeded 
on top of the ground in Winter or early 
Rpring the Sweet clover pays, but with 
us the best returns come by seeding it on 
well-prepared land in late June or early 
July. There Ave seem to hit it light, and 
it can work in after some early crop and 
give hay, or pasture and .seed. I shall 
put one part of the orchard into the fol¬ 
lowing “rotation.” Seed in late June to 
Sweet and Alsike clover together. Next 
year cut the first crop in June and leave 
it on the ground. Cut the second crop in 
September and either thrash out the seed 
or leave it all around the trees. Do the 
same the third year. The next year ploAv 
the orchard early, use lime, cultivate up 
to late .Tune and seed again to Alsike and 
SAveet. Use bone or acid phosphate mod¬ 
erately each year, and lime Avhenever a 
crop is put under. The astonishing groAvth 
of the SAveet clover on that old straAV- 
berry field and a study of its analysis 
makes me feel sure that Avith the “rota¬ 
tion” thus outlined I can produce a bar¬ 
rel of apples at minimum cost of labor 
.and fertilizer. But Avhy use any Alsike? 
Well, it is a trusted old friend, and I 
like to have such characters around. 
H. AAL C. 
New Ohio Apple Seedlings 
Apropos of the recent editorial on new 
fruits (page 650) I will state that the 
Ohio Experiment Station has for the last 
three years conducted an organized hunt 
for new varieties of apples possessing 
enough merit to suggest their addition to 
our already long list of apple varieties^ 
Thus far we have been able to examine 
and pass judgment upon 104 seedlings 
found in Ohio alone, Avhile Ave have in 
addition a fairly long list of “undeveloped 
prospects.” TAvice we have made exhibi¬ 
tions of Ohio seedling apples, each time 
causing sui’prise at the merit of the fruit 
exhibited. Of course, many of the speci¬ 
mens SAihmitted showed no merit Avhen 
compared with our present varieties, and 
a large number must be studied in all 
phases of ti’ee groAvth, hardiness, fruit- 
fulne.ss, etc., before their true value can 
be determined. There are quite a few of 
these seedlings which show so much merit 
in their fruit characteristics that there 
is little doubt they will prove to be dis¬ 
tinct acquisitions, in fact some of them 
are already being groAvn locally in a small 
Avay. When a seedling shoAvs sufficient 
merit to warrant further study we secure, 
if possible, scions of the variety that we 
may be able to make a more complete 
study of tree and fruit characteristics. 
We haA’e already 12.3 of these seedlings 
groAving here at Wooster. PAUL thayer. 
The Bottom Is the Heart 
of the Plow . . 
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The right kind of plow bottom makes money for you 
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power and trouble. 
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