7She RURAL NEW-YORKER 
813 
General Farm Topics 
Two Veterans and their Potato Patch 
Now that there is so much talk about 
raising crops to help out the food supply 
it is a good time to show the picture at 
Fig. 330. This represents a potato 
patch grown by the old veterans of the 
Civil War—Indiana men who wonted to 
show what old soldiers could do. 
One of these men is 60 years old and 
the other 71. E. G. McMurray. who 
seems to have been the leader in this en¬ 
terprise, tells us that they dug and picked 
up these potatoes in three hours. There 
were 101 crates in all, and if this crop 
were on hand now it would certainly be 
worth a good many months of service in 
the army, fsoine of these younger men 
may think that the country is obliged to 
depend on their valuable sendee for the 
sole production of food, yet some of these 
old veterans, when called upon to do so, 
can still get into the ranks and show the 
boys how to do it. 
Economics in Fertilizing 
“I am optimistic enough to believe that 
the absence of potash from our market 
and the high prices for other fertilizers 
will in the end be a profit to us, because 
we shall learn to use fertilizers more 
rationally and depend more on thorough 
utilization of the plant food natural in 
our soils.” 
There speaks a hopeful spirit among 
our scientists, and he is right. Thousands 
ranged from such formations. The ex¬ 
planation is very prosaic. Two saplings 
of the same species standing side by side 
were cau.sed to lean against one another, 
and in the wind they sawed and rubbed 
until the tender young bark of both trees 
was w'orn through and the cambium ex¬ 
posed. Then followed a period of active 
growth with little or no motion on the 
part of the trees, so that the soft grow¬ 
ing tissues were able to knit together. 
It was simply nature’s way of perform¬ 
ing a graft, and required rather unusual 
conditions in which to prove successful. 
For a time there were undoubtedly two 
crowns as well as two root systems— 
like Siamese twins of the tree world. 
Then the larger and more vigorous of 
the two drew the flow of sap from the 
roots to its orown, leaving the smaller 
tree neglected and without the necessary 
sap with which to live. It may be that 
it was overtopped as well, and lacked 
the necessary sunlight by which the 
leaves carry on their work. The result 
was that it was starved, and died above 
the union. In a few years it dropped 
off as do dead branches, and the rapidly 
growing main stem, being now fed from 
two root systems, began to heal over the 
wound. Other factors may have entered 
to help or hasten this process, but this is 
at least a plausible theory upon which 
to explain the curiosity. As the tree 
Events of the Week 
DOIMESTIC.—.Tunc 0 a storm, which 
swept over central lower Michigan caused 
the death of three persons, injuries to 
man.v more, and did damage which will 
amount to nearl.v .$1,(X)0.000. Half of 
this loss occurred in Hattie Greek and 
other sections of Galhoun Gounty. .Tune 
5-6 tornadoes killed 15 persons in Mis¬ 
souri and nine in Kansas. Many were 
injured, and the property loss is said to 
be over .$1.000.0(X>. The greatest dam¬ 
age w'as in Hooiie Go.. Mo. .Tune tor¬ 
nadoes caused great destruction in Okla¬ 
homa, killing two men in Muskogee 
Gounty, where the storm demolished 
buildings in the oil fields. At Eram, in 
Okmulgee Gounty, every building, except 
the schoolhouse, whs destroyed. 
A decree ordering the sale of the homes 
of 140 workmen in Danbury, Bethel and 
Norwalk, to satisfy the judgment in the 
Danbury battens’ case was signed by 
.Tudge E. S. Thomas of the United f^tates 
District Gourt. at New Haven, Gonn.. 
.Tune. The plaintiffs are D. E. Loewe & 
Go., who brought suit against a union 
boycott of the product of their hat fac¬ 
tory. The judgment was for ,$2.52.130 
damages. Almost $60,000 has been paid 
on account, but the accumulaticn of in¬ 
terest accounts is such that about .$2.50.- 
000 is still due. 
.Tune 11 a terrific rainstorm caused 
great property loss in (’(Mitral New York. 
It was estimated that about 10,(MK) acres 
of cultivated land have been flooded, and 
most of the croiis have been washed out 
and destroyed. IMany farmers have lost 
their entire crops, with their poultry and 
sheep, hogs and young cattle, and in 
many instances their farms have beini 
stripped of buildings. The storm seem- 
ingl.v centered in the Samiuoit I'alley, in 
* which are the towns of Gassville, Glay- 
ville, Willowvale and Wa.shington Mills, 
and in the Oriskany Valley, where the 
Indiana Veterans Still “ Doing Their Bit.” Fig. 330 
of farmers have lately learned that acid 
phosphate used with manure or green 
crops has given them economical results. 
Now they know that available phosphorus 
is the first need of their soil, and that 
they can produce most of the needed 
nitrogen at home. In England, farmers 
are learning the same thing. In the 
fierce rush to produce bread-making food 
thousands or millions of acres of old pas¬ 
ture are being turned over. In former 
years great quantities of potash and ni¬ 
trate would have been used, but these 
are impossible this year. So they put 
on a light dre.ssing of manure and a 
heavy application of lime. The manure 
brought in the bacteria which helped 
break up the old sod and made its nitro¬ 
gen available. The lime helped in this 
work, and also set free some of the pot¬ 
ash locked up in the soil. Old pastures 
are usually rich in potash, as most of 
that element eaten by stock is voided in 
the liquids. Y’et these old pastures will 
not give up this potash freely until lime 
or plaster is used to break up the com¬ 
bination in which the potash is found. 
So the manure and the lime bring the ni¬ 
trogen and the potash out of the old sod. 
By using bone or acid phosphate or basic 
slag the farmer can have for one or two 
seasons at least a complete fertilizer. 
But for the economies forced by the w’ar 
those farmers would probably have left 
out the lime and used a chemical freely. 
This is only one illustration of what the 
war and the high cost of chemicals are 
teaching our farmers. Our scientific 
men have not paid enough attention to 
the problem of utilizing the plant food 
in old sod ground. Almost every Eastern 
farm has some of this “waste” land Avhich 
ought to be made useful, and could be by 
using lime and chemicals W'ith a little 
manure. 
Self-grafted Forest Trees 
I have a tree in my wood lot with 
two distinct trunks, one about six inches 
in ciameter. and one about three. They 
are growing about three inches apart, 
and when four feet from the ground they 
unite and form a perfect tree, perhaps 
20 feet high. Is this a common occur¬ 
rence, or is it .somewhat a curiosity’? 
Kaugerties, N. X. w. l. s. 
You have described a very interesting 
case of natural grafting. Although not 
uncommon, it is a never-failing source 
of interest, and often gives the more 
romantically inclined an opportunity to 
muse upon the attiaction wlii.-;' drew the 
trees together. One often nnds cases 
whern branches on the same tree have 
grafted tugether, and the root system 
of nearly any upturned tree will reveal 
a number of cases where the roots have 
grown together, forming weird and in¬ 
teresting shapes. In fact, I have heard 
of alphabets and rustic signs being ar¬ 
grows in diameter it will rapidly close 
up the intervening gap, so that within 
six or eight years there will be nothing 
to remind you of the twins but an in¬ 
dented line along the trunk. It is doubt¬ 
ful if this will ever completely heal over, 
and it may later prove to be a point of 
entrance for a decay-producing fungus 
growth. After the point of interest has 
disappeared it will probably be best to 
cut the tree down during some future 
thinning operation in the woodlot to 
make room for more thrifty specimens. 
G. Ii. C. 
Clover or Vetch in Cover Crops 
At different times the “Hope Farm 
Man” has said that he seeds vetch and 
turnips in his corn at the last cultiva¬ 
tion. It was my intention to seed Crim¬ 
son clover, vetch, rye and Cow-horn tur- 
nips’at the bust cultivation of corn. This 
is not practiced by the people of this 
section, so there is no seeding device on 
the market here. How do you do it? 
Pennsylvania. E. S. K. 
We have not used vetch as a cover 
crop for some years. The seed has been 
very expensive and we have not found 
the vetch superior to clover. We now 
use rye and a combination of Alsike 
clover and Cow-horn turnips. This gives 
a good growth for plowing under. Crim- 
.son clover would be better if seeded as 
far south as Philadelphia, but it is not 
a sure crop with us and on the ^yhole, 
Alsike gives us better results. We make 
two seedings—one of rye and the other 
of clover and turnips mixed. The seed 
is scattered on the ground among the 
corn just before the last cultivating. 
Then the cultivator is run shallow with 
a piece of plank scraping or dangling be¬ 
hind to smooth the ground. This has 
given us a good cover crop in seasons 
when there is enough moisture. In a 
very dry season both corn and cover 
crop may suffer from drought. 
most violent phases of the deluge wore 
felt in the neighborhood of Oriskany 
Falls, due to the going out of dams at 
Solsville and the Fisk and Lyons ponds, 
south of the falls. 
WASHINGTON.—The Hou.se. Tune 
7, passed the Senate bill to authorize 
issue of rifles and other eciuipment for 
organization of home guards. The bill 
has the approval of the War Depart¬ 
ment. It gives the War Department di.s- 
crotionary authority to equip “home 
guards having the character of State po¬ 
lice or constabuiar.v, and such other home 
guards as may be organized under the dis¬ 
cretion of governors.” 
Prohibition provisions of the new arm.v 
law apply to the navy and Marine Corps 
as well as the army. An opinion by At¬ 
torney-General-Gregory made public June 
S, holds that the statute covers all the 
military forces of the Unit<‘d States. 
W'hether on land or sea. Secretary 
Itaniels asked the .\ttorney-General to 
pass upon the question, and he has tele¬ 
graphed the luling to the officers com¬ 
manding all navy posts. Specifically the 
law forbids the sale or possession of 
liquor at military posts except for medi¬ 
cinal purpo.ses under regulations and 
makes it unlawful to .sell intoxicants to 
“any officer or member of the military 
forces while in uniform.” 
^ Representative Tom Smith of New 
T'ork City, introduced a bill directly 
aimed at food hoarders .Tune 8. The bill 
makes it a crime, punishable by five years’ 
imprisonment ami $10,(X)0 fine, to allow 
foodstuffs to spoil with the design of in¬ 
creasing the price b.v hoarding them. 
THE FOOD CONTROL BILL.—With 
only three dissenting votes the House 
Committee on Agriculture June 11 or¬ 
dered reported a food control bill more 
drastic in the powers conferred on the 
President than anything that has been 
introduc('d in either branch of Gongre.ss. 
Here are the imi)ortant features of the 
measure as finally agret'd to: 
1. Creates a “government control of 
necessaries”—food, feeds and fuel—in¬ 
cluding every known step and process 
from production to consumption of such 
necessaries, vesting this control in the 
President and authorizing the creation by 
him of agencies for the exercise of such 
powers as are granted. 
2. 1‘rohibits hoarding or destruction 
of necessaries under heavy penalties. 
3. .'Vuthorizes government purchase, 
manufacture or storage of neces.saries in 
the discretion of the President. 
4. Provides for the licensing of all 
business involving necessaries, including 
importers and exporters. 
5. Authorizes the President in his dis¬ 
cretion to prohibit in whole or in part 
and for such period of time as he ma.v 
deem necessary the use of foodstuffs for 
the manufacture of beverages of such 
alcoholic content as the President ma.v 
prescribe. 
6. Empowers the President to govern. 
sni)ervise or prohibit in whole or in part 
operations on stock or produce exchanges 
or boards of trade involving prices of 
foodstuffs and to require periodical re¬ 
ports from all such bodies, cletailing their 
operations and conveying such informa¬ 
tion as the President or his food control 
agent may require. 
7. Provides a government subsidiar.v 
or minimum price guarantee for any 
necessary production for which the Pre.sj- 
dent may deem stimulation by such means 
necessary. Authorizes the President in 
this connection to offer the protection of 
increased transfer rates to such commo¬ 
dities. 
8. .\ppropriates, to be immediately 
available, $152,500.0{X), of wdiich $2.5(X).- 
(XX) is for the construction of administra¬ 
tive machiner.v and .$150,000,(XX) of which 
is to be expended at the direction of the 
President “for the purposes of this act.” 
FARM AND GARDEN.—The Hol- 
stein-Friesian Association of America, 
•Tune 6, subscribed .$100,(X)0 from its 
treasury for the purchase of IJberty 
I.oan bonds and contributed $1,(X)0 to tin* 
American Red Cross. Resolutions a.sking 
that immediate steps be taken by Pi-esi- 
dent Wilson to regulate in some manner 
the grain prices of the country were tele¬ 
graphed to the White House by the officers 
and directors of the IIolstein-Friesian As¬ 
sociation. in annual convention at Spring- 
field. Mass. The association represents a 
meinbcM'ship of more than 10, (XX) dairy- 
jnen throughout the country. The reso¬ 
lution voiced the opinion that, unless re¬ 
lief is afforded the dair.vmen of the coun- 
tr.v at once, the dairy business faces a 
ver.v serious situation wdiich may mean 
a great depletion of the herds through 
.slaughter for beef purposes. Authorities 
in attendance at the convention predict a 
price of from 15 to 18 cents a (piart for 
milk before Fall unless relief is secured. 
To enlarge the campaign toward the 
conti'^il of insects infesting stored food 
products, a new section has been organ¬ 
ized in the Bureau of Entomology of the 
Department of Agriculture. The Secre 
tary of Agriculture has .'appointed to the 
new' i)osition Dr. E. A. Back, of the Bu¬ 
reau, as entomologist in charge of stored- 
product insect investigations. Dr. Back 
has b'ft Washington, to begin an in\ms- 
tigation of the grain and food storage sit¬ 
uation through the country. 
The prize court at London, England, 
condemned. June 12. an immense quan¬ 
tity of so-called fertilizer seized aboard 
the ship Esrom. It has been manufac¬ 
tured and shipped to Gothenburg by the 
New .Tersey Agricultural and (’hemical 
(’ompan.v. of Hobok(Mi, N. .1.. and was 
labelled “The best fertilizer in the w'orld.” 
The crown’s counsel .said the company 
was a fake concern organized by Walter 
Scbeele. a German cbemist. He charged 
that it bad placed bombs on many ships 
out of New York, and also had tried to 
ship cotton, oil and fats to Germany un¬ 
der the guise of fertilizers. 
The National Government is organi'z- 
ing a regiment of forest engi*neers for ser¬ 
vice in France, whose duty will be to get 
out timber needed by tbe armies; railroad 
ties, trench timbers, mine props, bridg,* 
timber.s. lumber and cordwood. All 
class(»s of loTsring crew'S. also those fitte 1 
to man portable sawmills, are requinul. 
Recruits must be between the ages of 13 
and 45 years. 
June 18-23 is “Rooster Week” in In¬ 
diana, and tbe poultry division of the 
State Agricultural College is conducting 
an aggressive campaign to insure the 
killing off of useless roosters. It is 
pointed out that Indiana produces 100.- 
0(X).000 dozen eggs annually. Sixty mil¬ 
lion dozen of these eggs are marketed. 
Seventeen per cent, of those marketed 
are lost through somebody’s carelessne.ss. 
Five per cent, of those marketed are lost 
because fertile. This means a loss of one 
million dollars a year in that State alone, 
due to the presence of the superfluous 
rooster. 
OBITUARY.—.T. W. Ingham, long a 
valued contributor to The R. N.-Y'., died 
at Bradford, Pa.. May 24, in the ninety- 
fourth year of his age. Mr. Ingham was 
of Revolutionary stock, his father’s an¬ 
cestors being English (Quakers. In spite 
of his Quaker ancestry, Mr. Ingham’s 
grandfather was a soldier in the Revolu- 
tionar.v War. Mr. Ingham’s father died 
early, leaving the responsibilites of farm 
and family to his .son in earl.v life. He 
was an active w'orker, not . only in ho'me 
and family affairs, but akso in public 
W'ork and betterment being especiall.v in¬ 
terested in temperance. Mr. Ingham 
contributed much practical matter to 
farm publications, and also w'rote freely 
on a variety of other subjects, including 
local history and Indian wars. Mr. 
Ingham’s death removes a valued frieml 
of The R. N.-Y'.—one of the Old Guard, 
whose interest extends beyond the limits 
of the present generation. 
