1008 
RURAL NEW-YORKER 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
Cow Peas vs. Sov Beans. —An in¬ 
teresting contest is working out with u.s 
—the actors being Black-eye cow peas 
and Wilson Early Soy^ bean. We have 
them jdanted side by side in various 
parts of the farm, the object being to 
see which is more valuable as a food or 
manurial plant. At this time most i)eo- 
ple would select the cow pea, but I 
think the Poy bean will finally come 
out ahead. The cow pea is really a 
b(>an—it grows like a thick bush bean 
until it throws out its long slender run¬ 
ners. At pre.sent the vines sprawl 
thickly over the ground and the flowers 
are coming. The Soy beans stand up- 
light and do not run over the ground. 
Thus they are easier to cultivate and 
clover and turnips can'txe worked into the 
soil between the rows. Harvesting the 
Soy beans is easier, as the upright vines 
stand up to the, mower, while the cow 
jieas make a wild tangle. In size at 
this time the two are about equal, though 
T think the cow peas will finally give a 
little more weight per acre in Aune. I 
think the Soy tbeans will give more 
fruit or grain. The Soy beans make a 
•stronger fodder, are a little hardier than 
cow peas, but require rather stronger 
soil. We like the seeds of the cow pea as 
human food. Some people object to the 
strong taste, but our people eat them 
freely and with boiled pork and vege¬ 
tables they make a full meal for us. 
'I'he Soy beans are not generally eaten 
as human food, though they can be used 
in various Avays. As stock food they ai*e 
vei-y useful. AVe can crush,, them with 
corn and oats and make rations for hogs, 
<- 0 Avs or poultry. With present ])rosi)ects 
for grain prices I think Soy beans will 
pay on practically every northern farm. 
With the southern velvet bean I think 
(hey indicate the way out of the feed 
dealer’s clutches for our dairymen. 
A History Maker. —This Soy bean 
has helped put nations on the map. After 
(he Avar betAveen Japan and Russia, 
Korea and Manchuria were poverty- 
stricken provinces in soil and in resources. 
’I'hey began the heavy culture of this Soy 
bean. The beans were exported entire 
or after being crushed. A rich oil is ob- 
tiiined from the bean, and the ‘cake” left 
after extracting the oil may be ground 
and u.sed as human food or for mixing 
in cattle ration.?. They even make an 
artificial milk out of the bean. These 
two poor i)rovinces have been bi’ought 
to iirosperity and greatly improved soil 
by the Avholesale culture of Soy beans. 
There is great demand for the beans 
!ind the oil, and the plant being a 
legume, adds nitrogen to the soil—like 
clover or Alfalfa. These beans go all over 
the Avorld. Before the war Germany 
used thousands of tons for cattle feed¬ 
ing. The crop has made it possible for 
Korea and Manchuria to get on the map 
as respected and prosperous provinces. 
Just as Alfalfa has made the strip of 
limestone land through Central New 
York rich and famous, I believe the 
heavy culture of Soy beaus will bring back 
prosperity to any section where the soil 
has begun to fail and where Red clover 
and Alfalfa have not done well. I do be¬ 
lieve that dairymen and poultrymen have 
in this Soy bean a plant which Avill 
come close to solving the problem of 
providing fat and protein foods. I know 
there are many places where, on account 
of the Avet and acid soil, Alsike clover 
Avill proA’e more profitable than Alfalfa. 
T think the Soy bean will greatly help 
such sections as it has in a much larger 
Avay helped these Japanese provinces. 
Already many farmers plant Soy beans 
in the corn and cut both together into 
the silo. The silage, resulting is about 
like beef stoAV compared with potato 
salad, but I think it will pay better to 
idant the Soy beans separately and 
cure as hay, or grind the seeds and chop 
the .straAV for dry feeding. 
Faith Needed. —We are all fixed in 
our habits, and I think food habits are 
about the limit for rock-ribbed obstin¬ 
acy. Thei-efore it Is often hard to real¬ 
ize that these stiff bean vines and these 
heavily podded besins can really giA’e the 
balance to a stock ration. Yet they do, 
and like clover and Alfalfa meal, Ave 
.shall soon be buying crushed Soy and 
velvet beans in mixed stock feeds for 
al)out four times as much as it would 
cost us to raise them! A man surely 
must have some faith to believe that 
these cluin.sy-looking plants can pixMluce 
on one acre tlie protein equivalent of 
three tons of clover hay or tAvo tons of 
Avheat bran, yet that is what they do, 
and also give the fat contained in .”>,500 
pounds of cornmeal. It surely does re¬ 
quire faith to see history or wealth or 
health in the Soy bean. The past season 
has been hard on the head and nerves in 
the .section around New Y’ork and many 
people shoAV it in their looks and actions. 
This AYilsou’s Early Soy is a small black 
bean. I have carried a handful in my 
pocket. Whenever I meet some friend 
nio])ing around with what they call a 
grouch, I offer him a fcAv beans. 
“Here, try my ncAV remedy for that 
tired feeling. Nature's true remedy for 
the ]iv<‘r; swalloAV them Avhole. Don't 
stop to chew!” 
In many cases people have become so 
used to dosing that they Avill SAvalloAV 
three of these raiv beaus. They do look 
something like a black capsule. In some 
instances I have met the.se parties a 
fcAV days later and they say: 
“That was fine dope you gaA’e me. 
Where do you get it? I Avant more!” 
I have no doubt that a black Soy bean 
Avith full faith Avill do more for health 
then a bari’cl of medicine taken because 
one has acquired the dope habit. When 
farmers on the thin sour lands of the 
upper Atlantic slope get the same faith 
sons the Aveed-cutting gave as good re¬ 
sults as cultivation. It left a mulch on 
top of the ground, Avhile the thick ma.ss 
of roots just below the surface acts to 
prcA'ent evaporation from the soil. As 
I say, it looks like careless culture, but 
I think it would prove the most sensible 
])lan in many Aveedy cornfields which arc 
noAv trying to recover—since the sun 
came out. Our crop promises to be 
the best Ave ever had—in spite of the bad 
start. I am trying Webber's Early this 
year in comparison with our old- 
time flint. This AVebber's looks like a 
winner. It is early and practically evei’y 
stalk is starting two ears. It Avill have 
to Avork overtime to beat our flint on 
these rough hills, but it .seems very 
AA'illing to try. We are also trying 
Sudan grass this year. It grows some- 
AA'hat like millet—a slender stalk with 
long nari'ow leaves. AA'e’ have it in drills 
beside drilled corn so as to make a fair 
comparison. It is in a moist part of the 
field and the wet Aveather has not given 
it Ihe fullest show. >Since the hot Aveath¬ 
er came the Sudan grass has jumped up 
and by August 10 it stood six feet high 
and just shooting out its seed head. By 
its side AA’^ebber’s flint corn stood seven 
feet. I do not quite know what this 
Sudan grass Avill come to, but it seems 
doubtful noAV if it Avill equal corn fodder 
or Soy beans for profit here. ir. w. c. 
Storing Beans in Stack 
I have five acres of beans, but no barn 
to store them in Avhen they are har¬ 
vested. AA'ould it be safe to stack them, 
using a flooring of cornstalks and pro- 
Entrance from the Highway at Hope Farm. Formerly this was an old Pasture 
ti,. -i‘ 
in Soy beans for the soil’s health, they 
Avill prosper as never before. 
AVeedy Corn.—W e have one cornfield 
at the back of the farm Avhere the weeds 
swamped us. The soil is naturally Avet, 
and last year the weeds got away from 
us during the wet weather. This year 
the constant rains-prevented proper cul¬ 
tivation, and Avhen the dry weather fin¬ 
ally came the soil suddenly baked and 
the ragweed and smartweed Avere very 
true to name. They wei’e smart enough 
to put that field in rags. Our flint corn 
will grow where any variety will, but 
it does not make stalk enough to shade 
the ground fully. Before Ave kncAV it, 
the corn was in tassel, the tops .showing 
above a mass of Aveeds nearly four feet 
high. The corn Avas of good color and 
every ear will be needed this year. It 
could not well be cultivated, and we 
could not afford to pull that mass of 
AA-eeds by hand. So the boys Avent in Avith 
scythe and sickle and cut the weeds off— 
just before seed formed. It made a 
thick mulch on the ground and the corn 
jumped and blushed Avith ncAV color just 
as if it had been hoed. This weed cut¬ 
ting Avill mean many extra bushels of 
corn. It Avill give a better <‘hance for 
the cover ci'ops, and cut off millions of 
Aveeds from seeding. It will look like 
ragged culture to many, yet the experi¬ 
ment stations have conducted experi¬ 
ments to test this plan. In one part of 
the field they gave full culture as usual, 
while in another part they simply cut 
off the Aveeds and grass and let them 
lie on the ground—without stirring the 
soil at all. On the Avhole, there was lit¬ 
tle if any difference in yield. In dry sea¬ 
tecting the sides of the stacks with corn¬ 
stalks and the top with waterproof can¬ 
vas covers? J. II. M. 
Locust A^alley, N. Y. 
You Avill have no trouble in stacking 
the beans if they are Avell cured and you 
have a dry day when you haul and stack. 
A well-built bean stack will shed Avater 
better than a haystack. There must be 
a free circulation of air under the stack 
bottom ; a layer of cornstalks Avould not 
prove a good non-conductor of ground 
moisture. Lay down a few old rails or 
poles about five feet apart crossways of 
the stack bottom. On these and length- 
Avays of the stalk bottom lay old rails or 
I)oles six or eight inches apart. A feAV 
cornstalks could be spread over these to 
make a good job. Build the stack long 
rather than square, and have a good high 
top on the stack. Cornstalks, if laid 
.shingle fashion on the top, will make an 
excellent finish. After the stack settles 
it Avould prove a good insurance to throw 
the canvas over it, and at thrashing time 
spread the canvas around the machine to 
catch and save the shelled beans. The 
price is too high to Avaste any beans. If 
the beans are bone dry Avh'en stacked bet¬ 
ter thrash as soon as possible. 
n. B. cox. 
Ownership of Bees 
One day recently I heard a swarm of 
bees in my garden, and went to see about 
it. By the time I got where they were 
I saw a neighbor coming aci’oss the field 
near by. He said they fleAV over his head, 
and were flying so low he did not think 
they would go much farther, so he fol¬ 
lowed them. They soon clustered on a 
tree on one .side of my garden and the 
neighbor hived them and took them home. 
AA’ere they his bees, or Avould the fact 
August 2.0, ini7. 
that I discovered them before I saAV him 
give me a claim on them ? c. R. 
Tioga Co., N. Y. 
>So far as I knoAV there is no precedent 
in laAV that bears precisely on a case like 
this. The nearest we have is that the 
OAvner of the bees so long as he can keep 
them in sight, even though they alight 
upon the property of another, retains the 
title to them, but he cannot hive them 
upon the property of the other Avithout 
his consent. In the case mentioned, the 
party following the bees apparently was 
not the original owner. It has been held 
by the courts that if one discovers a 
SAvarm of bees in a bee tree on the prop¬ 
erty of another, the bees are his, but he 
cannot recover the same until he obtains 
permission from the OAvner of the land. 
In the case mentioned whether the bees 
belonged to the owner of the land or the 
one Avho " llowed them is a question, 
but I should .say that if the neighbor saw 
the bees first and followed them to a 
point Avhere they clustered, they were his 
bees, but he had no right fo take them 
Avithout permission from the owner of the 
land Avhere they alighted. In the case in 
question I Avould suggest that the two 
parties divide owenership equally, set a 
price upon the value of the bees and Avho- 
ever keeps them pay the other one-half 
their value. e. r. root. 
Seed Balls on Potatoes 
On our potato vines there is something 
p queer I thought you could tell me Avhat 
it was. The vines have finished blooming 
and on the vine there is a slender shoot 
that has five small green balls the size of 
a pea, and each one hangs on a stem of 
its oAvn. There doe.s not seem to be any 
of these shoots excepting on one of the 
vines. We have never seen them before 
and I thought you could tell us about 
them. j. V. AV. 
Hopewell .Tunction, N. Y. 
The little green balls your potato 
vine are genuine potato seeds. They are 
seldom seen noAvaday.s, but 40 years ago 
they Avere A'ory prevalent, and their pre.s- 
ence in unusimlly large numbers indicated 
a good crop. It is from planting these 
seed balls that the neAV varieties are de- 
A’elojK'd because they do not groAV a vari¬ 
ety exactly like its parent. In more than 
on cases out of 100 the ucav variety 
groAvn from a seed ball is inferor to the 
parent. People who are trying to develop 
neAV improved .strains sometimes plant 
thousands of seeds to get a feAv strains 
worthy of further trial. 
R. AV. de baun. 
“Valuation ” in Currant Culture 
We hear so much about “valuation.” 
“liabilities” and profits in other lines of 
business that perhaps the following 
statement of a business in currants may 
interest. Would you try stock on the 
valuation of these 10 blushes? That is 
about Avhat you are asked to do in larger 
enterprises. 
You ask for value of a currant bush. 
I submit the following as my answer: 
April, 1012, 10 sets, @ lOe..^l.OO 
Express charges .20 
Two hours planting, 20e.40 
Fh'e yeai’S manuring . 1,(M) 
T"se of land, five years.2.00 
Spraying .75 
1017 amount debit ..$5.05 
Care for hoeing, weeding, etc., throAvn 
in free. 
1017 currant bushes credit. 
101,0 and 1014, nothing. 
1010—5 quarts currants, .$.08.40 
1017—.3 quarts currants, $.12..30 
Amount credit .70 
Balance due from bushes ..$4.59 
The balance sheet for the currant 
bushes noAV Avould be like this: 
RESOURCES. 
10 thrifty currant bushe,s, @ $2, .$20.00 
I.IABIE1T1ES. 
Expenses to date unpaid . .$4..50 
Estimated value to meet liabilities 15.41 
Total .,$20.00 
How is that for promoting currant 
culture? It seems to be the promoter’s 
way anyhoAV. Net profit $15.41 in live 
years from an investment of $1. 
M. u, D. 
Clarence announced his coming by a 
series of hpwls. “Oh, my finger, my 
finger!” he said. “Poor little finger,” 
mother cooed. “How did you hurt it?” 
“With the hammer.” “When?” “A long 
time ago,” Clarence sobbed. “But I 
didn’t hear you cry.” “I didn’t cry then; 
I thought you Avere out,” said Clarence. 
.—NeAV York Times. 
