1148 
will take definite shape this Winter, rsually when 
these evident things are stated we are greeted with 
cries about “disloyalty” or “sedition. The R. N.-Y. 
and those it speaks for give place to no liuman being 
in their love of country or their loyalty. They will 
give to the last measure of sacrifice in order that this 
war may be carried through to the rif/hia of man¬ 
kind. They intend to rise above mere party or 
political loyalty, and see to it that wdien this great 
military struggle is over, the plain country people 
have a fair showing and a square deal. The trouble 
with the city papers is that they begin to realize 
that fai-mers are coming to the point where they 
will no longer pay attention to the old, shopworn 
political arguments. 
Fall Seeding of Sweet Clover 
I would like to hear from some of your readers results 
obtained by .seeding Sw'eet clover early in Spring, say 
February or March, on ground seeded to wheat the 
previous Fall. Will the clover, if it catches well, make 
too much growth before harvesting the w’heat, to inter¬ 
fere in cutting and storing same? Our wheat harvest 
usually comes about July first. If seeded early, do you 
recommend the unhulled seed, and what amount per 
acre? • E. R. s. 
Waynesboro, Pa. 
EEDTNG Sweet clover any time between Novem¬ 
ber 1 and April 1 on wheat or rye is all right 
if you have plenty of moisture until the grain is re¬ 
moved. If not, it will be a failure unless on very 
moist land. Of course, only unhulled seed must be 
used during those mouths. If not interfered with by 
the dry weather it will have .some growth, but not 
enough to obstruct the harvesting of the wheat. On 
the other hand, if sown during those months with¬ 
out a nurse crop you could cut a crop of two tons to 
the acre in September of hay that is in every way 
the equal of Alfalfa. Then is it not better to harvest 
two tons of hay than 15 bushels of wheat? Either, 
of course, will be worth $30, but the clover stand is 
worth at least another $30 to the land. You can be 
reasonably sure of a good stand if sown at that 
time without a nurse crop, no matter what the 
weather may be, as the grain is not there to toke the 
moisture away from the growing clover plants; 20 
pounds per acre is right for the unhulled. 
The best time for sowing is in November before 
freezing up. Disk your corn or potato land or grain 
stubble a couple of times about November 1, then 
sow the seed (one-half each way) and roll a couple 
of times if possible, or if you have no roller con¬ 
venient, take a very light spike-tooth harrow once 
over. Sweet clover demands a hard seed bed and 
very shallow covering. As j^ur wheat is already 
sown, you should sow your clover on top of the 
ground, and the Winter frosts will take care of it. 
Sweet clover is a biennial, and unless you want to 
plow it under at the end of the second year you 
should sow eight quarts of Timothy and three 
quarts of Red top with the clover and then you will 
have that hind of hay after the .second year. I have 
been a grower of Sweet clover (the white of course) 
for a great many years and have always advocated 
sowing only the unhulled seed, and my experience 
this seasqn with the scarified convinces me that the 
unhulled is the only kind to use. Ea.st May some 
of my customei’s wanted me to try the scarified. I 
did so. It germinated nicely and looked all right 
until a little .spell of dry weather came along, and 
behold it was gone! The oats -took the moisture and 
left none for the little clover plants. On another 
piece where the unhulled was sown last Winter it 
is now ready to cut for hay. So I have positively 
made up my mind never to sow any but the un- 
hulled. This is nature’s Avay, as when the seed 
shatters olf the stalks In the Fall it certainly is not 
hulled nor scarified, yet it comes up promptly as 
soon as the first warm days of Spring appear, and 
when the first dry weather comes it has a root a 
foot long or more, and can stand any weather. An¬ 
other thing I have learned this season, and that Is 
to leave the first crop the .second year for seed, and 
not take off a crop of hay in June and leave the .sec¬ 
ond crop for seed, which has been my custom. You 
get twice the quantity, and all large, plump seeds. 
New York. a. bloomingdale. 
No Pods on the Beans 
('an you tell what is the matter with my marrow beans? 
1 planted 14 acres; they look fine, made a good growth, 
are clean from weeds, have been blossoming for the last 
three weeks at least, but no beans. They look like a 
dead failure ; planted .Tune 23. j. u. g. 
Columbia Co., N. Y. 
HE description of the condition of these marrow 
beans would indicate that the ab.seuce of pods is 
due to some other cause than the usual disease affect¬ 
ing the crop, or the ravages of insect enemies. Having 
been planted June 23rd, they ought to be now in pod. 
It is too late for pods to form and mature on mar¬ 
"Uhe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
row beans before severe frosts occur. T should .judge 
that the trouble i.s lack of i)hosphorus and an over- 
alnindant .supply of nitrogenous content in the .soil. 
Beans will act in this way when planted on new 
ground, and often on ground that has been heavily 
manured. Other crops, such as grain and potatoes, 
will act in the .same way, growing all to tops and 
straw, and lodging badly. When ■we first began 
raising beans as a field crop on the home farm, one 
field was plantecl to medium beans. The crop was 
well podded over the whole field, with the exception 
of the rows bn the west side. Here an old worm 
fence had been removed, and a straight fence built 
allow'ing a strip of old sod to be turned over. The 
two rows of beans were on this strip of new ground, 
and the result was that thoi’e was a rank growth of 
vines, but no pods; they kept right on blossoming. I 
think if the inquirer wotild grow a crop of corn on 
this field and follow with beans, first drilling in 
about 300 pounds of 10% acid ])hosphate to the acre, 
he could raise a crop of beans that would produce 
])ods. On Auginst 10th I inspected a number of bean 
fields around Kinderhook, and at the meeting in the 
evening we discussed bean growing problems pretty 
thoroughly. The fields visited gave promise of fair 
yields. I saw none in the condition that J. H. G. 
reports. Marrow beans sbould be itlaiited earlier, as 
they require a longer season, June 10 is full late for 
Fruit Clusters of Himalaya Blackberry. Fig. 525 
the. I have one variety of beans in my garden plot 
that were planted June 7, and were pulled and 
Itunched to cure August 13th; they wei'e heavily pod¬ 
ded and well filled. ii. e. c. 
Some Notes on Land Values 
THINK the amount the Stiite should pay for cur¬ 
rants destroyed for the purpose of ijrotecting pine 
trees depends on Avho own the pine trees. If private 
persons own the pines, I don’t think the State should 
pay a cent, but the owner should pay. If the pines 
belonged to the State and the Avelfai’e of the State 
demanded the destroying of currants, I don't think 
the State is obliged to i)ay damages, but think the 
generous thing to do Avould be for it to do so at a 
nominal amount per plant, say from 20 to (50 cents, 
according to evidence of owners’ care for same. 
As to whether an orchard adds to the permanent 
value of land will say no. There is only one thing 
that affects thewalue of land; that is its relative 
scarcitj'^ due to increased population or the with¬ 
holding of laud from use. Land has value because 
of its nearness to markets, population; this is a 
community-created value. An orchard is an indi¬ 
vidually created labor product; it may be an im¬ 
provement, but it can hardly be insured, and there 
is a chance it may be an encumbrance. 
As I understand it, the purpo.se of the farm loan 
laws is to assist in establishing farm homes (that 
Avill be economic producing factors in the National 
scheme). Now any average farm home that is built 
on the success of one branch of agriculture, such as 
one-fruit orcharding, potato or onion trucking, or 
even such staples as wheat or cotton farming, is 
built on sand. It is not a farming but a speculative 
proposition. It is a poor risk for the Federal Land 
Board. 
Farms or farming communities should be as nearly 
as possible self-supporting. Wliere custom and nat¬ 
October (5, 1917 
ural conditions point the wisdom of crop specializ¬ 
ing, that form of activity may wisely perhaps form 
the main value of the security of a Federal farm 
loan. But the borrower should have other agricul¬ 
tural resources and be familiar with their probabil¬ 
ities to be a good risk. The Federal Board is look¬ 
ing after the legitimate farmers’ intere.sts best when 
it refu.ses loan.s to one-crop enthusia.sts, be they 
wheat, peach, mushroom, cotton, skunk or hen. 
Even the current selling price of land is not an 
infallible guide to a legitimate value for loaning. 
Applicants and appraisers should consider, it seems 
to me, as a basis for loans the average earnings un¬ 
der average management over a period of years 
long enough to include conditions of prosperity and 
hard times for general business throughout the na¬ 
tion, say seven to eleven years. 
I believe .50 per cent of the value of orchards of 
long-lived trees, in natural fruit-growing regions, 
valued as above, would safely be entitled to form 
three-quarters of the total amount of a Federal loan. 
Galifoi-nia. single tax hayward. 
A Ration of Cold Chicken Facts 
I am desirous of going into chicken farmina 
Is it necessary for an inexperienced man to take a 
cour.se in scientific chicken raising? If so, -where could 
I do so in New York or Jersey City, either by corres¬ 
pondence or in the evening? Also, would I need an ex¬ 
perienced man to run the place for a while? How many 
chickens would do for a start to afford me at least a 
living (am married). Is there any way to figure the 
cost of upkeep and average profit? Would this be a 
fair time to begin, owing to the war? In your opinion, 
is chicken farming a profitable venture? k. e. 
New Jersey. 
AKING up your questions in order it is a well-es¬ 
tablished fact that poultry raising is a .science 
which must be learned the same as any other trade 
or profession, and that while there is an occasional 
exception to the rule, an Inexperienced man stands 
about as much chance for success In the poultry busl- 
ne.s.s as he could expect if he started out to prac¬ 
tice law before going to a law school. 
Neaidy all the .State agricultural colleges in the 
East have a course in poultry insti’uction, but 
they require a student to have had at least a 
year on a practical poultry farm to learn the rudi¬ 
ments of the thisiness befoi’e entering college. You 
could get detailed information along this line by 
writing to the College of Agriculture at Cornell 
University, Ithaca, N. Y’’., Storr.s, Conn., Kingston, 
R. I., or New Brunswick, N. J. 
Y"ou would stand a better chance to learn success¬ 
ful methods at one of the.se colleges than through 
a correspondence course. I do not know of any 
pla<-e in New York or Jersey City where such in- 
stiaiction is given. 
After you have worked a year on a poultry 
farm and have finished college, jmu should then get 
a position on a poultry farm where you could learn 
the practical .side of the business In all its branches. 
After making a thorough study of the busines.s, both 
practically and scientifically for three or four years, 
you could .start for yourself in a small way and 
increase as your capital and experience warrants. 
You would probably find this method of starting 
much more economical and satisfactory than to 
hire an experienced man to teach you the business 
from the beginning. 
As a rule the poultry-keepers of New Jei’sey 
make a profit from their flocks nearly in an exact 
ratio to the quality of the stock they keep and 
the number of eggs per hen which they are able 
* to produce in a year. This has been proven in a 
great majority of cases by a recent census of the 
leading poultry farms of the State, conducted by 
the pouftry department of the State Experiment 
Station. 
Poultry farms are run all the way from a loss 
to several dollars per hen profit, so that an average 
profit would not indicate the amount which could 
be expected by a certain person. The cost of keep¬ 
ing a laying hen a year has been quite thoroughly 
worked out and found to be about $1.75 for 1910. 
This year it will run not far from .$3 per bird, 
probably a little more, owing to the high price of 
grain. Next year we expect it will cost at least 
.$3.50 to feed one hen from Jan. 1st to Dec. 31.st, 
and there is no assurance that the .selling price of 
eggs will increase accordingly, although it is a 
fact that 20 to 25% of the poultry kept upon 
Eastern farms has been disposed of during the past 
few months, and the normal production of poultry 
and eggs will, therefore, be cut down proportionately. 
No doubt this will have a tendency to increase the 
selling prices of poultry products, but how far this 
(ondition of affairs ought to influence a person to¬ 
ward venturing into the poultry business is a question 
which must be decided by each person individually. 
C. S. GREENE. 
