1288 
■Uhe RURAl. NEW-YORKER 
Sjii-iiif? arrives-'. Spriiijr sioediiij? may 1)e done early, 
as tlie Summer-fallowed soil is ready for the seed, 
and thus, before farmex's in other sections have 
oven started plowing for their wheat aci'oase, these 
r.'iniiors have wheat i>ee])ins thi'onsh the soil. 
EAIXT.E W. GAGE. 
Sweet Clover on Stump Land 
W E have ni'ged our readei's to ti'y .Sweet clover 
and have printed some true stoi'ies about the 
work this plant can do. Now comes a report fi'om Oi'e- 
gon, vouched for by reliable men. Thei'e is much 
stump land in the Pacific coast country. It is usu- 
allj' good soil, but the cost of clearing and stumping 
is so gi'eat that it Avill hardly pay as a business 
pi'oposition. Xexir (Ji'ant’s I*ass a ne\v plan M'as 
tried out in handling this Kind of land. The stumps 
will lai'gely decay in about five yeai's, and the proh- 
lein was to make these yeax's jiroductive if possible. 
'I'he jdaxx was to seed Sweet clover after bux'xiing 
the land over and then using the place for pasture. 
Here is the story as .sent us: 
Having a lot of this kind of land to clear at Winona 
ranch, and not wishing to waste the use (»t it for a long 
time, we tried the Sweet clover xnethod of clearing. We 
had four acres slashed, the timber and brush cut and 
left on the ground just as it fell, in the Spring and 
early Summer of 1915. This cost us .$8 an acre by 
contract. 
In November of that year we burned over this .slash¬ 
ing, getting a good clean burn with a fairly deep layer 
of ashes. In the following February, between the fii'st 
and the fifth, we sowed live pounds per acre of scarified 
white Sweet clover seed on the ashes among the stumps, 
which were .so thick that it Avould have been absolutely 
impo.ssible to hari'ow or disk or w'ork the gi'ound in-any 
way whatsoever. We simply sowed the .seed broadcast 
with an ordinai'y Cahoon seeder. 
In evei'y jdace where there was a good layer of ashes 
the Sweet clover came up splendidly, every .seed appax'- 
ently growing, while whex'e there was little or no ash 
layer the stand was poor or lacking. In this ca.se the 
ash Avas good on about 90 per cent of the land ; and we 
got a fine stand on 90 per cent of the four acres therefor. 
The following sea.son, from Februax’y 1, 1917, on 
thi'ough the Spring, Summer and Fall, Ave pastured 
seven head of xnilch cows axid an average of three head 
of horses, xnules and other stock on this piece of SAveet 
clover, with no other feed from May 1 on, excejit 25 
pounds of shorts per day to the herd of milch coavs. 
The coavs kept in splendid condition, as did the other 
stock; and the cows in milk averaged 900 pounds of 
milk per coav per month straight through. The.se coavs, 
regi.stered Holsteins, gave a return of .$12.80 per cow 
per month net for their SAveet clover pasture in butter 
fat and skim-milk, after deducting the labor charge of 
$8.70 jier coav per month. 
Meanwhile the SAA’eet clover is growing as fast as the 
stock eat it; and is seeding heavily in spite of the sti-en- 
uous pasturing. It grew to a height of 10 feet in place.*--, 
and the cattle ate it doAvn again to about a foot high, 
at Avhich height it now keeps growing out and bram-h- 
ing. 
Besides the excellent returns in milk from this pas¬ 
ture among the stumps, the Sweet clover is ixnproving 
the land steadily by taking nitrogen from the air and 
putting it into the ground as all legumes do, and also 
by adding humus to the ground thx'ough the decay of 
its I'oot after the second year. Also the stuxnps are 
rotting out, thus greatly reducing the cost of final clear¬ 
ing of the land to probably ten or fifteen dollar's per acre 
instead of sixty, as it Avould 'have been originally. 
The cost of getting the land into Sweet cloA'er, in¬ 
cluding slashing, burning, seed and soAving, was about 
$10 per acre; while the net returns in the second crop 
year Avere Avell over $.50 per acx'e at the most conserv¬ 
ative figure. 
Storing Fruits and Vegetables 
F ood couserA-ation is today taking an important 
place in the public mind. The proper storage of 
fi'uits and A'egetables is one mean.s of saAdng the 
ci'ops that have already been produced. Several types 
of stox'age cellars and pits ai'e commonly employed 
on farms, many of them being more or less success¬ 
ful, Avhile othei’s prove failures. The ordinary cellar 
in the house must have the storage rooxn partitioned 
off by a heavy "wall or an insulated partition if there 
is a furnace. Specially constructed outdoor pits are 
generally expensive; stored products in them soxne- 
tixnes freeze during cold Winter Aveather if no arti¬ 
ficial heat is supplied, and in severe AY'inter weather 
they Jii'e not easily accessible. 
One thoroughly practical schexne came to my at- 
tcmtion on a dairy farxu in Northei'n Ohio. A large 
I)ank bax'ii had been built and the OAvner made a 
cexxient cellar under the bank, pai'tly because he did 
not have enough dirt at hand to get the best grade 
up to the barn floor. The cellar is xnade of concrete 
Avith heavy rails on top, underneath the driveway. 
About a foot of coal ashes was first placed about 
the Avails and over the top before the grading Avas 
done. -Vt no jxoint is the earth covei'ing less than a 
foot and a half thick. The opening to the cellar is 
the door inside the bai'n. 
Here in this cellar ax'e all the requix’ements of a 
proper stoi'age I'oom for vegetables and fx'uits met. 
It has not been too dry Avithin. but at all times the 
stox'ed px'oduce has remained firm and cri.siA. Aixples, 
potatoes and x'oot crops ax'e always stoi'ed success¬ 
fully. Lines of six-inch tile at tAvo cornex's of the 
cellar lead to the extei'iox'. and hex'e are sci'eened 
to exclude vex'iuin. By this xneans ventilation is ef¬ 
fected. In fact, the fii'.st year befoi'e these tiles Avei'e 
Front View of Barn. Fig. 592 
Ipiii intii tlie cellar, moistux'e collected in iax'ge di'oixs 
on the ceiling and kept CA'ei'ything genex'ally Avet, 
but now thei'e is no ti'ouble from damixne.ss and rot¬ 
ting when .^ound fruit and A'egetables ai'e stored. 
The texnpei'atui'e can be keixt uniformly Ioav by 
•such ventilators. For most A'egetables and fruits 
8.3 to .30 degrees is satisfactoi'y. In coldest Winter 
Aveather one A'entilator is closed all the time. On a 
feAv nights Avhexi the temiteratuie di'upped beloAV 
zex'o, a lantei'ii Avas set in the stox'age cellax-, and 
this fux'nished ample heat to pi'event any freezing. 
It might seem advisable on cold nights to open the 
door into the stalde Avhei'e .*<o much live stock is 
kept, but the enti'.'ince of barn odoi's into the cellar 
lu'ohibits this i»x'actice. 
.'^uch a cellar has the advantage of economy and 
simplicity; it reipiires little attention; and fruit and 
vegetables I'emain long into the Spi'ing nujiiths souml 
and tasty if they ax'e fx'oe from dampness, I'ots and 
mechanical injux'ies Avhen stoi'ed in the Fall. 
Ohio. E. I.. HT'MMEEL. 
Does College Help Financially ? 
W i; have x'ead Avith great intex’est. Trucker 
.Ti'.'s reply to the question of college 
education for the fax'xner: it is a point that 
has been much discussed in our sectii'ii. and. 
Side View of Bank over Storage. Fig. 593 
judging from personal observation, it is the 
■inon, after all, axid not the college training, or 
the lack of it, that xnakes the farxner a success or 
a failure. The question Avas brought up recexitly as 
to Avhich is of greater value to a young man, $1,000 
in cash or a foui'-yeai's’ college course—not, Ixoav- 
evei', that the forxner Avas supposed to be adequate 
to cover the expense of the latter. A young xieigh- 
bor of oux's spoke very earnestly in favor of the 
ca.sh. Her brother has had the college cour.se, Avhile 
her husband has xiot. Her jxeople are Avell-to-do, but 
November 10, 1917 
are rather too far advanced in years to continue the 
haxidling of their extensiA-e farxning opex'ations alone, 
and, ixi thi.s exnei'gexicy, the husband, Avith fix'st-haxid 
knoAvledge of farming, but Avithout college traixiing, 
is considex'ed indispensable to the old people, because 
of his gx'eater efficiency than the college-tx-ained 
brothex'. One great trouble, she says, Avith the agri- 
cultux'al college is the gx-eat xmxltiplicity of tools and 
machinery Avith Avhich its Avork in px'actice farxning 
is usixallv done. Evex'y xuaxuxfaetui'er aa’Ixo brixigs 
out a iieAv tool coxisiders it good advertising to be 
able to announce to the public that “this machine is 
in use at the State College^; hence, he is glad to 
place a .sample at little or no expense to the in.stitu- 
tion. In this Avay the students have access to prac¬ 
tically evex'y xnachine on the market, and Avhen they 
begin fai'xning for thexnseh'es they hax'dly knoAv Ixoav 
to px'oceed unless they have unlimited capital Avith 
which to buy all these things. Therefore, my 
friend claixns that, for a poor xnan Avho must xnake a 
living fi’om his fax'in, the college coux'se often i»x'oves 
more detrimental than othexwise. In other Avords, 
if a man is financially able x'eall.v to afford the col¬ 
lege course, he is able to live Avithout farxning. 
Many of the young men in our coxnmunity are col¬ 
lege xnen, but only one among the entire nuxnber is 
farming independently and successfully on his oavu 
land. I haA’e an idea, too, that he Avould haA’e been 
successful Avithout the college tx'aining; his father, 
Avho is one of our leading daix'yxnen, neA-er had any. 
All the other college xnen are Avorking out as oi'- 
dinax'y hix'cd xnen. I'eceiving the saxne Avage and do¬ 
ing the .same Avork as the other boys Avho never 
Avent to college; indeed, some of these agricultui'al 
college men ax-e not even AA'orking on farxns at all, 
but are doing .shop Avork instead. While I do not 
Avish to be understood as underestimating the A-alue 
of a goofl educatioxx, T cjin .see no diffex'exice AAliat- 
eA’er in the ultimsite success of the young man Avith 
and AA’ithout the college tx'aining, in our oaa'u com- 
xnunity. In fact, Ave sometimes Avonder if a first- 
class education, axid a coinjilete college course, ax'c 
I'cally synonymous terms Avhen applied to the most 
essential things of life—the faetox's that actually 
count in the long I'un. mbs. e. m. axoeksox. 
riiautauqua C'o., X. Y. 
The Food Value of Beer 
A GBEAT deal of space has been takexi up in 
discussing the retail price of milk, and the 
farmers’ shax'e of this fixial figixx'o. It is noAV pretty 
Avell understood Ixoav these values coxupare. 
XoAv .soxne one asks us to di.scuss the retail price 
of beer in connection Avith Avhat the producer really 
gets out of it. In order to get the facts Ave have 
looked up prices at a xiuxnber of sjiloons in Xexv 
York City. The regulation price for Avhat is knoAvn 
as a pint of beex', Avhen takexi out in a pail, is 15 
cexit.s. Varying Avith the locality, a good bartender 
will get from five to 10 glasses of beer out of a 
(piart. The xiA’erage AA'ould probably be seven glasses 
at the .saloons Avhere our iiiA'estigation Avas made. 
At 5 cents a glass, this Avill mean .35 cents 'a quart. 
The beer seems never to be measurcc! accux'ately, but 
just run into the pail by the bartender, who seems 
to depend on his judgment and the Aveight of the 
pail. It is safe to say that a qixarr of beer in XeAv 
5'ork Avill average .30 cexit.s in price. Some high 
ipialitv beer Avill double that; ana some vile sluTf, 
or perhaps Ave should say viler stuff, is sold in a 
lax'ger glass so as to xnake a smaller nuxiiber of 
glasses to the quart. When Ave consider the analysi.s 
of beer as compax'od Avitli xiiilk, Ave can understand 
Avhat the texnperaxice (piestion means as an ecoxioniic 
proposition. ’The folloAving comparatiA'e figui'es from 
xi chexnist shoAv in x'oixnd xiuxnbers hoAV a quart of 
xnilk coxnpares in food value Avith a quart of beer : 
Water. I’rotein. Cai'bohydratos. Fal. Ash. 
Milk . S7..3 .3. q.9 .3.0 0.7 
Beer . 90. 0.5 4.5 — O..’! 
Consider the food A-alue of a quart of beer at .30 
cents coxnpared Avith a good average saxnple of milk ! 
If the beer is Avortli ,30 cents the milk is Avort'i 
neax'l.y .50 cents, as a body-builder and energy supply. 
We have had people go so far as to say that beer 
is a full .substitute for milk as a diet for children 
and invalids. Con.sider Avhat Avould happen to a child 
fed on a fluid so Ioav ixi ash or bone-forming ele¬ 
ments, axid so deficient ixx proteixi or muscle-xnakixig 
material. From the economic point of vieAv tliere 
is no sane argument for beer as a food or body- 
buildex*, axid in these Avar times, when evei'y ounce 
of food should be saved, and every surplus dollar 
utilized, for the nation’s needs, Avhat greater economic 
crime can be committed than spending on beer the 
money Avhich should be used for buying bread, milk, 
cheese and meat? 
