4 
She RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Improving “Worthless’’ Land 
I.ast Spriii}; 1 wrote Thk R. N.-Y. to advise me what 
to do with a jiiecc of land I was told was worthless, as 
the one who lived here before I came took off all the 
top soil to put on the lawn. The editor advised me, and 
I followed his advice. I jmt on lime, plowed, put on 
stable manure, harrowed it in. sowed oats and cow 
jteas. The oats came up and. grew finely, one foot and 
a half; the jieas were scattering. The last of .Tune I 
j)lowed it. put on another load of manure, sowed to 
huekwheat, which grew two feet high; the middle of 
September plowed again, and sowed to rye, which did 
not come up, grass coining up instead. It is now' thick 
greensward. 1 would like to know' w'hat to do w'ith this 
piece of ground this Fall, or next Spring, or both. 
Shall I plant it next Spring? Shall I seed it down? 
Shall I plow it this Fall? This land is 90 by 50 feet. 
Massacliusetts. n. W'. A. 
This is what we call trying to s^tuff the soil with 
hinnus so as to bring it hack to fertility. We have 
known this to he done when the entire top of the 
land was cut out and sold for sod. There was noth¬ 
ing left hut a hard, tough sub-soil, yet when this 
was handled as above described it came back, filled 
u]) with organic matter and in a year or two was 
ready to produce fair crojis. What you should do 
with the land now will dejiend upon what you want 
it for. If you intend to seed it dow'ii to meadow or 
l»asture you can jiroceed in several w'ays. It is no’t 
likely that the .gi-ass now growing would iirove fully 
satisfactory. AVe think some of the rye will show 
in the Sitring. The latter part of April we should 
])low this field, luiuiing the green growth under. 
'I'lien you can seed to barley or oats, and use the 
grass and clover seed with tlimt grain. In that case 
we should cut the oats early for hay and then let 
the grass come on, toit-dre.ssing it if possible during 
.August with a coat of line manure. Or if you want 
to ohtaiti a food croii next year you can plow in May 
and plant corn in hills. F.se a fair amount of chem¬ 
icals in the hill. Keep the field clean and cultivate 
it level both ways. Then about the middle of Au¬ 
gust go through and scatter Timothy and Red-top 
s(‘ed together evenly over the ground; cultivate 
lightly and work with an iron rake along the rows 
lietween the hills of corn. This will cover the grass 
seed, and after the corn is cut the grass will come on 
as in any Fall seeding. The stalks should be cut 
close to the ground. A good many farmers in New 
lingland follow this plan of seeding grass in the 
corn and usually obtain a good stand. Or, if this 
plan is not desired, you can go still further on im¬ 
proving the land by sowing oats and peas in the 
Siu'ing and plowing this crop under in July. Then 
seed lightly to buckwheat, putting the grass seed 
with that crop. The buckwheat may he cut just 
before the grass or left to lie upon the ground. In 
either case, if the late Summer is reasonably moist 
you will get a fair catch of grass, and the following 
j eai- find your field well seeded. 
Using Muck as Fertilizer 
AVhat do vou think of the enclosed report from the 
New Jersey Experiment Station? This wa.s a sample 
of meadow muck which 1 had analyzed after getting 
fairlv good r<‘sults from its use on my garden by mixing 
air-slaked lime with it, and then thoroughly mixing it 
with the soil. There are many thousands of acres of 
ibis me.-idow land along the coast, on which this muck 
runs from oiu* foot to .’>() >r 40 feet deep. w. F. G. 
.\il:i!iric ('ity, .N. .1. 
VERY year this matter of the value of muck or 
sw.'imp soil conies up. The analysis of this 
muck shows that one ton contains 21 Ib.s. of nitrogen, 
three or four of jihosphoric aoW. and something over 
40 of iiotash. That makes it worth three times as 
much as ordinai-y stable immure if this plant food 
can b(‘ made lairly .available. Almost every farm in 
the East has a deposit of black soil or muck. For¬ 
merly many farmers employed their Winters in 
hauling out this muck and composting it to help out 
tlie manure suiody. For a time this practice was 
largely given up. since- chemical fertilizers were 
freely used. In many places it will now pay to go 
back to the old days of muck farming, especially in 
such a case as this, where the amount of potash in 
the muck is high. As a rule, these black soils con- 
t:iin considerable nitrogen, but not much of the min- 
(M'als. The best way to use the muck is to haul it 
out early in the Winter so as to have it well dried 
and fermented before Spring. If possible, use some 
manure with the muck, but lime is a nece.ssity in 
sweetening the muck, and helping to start fermenta- 
i ion. 
Chicken manure, or hor.se manure, is best for this 
imriiose. Its action might be compared with that of 
fine kindling wood in starting a fire. Haul the muck 
from the swam]) uji to some dry, well-drained place, 
and dump it in long, narrow pile.s. A load may be 
driven directly upon the pile and dumiied out at the 
bottom. For evei'.v good-sized load of muck, use 50 
to ()0 lbs. of slaked lime, well scattered or dusted 
over the load as it is dumped out. If possible, for 
every three or four loads of muck use one load of 
horse manure, or a load of chicken manure, thor¬ 
oughly scattered all through the pile. Fermentation 
will start in and work through this pile. If possible, 
during February or e;irly March, begin at one end 
of the pile and fork the compost over. In doing this 
a man faces the pile., and, fork by fork: picks it up 
and throws it back of him, formiiig a new pile, which 
follows him as he breaks down the old one. This 
breaks up, fines the muck, and leaves it in much 
better condition. It will make a better compost if 
you can ad<l fine bone or acid phosphate to the muck 
as put in the pile. Many farmers are now using the 
phosphorus in this waj-—mixing it with the manure 
or compost instead of drilling it separately. 
Seven Sons as Soldiers 
AA’ith what resolute Yankee philosophy a Connec¬ 
ticut farmer can view the conscription act, which is 
calculated to take every one of his seven adult sons 
and force him to give up his milk route and sell his 
Wm. Ewald of Connecticut, and five of his sons. Fig. 3 
farm, is shown in the ca.se of William Ewald, of 
AYest Cromwell, Already four of his sons are in the 
service, and the remaining three are in the draft and 
are likely to be called very soon. 
•T don’t know what I .shall do w'ithout the boys,” 
says .Air. Ewald, seriously, “but if their country 
needs them I shall not tiy to keep them.” 
The Ewald farm compri.ses 250 acres, 00 head of 
stock and there is a milk route of nearly .300 cu.s- 
tomers in the nearby city of Middletown. .Air. 
Ewald cannot do the work himself and ligures that 
he will find it very hard to hire suitable hplp. lie is 
59 years (dd and a native of ('romwell, and has 
passed most of his life in the farmiiouse which he 
now occupies. Of late years he has given most of 
his effort to his milk customer.s. Since six of the 
Farmhouse of Wm. E-wald. Fig. 4 
seviMi adult sons are unmarried and have remained 
on the farm, he has been able to get along without 
hiring help. Last season they planted 40 acres of 
corn, mostly feed, 10 acres of rye, 10 of potatoes, 
eight of oats, six of wheat, five of turnips, two of 
buckwheat and two of garden truck. 
Of the four sons who are already in the service, 
.Vlfred. 19 years old and the youngest, was the lirst 
to enlist. He is now a hospital apprentice in the 
navy. Robert, 25. has enlisted in the army and is 
expecting his call before the first of the year. Alar- 
tin, 23, is already at Cam]) Devens. Fred. 30, the 
oldest of the family, was drafted in the early Fall 
and ordered to report at Camp Devens, but his father 
obtained three months’ exemption for him on ac¬ 
count of farm duty. His time has nearly expired. 
Of the three other sons. AA'illiam T. is 29, James 27 
and .Vntone 21. Of these, James is married and has 
children, and may not be ordered to the colors for 
that reason, but the other two will probably have to 
go. There will then be at home with Ihe father but 
.Tanuary I'.M S 
two unmarried girls and another son. Charles, who 
is 13 years old. 
Owing to the fact that seven of the boys are of 
military age and all but one are single and at home 
on the farm, the Ewald family presents a case where 
the conseription law will work a hardship that it 
will be found hard to parallel. s. k. ryax. 
Business of the Federal Land Bank 
When the Federal Land P>ank was started at 
Springfield, Alass., there were serious doubts as to 
whether our Eastern farmers would care to make 
loans from the Government. The system was imnu'- 
diately popular in the West and South, where con¬ 
ditions are much different. In the East the farms 
are smallei’, and local money lenders are usually 
willing to give fair accommodation. Results have 
shown, however, that the Ea.st is beginning to aiipre- 
ciate this method of Ixirrowing. The Springfield 
Bank paid out in loans during November a little 
over .$400,0(X). The following table shows the 
amounts of money applied for by farmers in the va¬ 
rious States, and the amounts of these loans which 
have been approved: 
Applied for Approved 
Alay 
ii to Nov. 30 
Alay 11 to Nov. 30 
No. 
Amount 
No. 
Amount 
Alainc . 
186 
.$371,190 
151 
$250,300 
New Ila’pshire 
45 
87.300 
17 
24.200 
Vermont . 
176 
596.287 
39 
1.57.750 
Alassachusetts.. 
419 
l,166,a30 
337 
784.425 
Rhode Island.. 
40 
98.960 
31 
66..“,50 
Connecticut ... 
223 
■ 672,840 
178 
450.640 
New A’ork. 
787 
2,467,581 
308 
.S47.315 
New Jersey... 
196 
620,4t)5 
171 
431.900 
Total. 
2,072 
$6,080,683 
1,232 
.$3,012,880 
Leonard G. Robinson, president of the bank, tells 
us that there is a good chance that before New 
Years thei-e will be applications for about $S,000,00() 
in loans. Of course not every application is accept¬ 
ed, and in many nr most cases on appraisal brings 
down the amount of money a( tuall.y loaned below tlie 
amount called for, but evidently the system is de¬ 
veloping, and is likely to make still further growth. 
One difficulty has been in finding suitable appraisers. 
A man to do this work must have good judgment and 
tact, and a thorough knowledge of present and 
future values, for the bank officials cannot be -too 
careful in figuring the amount of money which can 
be safely loaned upon a piece of farm property. 
Alany jieople who apply for loans appear to think 
that the government does not require full security. 
AA"e have had a number of city men and women, with 
practically no assets of their own, write that they 
understand the government will buy them a farm 
and eipiip it for them, taking the farm as full secur¬ 
ity. Of course the government will do nothing of 
the .sort, and could not with any safety. Borrow¬ 
ing money from this bank 'involves more red tape 
and security than would often be necessary in bor¬ 
rowing from a neighbor or from a local bank. There 
are advantages, however, in this system which will 
make it more and more popular as it is undei'stood. 
There has been some diliiculty in arranging the fumls 
for these loans, as such funds are based on the sal(‘ 
of farm loan bonds. The IJberty Bonds and other 
schemes for raising money have made it rather dilii- 
cult to dispose of these farm bonds freely. Dn De¬ 
cember 7 the Federal Land Banks advanced the in¬ 
terest rate on farm mortgages to 5i4 per cent, so 
that the farm loan bonds now make one of the best 
solid investments offered to the public. Nearly 
every day brings us letters from people in the East¬ 
ern States who wish to know about this Land Bank. 
They should write to the president of the bank at 
Sjiringtield, Alass., for full iiarticulars. 
A Superior White Flint Corn 
I During November Air. .1. T. Pine brought in some 
remarkable ears of a white flint corn which has been 
developed on his farm in AAVistchester Go., N. AV The 
size and general character of this corn is sho\vn_by the 
picture of a sample ear—exact size—at Fig. 5. Air. 
Pine gives us the following statement about the corn.l 
Q T'ALITY DESIRED.—Forty years ago my fath¬ 
er, S. AI. Pine, desiring a better yield of corn 
and of surer (|uality, decided that only one variety 
was iiarticuarly suited to this locality and his needs, 
mainly of cornmeal for fattening live stock. The 
corn as grown here at that time was decidedly in¬ 
ferior in yield and (piality, though it might have 
been at one time a standard variety. It had by poor 
selection fallen a long way short of the original and 
laid lost any distinguishing ipialities the original 
may have possessed. 
BREEDING FP.—AA'ith this aspect of the <pies- 
tion in view, my father, taking the largest and best- 
tilled ears obtainable for this section, gradually im¬ 
proved the native corn. His idea was an eight- 
rowed white flint corn, heavy yielder as to grain. 
