404 
^/>e RURAL NEW-YORKER 
the j)kiiiter is the difliculty in gettijif; the fertilizer 
<leep enoii;,'!! Avitliont j)l{intinff tlie seed piece too 
<leeii, an<l tlien, too, we never succeeded in spread- 
iiry: and apiilyinc the fertilizer in as wide a ril)hon 
as does the distributor. Eiirhteen luindred ])ounds 
of fertiliz<‘r ]>er acre has jn-oven to he tin* niost 
})r<ifitahl(‘ amount to use and potash, even in th(‘s(^ 
war times, has been proven both economical ami 
iK'cessary, thn^e per c<mt being used this year. 
f'T’T/riVA'riOX.—.Tust as soon as we finish plant¬ 
ing we thoroughly cultivate the ground between 
the rows, using th(‘ harrow, already spoken of, <-ul- 
tivating very deeply two rows at a time. This is 
followed by the one row walking cultivator used to 
break ii)» and stir any ground missed iiy the tir.st 
tool. liefore the jiotatoes j-each the top of the 
ground tluw are harrowed off with a s)»ike-tooth. 
drag oi- Mei'ker haiu’ow, then covered up again as 
soon as w(‘ cjiii s('i* to “row*’ the ]totatoes. 'Phis is 
foi- the ]iuri»ose of killing all young weeds and is 
scratched otf again with a wi'eder four or live days 
later. Knowing cultivation i>ays, we cultivate about 
eight times after the potatoes come up. Although 
we itrefer the one-i'ow cultivator for most work, 
we have fi»und the. two-row cultivator to be the 
most satisfactoi-y tool during the growing season 
wh(*n the main objeid is'to conserve moisture. Kealiz- 
ing that cultivation immediately after a rain means 
much more than considei’able work later, we use 
our two-row' cultivators to break the ci'ust ami <-ul- 
tivate tin* soil fairly w<‘ll, though when the lields 
are all cultivated in this luauuer we do not con¬ 
sider the job finished, but. turn about and .go over 
the ground again, following the alternate rows. 
'J'his method (piickly breaks the ci'ust on the ground 
jiml when liually C(rmpleted as-sures us of a most 
thorough cultivation. Vmw little spraying is done 
<‘xeept when bugs aiijiear. Much of the success of 
our ]irolitable crops is attributed to thought and 
time sjient in seed s(*l(‘ctioii. canTul s(*ed treatment, 
that is. the ki^eiting, cutting and care of same be¬ 
fore )ilautin.g. the ]troper method of f(*rtilizer dis¬ 
tributing with u-e of cover crojis ami thorou.gh 
cultivation. kahi, iulatisii. 
Renewing an Old Orchard 
I w.-iiit some advice regarding the pruning of old 
atiide trees to bring them hack into a hearing state 
again. As the jinrchaser of a small countr.v tract I 
possess bS old apple trees, all in a fair state of growth, 
and evidently of considerable age. None of them seems 
to he unsound at the butt, ami few have dead limbs, 
but the neighbors tell me that the fruit is moi-e than 
]>oor in quality. Shall 1 in-une, or sh.all 1 replace with 
new stock that will give me ajqdes about lb years 
hence V u. P. 
F Corit.SE no olio can give iiositive advice with¬ 
out seeing the ti-ees, but most of the (dd trees 
on New .Terse.v farms are alike. b'lKw are usuall.v 
liigli-heailed, big trunks, some dead branches, the 
tops grown in a bunch and not much growth in 
recent years. As a rule they are early varieties of 
not much commercial value. They have been in a 
jioor sod for some time, have considerable scale and 
are overrun with worms. 
We found such an orchard on our farm, and 
went at it about as .follows: 'J'he ]ioorest trees Avere 
cut down for tii’invood. The rest wi're pruned by 
i-utting off all the dead limbs back into live Avood, 
and jiaiiiting the stub. Then Ave cut out all the 
limbs tliat Avere .groAving 1o ihc cnilrr, so as to 
ojien nil the head and also the limljs Avhich cross 
each other or interfere. Some judgimmt is reipiired 
to do this properly, but a little study Avill shoAV hoAV 
to .shape the tree. Faint the cut jilaces after ]»run- 
ing and then .giA'e the trees a thorough soaking Avith 
lime-sulphur or soluble oil. This Avill clean out the 
scale and stimulate the bark. If ]>ossibU‘, take a 
sharj) hoc and scrape off the rou.gh bark on the 
ti'unks. This Avill destroy many insects and e.ggs. 
Then just before the bloom buds swidl, spray 
Avith a sidutiou of three pounds arsenate of l(‘ad in 
5(» .gallons of Avater Avith one .gallon of lime-suli»hur 
adih'd. Itepeat this after the bloom has fallen from 
the tri'es. and if pos.sible about six Aveeks later. 
.\s a rule the soil Avhere these old trees groAV is 
sod-bound and hard. We have had success AA'ith 
ftmciug the orchard and turning a dozen lively pi.gs 
to the acre. They may be fed in a self-feeder, sup- 
])lied Avith fresh Avater and given free access to Avood 
ashes and charcoal. The,y will do Avonders in tear- 
in.g up the soil of that orchard, and will cultivate 
it by dig.gin.g out ginibs and worms. A better Avay Avill 
he to ploAA" the orchard in the Spring, puttin.g 
under a good coat of manure and scattering six to 
seA’eii pounds of acid phosphate around each tree. 
IlaA'e the oi’chard cultivated up to the middle of 
July, and then seed to rye, and clover or vetch. It 
is not alAvays possible to carry out this full pro¬ 
gramme Avith such an orchard, but do Avhat you 
can at jiruning and scraping, spraying and culti- 
A-ating and feeding. The old trees Avill respond and 
give some good fruit, but the A'arieties are pi’ohably 
not very valuable. We should start a new orchard 
this A’(‘ar—using variidies Avhich do Avell in the 
locality. 
Beef, Labor Shortage and Wheat 
IlF following extracts are takmi from a speech 
hy ('harb's Cra.v at the Minnesota Feef Kroed- 
ers’ meeting: 
At til iircscnt time, estimates sIioav there are up¬ 
wards of 50,00(),0(X> men under arms in this Avar. From 
T.OOO.tKM) to 10,(KK>,0()0 have been killed, and another 
l().b0P,00d permanently disabled. There in a round 
number avc have 7(),0(M).(XK) men. the cream of the hu¬ 
man race, removed from productive activities and put 
to Avork at destruction. A great many of those millions 
of men came from the farms. The Avheat fields of ('an- 
ada. the sheidierds of Australia, the dairymen of XeAv 
Zealand, the kilted farm lads of Scotland, the fanners 
of South Africa, France, Uussia, England, Italy. Bel¬ 
gium, have been poured into the furnace of Avar to 
sijuelch the representatives of rule by divine right. 
Human labor has never been at such a premium. The 
stoppage of the drift of foreign labor to our shores to 
fill mine, factory and iiacking house AA'as an immediate 
effect of the AAuir, though ncAv immigration laAvs in¬ 
creased the shortage from this source. Testimony at 
tlie Milk Inquirj’ of the TTnited States Food Adminis- 
tiation, noAv going on at f'hicago. shoAvs that the dairy¬ 
man is being economicall.v' ground betAA’eeu the tAVo 
millstones of labor iiroblems and high-priced feed. 
Taking uj) the situation as revealed by the markets 
the past A’ear, Ave find that the six leading markets haA’e 
had approximately 2,5(»0.(K)() head of cattle more this 
year than last. Drought in the SouthAVC.st, Avherc a cat¬ 
tle empire as large as (Sermany aauis baked to a point 
that .‘5.") iier cent to bO jier cent of the cattle AA’ere I'ither 
niarki'ted or shipped out to other sections to be fed. has 
cut doAvn cattle iiroductiou to a iioint Avhere favorable 
Strawberry Lady Corneille. See Ruralisms, page 417 
conditions for the n<‘xt live years Avill be necessary to 
bring it hack to normal. Severe Winters in the Xorth- 
Avest have eaten up the hay supply the past tAvo years 
and left a hnv fi'ed reserve, as Avell as cutting heavily 
into sheep flocks and reducing the croj) of calves on the 
range. The labor situation has sent many, many herds 
of dairy cattle to the packer, to meet a good <-anner and 
cutter market. It is therefore up to all the regular 
producers of beef cattle to increase their operations tov 
capacity, from both money and patriotic standpoints, 
and to help other farmers to a better position by getting 
into the business. 
AVhile Avar conditions Avith guaranteed Avheat prices 
make that form of farming increasingly attractive as an 
immediate operation, Avith the end of the Avar the high 
reserves of Australia, India and Argentina Avill be 
throAA'ii on the Avorld’s markets to sAvell the pent-up 
tiotxl of Avheat that Avill pour out of liussia and into 
Europe through the back door. All the cheap lands of 
the world Avill be raising grain as the most direct route 
to the hungiy mouths of Europe, and only government 
guarantees can hold up our grain markets. Our live 
stock, hoAvever, Avill have the inside track for the meat 
and fat needs of the Avorld, for it AA’ill take years to re¬ 
build the foreign herds and flocks that have been de¬ 
pleted and sAveiit aAvay. Furthermore, these herds and 
flocks Avill b(‘ largely rebuilt from seed brought from 
our lierds. and already many purebred associations are 
laying jilans for this export business for the rebuilding 
of a ueAv Europe. 
Need of Limestone and Phosphorus 
T he Fcunsylvauia Experiment Station at State 
College has started a very useful set of experi¬ 
ments in I’estoring a tract of Avoim-ont land. This 
land is in Center Co., l*a., and rejiresents both aban¬ 
doned land and cut-over land not yet farmed. There 
are thousands of acres of such land in I’ennsylvania, 
much of it abandoned by farmers after crops began 
to fail. The plan of the experiment is to see if this 
soil cannot he brought back to fair fertility at rea¬ 
sonable cost, by using limestone and phosphorus to 
start the legumes. 
At first pot experiments Avere tried by taking aver¬ 
age soil from these abandoned fields and groAving 
SAveet clover in small pots AVith varying quantities 
of limestone, manure and acid phosphate. The re¬ 
sults shoAved that limestone und iihosphorus, Avith 
M.irch 10, 1918 
clover, jirovided the most economical method for 
building up these soils, and larger field exixwiments 
Avere started to shoAV this in a practical Avay. A de- 
scrijition of this land is gWen in Bulletin lol, Avhieh 
describes the experiment: 
A field Avhich had been abandoned for 40 years avms 
finally sidi'cted for the fertilizer experiment.s. It repre- 
smited, perhap.s, the most dejileted soil in the vicinity. 
The field is located one mile Avest of the town of SnoAv 
Shoe, on the Bellefonte-Clearfield State IlighAA-ay. In¬ 
formation gathered from older residents of the vicinity 
showed that the field had produced a normal crop of 
grain for a feAV years after being cleared. Continuous 
cropiiing Avithout the return of any form of plant food 
soon led to soil exhaustion, and the crops of rye, oats 
and corn no longer paid for the tillage (for this is all 
the field ever received), and the farmer finally moA’ed 
to neAver land. Avhere the same system of robbing the 
soil Avas no doubt <‘outinued. After being abandoned 
for field crops the field A\’as used for a number of years 
as a baseball park. At the time the field Avas plowed in 
jueparation for the experiment, SAveet fern, poverty- 
grass and jack pines constituted the vegetation Avhich 
remained. 
The folloAving table sIioaa's the results in yield of 
hay in one of these fields. In this case 400 pounds 
of acid iiho.sphate i)er acre Avere used alone, or 2S1 
jiounds Avith four tons of manure. The rock phos- 
jdiate or “floats” Avas used, 02S pounds per acre alone 
or 042 pounds Avith manure. The amount of muriate 
of iiotash Avas 100 pounds per acre and of nitrate of 
soda -“lOO pounds: 
Founds 
^Annual cost 
Blot TrcntiiHMit 
of hav 
of fertilizer 
])er acre 
treatment 
I T’nfrrtilizcd. 
(iSO 
.$0.00 
2 Eimcstoiic. 
1220 
.75 
Limestone and u<-id jihos- 
phate. 
2.37 
4 Limestone and floats. 
1240 
2.37 
i) Unfertilized. 
770 
.tX) 
d Limestone, acid phosidiate 
and pota.sb . 
2080 
3.64 
7 Limestone, acid iiliospliate, 
potash and nitrogen. 
2200 
8.44 
S Limestone, acid phosphate 
and manure . 
2.340 
4.87 
b Limestone, floats and manure 
2110 
4.87 
1(1 I'nfertilized. 
1220 
.00 
* Based on normal prices. 
Another striking result Avas shoAvn in 
the perma- 
uent pasture exiieriment. In this case the folloAving 
table shoAvs Avhat came from the different chemicals: 
PoniKls per acre of air dry malter 
AA’liite clover 
and Ky blue Sweet 
Plot 
Treatment 
ciovei* 
AVei!<l8 
Total 
1 
Unfertilized . 
Xone 
Xone 
913 
913 
*> 
Limestone . 
'Frace 
Xone 
1142 
1142 
Limestone and arid 
phosidiate . 
004 
4.")8 
.306 
in(i8 
4 
Limestone and floats. . 
4.">0 
13S0 
.305 
24.‘{4 
a 
Limestone^ ticid phos- 
phatt! and potash.. . 
1.180 
341 
006 
2827 
6 
Unfertilized . 
Xone 
Xone 
766 
766 
7 
Limestone, acid phos¬ 
phate, iiotash and 
nitrogen . 
1861 
11.30 
2.362 
53.5:1 
8 
Limestone, tieid phos- 
plnite iind manure. . 
1210 
242 
535 
1987 
S) 
Limestone, floats :ind 
manure. 
."•SO 
1100 
712 
2482 
10 
Unfertilized . 
Xone 
Xone 
524 
.524 
At starting, not much la'sides Aveeds could he found 
groAving on this land. Of course, Avhere manure Avas 
used, more or less of the grasses like Red-toii and 
Timothy came in. Tiiese exiieriments shoAv clearly 
that lime and iihosphorus are the greatest needs of 
such lands. By such fertilizing SAveet cloA’er can be 
started, and Avith that established, any soil can be 
made productiAe. "We notict* that in these expei-i- 
ments acid phosphate giAcs bettcu- results than the 
ruAV phos])hate or floats. 'J'he latter is best Avhen 
used Avith manure, hut for ]»rompt results the avail¬ 
able phosphorus is more profitable. We think this 
Avill proA'e true on all poor land. 'J'Iuaso FennsylA'ania 
experiments are of great value to all Avho are farm¬ 
ing on old land, or Avho luiA'e old pastures or aban¬ 
doned fields. By using limestone and phosphorus 
AA'ith SAveet clover these old fields may be made to 
give a fair crop, and a little of the manure from 
feeding this clover jiut back on the land Avill add to 
its productive poAver. 
Value of Fodder 
I Avould like a little assistance in settling the (pies- 
tion as to the proper Avay to figure cost of keeping or 
profit on coAv.s. D says, charge up eviu-ything the coav 
consumes at the market price, or Avhat you Avould have 
to pay for it. II says, find oat Avhat it costs to produce 
the feed and charge that price to the coav, as in the 
other case you make the coav pay tAvo profits. Will yon 
give us a little light on the subjectV c X. n. 
Massachusetts. 
HIS is a good subject for discussion. We Avould 
like to hear from readers regai-ding their meth¬ 
od of settling the cost of keeping a coav. Our oavu 
theory is that the grain, hay or silage is Avorth Avhat 
it Avould sell for in the barn. It is not fair to figure 
the price in some distant market, but Avhat Avould 
this* feed and fodder bring in cash in the barn, Avith 
about the same labor expense in handling it that 
Avould be spent in feeding it to the cattle. There are 
tAvo sides to this, and Ave Avould like to have them 
both Avell shaken out. This thing of figuring the cost 
of farm products is the foundation of the business. 
