856 
"Che RURAL NEW-YORKER 
July (!, 1913 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
The Cover Crop 
Paht I. 
There liiivc been so mauy questions 
.ibout eover crops that it seems well to 
hunch them together briefly. Bear in 
jiiiml that tliese answers refer to our own 
( xperience i:i Northern New Jersey. The 
advice nii^dit he modified to fit other local¬ 
ities. 
“What do you mean by cover crops?” 
('(.ver crops that cover the ground when 
it would otherwise he bare. For instance, 
a croji seeded in the corn or after pota- 
loe.s would cover the ground during the 
l-'all and Winter and could be harvested 
or plowed under the following Spring 
before another crop was jdanted. 
“What is the object of it?” 
There are several objects. The cover 
ci'op protects or holds the ground and 
jirevents washing of the soil. It saves 
plant food. During the late Summer and 
I'all nitr.ates are raiiidly formed in the 
soil. Thes(' nitrates are the soluble form 
of nitrogen—the most valuable part of 
plant food. Tf the soil is left bare much 
of this plant food is washed out of the soil 
:ind lost. If some thrifty crop is growing 
on the soil most of these nitrates will be 
saved. Th(“ cover crop adds organic mat¬ 
ter or humus to the soil. In our own sec¬ 
tion the three great soil needs are or- 
g:inic matt(U'. lime ar.d phosphorus. It is 
not a stock couuti'y. and manure is ex¬ 
pensive. The cover crop supplies the 
needed humus. 'I'lie cover crop will give 
good early i)asture for stock—ahead of 
grass or any Si)ring crop. When .seeded 
in damp ground the cover ci'op will dry 
out the soil .so you can work it eailier 
than otherwise. This is particularly true 
W'hen rye is used, since that grain is a 
rank grower and will suck the ground 
dry. 
•‘Is not that a disadvantage on dry 
ground in a dry season?” 
Yes; in such cases it is better to cut 
the eover cro]) early for feed, or plow it 
under before it gets too large. 
“Some farmers say they have i)lowed 
rye or other cover crops under, and ruined 
a crop of corn by doing so. What about 
that?” 
It is usually more the fault of the farm¬ 
er than of the cover crop. They can plow 
such a crop under and leave the .soil loose 
and open. Of course the warm air works 
in. The effect of that is to dry out the 
mass of organic matter loose in the soil, 
and make it ferment. Thus we have a 
sour mass where the roots ought to feed, 
with all the moisture dried mit. and little, 
if any. rising from below. Of course such 
a coiidition will prevent any crop from 
grov.'ing jjroperly, but it is not the fault 
of the cover crop. 
“What is the way to handle it?” 
Plow it under <iee))l.v and then use a 
roller or heavy drag t(^ pack or crush it 
down. This prevents the air from work¬ 
ing in, and makes the difference betw’eon 
a dry sponge and a 'wet sponge under¬ 
ground. We believe, too. that lime should 
be used when the <-over croj) is plowed 
under. This ])revents too much acid from 
forming and breaks ui) the organic mat¬ 
ter into, plant food. 
“Do you call a cover crop fully equal 
to manure?” 
No. not Muite; though when lime is 
used there is not much difference. The 
manure contains certain bacteria not 
found in the green crops. Thus a ton of 
clover might contain as much plant food 
as a ton of manure made from that 
clover and yet not have quite as much 
“life” because certain bacteria are added 
on pa.ssing through the animal. That is 
why a small amount of manure spread on 
a sod or ou a cover crop will often give 
results all out of proportion to the amount 
of plant food it carries. The manure 
serves as a sort of “inocul.ation” by bring¬ 
ing in these bacteria, which work to make 
the organic matter available. There is 
no use claiming for cover crojjs more than 
they deserve. 
■“Will anything that grows make a 
cover crop?” 
Yes; some better than others. 
“Weeds?” 
Yes. some weeds are excellent. I know 
an orchardist who depends on chickweed 
for oi’ganic matter. This weed conu's in 
after cultiv.ation stops and makes a heavy 
growth. This man plows it under every 
Spring and says he is well .satisfied ! Bag- 
weed is a ))otash-m.aking i)laut. See how 
it grows after potatoes or wherever pot¬ 
ash has been used! Some weeds, like 
redroot and smartwood. are. 1 believe, 
cai)able of using large amounts of jihos- 
idiorus which other plants could not use. 
With these two weeds and clover we 
could make a sort of balanced ration for 
many crops. 
“Then why not use xveeds entirely?” 
Some farmers do. but there are objec¬ 
tions. The weeds die out with the fir.st 
hard frost and make no more growth, 
while the seeded crops keep alive through 
the Winter. The s<'eded crops give more 
organic matter to turn under. Y^ou can 
master them, while the weeds will master 
yo’u. 
“Do you mean to say that all weeds 
when plowed under would improve the 
soil?” 
I said so, and I believe it. 
“What about sorrel? It is said to indi¬ 
cate sour, poor land. If you plow it un¬ 
der it xvould make the soil more acid!” 
No; it might make it more alkaline. 
“How can such a thing be possible?” 
Through the nature of the plant. Take 
a sour soil, or one in which there is no 
carbonate of lime. There may be other 
forms of lime not available. A sorrel 
plant grows beside plants of Alfalfa and 
Bed clover. The latter cannot live and 
thrive, because there is no lime caibon- 
ate in the .soil. They fade away and die 
as a horse would if deprived of hay and 
grain, but surrotinded by bags of saxvdust. 
The sorrel plant is not so dainty. It can 
make u.se of other forms of lime which the 
Alfalfa cannot utilize. The sorrel plant 
takes up this unavailable lime and uses it 
to overcome or neutralize the effect of the 
oxalic acid which the sorrel plant devel¬ 
ops. There is formed in the sorrel plant 
an insoluble oxalate of lime. When the 
.sorrf'l i)lant is plowed under it decays, 
like other vegetation, and during this de¬ 
cay the insoluble oxalate of lime will be 
taken up and the available carbonate of 
lime left in the soil. 
“What difference does that make?” 
You can see that the sorrel used a form 
Ilf lime which the Alfalfa could not ab¬ 
sorb. In the chemi.stry of its growth the 
sorrel makes this lime over into an oxal¬ 
ate. Then, ou decay, this xvas again 
changed into a form of lime which would 
actually tend to sweeten the soil. While 
the Alfalfa could not grow in the soil 
which produced the sour sorrel, after that 
same sorrel decayed in that same soil the 
Alfalfa might grow. 
“Do you believe that?” 
I have to, since I have seen it worked 
out on my oavu farm. I have a field 
which was so sour that even Alsike could 
not thrive. The field was red with it. 
e plowed it under and planted corn. 
We had no lime at the time, so we put in 
rye alone as a cover crop, this grain not 
needing lime particularly. All I know is 
that the clover, both Alsike and Bed, 
came in with a fair stand when we plowed 
under the sorrel. I can only conclude that 
the sorrel used forms of lime which the 
clover could not use and made it over in 
the soil into forms which clover and Al¬ 
falfa could use. 
“Is that of any practical value?” 
I think it can be made so. In the fu¬ 
ture I think there will be discovered more 
of this chemical power of various plants 
,to make over and manufacture plant food 
for us. I feel sure that some of the plants 
which we now regard as worthless and 
hateful -weeds will be found to have pow¬ 
ers com])arable to those of sorrel for pro¬ 
viding plant food from the .soil! 
“What do you call the best cover 
(■rolls?” 
That will vary with location, length of 
season and standard or i)ermanent crop. 
The be.st combination will be a grain, a 
legume and a root s(‘eded together. 
“.lust what do you mean by a ‘le¬ 
gume?’ The word is fre(iuently used, but 
not always under.stood.” 
In speaking of “legumes” I mean one of 
th(‘ i)od-bearing plants, which develop 
their .seeds in pods. These include peas, 
beaus, clovers. Alf;ilf:i and some others 
not generally grown. Tlu'se legumes have 
the ability to extract nitrogen from the 
air and store it up in their steins aiul 
roots. When they are plowed into the soil 
this nitrogen, through a form of chemis¬ 
try, is made available to crops. The rea¬ 
son for using a legume as a cover crop is 
that by doing so you make a chair gain 
by adding nitrogen. The grain and the 
root add nothing of actual plant value, 
but somewhat after the work of the sor¬ 
rel they may make over certain forms of 
Iilaut food in the .soil .so that other crop.s 
may use them. 
“What do you mean by a root?” 
Such a cro]j as turnips, which make a 
root or bulb in the soil, and work mori' or 
less down into it. The ('ow-horn turnip 
makes a deep tap-root into the soil, thus 
giving a form of plowing or cultivating. 
“But why use roots? Will not other 
plants give more organic matter?” 
I*os.sibly, but aside from its mechanical 
effect upon the soil. I believe that the tur¬ 
nip can make ov(>r forms 4>f potash and 
phosphorus somewhat as sorrel makes over 
lime. 
“What is the best grain?” 
For a Fall and Winter crop I prefer 
rve. 
“Why so?” 
It is a tough, hardy )dant, and will do 
lu'tter under rough seeding and care than 
wheat. You cannot exjiect to get the 
finest seed bed for the cover crop. It is a 
rough and ready method at best. The rye 
stands the Winter better, and will make 
far more growth than the wheat. It is a 
better grain to protect the legume and 
the root. It starts up earlier in Spring. 
“What about buckwheat?” 
Excellent for a late Summer crop, to 
be seeded in July in an orchard or field 
of early sweet corn. It is not to be com- 
liared with rye since it is not a Winter 
croi). It may. in a favorable season, be 
seeded with rye, the latter to come on 
after the buckwheat has been killed. 
“Suppo.se you wanted a Fall-growing 
crop, making good growth up to freezing 
and then dying?” 
For such conditions I should think bar¬ 
ley and Canada peas would answer well. 
“What do you call the best legume?” 
There is no best, or rather they are all 
“best” under some conditions. Hairy or 
AVinter vetch goes very well with rye. It 
must be seeded (in our counti'y) by Sep¬ 
tember 10 in order to insure a good 
stand. It makes a slow growth in early 
Spring, but later jumps—that is, it climbs 
up the rye stems and makes a long vine. 
I seeded this vetch 12 years ago in some 
fields and we .still find it self-seeding year 
after year. The seed is quite expensive 
and you need at least 20 pounds iier acre. 
It looks like sweet pea seed and makes a 
rather bad mess when mixed in Avith rye 
or wheat. I soAved some last year, but 
shall not repeat. 
“What sh.‘'ll yon use this year?” 
For one acre, three pecks of rye. three 
pounds Alsike clover and one pound of 
turnips or Essex rape. 
“AVhy Alsike clover?” 
It is the surmt clover for. our hard and 
sour soil. The small size of the seed en¬ 
ables us to get a fair seeding Avith a feAV 
pounds. It starts early, comes on quickly 
ill Spring and gives on the Avhole a larger 
plant than Bed for ploAving under in May 
or .Tune. AA’e ploAved this combination 
under this year and planted corn. 
“Can you hope to get corn through Avith 
this late planting?” 
Yes; our flint, planteel on the hilltops, 
Avill mature before frost, and Ave can re¬ 
peat this cover cropping year after year. 
“AA^hy not Crimson or SAveet cloA’er?” 
AA'e are too far north to make Crimson 
a safe risk. It kills out in AATnter or 
.‘spring .seven times in 10. A mixture of 
Crimson and Alsike has paid us Avell. and 
it w(Auld jirobably pay to add sivine Crim- 
.son seed to our mixture. As for SAveet 
cloA'er. it is not adapted to late Summer 
or Fall seeding. AA’e have found that it 
mu.st be in the soil by .Tune at least in 
order to carry it through the AA’inter. 
“AA'hat ab(Aut Alfalfa?” 
I have not tried it as a cover crop. 
Some farmers say they mix Alsike, Bed 
and .Alfalfa together and get a fine growth 
in that Avay. _ South of Philadelphia I 
should use Crimson clover in preference 
to all others. 
“AAliat about coav peas and .Soy beans?” 
They are ,of course, of little use for this 
late seeding. Soy beans pay better for a 
Summer crop, l.ast year we planted AA’il- 
son Early about .Tune 1.5 in drills 214 f^'Pt 
apart. It made seed and Avas cut Avith 
the moAver and taken out of the field. 
Bye and vetch Avere seeded among the 
beans, and this year it is easy to see 
the difference between the rye on this .Soy 
bean ground and on corn ground nearby. 
.As for the coav pea. I think our northern 
farmers should make greater use of it 
than they do. It groAvs rapidly and does 
not require strong ground. It is one of 
the best manurial crops I knoAV of, but it 
is ])rom)>tly killed by a hard frost. 
“Is this the same as the ‘field pea’?” 
No. The cow pea is really a bean. It 
delights in hot, dry weather. I cannot 
understand hoAV it can groAV as it does 
under conditions Avhich Avould dry up 
corn or grass. The “field” or Canadian 
pea is a co(a 1 AA-eather plant. It cannot 
stand hot Aveather, but simply fades aAvay 
in .July. Dn the other hand, frost does 
not hurt it. I have had it keep groAving 
until December 1 Avhen seeded Avith bar¬ 
ley. Those Avho soav coav peas Avith oats 
or Canada peas in .Tune Avill probably lose 
their cro]) because they did not consult 
the nature of the plant. 
“lIoAv can Ave seed cow peas as a cover 
crop ?” 
The best plan Avould be to give them 
the entire season. Plant about 10 days 
after corn planting time * in drills or 
broadcast, as desired. After they get go¬ 
ing they Avill soon jump into a jierfect 
tangle. I have knoAvn the seed uf coav 
peas and Soy beans to be mix(al about 
half and half and broadcast. The coav 
peas run on the ground and the Soy beans 
stand upright, and the result Avas an as¬ 
tonishing gift of complete fertilizer by 
the most benevolent manufacturer in the 
World. 
“What do you mean by that?” 
I mean that A\-hen the Soy beans and 
cow peas were planti'd. a mixture of .lOO 
jdiunds of acid jihosiihate and 1.50 pounds 
of muriate of potash Avas used per acre. 
The b('ans and juuis took hold of these 
minerals and mixed them Avith nitrogen, 
which they took from the air. ‘riiey 
mixed these in their vines. Avith a chem¬ 
ical iirocess such as Ave talked about Avith 
the sorrel, so that Avhen tlu'se A’ines Avere 
idoAved under it Avas as if a ton and a 
half of high-grade fertilizer had been imt 
on the ground. Of course such a crop oc¬ 
cupies the entire season. It is desigmul 
for farms Avbere the farmer has plenty of 
land. If labor is cheap enough, ripe peas 
and beans can b<‘ iiicked to more than pay 
.all expenses. I have planted cow peas or 
Soy beans in hills, like corn, and at the 
last cultivation seedial to rye and clover. 
“What about buckAvheat?” 
A fine grain for late Summer seeding. 
It is a good cover crop for orchards 
Avhich are making too much Avood groAvth. 
as it Avill draAV heavily upon the soil and 
foi'ce the trees to stop groAving and make 
fruit buds. Buckwheat is one of the be.st 
grains for seeding to grass and clover. It 
also has strong chemical poAvers for man¬ 
ufacturing fertilizer, as Ave spoke of for 
sorrel. BuckAvheat has been called the 
“goat” among grains—not because it 
must take responsibilities Avhich it does 
not deserve, but because it has a Avonder- 
ful digestion. It Avill make a fair groAvth 
on the crudest forms of plant food and 
turn them over in its body into available 
fertilizer. u. av. c. 
A FARQUHAR Thresher will 
save you the expensive loss 
of grain in the straw. Our sepa¬ 
rating principle is backed by 50 
years actual lield service. Suc¬ 
cessfully handles all kinds of 
g rain with light operating power. 
•esign simple, easy to adjust, 
and long lived. 
_ Our Rake Separator illustrated above 
IS a most practical and economical ma¬ 
chine for the farmer Avho does his oAvn 
threshing. For the merchant thresher- 
man, Ave offer the celebrated Farquhar 
Vibrator Avith Self Feeder and Wind 
Stacker as shown below. The Farquhar 
Pea and Bean Thresher and Farquhar 
Peanut Picker are leaders in their 
respective classes. 
Special illustrated Thresher Cata¬ 
logue free to agriculturists on request 
You’ll be helping to conserve thergrain 
by Avriting for copy today. 
A. B. FARQUHAR CO., Ltd. 
Box 530 , York, Pa. 
Other Farquhar Machinery 
Engines and Boilers, Sawmills, Cultivators, 
Hydraulic Cider Presses, Potato Diggers, 
Grain Drills. A*k for descriptive literature.^ 
mMAGE, 
ENSILAGE COTTERS 
answer thefarmers’bigquestions: 
How can 1 get my ensilage put 
away quickly when conditions are 
exactly right? How can I avoid 
too great settling with loss of silo 
capacity, and keep the highest - 
feeding value of my ensilage l How can I fUImy 
Bitos with the leastlabor and expense for power? 
Normal capacity, 16 to 20 tons of green corn per 
hour with a 12 H. P. engine. The knives cut 
evenly, allowing no chunks past to take extra 
space and cause heating. Bolted solidly to the 
wheel they cannot break, and their straight 
edges are easily kept sharp to save power. 
This machineis friction-drive,instantlyreversibi*. 
The tremendous drive of the fans prevents all 
clogging and elevates into the highest silo. 
Send for booklet. ^ BATEMAN 
M’F’GCO. 
Box 2-K 
Grenloch 
N. J. 
YOU WILL SURELY 
LIKE THIS SHOE 
It is a flexible shoe that will out 
wear the ordinary kind. Worth 
much more than » A A 
this special price V " R 9 0 
PAY ON DELIVERY 
This style No. 3264 
—Made of soft India Kid, 
Seamless. Last con¬ 
forms to the shape of 
the foot. Has Rubber 
Heels. Sizes 2 Vz 
to 8. Width D.E 
and EE. 
pair 
Order your 
today 
r 
UNIVERSAL SHOE CO., Dept. N 
15-21 Park Row, New York City 
Ahsolutf* 
satiNfttOtioo 
g'liaraiHeed 
fit itioney refunded. 
Write for our 
eatulop: of won* 
('erftil hlioc Imr^uitiN for 
women, men and children 
The Gasoline 
on 
The Farm 
Xeno W. PutnaiD 
This is 
the kind 
of a Ixiok 
every far¬ 
mer will 
prwiate 
every farm 
homo ought to 
have. Includes 
selecting t ii e 
most smtabla 
engine for farm work, its most convenient and ef¬ 
ficient installation, witli cliapters ou troubles, their 
remedies, and how to avoid tliem. The care and 
niaiiagemeiit of tlie farm tractor in plowing, har¬ 
rowing. Iiarvesthig and road grading are fully cov¬ 
ered: also plain directions are given for handling tho 
tractor on tho road. 
Operation 
and 
Uses 
530 Pages. Nearly 
180 Engravings 
This book will be sent to any address prepaid for 
sending us Two New Yearly Subscriptions or Four 
Yearly Renewal Subscriptions or One New Yearly 
Subscription and Two Renewal Subscriptions. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 333 W. 30th St., N. Y. 
