255 
A Little Manure—A Cheap Tool 
Making the Most of a Limited Supply 
A LL farmers have less manure than they would 
like to have, and yet very few apply it so that 
the greatest cash returns will be had from its use. 
By carefully considering a few points any farmer 
can save a few hundred dollars. Before the use of 
fertilizer became so general the farmers made a prac¬ 
tice of applying their manure either on the hill or 
along in the row, because they had to make their 
available supply go much further than they did 
after they began to use fertilizer. Now that fertil¬ 
izer has become very costly and that manure is scarce 
it becomes necessary again to apply the limited 
amount of manure so that the greatest benefit will 
be received. A hill or row dressing of manure is 
particularly helpful for such crops as cantaloupes, 
cucumbers, early tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, 
squash, pumpkins, etc. Many crops require a thor¬ 
oughly enriched soil for the best development of the 
crop, so that manure and fertilizers have to be 
applied broadcast generously; they 
are such as beets, carrots, celery, 
lettuce, onions, .parsnips and 
spinach. Unless the soil is thor¬ 
oughly enriched the growing of the 
last named vegetables should not be 
attempted. 
When manure is to be applied in 
the hills or drills it becomes neces¬ 
sary to make the rows three to six 
inches deep. The manure wagon is 
driven straddling the rows, so that 
the wheels will not fill the rows 
with soil. A moderate-sized forkful 
of manure is then thrown every 
three to five feet along in the rows, 
but no attempt must be made to 
spread it along the row at that time, 
because it can be done quicker and 
better later on. Three to five rows 
are taken at once and usually two 
men pitch direct from the wagon. 
A good man on the rear of the 
wagon will drop a few forkfuls in 
the row which is under the wagon 
as the horses move forward. After 
the manure is deposited in the rows, 
the forkfuls can be quickly spread 
along the rows with the use of a 
regular manure fork. The best and 
quickest work can be done if the 
operator will move about three- 
fourths of each forkful forward as 
he moves quickly along. This gives 
him more of an opportunity to break 
up the clods quickly, and then if he 
comes to a small forkful of manure 
he has a little surplus, so that an 
even distribution is very quickly ob¬ 
tained. 
Many good farmers may groan, 
but the writer is thoroughly con¬ 
vinced that it would be good farm¬ 
ing to sow a light application of 
fertilizer along the rows with the 
manure, especially for such crops as 
cantaloupes, early tomatoes and 
eggplants. A fertilizer carrying 
from two to four per cent of nitrogen and about 10 
per cent of phosphoric acid would be the most ad¬ 
vantageous material to use in conjunction with the 
fertilizer, Potash is an important factor in vege¬ 
table production, but wherever a little manure is 
used there, seems to be less need of that very costly 
material. 
One of the objections to the very economical use 
of manure in the row has been that it required too 
much work with the hoe to prepare hills for plant¬ 
ing. This work can be completely overcome by the 
nse of a plow, or better yet by the use of a disk 
ridger, which costs less than $15. The illustration 
'.Fig. 03) shows one in operation on my father's 
farm. lie would not sell the tool for 50 times what 
it cost if it could not be replaced. It consists of one 
22-inch disk on each side, a light frame, a pole and 
handles. The disks can be adjusted to any width 
or angle, so that any shaped ridge may be made. 
Thus the manure is easily covered and the planting 
can be done quickly and easily at any time. While 
speaking about the disk ridger. it might be well to 
add that the same tool is used to advantage the 
entile season, from the time asparagus is to be 
ridged in the Spring until after celery is handled in 
the Fall. The disk ridger does splendid work in 
ridging up early potato rows, which are not to be 
‘The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
dug for a few weeks; the crab grass is effectively 
checked. Again, if the little weeds are starting “as 
thick as hair on a dog's back” in a canliouse tomato 
field, the disk machine will throw a three-inch layer 
of fresh soil around each plant, so that the crop will 
never need to be touched with a hoe. However, it 
is not my purpose to tell anyone how to use the 
machine; each one will find many ways to adapt it 
to their conditions. Nevertheless, every good grower 
of truck crops is making plans for the season which 
is here. It is well to realize that the greatest good 
can be had from a limited amount of manure by 
applying it near crops; a little manure reduces the 
need for potash and two or three inexpensive seed 
tools may make the coming season a more profitable 
one. b. w. 1)E BAUX. 
Trimming the Bean Grower 
I give below the figures of a load of beans sold by a 
neighbor to a local dealer. My neighbor feels it is an 
unfair deal, but farmers are submitting to it. It seems 
as if the farmer should have a larger share of the crop 
he is growing. These were pea beans: 
Using Disk Ridger on Rotes. Fig. 63 
of marketing gives the grower very satisfactory re¬ 
turns. I have been told by dealers that during the 
past few years they have lost heavily by handling 
the bean crop. Now we growers do not ask them to 
do this; all we ask is a fair average margin of profit, 
for producing the crop. The dealer must allow a 
reasonable profit or he cannot continue in nusiness. 
Why not the grower? In this instance the grower 
received seven cents a pound for the good sound 
beans. The consumer in Boston is paying around 
20 cents for the same pound of beaus. Every handler 
has made his profit on those beans but wlmt did 
the grower get? Practically four cents a pound just 
as he drew them in, or $2.40 a bushel. The seed 
alone for an acre of beans this last season cost more 
than double this amount. Still Ave bean growers are 
willing to take the gamble and stand our own losses. 
To this end it has been thought wise to establish co¬ 
operative marketing, which has proved successful 
both in California and Michigan. This will surely 
protect the dealers as Avell as satisfy the growers. 
One association has arranged to form a New York 
State Marketing Association, which 
will eventually federate with these 
other two. This whole matter of 
marketing the bean will be thrashed 
out at the State Bean Growers’ As¬ 
sociation at Cornell February 14 
(Farmers’ Week). It is hoped that 
every bean grower in the State will 
he on hand. A. B. Cook, the presi¬ 
dent of the Michigan Association, 
will be the principal speaker. We 
must not allow the bean industry to 
die out. To this end co-operative 
marketing appears necessary. As re¬ 
gards custom and practice along 
many lines of business, Ave stand at 
the parting of the ways in this read¬ 
justment, and agriculture claims no 
exemption. h. e. cox. 
Sec. N. Y. State Bean Growers’ 
Association. 
W 1 
Manure Applied to Rotes Before Planting. Fig 64 
Beans . 2,330 lbs. 
Moisture shrink . 12S lbs. 
Less test ..................... 
2.202 lbs. 
396 lbs. 
1,800 lbs. 
Price paid 7c per lb., or $120.42, less $19.SO picking 
charge. $100.02; less $11.05 drying charge, $94.97 total. 
These dealers are certainly getting wealthy out of the 
bean business at the expense of the farmer. What 
would you advise farmers to do on this question? 
Orleans Co., N. Y. e. c. paine. 
I am a firm believer in thorough and judicious 
pruning in the orchard. Still it can be overdone, 
but when this is applied to the beau crop at the mar¬ 
keting season, it surely does cause growers to sit 
up and take notice, and occasionally speak out in 
meeting. I never could rightly understand Avliy we 
were obliged to give the pick or test to the dealers 
after we had paid for the picking. As this lot of 
beaus shows a low moisture shrink, the pick, which 
was heavy, must have been pretty good stock. Aside 
from what I have already stated, I have felt that 
the dealers who have handled my bean crops ha\ T e 
used me fair, considering the system employed. This 
system certainly has a tendency to discourage, as 
returns in dollars are usually disappointing. Of 
course there are occasional seasons and conditions 
when the bean crop even under the present system 
Rye in Young Orchards 
I note inquiry of P. E. L. on page 
130. I Avould call his attention to 
Downing’s “Fruits and Fruit Trees of 
America,” pages 60 and 61, and espe¬ 
cially to the paragraph of the foot 
note on page 62 which reads: “I 
cultivate my orchard grounds as if 
there were no trees on them, and raise 
grain of every kind except rye, Avhich 
grain is so very injurious that I be¬ 
lieve that three successive crops of it 
would destroy any orchard younger than 
20 years.” Perhaps rye plowed under 
green would not be so bad as if grown 
for a crop, but I would take a chance 
on planting something else. 
Massachusetts. l. k. davis. 
r E have used rye as a cover 
crop iu our orchards for 
nearly 20 years. It is sometimes 
seeded alone and sometimes with 
clover and turnips. When the rye 
is plowed under, before it comes in 
bloom, and the soil is packed after 
plowing, no damage is done to the 
trees. We have let the rye stand 
until headed, then cut and piled 
around the trees as a mulch. In 
Avet seasons, when the soil was well 
filled with water, this worked well, as the rye on 
top of the ground held the water in the soil, and 
this nourished the trees. On the other hand, Avhen 
the season is. dry, and when there are hot, dry winds, 
rye will prove more damaging than any other small 
grain, and under such conditions should never 
mature in a young orchard. The rye is a strong 
grower and sucks moisture out of the soil like a 
big pump. Unless there is a very heavy rainfall the 
growing rye will suck the upper soil dry and the 
young trees will be left without moisture just when 
they should be making their best growth. When 
held back in this way we have never known them to 
make a full groAvth later. Other graius, like wheat 
or oats, do not seem to dry out the soil as rye does. 
If the rye can be plowed under before it blooms and 
the soil well packed or if it can be cut and left on 
the ground the crop will not hurt the young orchard. 
If, in a dry season, the rye is left to mature, it will 
do great damage as above described. 
We have had many questions about the market value 
of mangels and other feeding roots. Such values are 
always comparative. Silage is worth about 35 per cent 
of the selliug price of hay. Mangels are worth, about 28 
per cent, .more than silage. 
