678 
Ike RURAL NEW-YORKER 
downstairs were removed, and today we have one 
large room 28x32 feet with a central chimney, four 
fireplaces and two old-fashioned ovens. The timbers 
are hend-hewn oak, the floor boards are the origi¬ 
nals (some 18 inches wide), walls white pine, 
paneled with sheathing of all widths up to 24 inches. 
It all makes an attractive and interesting place for 
visitors. They stop for tea, and buy fruit as well. 
The idea of the tea room is that it shall be “a 
means to an end,” namely, to advertise the farm 
and help to sell our fruit. We would not run a tea 
house as end in itself, but to advertise the farm and 
its products the year ’round it is a means to that 
end, and as such well justifies its existence. We 
sell preserves in the tea room in season and out. It. 
is the 12 months in the year store for the farm, or 
rather is to be, since this coming season is the 
first time that we have hired anyone to run it on 
a year 'round basis. Post cards of the place are 
given away. We stamp and mail the cards free, 
copying off the name and address, and thereby get¬ 
ting a valuable mailing list. In 1918 this was the 
means of our starting off the season in good shape 
the day of the opening of the tea house, May 31. 
The tea house has not yet paid expenses, but in 
1918 there was almost double the trade of the year 
before. Road repairs, “gasolineless” Sundays and 
our closing early in the Autumn on account of the 
flu and the general food shortage all naturally cut 
down on receipts. We expect it to break even this 
year, and will be quite satisfied if it does. 
Massachusetts. John d. pearmain. 
• (To be continued) 
Handling Rye as a Cover Crop 
Having read about green rye plowed under, causing 
acidity of the soil under some conditions, could you toll 
me if it would injure a crop of barley, sown immediately 
after disking under rye six inches high? J. M. s. 
British Columbia. 
HIS man lives in British Columbia, where in 
order >o get their crops properly started, farm¬ 
ers are obliged to use the disk in the late part of the 
Spring. Seeding is rarely done before the first week 
in May. so that rapid work is required to do the 
plowing. In order to hasten matters, much of the 
Spring grain is put in after disking, the ground be¬ 
ing torn up with a heavy disk well weighted down. 
Many of our farmers in this latitude believe that the 
cover crop should he chopped up with a disk before 
being plowed under. They use the tool when the 
rye or other cover crop is a*foot or less in height. 
The disk chops and slices both the crop and the soil, 
and then, when it is plowed in, decay rapidly starts 
and these farmers feel that they obtain better results 
than when they wait longer and plow under a heav¬ 
ier growth. 
Many reports have come of bad effects on corn and 
other crops when green rye is plowed under. In nine 
cases out of 10 this bad result is not due to the rye, 
but to tin* method of handling it. Some farmers 
wait until the rye has formed its head. Then they 
put a chain on the plow and turn the whole growth 
under. This is usually done in warm weather, when 
the ground is moist and steaming. After plowing 
under this great growth of rye, the ground is lightly 
harrowed and immediately planted or seeded. The 
result is that the rye in this moist, warm ground, 
ferments rapidly and forms a large quantity of acid. 
The rye stems are large and hollow, and the air 
works in, increasing this fermentation and thor¬ 
oughly drying out the upper soil. The coarse, open 
mass of rye in the soil acts to prevent the rise of 
water from below. The seed put into the light layer 
of ground above the rye sends its roots down into 
this sour mass, which soon dries out. Of course the 
plant cannot thrive under such conditions, and we 
have frequently seen corn, planted after such an 
nperatin, turning yellow and refusing to grow. Farm¬ 
ers concluded from the appearance of the corn that 
tlie rye had poisoned the soil. There was no poison¬ 
ing about it, hut the loose, open mass of green stuff in 
the upper part of the soil had soured it and dried il 
out. When rye is properly handled there will be little 
if any danger of Ibis trouble, Aftef plowing under 
the rye the land should he rolled or packed solidly 
with a heavily weighted harrow. This crushes the 
rye down, largely prevents fermentation, and closes 
up the soil so that water will rise up through the 
rye. When corn is planted, after such treatment, it 
will thrive and take advantage of any fertilizer or 
manure which has been used. It is usually a good 
plan, wherever possible, to scatter a small amount of 
manure over the cover crop before plowing it under. 
This manure helps fill up the soil, and it contains 
bacteria which start at work breaking up the rye 
and other organic matter. Where rye is chopped or 
disked there is very little danger of souring the 
ground. In our own case, in order to make doubly 
sure, we like to use a small quantity of lime when¬ 
ever plowing under a cover crop. This Helps to neu¬ 
tralize any acid, it. increases decay of the rye, and 
fits the upper layer of soil for seeding. We have 
found rye a very useful cover crop. While it adds 
nothing of plant food to the soil, it does produce a 
large quantity of organic matter in a short time, and 
Thrce-atorn Rabbit Hutch. Fiff. 171 
when some manure can be used in connection with it 
we have always obtained good results. 
Agricultural Possibilities of New Jersey 
The Garden Spot of the East 
Part II. 
BRIGHT FUTURE.—Last week I spoke of the 
qualifications and equipment one should have, 
and the conditions lie should observe, on engaging 
in agriculture in the famous old farming section 
adjoining New York City. Then I advanced reasons 
why there are many opportunities of picking up, at 
bargain prices, good farm homes in this fertile dis¬ 
trict—reasons which will disappear when prohibi- 
A Mu/) of New Jensen with Variations. Fiy. 172 
tion comes; when the land is occupied by resident 
owners, and when the actual tillers of the soil, their 
sons and their employees, practice the most advanced 
methods of scientific agriculture. That day does 
not look far distant. 
MONMOUTH COUNTY.—The county of Mon¬ 
mouth is generally admitted to he the host portion 
of the cretaceous formation which sweeps across the 
center of New Jersey from Sandy Hook to Trenton. 
In Ilolmdel Valley, 12 miles southwest of Sandy 
Hook (see map), I found my old farm 10 years ago. 
This soil has been planted and cultivated even- sea¬ 
April 19, 1919 . 
son by white men for over 250 years. My Western 
farmer friends who have visited me admit that my 
crops excel theirs 'on the rich bottom lands of the 
Wabash River between Indiana and Illinois. Yet 
they could sell their farms any day for much more 
than I paid for my old Jersey farm with its splendid 
buildings, and all located within 10 miles of the 
boundary line of the city of New York. 
MARL FORMATIONS.—At many points in Mon¬ 
mouth County there are bods of marl; green-sand, 
blue-shell, ash. clay and gray marls. It was the prac¬ 
tice of the good farmers of old to cover their farms 
to the depth of an inch every three or four years with 
these natural fertilizers and soil conditioners. Hauling 
marl was the regular Winter’s work until about 30 
years ago. While the arrival of concentrated chem¬ 
ical fertilizers and high wages for farm hands has 
stopped most of the marl hauling, it is a fact that 
the farms which received their regular dressings of 
marl have a foundation for development of the 
utmost value to the farmer. 
A CENTRAL LOCATION.—The man with imagi¬ 
nation can, by studying the map of Monmouth 
County, New Jersey, see why this is a favored spot 
for specialists in agricultural pursuits. 1-Ie will note 
its nearness to numerous industrial centers, as well 
as New York and Philadelphia. He will see that 
railway tracks crisscross the county, while the gravel 
roads make the map look like a cobweb. There are 
rivers and hays where boats come and go, carrying 
produce to the big city. The rural scenery is beau¬ 
tiful. the country is healthful, and the people are 
good American neighbors. If you wish to go to the 
city, a ride of 60 to 90 minutes from any point in 
the county will land you on tlie shores of Man¬ 
hattan Island. 
VARIED PRODUCTS.—To recite the names of the 
food products raised in Monmouth County would 
sound like the contents of the catalogs issued by 
seedsmen, nurserymen, dairymen, poultrymen, horti¬ 
culturists, hothouse men, and so forth. And yet 
there are so many millions of people living in towns 
within 50 miles that there is need for doubling the 
food production; and that is easily possible. There 
are large farms and small farms, rich farms and 
poor farms, waiting for men with the brains, energy 
and capital to make them into up-to-date establish¬ 
ments for the production of food. 
THE POTATO CROP.—Before leaving the subject 
I should tell you why Monmouth County has a great 
reputation for growing white potatoes. First, it is 
due to the wonderful sassafras loam which is found 
in large plots throughout the county, and then to 
the climate and location. It might be said that 
Monmouth County grows late early potatoes or early 
late potatoes, for her crop comes in between those 
of the South and the North, and finds a ready mar¬ 
ket in August and September. For a similar reason 
Monmouth County—the pet child of old Mother 
Nature—is a large producer of Summer apples. 
A SAMPLE FARM.—I promised last week to give 
the details of an old farm that is now for sale, to 
illustrate what I mean by opportunities in buying 
and building up a profitable homestead. I will take 
the old Bailey farm as my text. It has about 78 
acres and two marl-pits—called an 80-acre farm. It 
lies just two miles west of the Red Bank depot, 
which is about 40 miles south of the City Hall of 
New York. Red Bank is an all-the-year town of 
about 10.000 population, with every advantage of a 
highly developed little city. In Summer it has nearly 
double its normal population. There are two rail¬ 
roads, with many daily trains to the city, and two 
boat sailings—unsurpassed shipping facilities. This 
farm can he had for .$3,000 cash, and a long-time 
mortgage for .$6,000 at five per cent interest. In 
(he hands of the right man, with the expenditure of 
a few thousand dollars in improvements, that farm 
would double in value in three to five years. I con¬ 
sider it ideal for a man who wishes to grow fruit, 
poultry and vegetables. The quality of the soil, the 
lay of the fields, the brook, the wood for fuel on 
the hank, the 10-acre bearing orchard, the field of 
heavy sassafras loam for raising poultry feed, the 
field of sassafras loamy sand for vegetables, the 
little hill on the west edge for a reservoir for irri¬ 
gation water, the poultry-house site on a sandy spot 
south of the hill, etc., gives every advantage I can 
think of for making a big success of poultry, fruit 
and vegetables. The house, surrounded by fine large 
trees, could he made very comfortable with some 
modern improvements. There is a barn, but some 
outbuildings would have to he built soon. 
Now. here is a typical case of neglected land. The 
widow in town lived upon the income and Spent 
nothing to keep the place in repair. Soon it fell to 
tenants, who robbed tlie soil, made firewood of the 
