954 
short help a farmer must use every device he can 
afford to hurry up the process of cutting and curing 
and housing the hay. 
METHODS OF HANDLING.—The pictures on the 
first page were taken by the Department of Agri¬ 
culture at Washington, to illustrate the different 
ways of handling the ha n tl' field. Fig. 257 shows 
the old-fashioned outfit very much as Maud Muller 
doubtless helped operate when the judge viewed her 
with favor. Many of these old-fashioned operations 
seem slow to us now, but they were effective. The 
writer worked as a boy on a New England farm, 
where all the hay was cut wiihh a hand scythe. We 
had the job of following the mower, and shaking up 
the swath with a hand fork, and no modern hay ted¬ 
der can do a more complete job. This hay was all 
raked with wooden hand rakes, and loaded and un¬ 
loaded with a hand fork. It seems like a slow back 
number now, yet when that farm was operated with 
these old tools, the land was all paid for and there 
was a little surplus every year. That farm is now 
part of a large estate qh which all the modern hay 
tools are used, yet the chief decoration on that farm 
is a big mortgage. In these days it is a waste of 
human labor to shake up hay by hand, as is being 
done by the gang at Fig. 25S. One man and a two- 
horse tedder would do the work of the 10 men shown 
in the picture, and doubtless do it about as well; 
yet this may be on a farm where these hands must 
be kept for other operations, and they are put into 
the hayfield for a short time on an emergency. 
THE HORSE RAKE—The first horse hay-rake 
we ever saw was the old wooden flip-flop. That 
raked up the hay, but it needed a prizefighter to lift 
it off the ground. The other day at an auction in 
our neighborhood one of these old flip-flops was 
offered for sale. No one would bid on it, except 
finally oue person was ready to buy it as a curi¬ 
osity. The sulky rake has done excellent service in 
the hayfield, but in large operations the side-delivery 
rake shown at Fig. 259 has proved very useful. This 
throws the hay into a loose windrow, where it can 
be promptly taken up by the hay-loader, and the 
modern plan is to cure the hay in the windrow 
whenever possible. The loader can start in the hay- 
field as soon as the side-delivery has made a double 
windrow across the field. 
THE HAY LOADER.—A comparison may be made 
with the Maud Muller plan of loading hay with the 
picture shown at Fig. 2G0. A good loader does at 
one operation all the work of raking and pitching 
out of the windrow or the cock onto the wagon. The 
horses do the raking and lifting. Usually two men, 
with a boy to drive, can handle 40 per cent more hay 
than three men loading by hand. This is not always 
true, because some men are very expert at tossing 
hay on the wagon with a fork. They know just how 
to do it, and the loader will have to work lively to 
keep up with them. 
STACKING.—All sorts of devices are practiced to 
clean up the work of putting the hay into the mow or 
stack. In some cases we know of, the hay is bunched 
in the field and a rope put around a large wad of it, 
and the whole thing hauled straight to the barn over 
the ground. Not much stacking is done in the East 
except as an overflow after the barn is filled. In 
some cases, however, where hay is baled for sale, the 
hay is stacked in some handy place and baled before 
the Fall rains come on. The picture at Fig. 2H1 
shows a Western operator speeding up the hay¬ 
making by the use of a pushing rake and what they 
call the overshot stacker. The push rake runs on 
the ground, with the horses behind. The long wood¬ 
en fingers catch up the hay in a bunch and push it, 
1,000 lbs. at a time, up to the stacker. This imple¬ 
ment is run by a team of horses and lifts the jag of 
hay up in the air and dumps it on top of the stack. 
In some places a little gasoline engine will take the 
place of the horses at the stack, and it would make 
an Eastern farmer marvel to see the way the hay is 
thrown on to the stack by this outfit. 
A COMBINATION STACKER.—Fig. 262 shows 
what they call the last word in stacking hay on a 
large scale. This is what they call the combination 
stacker. When pulled by two horses this machine 
takes the hay from the swath, carries it up to the 
stack and then dumps it on top, thus combining all 
the motions of raking, cocking, loading and unloading. 
We are paying at our own place 2c per lb. for hay 
at this time, so that dried grass has become a valu¬ 
able product There is a good crop in sight this 
year, and prices ought to continue high, so that it 
will pay to take every possible advantage of the sea¬ 
son for housing the crop. 
CURING ALFALFA.—Fig. 265 shows the hired 
man at work cocking Alfalfa with a hand fork. The 
hay cock here showp might not satisfy Mr. Hartman, 
•Px RURAL NEW-YORKER 
who tells us this week about curing millet hay, but 
it is a good sample of about the way such work is 
done. Alfalfa cocked up in that way will practically 
cure itself, and if in case of a storm a cover or cap 
can be put on top, there will be a flue quality of 
fodder. 
RED CLOVER.—Fig. 263 also shows a good field 
of Red clover, apparently just ready to be cut. All 
the new feeds from Alfalfa to Sudan grass may come 
and go, but on many a farm good old-fashioned clover 
is after all the backbone of dairying. Where land 
has been well limed and cared for, Red clover will 
produce wonderful crops, and in many cases, consid¬ 
ering the care needed in seeding, it will prove just 
about as profitable as Alfalfa. There are thousands 
of acres in the East where neither Alfalfa nor Red 
clover will thrive. Our own farm is naturally that 
kind of soil, yet we have obtained remarkable suc¬ 
cess by using Alsike clover on such land. We have it 
this year as thick as a mat, and considerably more 
than knee-high already, and this on land so sour 
that Alfalfa and Red clover would not live over one 
year. 
Experience in Soil Improvement in Virginia 
ESULTS OF FERTILITY.—A fertile soil is a 
national asset. A rich soil is a powerful influ¬ 
ence for good schools, ‘better roads and excellent 
homes. Where soils become exhausted, schools, roads 
and homes soon go down. Nations decay. Hence, 
soil improvement is a most vital thing with us here 
in our country where the original fertility ds being 
rapidly exhausted, in many instances. Heavy rains 
which fall on much of our rolling lands carry great 
quantities of soil fertility down to the streams, 
which bear it on towards the ocean. Fortunately, we 
have an inexhaustible store of nitrogen in the air 
and large quantities of potash in the subsoil. If we 
tap these stores much of our soil can be brought back 
to its virgin fertility. 
MAKING A BEGINNING.—The recent world war 
has clearly demonstrated the importance of an abun¬ 
dant food supply. This can be produced on fewer 
acres at less expense where the soil readily responds 
to the hand of the tiller. Five years ago I began a 
small experiment along this line of soil improvement. 
In the field I was preparing for corn there was a 
hillside of about one acre which had never been cul¬ 
tivated to my knowledge. It was overgrown with 
the small variety of broom sedge, and small gullies 
were washing at several places. The grass was so 
scant on it that it looked as though there was not 
enough to support a goose. It was an eyesore to me. 
Therefore I decided to plow this hillside also, but 
found it a very diflicult thing. Two strong horses 
could pull the plow only five or six inches deep in 
the soil. Before the plow was started the washed 
places were covered with some light material, such 
as straw, cornstalks and leaves, in order to prevent 
further washing. The land was too steep to haul 
heavy manure. 
CULTIVATION AND FERTILIZER.—After the 
land was plowed,the soil froze, which helped greatly 
in making a good seed bed. Before the harrow went 
onto the soil 400 lbs. of basic slag was broadcast 
over it. This hillside was planted to corn with the 
other part of the field. During Spring and early 
Summer the soil was well tilled. Just before the 
last cultivation the following mixture of clovers and 
grasses was broadcast over the soil: Crimson clover, 
8 lbs.; Small Red clover, 6 lbs.; Alsike clover, 0 lbs.; 
Red-top, 2 lbs.; Orchard grass. 1% bu. A light spring- 
tooth harrow was run between the rows, which cov¬ 
ered the seed well. In the Fall the ground was mat¬ 
ted over with clover and grass, but the corn was a 
failure; perhaps not over five bushels was produced. 
THE SPRING SHOWING.—The following Spring 
the Crimson clover literally painted the hillside red. 
When this crop died down the Alsike gave it an¬ 
other color. After this crop the Red clover came on 
and it looked as though all the grass was smothered. 
But in September the grass came up through the 
mat of clover straw and covered the ground. The 
vegetable matter spread over the soil that Fall was 
so thick it felt “givy” under foot. The following 
Spring clover came up thickly from seed over the 
land. During the Summer the Orchard grass ma¬ 
tured a fair crop of seed. 
FIVE YEARS’ RESULTS.—Now, after five years, 
there is a good sod all over the land, and just a 
stalk of sedge appearing here and there. The graz¬ 
ing capacity of the hillside is better than most other 
parts of the field. Apparently it would produce a 
good yield of corn. The land has been brought back 
to its original fertility. Three crops of clover in 
oue year have given heart to the land 
EXPERIENCE ON UPLANIf).—The same experi¬ 
June 14, 1919 
ment was tried three years ago on five acres of thin 
upland. A severe drought the year the seed was 
sown made the stand of clover and grass scant in 
some places over this land, but where a good set was 
obtained there was a very fair growth of clover and 
grass, and the land has been much improved. Just 
how much cannot be told unless a crop of corn were 
grown on it and measured, and the corn crop before 
the clover had been measured also. 
FERTILIZERS.—Slag phosphate was used be¬ 
cause the phosphorus is slowly available, and not so 
liable to leach out, and also because there was some 
lime in it. Now, since this form of phosphate is more 
difficult to obtain, very likely the acid phosphate 
would give good results in connection with lime. 
The main point seems to be to use fertilizer heavily 
and neutralize the acid that may be in the soil with 
lime so that clover will take hold. I have not tried 
any crop as a soil improver which excels Crimson 
clover. On some soils it seems to grow where cow 
peas fail. On an acre of ground where Crimson 
clover was grown and the ground was limed, Alfalfa 
has given good results, making from five to six tons 
of hay each year. 
BRINGING BACK THE SOIL.—In restoring soil 
fertility, perhaps there is nothing more economical 
than a leguminous crop, such as clover, Alfalfa and 
peas. Barnyard manure is excellent, of course, but 
the supply is limited and it is heavy to put on rolling 
land. Clover seed is costly now, but it. is not expen¬ 
sive to save much of our own seed if we get a few 
acres heavily set to clover, especially the Crimson. 
Much clover seed was grown in Southwest Virgin.'a 
40 years ago, and very little money was spent for 
fertilizer. Now we seldom see any of this seed har¬ 
vested in this section, and the fertilizer bill, together 
with the clover seed bill, come near equaling our tax 
bill. Even then a good clover field is not often seen. 
-The clover should be brought back, and it can be 
done with more skill in management. 
Virginia. »• n. price. 
Seed Combinations for Cover Crops 
T he Monthly News Letter, issued by the Camden 
County (N. J.) Board of Agriculture, describes 
a test of cover crops seeded by Win. L. Tomlinson of 
that county. The plan was to seed one acre each of 
corn to the different seeds or combinations. This 
was done at the last cultivation of the corn, about 
the middle of August. The outcome is described as 
follows: 
The crops used were as follows: Crimson clover, 
Hairy vetch, Alsike clover, Mammoth clover, Alfalfa. 
Sweet clover, vetch and wheat, vetch and rye, vetch and 
Soy beans, cow peas. Cow-horn turnips, rape, cow peas 
and rye, Italian rye grass and rye. Just before the last 
cultivation a strip of land running across all plots was 
limed with hydrated lime. 
In the middle of April this year these plots were ob¬ 
served to be in the following condition : 
The best plots, considering thickness of stand and 
growth, were those containing vetch. The Soy bean and 
vetch plot was excellent; although the Soys died when 
the cold weather came last Fall they added much to 
the laud, as was seen by the increased growth of the 
vetch on that plot as compared with the straight vetch 
plot. It looks as if the Soy beau and vetch combination 
ought to be a good one where it can be sown early 
enough so that the Soys can make considerable growth. 
The straight vetch plot was also good. The wheat and 
vetch and rye and vetch did not have quite as thick 
stands of vetch as the other two plots, the reason being 
probably that the grain held the vetch back. Seeding 
rye and vetch or wheat and vetch with a drill, and 
especially at as early a date as August 15, requires less 
seed than was used on these plots. The im was to get 
a bushel of grain and 20 lbs. of vetch to the acre. It 
would have been better to have sown not more than one- 
lialf bushel of grain or none at all. Late sowing re¬ 
quires more seed. 
Rape made a good stand and growth. The big advan¬ 
tage of rape is that the seeding is cheap; it costs about 
10c per lb., and 4 lbs. of seed is enough to the acre. It 
likes heavy or well-fed land, and there is a great deal of 
land in the county not adapted to rape as a cover crop. 
The Cow-horn turnips plot was also good. This is 
Mr. Tomlinson’s favorite cover crop. It does best on 
heavy land. Neither rape nor turnips add any nitrogen 
to the land. 
The various clover plots, including Sweet clover and 
Alfalfa, did not do well. The Alfalfa did not catch the 
inoculation, or it might have done better, as the stand 
was fair. The Sweet clover also missed the inoculation, 
and it heaved badly during the Winter. Crimson clover 
had a poor stand, but the plants made a good growth so 
that it was decidedly thicker in the Spring. 
The rye plot was excellent, of course, making a thick 
stand. Italian rye grass made a poor growth in the Fall 
but thickened up a great deal in the Spring, so that there 
was a fairly good sod. Neither of these crops add any 
nitrogen to the land. 
Remember that this was in the central part of 
New Jersey, about the latitude of Philadelphia. 
North of there Crimson clover would lmnlly pay. but 
rye, vetch, Cow-horn turnips and Alsike clover be¬ 
come more important: We have used all these crops 
and have about settled upon a combination of rye, 
Alsike clover and Cow-horn turnips as best for our 
locality. Vetch is good, but the seed is expensive, 
and where small grain is grown the vetch seed makes 
trouble by mixing with the rye and wheat. 
