1442 
October 4, 1910 
work was begun the land was in a high state of 
cultivation, and capable of producing more than 30 
bushels of wheat per acre. The writer was also 
very much interested to see a plot which has been 
receiving annually ample applications of phosphatic 
and nitrogenous fertilizer. This plot has, therefore, 
become deficient in potash, and is now able to grow 
only a very small crop of wheat of poor quality. 
Since the land is naturally well supplied with potash 
it would seem that even in the case of wheat, which 
is not affected by potash deficiency as readily as are 
potatoes or sugar beets, the drain on the potash 
supply of the soil has begun to show striking results. 
On land less amply provided with potash these ef¬ 
fects would have appeared much sooner. 
PLANT FOOD RECORDS.—There are in all 210 
plots included in the fertility studies at Rotliamsted. 
The crops grown on these plots are carefully 
weighed when harvested and samples retained for 
analysis. In this manner a careful count is kept of 
the income and outgo of plant food in the plots under 
experiment. Thanks to the results thus secured our 
knowledge of the movement of plant food in soils 
has been made more definite. This knowledge is a 
contribution to the entire field of soil fertility, and 
furnishes valuable lessons to the farmers of America 
as well as to those in the Old World. 
SOME IMPORTANT FACTS.—Among the im¬ 
portant facts disclosed by these investigations may 
be mentioned the formation of nitrates in the soil 
and their loss on account of leaching. Rotliamsted 
experiments show that when land receives continu¬ 
ously large quantities of animal manures, nitrogen 
and organic matter will increase up to a certain 
point, and the losses will then become as great as 
the gains, so that no furtliur accumulation will take 
place. These experiments show that soda may help 
the crops to find a larger supply of potash in the 
soil. They show that on land deficient in potash 
plants are more readily attacked by certain fungi. 
They show that nitrogen in the form of nitrate of 
soda is more efficient for crop growth than is nitro¬ 
gen in the form of sulphate of ammonia or of 
animal and vegetable matter. They show that both 
nitrate of soda and sulphate of ammonia exert an 
effect only in the season of their application, and 
seem to leave no residues for succeeding crops. A 
number of other very important results are brought 
out by these experiments, but lack of space would 
hardly allow of their discussion. 
BACTERIAL PROBLEMS. — Recognizing that 
bacteria and other micro-organisms play a leading 
role in the formation and movement of plant food 
in soils, the staff of the Rotliamsted Station has 
been paying much attention to a number of bacteri¬ 
ological problems. A study is being made of the 
losses which occur in the fermentation of farmyard 
manure. Methods of reducing these losses are being 
suggested as a result of these studies. A study is 
being made likewise of the bacteria which can cause 
the decomposition of straw. Organisms have been 
isolated that can convert straw into material re¬ 
sembling manure. This is a problem of very con¬ 
siderable practical importance, since farmers in 
England have 'arge quantities of straw on hand, and 
not enough livestock to transform this straw into 
manure. 
THE PROTOZOA.—For some years the staff of 
the Rotliamsted Station has been giving a consider¬ 
able amount of time to the study of a certain type 
of microscopical organisms known as protozoa. 
These organisms, while invisible to the naked eye, 
are many times larger than bacteria. They use 
bacteria as their food and destroy enormous num¬ 
bers of them. It is well known, of course, that 
bacteria constitutes an important part of the 
machinery in the soil responsible for changing in¬ 
soluble into available plant food. The production 
of ammonia and nitrates in the soil is dependent 
practically entirely on bacterial action. Similarly, the 
production of soluble compounds of sulphur and of 
phosphorus is affected largely by the work of bac¬ 
teria. It is obvious, therefore, that protozoa may 
interfere with the rapid change of insoluble into 
soluble plant food by destroying too many of the 
soil bacteria, and therefore interfering with their 
important work. It is claimed by the workers at 
the Rotliamsted Station that by partially sterilizing 
soils, either by means of heat or chemicals, the 
protozoa are got rid of and enough bacteria left to 
multiply later to enormous numbers in the absence 
of the protozoa. They account in this manner for the 
increased fertility of soils that had been steamed. 
Other investigators do not accept this explanation 
as best accounting for all the facts known. Never¬ 
theless, the investigations at Rotliamsted have 
already pointed out practical methods of treating 
the RURAL NEW-YORKER 
soils with certain chemicals for the purpose of in¬ 
creasing their crop-producing power. 
CONTROLLING WIREWORMS.—The need for 
increasing food production in England made desirable 
the plowing up of many thousands of acres of land 
that have been kept in grass for a long time. Such 
recently plowed grass land created some difficult 
problems for their owners or tenants. It became 
necessary to find an effective way of dealing with 
wireworms, commonly prevalent in such land. The 
Rotliamsted Station undertook, therefore, the study 
of a number of chemical agents as promising results 
for coping with wireworms. Similar experiments 
were undertaken for dealing with weeds prominent 
in recently broken grass lands. A study is being 
made of the best methods of utilizing the fertil ity 
accumulated in old grass lands. 
A BROAD OUTLOOK.—A general study is being 
made of the numbers and kinds of bacteria occurring 
in soils differently treated, and experiments are be¬ 
ing conducted with a number of substances as to 
their effect on plant growth. Many of these sub¬ 
stances are poisonous to crops when used in large 
amounts, but serve as stimulants when used in 
smaller quantities. The writer was gratified to find 
that Dr. Russell, the Director of the Hothamsted 
Station, and his associates are very well informed 
about the soil investigations in progress at the New 
Jersey Experiment Station. Files of “Soil Science,” 
a technical journal, published under the direction 
of the writer, are kept on file at Rotliamsted. and 
are evidently frequently consulted by members of 
the staff. This is but. another indication that soil 
research, like other scientific research, recognizes 
no political boundaries, and makes its best progress 
where it can draw on the experience and observa¬ 
tions accumulated by many men. j. G. lipmax. 
London, England. 
The Land’s Value is in the Man 
HE Franklin County (Mass.) Farmers’ Bulletin 
tells of a farmer, Abbot Howes, who is still 
spending money at blasting stones out of rough, 
rocky land, and hauling them away. In these 
modern days of high-priced labor and unoccupied 
land most men would steer away from such land, 
but Mr. Howes seems to consider such blasting and 
clearing profitable. 
Thirty years ago, Mr. Howes took possession of his 
present farm. He carried 13 head of stock and two 
horses, and produced 25 to 30 barrels of apples. Last 
year he kept 30 head of cattle, five horses, 00 sheep, 
and packed 1,925 barrels of apples, and this year will 
probably pack more. Apples are the main cash crop 
and he has some 4,000 trees planted, about 1.500 of 
which are now coming into bearing. One orchard of 40 
Baldwin trees he expects will yield 400 barrels this 
year. The orchard is sod mulch. No hay has been 
removed or manure applied for five years, except some 
fertilizer in an experimental way this year. He is 
short of bay to carry as much stock as he desires, but 
he would not yield to the temptation to draw this 
splendid crop into the barn. It lies there under the 
trees, while he spends a lot of money and hard labor 
clearing more land to raise his hay. The mulch seems 
to be an ideal system for this rather heavy land in the 
bearing orchard, but this is not probably true in many 
other sections of the county, where cultivation will un¬ 
doubtedly be better. Baldwins are the most important 
variety, but Wealthy, McIntosh and Duchess are planted 
quite largely in the younger orchards. One block of 
large Wealthy trees have been regularly thinned for 
several years, and he has found this practice absolutely 
necessary for profitable production on this variety, and 
expects to practice it on his other varieties as well. 
He has by thorough spraying with Black Leaf 40 con¬ 
trolled a large infestation of red-bug. He is now 
starting to build a storage and packing cellar, which 
will be equipped to manufacture poorer grades into fruit 
products ready for consumption. Mr. Howes combines 
live stock with his apples and raises high grade Holstein 
cows, which he sells as soon as they mature. He sells 
cream to the creamery and feeds the skimmed milk. He 
remarked that when he had to sell milk he would give up 
Cows. He has been very successful with his early lambs, 
and the 60 hens add materially to the farm income. 
One of his most successful crops has been boys and 
girls, of which there are six. One son has graduated 
from the Massachusetts Agricultural College and comes 
back to the farm ; the other has graduated from Wor¬ 
cester Institute of Technology, and still another is at¬ 
tending the same institute. One of his girls has gradu-. 
ated from Mount Holyoke College, and the other two 
are now entering Normal School. Here is a farmer who 
believes that it is just as important to- properly raise 
and educate his children as it is to produce the best, 
stock and orchards. If this practice was more general' 
with the farmers there would be fewer abandoned acres. 
This record of 30 years’ work on a Franklin County 
hill farm, starting with practically nothing, developing 
a business which promises constantly increasing pro¬ 
duction and profits, raising and educating a fine family 
of children is one that should give more ambition and 
confidence to the young farmers in Franklin County, 
or anywhere else. 
What is the value of agricultural land? Many things 
enter into the answer besides the land. One of the best 
farmers in New England once said, “It, matters not 
what you pay for land—if it is suitable for the crop you 
wish to grow and located where you want it.” In other 
words, the human factor, the manager and his needs- is 
one of the largest factors in the value of the land. 
When we find men like Mr. Howes spending over one 
hundred dollars per acre clearing land that would ap¬ 
praise considerably under one hundred dollars when 
cleared, we might question the profit. But Mr. Howes 
has planted so much tillable land to apple trees that he 
needs more land to properly balance his farm business. 
As he said, “I need more land, and I want it here.” 
There is little question that he will use it profitably. 
He shows bis faith in his business by investing his 
profits in increasing it. It is the kind of land he wants, 
and situated where he wants it. The human factor 
quite largely determines the value of our land and the 
efficiency of our farming community. 
A Hail Insurance Contract 
HE Hartford Courant gives a statement regard¬ 
ing a legal case in Michigan which will interest 
many of our readers. A fruit grower in that State 
insured his crop in a mutual hail insurance company. 
The policy was supposed to protect him against 
“damage done by hail to growing grain, fruit and 
other products.” The contract was signed, and the 
necessary payments were made. In May a hail¬ 
storm struck the farm and did much damage to 
hearing fruit trees. Agents of the company came 
and examined the orchard, but in the Fall this 
farmer was notified that the policy did not make 
them liable to loss. They conceded that the trees 
were in bloom when the damage was done, but they 
claimed that blossoms are not fruit, and hence were 
not covered by the policy. The farmer brought suit 
against the company to recover damages, and intro¬ 
duced witnesses to show the extent of that damage. 
The company, instead of offering evidence, called 
for a verdict against the farmer because he had 
failed to show any damage to growing fruit, and 
also on the ground that all damages which the wit¬ 
nesses had referred to v T ere uncertain and specula¬ 
tive. The judge refused to order a verdict on these 
grounds, and the jury found for the farmer in the 
sum of $1,156.50. The company took an appeal, and 
stated its case as follows: 
The fruit of this year is produced from buds of last 
year’s growth. Therefore, damage to this year’s fruit 
buds may have a tendency to damage next year’s fruit 
crop. Having gone that far it is only a short step to 
the next station, by claiming that damage to fruit buds 
being damage to fruit, proof of damage to leaf buds 
ought to be admitted as proof of damage to fruit on the 
theory that ^damage to the foliage has a tendency to in¬ 
jure the fruit crop, present or future. It must be clear 
that these farmers intended mutually to insure one 
another against loss or damage to growing fruit and 
grain, not something that might or might not develop 
into growing fruit or grain. 
It also claimed that no damages were proved, and 
there was no proof that the blossoms had even de¬ 
veloped embryo fruit. 
The Supreme Court of Michigan, after a study of 
the evidence, gave the following decision, which 
seems to us reasonable and just: 
These members ought to have agreed among them¬ 
selves concerning the state to which nature must have 
brought growing grain and fruit before liability would 
attach for its destruction if they did not want the courts 
to give the words employed by them a popular meaning. 
Without applying to the contract.the 
rule that the language used by the insurer in the policy 
will be given a meaning favorable to the insured we are 
justified in saying that, in popular phrase, wheat not 
headed and corn upon which no ears have formed, are 
growing grain. It being so easy, and manifestly so 
proper for the defendant to state a rule, we shall at¬ 
tempt to state none for its guidance. We are content 
to say that evidence was introduced which fairly tends 
to prove that the trees in the plaintiff’s orchard had on 
them growing fruit, fertilized growths, which in due 
course of time would have been apples and pears, for 
the destruction of which by hail, the defendant, by the 
terms of its policy, may be liable. 
The court thought the matter of damages gave 
more trouble than the question of responsibility, but 
the jury was competent to make these damages, and 
therefore it refused to reverse this judgment of the 
lower court. 
This is a nice point in matters of this sort, as a 
late frost coming at just the right time might have 
damaged the fruit even more than the hail did. but 
the question seems to be settled at least with regard 
to the time when a fruit becomes a fruit in the eyes 
of the law. Evidently after the bud starts it con¬ 
tains the possibilities of a fruit, and if it is de¬ 
stroyed the destruction of the fruit, which might 
grow from it, is considered possible. The point is 
that when you insure in any hail insurance company 
you should be sure to read the contract carefully, 
as hereafter such contracts will probably be changed. 
