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A Succession of Manurial Crops 
I have -a small place of five acres in the suburbs of 
a city. The soil is a light sandy loam.' I wish to build 
up about three acres which it will, not be convenient 
for me to cultivate for the next two years. One of my 
friends (a market gardener) advises me to sow this 
area this Spring with oats and Canadian field peas, 
plow the crop under before it ripens, and then sow with 
clover. This would probably be in July. Would I uot. 
if it were hot and dry. be apt to lose my clover? 
Another friend recommends the first part of the above 
program.- and advises me after plowing under the first 
crop to sow rye and vetch in late September. I have 
a couple of years to put this piece in shape, and I would 
prefer to use green crops to plow under rather than 
buy fertilizer. Stable manure is very scarce and the 
cost prohibitive. 1 care nothing for the hay, as I keep 
no stock. J. E. H. 
Saratoga Co., X. T. 
Y OUR friend is right about starting with oats and 
Canadian peas. That, combination is the best 
manurial crop to start in the Spring, When you 
plow that under in the beat of Summer you should 
use at least 1.200 lbs. of lime per acre. This will 
help to prevent souring the land and also hasten the 
decay of the oats and peas. Then several courses 
are open. You can work the land several times 
through late Summer and then seed to a combination 
of rye and vetch or rye and Alsike clover. We would 
not advise you to seed to clover alone. Or, right 
after the oats and peas are plowed under and well 
packed or rolled, harrow in the lime and seed a 
combination of six to seven pecks of buckwheat, 
three pecks of rye and five pounds of Alsike clover 
per acre. You cannot, of course, seed them all at 
one time, as the seeds vary greatly in size and 
weight. Harrow this combination in. The buck¬ 
wheat wii'l, of course, come up first and make a rank 
growth. The rye and clover will come more slowly, 
and will bo hidden by the buckwheat. In late Sep¬ 
tember clip off the buckwheat and let it lie on the 
ground. If the season has been favorable the rye 
and clover will come on through the buckwheat and 
cover the ground for Winter. The combination of 
buckwheat, rye and clover is good for a damp season, 
but would probably fail in a drought. Where it 
succeeds it adds a tremendous amount of humus to 
the soil. If the Summer is fairly moist we would 
try it, but if there is a drought plow under the oats 
and peas. Keep the soil well cultivated or harrowed 
and seed to rye and Alsike clover in September. We 
think this clover will suit you bettor than vetch. 
The next year plow under the rye and clover and 
sow cow peas or Soy beans. Plow these under in 
September and seed again to rye arid clover, and you 
will then have that soil so well stuffed with organic 
matter that you can do anything with it. There are 
some things to remember. Whenever you plow under 
a big green crop pad; Ihr soil down with a roller or 
heavy drag. That will delay and thus prevent too 
much souring of the ground and it will keep out the 
air and prevent too quick drying. Use lime at least 
once heavily. Annual applications of 600 lbs. after 
plowing under the oats and peas and the next year’s 
crop of rye and clover would be better. ‘ If you can 
use 400 lbs. to the acre of acid phosphate each year 
you will get an extra growth of all crops, and have 
this phosphorus stored up for you in the soil to feed 
future crops. 
Soy Beans Prove Profitable 
G r>. SMITH & SON of North Charlestown, N. Y., 
• have evidently proven that it is profitable to 
grow Soy beans for mixing in the silage at silo-filling 
time, for now, when they are feeding this mixture, 
their feed bill is reduced at least $1 a day. Last 
year they grew about one acre of Soy beans sepa¬ 
rately from corn, giving them good cultivation, and 
had a fine crop. They were cut with a mowing ma¬ 
chine at corn harvesting time, and mixed in with 
the corn, about one load of beans to four loads of 
corn, when filling the silo. Mixing at this rate pro¬ 
vided 27 ft. of silage in a silo 10 ft. in diameter. 
Smith & Son have two silos, and one of them was 
filled with straight corn silage, the plan being to 
run a comparative test on b ,th kinds under the direc¬ 
tion of the Farm Bureau to determine whether Soy 
beans would improve the quality of silage and enable 
them to reduce the concentrate feeds. 
They have a dairy of 13 cows, nearly all grade 
Holsteins, which freshened in the Fall, and February 
1 they were producing 300 lbs. of milk daily. The 
herd was fed until February 1 plain corn silage, at 
which time a change was made to the mixture. Up 
to that time they produced about 300 lbs. of milk 
daily on 30 to 35 lbs. of corn silage per day, also two 
small feeds of clover mixed hay and a feed of Timo¬ 
thy. The grain ration consisted of a mixture of 100 
lbs. each of oilmeal, gluten and cottonseed meal 36 
per cent, and 200 lbs. each of mixed feed and prov¬ 
ender. This contained about 18.1 per cent digestible 
protein and cost $3.70 per 100. Each cow received 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1 lb. of this feed to every 5 lbs. of milk produced 
daily, or a total of 00 lbs. was being fed to the herd. 
The total cost was $2.22 per day. On February 1 a 
change was made to Soy bean silage fed at the same 
rate with bay. and the grain ration was cut in half. 
At first the production dropped off, probably because 
of the sudden change, and also because the silage 
at the top of the silo was not as good quality as it. 
was a little farther down. But it soon came back to 
normal, and the herd produced as much on the half 
grain ration and Soy bean silage as they did on a 
full ration with plain corn silage. The beans, being 
rich in protein, were able to supply that which had 
formerly been supplied by the extra feed. Thus, it 
will be seen that the saving per day was $1.11. and 
from February 1 to May 15, the time they expect the 
silage will last, the total saving for 10° days will 
amount to $114.33. Since the beans grew - > one acre 
of ground, we can assume that this ac produced 
over $100 worth of feed for Smith & Son. Not only 
did they produce excellent feed, hut because the 
beans are able to gather r'trogen from the air, they 
have enriched the soil r. s well. h. n. wells. 
A Cover Crop in Com 
On page S70 you say “sow a clover crop in the corn, 
plow this under in the Spring.” At what time should 
clover be sown, and how long must, it stand? 1 can 
■hardly believe you intend it literally to “sow in the 
corn” before corn is cleaned up. and would this mean to 
sow this Fall, for instance, cut it next Summer and 
plow under for 1022 potatoes? J. h. k. 
Landing, N. .T. 
E meant to say a “cover crop,” by which we 
mean a mixture of seeds scattered in the 
growing corn, and worked into the corn at the last 
May 20, 102C 
clover. When the seeds are scattered on the top of 
the ground, we take a cultivator and arrange it so 
it will not, run over two inches deep. This is run 
through the rows, the snrae as any other cultivation. 
It is an excellent, plan to fasten a piece of board or 
a plank by means of a wire to the back of the culti¬ 
vator. This scrapes over the ground, smoothing 
down the surface and working the seed evenly into 
the soil. In a small piece of corn it will pay to fol¬ 
low with an iron rake and cover all the seeds that 
are on top of the ground. This cover crop is then 
left, alone. It makes a slow growth until the corn is 
cut.; then it comes on and grows through the Fall, 
covering the ground and saving considerable quantity 
of nitrogen which might otherwise have been washed 
out of the soil and lost. The following Spring Ibis 
cover crop makes a fair growth and may be plowed 
under before the rye comes to n head, corn or any 
other crop being planted after it is plowed under. In 
case you want to plant potatoes in 1922, you can 
work in two cover crops in this way, seeding this 
year in corn and plowing it under next year. Then 
plant it with corn again, seeding a cover crop once 
more as we describe. Then, following that; potatoes 
may he planted after the plowing under of the cover 
crop. The advantage of doing this is that you in¬ 
crease the organic matter and save the nitrates 
which otherwise would wash away from the field. 
Thera is not. usually any danger or loss in seeding 
this cover crop, except possibly in a very dry season. 
In such a season it is possible that there would not 
he moisture enough for both the corn crop and the 
cover crop, so that one or .both of them might suffer. 
Except for that the practice is a good one. 
Testing Seed Com at a Farm Bureau Station 
In counties which have been well organized through the 
establishment of a strong Farm Bureau, a seed-corn test¬ 
ing station is sometimes located at the county agent’s 
headquarters, where farmers from all over the county 
can bring their seed corn and have it tested at the actual 
cost of operation. 
cultivating. Clover is frequently used with other 
seeds for this purpose, but the crop is known as a 
“cover crop,” because it covers the ground after the 
corn has been taken off. Various combinatious of 
seed are used, depending upon the character of the 
soil, the locality, and other conditions. With us, rye 
forms the basis for this cover crop. Rye grows read¬ 
ily under such conditions as we find in this method. 
It makes a heavy root growth in the Fall, and a 
heavy growth above the ground in the Spring. It is 
always a good crop to protect smaller plants grow¬ 
ing with it. In our own case, in Northern New Jer¬ 
sey, we have a good combination in three pecks of 
rye, 5 lbs. of Alsike clover seed, and l 1 /*. lbs, of tui’- 
nip seed. The best, turnip for this purpose is known 
us Cowhorn. This makes a long deep root which 
penetrates into the ground. In the southern part of 
New Jersey, when below the latitude of Philadelphia, 
Crimson clover alone, or in connection with rye, will 
make a very good cover crop. Many farmers prefer 
vetch alone or with rye. With us the last cultivation 
of corn will come about the middle or latter part of 
August. At that time we go through the corn, scat¬ 
tering seeds on the top of the ground. It is better 
to make two seedings—one of the rye alone and one 
of the turnip and clover mixed. Very good judgment 
and some little experience is required to make an 
even distribution of the very small seed of Alsike 
Some Pennsylvania Farm Notes 
B ETTER WEATHER.—Ten days or more of farm 
work without rain have placed the farmers at 
least partly on their feet, after the most backward 
Spring in years. With the oats sown and most of 
the corn ground plowed farmers have taken heart 
and are doing their best to produce a normal crop. 
The wheat outlook is good here, and the grass has 
made a good start. Much depends on the weather 
during the next month as to whether the hay crop 
Will he short or otherwise. 
FARM HELP.—It is needless to say that farm 
help is scarce, for this is common knowledge every¬ 
where. Farmers cannot afford to pay the high wages 
offered by manufacturing interests, while on the 
other hand the laboring man with a family to sup¬ 
port cannot afford to accept farm wages under 
present living conditions. I cannot see that either 
is to blame. T know skilled farm laborers who would 
prefer to work on a farm, bur Decause of the high 
cost of everything they liave been forced to resort to 
public works. As long as the price of farm products 
is so much lower than the price of manufactured 
articles, just so long will these deplorable labor con¬ 
ditions exist. Whenever any kind of “commission,” 
whether national. State or municipal, makes an 
•effort to reduce the price of things it is always what 
the farmer raises which seems to meet their disap¬ 
proval. The price of butter, eggs, vegetables, pota¬ 
toes, etc., must come down, but not a word is said 
about shoes, clothing, groceries and such tilings as 
are produced in the city. Every time such articles 
are purchased the price is just a little higher than 
the last time. Everybody takes this as a matter of 
course, except that the laboring man asks for more 
money to meet the added cost—and gets it! 
TRACTORS.—A few years ago the farm tractor 
was practically unknown here. Farmers thought 
them impracticable for field work on our hills. But 
scarcity of help has brought them into quite general 
use in our valley. It is now no uncommon sight to 
see one of these machines chugging across the field, 
pulling two plows and doing the work of more than 
two teams, for they make better time than a team 
of horses. Two tractors plowing in opposite direc¬ 
tions from our home sometimes kept up their 
pleasant music till bedtime. By placing one wheel 
in the furrow and one on the land these mechanical 
horses almost guide themselves. The operator some¬ 
times walks behind the plows, lifting out stones 
which are torn loose. One farmer placed two boys 
in a field where some work was to be done along 
opposite fences. The tractor was sent plowing across 
the field, each boy simply turning the tractor around 
his respective end and sending it back. In the 
jantime the boys could go ahead with their fence 
pairing or mowing weeds. The report comes tiom 
other county of a farmer who started his tractm 
plow in a kind of circle about his field. He " <1S 
en at liberty to proceed to the barn, as the ti.u tm 
eded no further attention. I am unable to verify 
v\ A I1TI1 JIT A V k" 
Huntington Co., Pa. 
