IV RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
1237 
From Dair 
Mv farm consists of 100 acres. It was used as a 
dairy farm about 12 years ago, but was without stock 
all that time. Now the land is very poor. I would like 
to seed it all in hay, and keep hay growing. Could I 
do this with lime and fertilizer? How much lime would 
it require to the acre, also fertilizerV The land is a 
heavy clay loam, with a clay subsoil. I have a lot of 
about 15 acres with white grass, or wild grass. This 
title! is almost level, It has a good stand of this wild 
crass on it. What would be best to do with this, plow 
Jt under or top-dress it with fertilizer? Does lime 
make Timothy grow? I know it is used for clover. 
Also state what kind of fertilizer to use with the lime. 
I tried the dairy, but no help and too far to the cream¬ 
ery. so had to stop. I would like to know of some way 
l 0 * get good hay growing with the lime and fertilizers. 
Ulster Co., N. Y. louis saver. 
IRST of all, we would ask the County Farm 
Bureau Agent to come and examine the farm, 
and give first-hand advice. A personal examination 
will be far more useful than any long-range advice. 
It is possible to get such a farm into grass, and cut 
hay for some years by using lime and fertilizer. 
There are many places where that has been done as 
a change from dairying. -Some years ago we gave 
several accounts of what was called the Clark 
method of reseeding old meadows or pastures. This 
plan was worked out by the late George M. Clark. 
He used a cutaway harrow in place of a plow. This 
harrow cuts or chops up the sod. instead of turning 
it under. Clark claimed that in order to get a full 
seeding of good grass it was necessary to kill out 
all the old sod. He said this could not he done by 
turning the sod upside down and fitting the under 
side, as is usually done when you plow. Sooner Oi. 
later the old grass and weeds turned under by the 
plow will work up into the seeding. Therefore, his 
plan was to cut up or chop the sod. and keep chop- 
pig it until all the roots and trash were killed out. 
In these days, with shortage of labor and farm 
teams, it is impossible for the average farmer to 
work the land so thoroughly. Many farmers kill out 
the old sod by plowing and planting corn, giving 
good cultivation and hoeing. Then they seed rye 
in the corn, plow the crop under in the Spring and 
seed to grass alone or with oats. 
An application of fertilizer to a meadow will usu¬ 
ally bring out the good grass stronger, and often 
where the sod is thick it will pay to use the fertil¬ 
izer rather than plow. We have seen fields which 
seemed about useless for hay production come back 
so that they yielded a ton or more of hay to the 
acre from the application of nitrate of soda and 
phosphate. We would not attempt to reseed all 
these fields at one time. Plow up and fit the poor¬ 
est. but try these which show thick grass with a 
good dressing of fertilizer. Then if they do not 
give enough hay to pay for it, plow them up the 
next year. 
Practically all such soil as you mention needs 
lime. We doubt if there is any soil in the eastern 
Placing the Dynamite. Fig. 36<S 
. of this country, in cultivation 50 years or more, 
' !,lt uou ld not show results from liming. As a rule, 
I* io is not much profit in spreading lime on the 
s "1 without plowing. Limestone sometimes gives 
.." id results from such an application when the soil 
1n ' in * v s °or, but the proper way to use lime is to 
iUt.bl’ plowing and harrow into the uppijr soil. 
yin^ to Ha 
You should plan to use at least one ton of lime to the 
acre at seeding time. Timothy and Red clover cer¬ 
tainly respond to lime, while Iied-top and Alsike 
clover will make a fair growth where the soil is 
quite sour. We have seeded a mixture of Red-top 
and Timothy, and both Red and Alsike clovers, in a 
field naturally sour, where lime was used on about 
half the land. The following year one side was 
thick with Timothy and Rod clover, while the other 
was covered with Alsike and Red-top, the latter ap- 
The Dynamite in Action. Fig. 36!) 
pea ring where no lime was used. We have found 
it best when seeding in this way to use both kinds 
of clover and both kinds of grass. It will not be 
possible to find any field uniformly acid or sweet. 
There will be spots or stretches of acid soil even 
where lime is heavily used. On these sour spots 
the Alsike and Red-top will conic in. and thus make 
a more uniform seeding. The Red-top is a light, 
fine grass, which will grow with the Timothy and 
thicken the stand. 
As for fertilizer, you can use one of the ready- 
mixed brands or a mixture of nitrate of soda and 
acid phosphate. If potash could be obtained at 
reasonable figures, we should use that, too, but on 
that clay soil we think the nitrate and phosphate 
will give fair results for several years. A good mix¬ 
ture would be one part by weight of nitrate to three 
parts of acid phosphate. We have also had good 
results by using sulphate of ammonia in place of the 
nitrate. When once well seeded with a good quan¬ 
tity of lime the yield of grass can be kept up for 
rnauy years by using 500 lbs. or more to the acre of 
the nitrate and phosphate. This is used in the 
Spring, just as the grass begins to start. If you 
can get your farm well seeded and use this fertilizer 
every year, you can cut hay year after year without 
failure. There are some cases where this pays bet¬ 
ter than dairying. 
Digging a Ditch With Dynamite 
TUDYING THE PROBLEM.—If we were to 
glance over the area of a large number of the 
counties of New York State, we would see dotted 
here and there patches of muck lands on which many 
farmers find that they can devote their entire time 
on comparatively few acres as compared with upland 
farms. To the vegetable growers on these areas life 
is more than the ordinary gamble, for a heavy 
shower may flood out their entire year’s work if 
they are not adequately protected by ditches that 
will drain the land quickly. This question of Hood¬ 
ing was one of the problems which the Livingston 
County Farm Bureau had to face in the South Lima 
muck area. This muck, like many other patches of 
the State, consists of a more or le>s deeomposed 
plant remains deep black in color, varying in depth 
from plow depth to 15 or 20 feet. The subsoil varies 
in character from a bluish gray clay to a sand of 
the same color. About 10 years ago the main ditch 
of this umck area was reeonstrueted by the State 
at an enormous expense, and was left at a depth 
that made it impossible to hold the water level low 
y Farming 
enough for absolute safety. The great problem then 
was to lower the water line. The labor question was 
absolutely impossible. None could be had, and it is 
a grave question if hand labor could have been used 
in the heavy blue clay. The Farm Bureau • demon¬ 
strated that the ditch, eight feet wide at the bottom 
and 14 feet wide at the top, could be lowered two feet, 
or to the safety water line. The cost was estimated 
at approximately $3,000 for 7,750 linear feet of such 
construction. Fig. 307 shows the nature of the out¬ 
let of this ditch before it was blown. 
METHOD EMPLOYED.—Three rows of dynamite 
were used three feet apart, and the charges were 
placed two feet apart in the rows. In order to give 
the correct shape to the bottom of the ditch a heavier 
charge was used in the middle row than on the side 
rows. Straight 50 per cent dynamite was used in 
blowing this ditch for both the clay and sand sub¬ 
soil. Loads of one-balf pound sticks were used on 
the outside rows and one pound or three-quarters of 
a pound were used in the middle row. Ditches can 
be blasted by either of two methods, viz., the propa¬ 
gated or electric. The propagated can be used only 
in wet soils. The electric can be used in both wet 
and dry. The general rule, and a fairly safe one to 
use in the blowing of a ditch by the propagated 
method, is to use straight 50 per cent dynamite 
where there is at least enough water to a two-foot 
hole to half- fill the hole. Only straight dynamite 
should be used, as other grades are not sensitive 
enough to be detonated by a shock from a single 
central primer. Fig. 368 shows the workmen placing 
the dynamite. 
PROPAGATED METHOD.—Readers not fa m ilia r 
with dynamite may wonder what is the significance 
of the term propagated. It is simply the term 
applied where a single electric cap is used in each 
row of dynamite, the balance being detonated by the 
shock from the primer. In order to play safe an 
occasional electric cap in a charge between rows or 
in the rows may be employed to insure a simulta¬ 
neous detonation. The wires from the electric caps 
arc united with the wire leading to the blasting 
machine, the point of union being raised above the 
water. Fig. 360 shows the ditch as the dynamite 
starts it work. 
THE COMPLETED DITCH.—Fig. 370 shows a 
completed ditch. Ordinarily the ditch after being 
blown requires little finishing, excepting the puiling 
our of an occasional loose clod of earth, which can 
be easily done with a potato hook. If the ditch is 
in a pasture field there is some danger for a few 
weeks, as cattle may get cast on the soft banks. The 
South Lima growers are now raising funds to blow 
the outlet of the ditch which ruus through their 
muck land, a ditch of approximately 7.750 feet. It 
The Completed Ditch. Fig. 310 
is estimated the ditch will cost from $2,850 to $3,000. 
They are getting individual growers to sign a con¬ 
tract, which prorates the cost of the ditch per .acre, 
but in no ca>e will that exceed $15 per acre. This 
ditch will no doubt be completed before the Summer 
is over. earl a. flansbcbgh, 
Livingston C’o., N. Y., Agricultural Agent 
