E316 
crnef reason for this year’s fertilizing, as we see it, is 
to put the tree and its fruit buds into the best pos¬ 
sible condition for nest year’s crop. We plan to use 
a phosphate during the latter part of Summer, as 
this seems to promote the development of strong 
fruit buds. In mulched orchards, both acid phos¬ 
phate and nitrate will dissolve and work down into 
the soil, but unless these chemicals are applied as 
early as April in our latitude we doubt if they will 
affect this year’s crop of apples. They will without 
doubt help the trees, and in the case of peaches may 
help the fruit, but in our experience the problem of 
successful fertilizing means feeding the tree this 
year to produce a full crop next year. 
Vertical or Well Drainage 
My garden is low and does not dry out very early in 
the Spring. It will cost lots to ditch it. Is it practical 
to dig a hole near the center, 3x6 ft., 10 ft. deep, and fill 
up with tin cans, etc.? L. H. E. 
It will depend on the formation of the soil. The 
theory of this “vertical drainage” is that water can¬ 
not pass down because there is a “hardpan” or layer 
of clay below 7 the upper soil. If below 7 this “hard- 
pan” you find a layer of coarse sand or gravel, above 
the usual w 7 ater level, the plan you speak of w 7 ill 
work. The surface water will pass down into the 
well or hole and work off through the gravel, thus 
draining the upper soil. In some cases a hole is dug 
down to sand or gravel and a large tile put in. Then 
lines of tile are laid through the field or garden, run¬ 
ning into this w 7 ell. The drainage water passes into 
the w 7 ell and away in the low 7 er soil. Where the sit¬ 
uation is right this plan will work, but it would be 
better to have an open tile rather than fill the hole 
with tin cans. If there is no layer of open soil below 
the hardpan and above the water level there will be 
but little help from this form of drainage, for the 
entire theory of it is based on the ability of the water 
to run off through a low r er layer of open soil. We 
have two such arrangements on our ow 7 n farm. In 
one case the water runs freely below 7 and gives good 
drainage. In the other there is no low 7 er outlet. We 
dug a big hole and filled it with stones. For a time it 
did fairly w 7 ell. Then the soil w 7 ashed in around the 
stones and ended the drainage. 
fcommitment and Release of the Insane 
I am anxious to obtain a copy of the issue of your 
magazine in which an article appears instructing State 
Hospital patients how to see the county commissioner 
(?) when the occasion warrants. My case, I believe, is 
unparalleled. But it is not in order to enter complaints, 
rather one of seeking whatever px-ovision the law makes 
so as to straighten my life to normal conditions of right 
living in the performance of the activities for which I 
am fitted—teaching, translating, plus a wee bit of verse 
and prose writing. The medical opinion has x-epeatedly 
pronounced me well enough to leave. 
May I ask what becomes of patients who. momentarily 
ill. at some critical period of life, have no one to stand 
sponsor for them ; yet who. as myself, are qualified to 
earn their living upon the x-eturn to health? That to me 
is the all-important question. E. v. 
I do not think that any article giving instructions 
as to seeing a “County Commissioner” on the part of 
a patient in a State hospital lias been published at 
any time. Any patient at a State hospital, or any 
friend acting in the patient’s behalf, may apply to 
the county judge of the county in which the hospital 
is located, or of the county from which the patient 
was committed, for the release of such patient. An 
application may also be sent to “The State Hospital 
Commission,” Albany, N. Y. Such application may 
also "lie made to any supreme court justice in the 
State. 
As a matter of practice, such application can 
hardly be needed, since the superintendent of the 
hospital will gladly release any patient from the in¬ 
stitution if the circumstances of the case warrant it. 
There can be no reason for a desire upon the part of 
the hospital authorities to detain a patient unnec¬ 
essarily; on the contrary, they have every reason to 
wish to discharge all patients competent to re¬ 
assume the ordinary relations of life. The ovei 7 - 
crowding of these institutions and the expense of 
their maintenance is such that the State is anxious 
to reduce the number of patients, rather than to in¬ 
crease it. 
As to your question as to what becomes of patients 
who have no friends to stand sponsor for them upon 
their recovery from mental disability, the law pro¬ 
vides that the superintendent of the poor of the 
county from which the patient w 7 as committed may 
be asked to give such financial help as is needed by 
those without friends or funds, and an application 
to this official can be made by a discharged patient 
temporarily in need of help. 
From my knowledge of the care of patients in our 
State institutions, I can only advise being guided en¬ 
tirely by the superintendent’s advice in the matter of 
endeavoring to reassume life outside the institution. 
The superintendent and physicians in charge are 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
August 14, 1920 
more competent to judge of a patient’s ability to do 
this than any patient can be, and the wisest thing in 
this case, as in the case of purely physical disorders, 
is to be guided by the advice of one’s physician. 
M. B. D. 
Fertilizer Prescriptions 
I have something over half an acre of garden on good 
loam soil with hardpan about 2 ft. down; have ma¬ 
nured it heavily past two years. Peas, beets, turnips 
and sweet coi'n grow well, but beans do not grow 7 thrift¬ 
ily ; they have only a few leaves and are short and only 
bear a small crop. Cucumbers this year have died when 
up with three leaves. A few got big enough to run and 
blossom, and now they are withering. What does this 
land need? u. s. 
G ENERALLY land showing these results in crops 
needs lime and phosplioi-ic acid. The fact that 
beets grow well shows that there is a fair amount of 
lime, while sweet corn does not make a full growth 
unless there is an abundance of phosphorus. We 
think the chief trouble with the beans may be a lack 
of the bacteria which work on the bean roots. We 
should try some of the commercial bacteria to inocu¬ 
late the seed. The cucumbers seem to be afflicted 
with some disease like wilt. We do not think it is 
the fault of the soil, but on general principles we 
should use acid phosphate or fine bone with the ma¬ 
nure. 
I have a meadow 7 that gets the wash from hogpens and 
barnyard ; is very rich, a heavy loam, but grain or any 
kind of grass goes down when about half grown. What 
should I put on this soil to make stronger straw or 
grass? 
This seems to be a case of too much nitrogen. The 
grass or grain makes a quick, rank growth, and the 
stems are not strong enough to hold up. The chief 
need in such cases is phosphorus with lime and pot¬ 
ash also helpful. A good dressing of wood ashes will 
help, or 400 lbs. to the acre of acid phosphate. 
Plowing an Old Sod 
I have about 10 acres of land that has not been 
plowed in 25 or 30 yeai-s. The grass and weeds have 
been left, on the ground each year. I wish to cultivate 
this land, and I don’t know what needs to be done first. 
It is sandy loam. I would like to grow potatoes and 
grain next year. What shall I do this year to put it in 
the right condition? F. E. F. 
Pennsylvania. 
In such a case we should plow 7 the old sod in Sep¬ 
tember. Plow so as to leave the furrows up on edge 
and not turned over flat. Leave them that way 
through the Winter, exposed as much as possible to 
the “weather.” The object of this is to let the frost 
work freely through that sod. Tt will destroy many 
insects, kill out some of the weed roots and help 
break up the sod. This is a case where we would 
not advise a cover crop, but would try to subdue 
the old sod first. In the Spring cross-plow the field; 
that is. plow 7 across the furrows, chop up with a disk.' 
and make the sod as fine as possible. It is always a 
gamble to plant potatoes on such an old sod, as the 
soil is usually filled w 7 ith w-liite grubs and wireworms. 
If you could fence in this field and turn in a drove of 
lively pigs after plowing they w 7 ould clean out most 
of the grubs. 
Cover Crop in Raspberries 
I have a raspberry patch of about an acre. Would 
it be advisable to plant Winter rye in between the rows 
this Fall, and plow it under in the Spring? A coating 
of manure would be put on now. I would like to get as 
large berries as possible R. w. D. 
Rhode Island. 
Our plan would be to seed rye and Alsike clover 
among the raspberry bushes late in August. We 
would hold the manure until Spring, then spread it 
on the rye and plow all under. The manure will 
help, not only through its plant food, but will help 
the rye to rapid decay, and thus make it more avail¬ 
able. It is a good plan, wiierever possible, to use 
some manure on the cover crop. 
Improving Poor Soil with Commercial Fertilizer 
I have a small kitchen garden and orchard that is on 
very poor soil. It is almost impossible to get good 
stable manure, so I am trying commercial fertilizer, but. 
as I have never used it would like some advice. How 
much acid phosphate is it desirable to use per acre? 
What time of year is best to apply it? Will it leach out 
if applied in Fall? For nitrogen I shall use dried blood 
and nitrate of soda. When should I apply, and at what 
rate per aci 7 e? S. D. E. 
Oi-egon. 
Use from 400 to 500 lbs. per acre of acid phosphate 
and apply it at the time of fitting the ground. If 
you cannot obtain manure, use cover crops as far as 
possible to keep up the organic matter in the soil. 
As explained elsewhere, the phosphoric acid will not 
leach out of the soil. A combination of nitrate and 
dried blood is good, since the former provides soluble 
nitrogen, while the blood gives organic, or more 
slowly available nitrogen. You can use at the rate 
of 100 lbs. of each per acre. 
Pecans for Virginia 
Can you tell me what varieties of pecans would be 
best adapted to the tidewater section of Virginia, just 
south of Washington? L. c. P. 
About the best advice that could be given would 
be to go slow with such far Southern varieties as 
Stuart. Schley, Van Deman, Crotsch, Dolmas, Money 
Maker, Success and Pabst. While practically none of 
the above-named varieties of pecans have been tested 
in Northern and Eastern Virginia long enough to 
determine their real adaptability to this section, 
their satisfactory productiveness so far north has 
not yet been established, nor their ability to endure 
the occasional low 7 temperatures experienced every 
25 or 30 years in that region. More Northern varie¬ 
ties. such as those which have originated in Southern 
Indiana, would seem more promising, although these 
have not been propagated long enough for nursery- 
grown trees to be in bearing to any extent. The 
bearing habits of the parent trees and the behavior 
of the few nursery-grown trees existing are such that 
their adequate hardiness seems certain. Some of 
the most promising of the Indiana sorts are the 
Major, Green Rivei 7 . Niblack, Busseron and Posey. 
w. A. T. 
Wheat Growing and Fertilizers 
The newspapers are predicting a heavy yield in 
the wheat crop, and also say there is a large 
supply on hand from last year which could not be 
shipped. Of course it is quite common for someone 
always to predict a great harvest about this time of the 
year, and as a rule there is a gx-eat drop in the wheat 
market as a consequence. Many farmers are standing 
between the above facts and the price of fertilizers for 
the Fall sow’ing. Will it be safe for them to risk using 
fertilizers at an advanced price submitted as follows? 
Last 
Spring’s 
Quotations 
$26.70 per ton 
33.35 '• " 
54.45 “ “ 
37.50 “ “ 
41.15 “ “ 
Fall 
Quotations 
$32.35 per ton 
38.80 “ “ 
62.05 “ “ 
41.15 “ “ 
49.35 “ “ 
Analysis 
16% Phos. 
12i> 2 p acid 
2a 1 Op 4p acid 
1 — 8—2 
1—8—4 
These prices include same commission and freight 
rates as last year. The companies claim that they must 
pay 60 cents per hour for labor. e. r. 
New Yoi’k. 
F ROM what we can learn the wheat crop this year 
will be something over 125,000,000 bushels less 
than last year and some 15,000,000 less than the aver¬ 
age for live years. There is, of course, a reserve left 
over from last year. The crop in other countries is less 
than usual, and Europe will be obliged to import 
large quantities of wheat. The acreage in this 
country is growing less. We think there will be a 
good future demand for wheat at fair prices, but 
there is little in prospect to justify anyone in 
“plunging” on this grain. The fair policy would 
seem to be to keep up the wheat in the regular rota¬ 
tion. seed about the usual acreage and use fertilizers 
as before. We think they will pay, even at the 
increased price. 
Notes on the Cover Crop—Rye to Follow 
Potatoes 
On page 1219 reference is made to cover or catch 
crops. In case of a field of potatoes, usually dug late, 
would not the value of a cover crop be destroyed, due 
to the digging? Have you had any experience with rape 
and Alsike clover as a cover crop in young orchards? 
I thought of sowing the combination broadcast, and then 
d ‘agging it in lightly with a spring-tooth harrow. D<> 
you think it will come seeded in this way, provided 
moistxxre conditions are right? Also can you infonn me 
if the i 7 ape will have enough body or stalk left to pre¬ 
vent ground being blown bare of snow after being 
winter-killed? W. H. 0. 
Niagara Co., N. Y. 
The chief value of the cover crop is found in the 
cornfield. It is easiest to seed in corn, and of course 
the corn is cut early enough to give the cover crop a 
chance. It would not pay to seed such a crop in 
potatoes at the last, cultivation. The heavy growth 
of vine would smother much of the seed, and digging 
would end the crop. The only way to get a suitable 
cover crop after potatoes would be to sow rye as 
soon as possible after digging. The work of the 
digger and one harrowing will usually fit the soil. 
It is surprising how late rye can be seeded and still 
make a fair growth. We have seeded it long after 
killing frosts. It made but a small growth above 
ground, but the roots filled the soil and kept it alive 
through the Winter. A good many potato farmers 
seed rye immediately after digging, and are able to 
plow under a good crop in the Spring. If they gro'\ 
early potatoes they have a long growing season in 
the Fall. If they grow late varieties the Spring 
growth is larger. 
We have used rape and Alsike in a small way ami 
found it a good combination where a heavy .Spring 
growth is not desired. One working with a harrow 
would cover the seed where the orchard has bet i 
fairly cultivated. The leaves and stems of the rape 
keep their size and shape well and hold the snow 
