878 
7ht RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
July 2, 1921 
Crushed Granite Rock Again 
In a neighboring county a man is sell¬ 
ing a feldspar rock which he claims has 
2 per cent potash. Would this ground 
rock be any good for land without any 
treatment? That is, would the potash be 
available? D. s. 
Connecticut. 
This is not a new scheme. Several 
years ago, before the war, a number of 
parties tried to introduce this crushed 
rock There is no question about the fact 
that some samples of feldspar cr granite 
contain considerable potash. In some 
cases samples of granite are reported to 
analyze as high as 6 per cent. Many ef¬ 
forts have been made to discover a cheap 
process for making this rock available. 
Many patents have been obtained, and it 
has been possible to treat the crushed rock 
with acids or heat so as to give available 
potash. The process costs too much to 
enable this rock material to compete with 
German and French potash. The crushed 
rock has little value as a fertilizer. The 
chemists find little plant food value, and 
practical experiments have shown little 
result. We would not advise its use. If 
you want to buy potash at all, buy the 
available forms, like sulphate or muriate. 
Sorrel as a Lime Plant 
factory in your climate in all seasons, and 
it would be better to use Ito San or Ilolly- 
brook. If you plant these in late May 
and cut them for hay as soon as the pods 
are well filled, you can run a harrow 
over the stubble and sow the clover and 
wheat after the disking. When this clover 
is intended for hay it is well to mix a 
little wheat with it, though the wheat is 
cut at a very immature stage, or as soon 
as the clover blooms. My own opinion 
from careful experiments is that the great¬ 
est value of the Crimson clover crop is to 
turn under in preparation for a corn crop 
or other hoed crop. It is ready at a 
season when good hay-making weather is 
rare, and I have never yet seen really good 
hay made from it, though it is very com¬ 
mon here to mix the wheat in and make a 
sort of sun-dried and bleached hay. It is 
worth far more as a soil improver than 
as hay. Plant corn the usual distance. 
Cultivate shallow and level, and just after 
last cultivation drill a row of the peas 
down the middles. Or you can sow broad¬ 
cast ahead of the last cultivation seed of 
the early Whippoorwill peas and culti¬ 
vate them in. Then, after corn is cut and 
shocked, the peas can be disked down and 
the land made fine for the sowing of 
wheat in October. If the Black Eye peas 
food. The history of the last 50 years 
reveals many cases of this sort where 
products that were once considered as 
waste have been made valuable through 
scientific discovery. We are now toid 
that tomato seeds are to be saved and 
utilized. Anyone who has been near the 
large canning factories during their sea¬ 
son will remember the great piles of 
tomato waste often built up around them. 
A few of the seeds are washed out and 
sold to farmers and gardeners, but most 
of this product has been waste. It is now 
found that the seed contains a useful oil, 
while the refuse left after pressing this 
oil out makes a fairly good stock feed. 
The seed is separated from the tomato 
waste, thoroughly washed and dried. The 
oil is then extracted by mechanical pres¬ 
sure. When this oil has been bleached 
and refined it compares in quality with 
other common edible oils, and will, no 
doubt, be sold mixed with other produces 
as food. The dried meal made by grind¬ 
ing up what is left after the oil has been 
pressed out is a stock food containing 37 
per cent of protein and 20 per cent of 
carbohydrates. As the tomato contains a 
good proportion of vitamincs, it is quite 
likely that this food product is reasonably 
rich in these elements. This only shows 
how science is developing food value out 
of waste. At present it would hardly 
pay to attempt to utilize the seed from a 
small canning factory. The larger fac- 
One of our readers says he has had a 
controversy with his neighbor about the 
effect, of a crop of sorrel upon the ground 
This man claims that sorrel indicates 
sour soil, and that the more of it you plow 
under, the more acid the soil will be¬ 
come. The neighbor claims that sorrel 
may have an effect to sweeten the soil 
when it is plowed under, although he 
thinks it is one of the most acid of crops. 
This seems like a ridiculous statement to 
the first man, and he wants to know if 
there is any sense in it. There is con¬ 
siderable sense to it, although it may 
seem ridiculous at first thought. Sorrel 
thrives on land that it quite deficient in 
available lime. It is able to utilize forms 
of lime which could not be used to feed 
Timothy or clover. When the available 
supply of lime ‘is low, soils are called sour, 
and the Timothy and clover fail on such 
land because they cannot make use of the 
small amount of lime which it contains. 
The sorrel, however, can use these forms 
of lime. It will make a heavy growth on 
such sour land by making use of lime 
which the other crop cannot utilize. This 
lime is stored up in the sorrel plant. When 
these plants are plowed under and decay 
in the soil the character of this lime is 
changed, and through a curious chemical 
action the lime is left in the form avail¬ 
able for the Timothy and clover. Thus 
the sorrel plant makes use cf the lime 
which Timothy and clover could not util¬ 
ize and then in its decay the sorrel plant 
gives this lime back to the soil in an 
available form. The lime which it leaves 
in the soil is able to neutralize the soil 
acidity, and will help feed the Timothy 
or clover. Of course, there would not be 
enough of it to make very much of a show¬ 
ing. but that curious form of chemistry 
goes on, so that it is actually possible for 
this sour crop to sweeten the soil to a lim¬ 
ited extent. 
Soy Beans and Cow Peas as Catch Crop 
I plan to drill Soy beans in rows 2 ft. 
8 in. and cultivate, seeding between the 
rows, in August or September, Crimson 
clover with a light addition of wheat. 
Soil, clay loam, grows good corn. Is in¬ 
oculation worth while? No previous crop 
of legumes. How much seed per acre? 
How would cow peas (Black Eye I find 
best on clay soil) do with corn, one row 
corn and one row peas alternately, 2 ft. 
8 in. apart? Could the peas be planted at 
time of planting corn, or better drill them 
down the center between corn rows, which 
will be 5 ft. 4 in. or 6 ft. anart, later? I 
am not looking for full yield of corn. 
Poplar Hill, Md. B. M. n. 
The Soy beans will do well planted and 
cultivated ns you propose. The success 
of the Crimson clover will depend to a 
great extent on the growth made by the 
beans. If the late Mammoth Yellow Soy 
is planted and the soil is strong as some 
of the land I have seen in Prince George’s, 
Plowing of Square and yarrow Fields Contrasted 
are used you can gather the peas before 
disking the vines. The presence of the 
peas will be a help to the corn crop. 
W. F. MASSEY. 
Sorrel in Hay 
Does sorrel mold after it is cut at hay 
time and put in the barn for Winter use? 
I intend to buy standing grass from the 
owner of a farm I rent. They put the 
seed in last Fall; no liming or top-dress¬ 
ing was put on the grass land, and there 
is now an abundance of sorrel and not 
very much grass. If I buy it, would the 
crop spoil on account of so much sorrel? 
I intend to feed it to my cows. There 
are nine acres. a. S. 
If you are careful to have that hay 
thoroughly dried out before it goes into 
the barn there will not be much danger 
from the sorrel. When there is trouble 
with this plant it takes longer to cure the 
hay than would be the case with Tim¬ 
othy and Red-top. The sorrel must be 
fully dried out. If you are careful, how¬ 
ever, and can take time enough with it, 
there will not be serious trouble from 
molding. We have seen cattle that seem 
to prefer hay containing considerable of 
this sorrel. During the Winter, when 
put mostly on dry feed, many cattle un¬ 
doubtedly enjoy this sour growth. It is, 
however, a poor thing to have in the seed¬ 
ing. and usually indicates a lack of avail¬ 
able lime. 
Oil and Food from Tomato Seed 
It is said that 50 years or more ago, in 
some parts of the country, millers dumped 
bran and middlings into the river in 
order to get rid of this refuse. In some 
cases they were prosecuted for doing this, 
as the people seemed to think it poisoned 
the fish Finally it was learned that the 
tories, however, would no doubt handle 
their product, and a process would prob¬ 
ably be developed to suit the work done 
at the smaller canneries. 
A Nuisance of English Sparrows 
Will you advise me of some efficient 
remedy for preventing sparrows from eat¬ 
ing up my lettuce, peas, Swiss chard, 
etc.? There are hundreds of these pests 
out here, and they eat my garden stuff 
off as fast as it comes up. I have tried 
to kill them with poisoned wheat, but they 
are smart enough to refuse to eat it. I 
cannot throw any poisoned grain or other 
matter on the ground, as I have some 
young chicks that might eat it. I thought 
that I would spray the plants with some 
mixture which would not hurt the chicks 
if they should by chance eat it, but at the 
same time it would be distasteful to the 
sparrows, and so cause them to leave my 
garden stuff alone. I might add that I 
am living in the city limits of Denver, 
Colo., and that it is a violation of the 
law to shoot anything. In addition to 
that, I do not possess any firearms, and 
do not care to go to the expense of pur¬ 
chasing a small caliber gun for the only 
purpose of getting rid of these pests. If 
there is anything that will do the trick. 
I would consider it a favor to be advised 
at an early date. E. a. a. 
If the sparrows will not touch poisoned 
bait put in the air. out of reach of do¬ 
mestic fowls, we shall have to call in 
R. N.-Y. readers for a conference. We 
have succeeded fairly well with poisoned 
bait. The Department of Agriculture 
describes several forms f wire traps 
which are said to be effective. Spraying 
with Bordeaux mixture might help. As 
a last resort, if the garden, as we sup¬ 
pose, is small, we should make a large 
frame or tent of mosquito netting and 
spread it over the lettuce and peas. 
Advantage of Long Fields 
necessary in plowing a given acreage 
there is a great difference between an 
oblong and a square field. A square field 
requires the minimum fencing to enclose 
it. but the maximum number of turns to 
plow it; an oblong field requires more 
•fencing, but proportionately less turnings. 
In the diagrams No. 1 is to represent a 
square field containing 10 acres. It is 
drawn so that the rounds and rows are 
four rods apart, but it shows graphically 
that it takes twice the turning to plow' 
such a field as it does one like No. 2 of 
the same area. No. 3 shows the extra 
turning in dividing a long field in the 
middle. If the plow turns about 12 in. 
of soil, field No. 1 will require 1,320 
turnings, while No. 2 needs but half, or 
060. In harrowing the same proportion 
holds, of course. When planted, if the 
rows be about 40 in. apart, the square 
field will have about 200 rows 40 rods 
long, while the long field will have 100 
rows 80 rods long. 
The square field will need 100 rods of 
fencing, while the long field will need 
200. However, the extra rods of fencing 
will be more than compensated for by the 
long row's and few'er turns in one or two 
rotations. After getting used to fields 
having long rows and parallel sides, no 
one will w'ant. to go back to short rows 
again. Point rows will be avoided where 
possible. 
To plow 10 acres with a single-bottom 
12-in. plow' one must travel 82% miles, 
and when planted in 40-in. rows 25 miles 
of travel will be required in cultivating, 
one row at a time. Turning at corners 
not only takes time, but is a nuisance to 
team and driver, to be avoided whenever 
possible. w. E. dtjckwaxl. 
Highland Co., Ohio. 
The Benefit of an Extra Cold Winter 
T have some peach trees in my garden 
up here in the hills of Northeastern Con¬ 
necticut. Each year I have been obliged 
to spray them in Winter or early Spring, 
while the buds were dormant, with a 
strong iime-sulphur snray, to keep off the 
peach-leaf curl. If I failed to do that, 
nearly every leaf on the trees would have 
the “curl” and die. A year ago last Win¬ 
ter we had very severe cold, the temper¬ 
ature going to 20 degrees below zero. 
Every peach fruit bud was killed, so I did 
no Winter spraying; the leaves started 
out about half way down the branches, 
the tips being killed by the cold. I cut 
off the dead ends of the branches, about 
half of the previous season’s growth being 
dead. But the trees made a fine new 
growth, and in the Summer looked as 
thrifty as ever. What surprised me was 
that there was not the least sign of peach 
leaf-curl on any tree. The cold had killed 
every spore. This last Winter I did not 
spray, and have watched with interest to 
see if the “curl” would appear. So far 
there is no sign of it; the leaves are well 
grown, and the trees are loaded with fruit. 
There are two years’ stock of fruit ma¬ 
terial stored in the trees, and the bloom 
this year was enormous. 
I was looking at. the trees a few min¬ 
utes ago; the young peaches are a little 
larger than peas. On a late twig five 
inches long there were nine peaches; an¬ 
other twig six inches long had 11 well- 
developed peaches on. Of course, the 
trees will have to be ruthlessly thinned. 
I am reminded of a tree on my farm. 
When the peaches were about the size of 
marbles I thin them out, covering the 
ground under the tree with peaches. Again 
when they were three-quarters grown I 
pulled off peaches until the ground was 
practically covered with them. When 
those peaches were ripe I had 1,3 sup¬ 
ports under the branches, and part of the 
tree broke down then.. 
Mr. Tillinghast was “peach-tree inspec¬ 
tor” ; he viewed the trees and said : “That 
tree will have the yellows. I won’t, order 
it cut down, but next year you will see 
twigs and small leaves on the body of the 
tree, that are proof of the yellows.” And 
they came, and I had to cut it down. 
Was that enormous fruiting a desperate 
effort of the tree. to reproduce its kind 
before death? It is common knowledge 
that a tree which produces scantily will 
largely increase its cron if part of the 
roots are cut off. Is it because its life 
is attacked that it seeks to more abund¬ 
antly reproduce its kind? 
What a wonder nature is! 
Another benefit of the cold was the 
destruction of cutworms, etc., the cold 
penetrating the ground deeper than where 
they usually find safety. I did not pro¬ 
tect my tomato and pepper plants as 
usual with a band of tin or roofing paper 
stuck in the ground, but I don’t remem¬ 
bers that any were cut off. 
GEO. A. COSGROVE. 
Coming Farmers’ Meetings 
July 16—Annual field meeting, New 
Jersey State Board of Agriculture, Rari¬ 
tan. N. J. 
July 27-20—Farmers’ Week and Poul¬ 
try Convention, Michigan Agricultural 
College, Amherst, Mass. 
August 2-5—International Baby Chick 
Association. Philadelphia. Pa. 
August 9-13—American Poultry Asso¬ 
ciation, Seattle, Wash. 
August 10-10—Annual Farmers’ and 
Homemakers’ Week. New Hampshire Col¬ 
lege, Durham, N. II. 
the growth will shade the land to such an 
extent as to make the success of the 
clover doubtful. In fact, the Mammoth 
Yellow Soy is rather too late to be satis¬ 
wheat bran had a high food value for man 
or beast. Today the miller who throws 
bran away in this &ay would probably 
land in jail for destroying wholesome 
It requires the same number of feet of 
travel to plow a certain number of acres 
regardless of the shape of the field, and 
1 lie distance traveled depends on the size 
of the plow. In the number of turns 
“Mrs. Blank is a great baragin 
hunter, isnt’ she?” “Yes; she even 
picked out a husband whose reputation 
was slightly damaged.”—Boston Tran¬ 
script. 
