1324 
Tht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
can do this easily, as it is made only 35 miles from 
our home. It will carry all right by express or par¬ 
cel post if the distance is not too great and there is 
no delay, provided the bottles are broken off as soon 
as it arrives. It is hard work and sometimes pretty 
uncertain, but there is the consolation that whether 
or not you get any mushrooms you have a lot of 
manure in fine shape fer any garden crop you wish 
to grow. ELMER .T. WEAVER. 
Pennsylvania. 
New Possibilities in Potato Culture 
On page 1277 a correspondent discussed the 
difference between live stock farming and chemical 
farming in its effect upon the soil. In this particular 
case the farm was largely given to potatoes, with 
cover crops to follow. As the early potatoes may be 
dug in July, the rye or other crops seeded at once 
will have time to make a full growth. The live stock 
farmer who claims to keep his soil productive with 
manure alone often overlooks two things. In every 
qi'art of milk and every pound of live animal that 
be sells a certain amount of lime, nitrogen, phos¬ 
phorus and potash leaves his farm, never to return 
unless it is brought back in some other form. If he 
buys feed or grows clover or Alfalfa, the farmer gets 
part of the nitrogen back, but the other elements 
must be supplied in some way. The element phos¬ 
phorus is the one most likely to be needed on our 
Eastern farms, and it is always good practice to use 
some form of phosphate with the manure. The live 
stock farmer who buys little feed and no fertilizer 
cannot expect to provide enough manure to cover all 
his fields each year. He will be more inclined to 
crowd most of the manure on the corn and let other 
fields go. Thus in the course of a few years he will 
find that some fields are growing stronger, at the 
expense of others. Some live stock farmers will not 
admit that soil can be kept up at a profit by using 
chemicals and cover crops, yet the most profitable 
farming in this country is conducted on that prin¬ 
ciple. For example, there are many potato growers 
who keep practically no live stock and buy no ma¬ 
nure. By keeping the bare land covered with a 
quick-growing manurial crop they fill the soil with 
organic marter and this, with chemicals, will main¬ 
tain the land in good condition. With the use of 
Hubam clover this can be done to even better advan¬ 
tage. The Hubam is a legume, and withal is the 
fastest growing Summer crop we have yet found. 
But how many years may potatoes be safely grown 
on the same soil? There are some farmers who have 
a limited amount of land, all well suited to potatoes. 
By plowing in green cover crops each year they keep 
the soil in fair condition, but how long can this be 
continued without great danger from scab? By using 
certified seed there is little danger of introducing 
scab, and we believe that the use of inoculated sul¬ 
phur will keep the disease in check. In fact, we 
think it might even be possible to use small quan¬ 
tities of ground limestone to increase a legume cover 
crop and then by using inoculated sulphur on the 
seed, and in the drill, prevent the growth of scab. 
If this works out as we believe it will, potato 
growers will have a new advantage. 
Some New York State Corn 
HE photograph from which the picture at Fig. 
559 was made is sent, us by Mrs. Jane Corell of 
Chautauqua County, N. Y. The variety is Whitecap 
yellow dent, purchased of a local seedsman two years 
ago. with home seed selected from that lot. The soil 
is a Dunkirk clay loam. The field had been in grapes 
for 29 years. Then it was planted to popcorn and 
beans and then to tomatoes for two years, commer¬ 
cial fertilizer being used. Then they put on about 
10 tons to the acre of barnyard manure and planted 
corn, and this year the same ground was given a 
c-cat of ground limestone. The corn was planted 
May 27, the picture being taken on September 12. 
This corn measured 12 ft. 2 in. It was planted 
3 ft. 0 in. apart each way, and made an even stand 
ail over the field of 2^ acres. It husked out about 
12 bushels of ears to the acre. The actual height of 
the corn is shown in the picture by the two men, one 
standing on the ground and the other on a ladder. 
This corn shows what we have for a long time 
claimed, that Avhen planted on the right kind of soil 
and properly handled the corn crop in New York 
State will equal or even surpass crops grown in the 
West. Of course a farmer must know how to do it. 
He must have his land properly prepared and take 
care of the crop right, but there are hundreds of 
instances which go to prove that when the work is 
done properly New York farmers can produce as 
much corn to the acre as any other farmers on the 
face of the earth. 
Fertility Lost From a Dairy Farm 
Will a dairy farm that sells all the milk and cream 
off the place keep the ground in a fertile state from the 
manure it makes, or will it get poor? Will it keep up 
fertility by adding lime and phosphate with manure? 
Ohio. e. L. z. 
TON of whole milk will contain in even figures 
12 lbs. of nitrogen, 4 lbs. of phosphoric acid 
and 4 lbs. of potash. If the cows in a herd averaged 
three tons of milk a year the milk of each cow would 
remove from the farm during the year 3(5 lbs. of 
nitrogen and 12 lbs. each of potash and phosphoric 
acid. For a herd of 25 cows this loss would be 
represented in the following table: 
Nitrogen I’Ijos. Actd Potash 
25 cows, 1 year. 900 300 300 
25 cows. 10 years. 9.000 3.000 3,000 
25 cows, 20 years. 18,000 0.000 0,000 
This means a loss of nitrogen in one year about 
equal to what would be contained in 90 tons of 
stable manure. If clover or Alfalfa are grown on 
the farm and fed to the cows there will be some' 
A Properly Protected Well. Fig. 561 
gain of nitrogen from that source, but we all know 
that a part of the nitrogen is lost through drainage 
and chemical changes which turn the nitrogen into 
ammonia. Where considerable feed is bought there 
is a gain of nitrogen from that source, but counting 
the losses from poor methods of handling and the 
amount sent away in the milk, not one dairy farm 
in 20 can accumulate nitrogen in the soil. On the 
other hand, there is a steady and continued loss of 
this element from the farm. 
The loss of available phosphorus in 10 years would 
be 3,000 lbs., or the amount contained in 11 tons of 
acid phosphate. Where feeds are purchased some 
phosphorus is brought to the farm, but counting the 
losses in manure handling there is a steady decrease 
November 12, 1921 
in the amount of available phosphorus in the soil. 
As for the potash, there is. as we see from the table, 
a steady loss of this element. As a rule this is not 
so serious as the loss of phosphorus, for most dairy 
farms contain considerable clay soil, and these are 
usually well supplied with potash naturally. We 
must also remember that on most dairy farms the 
manure is not applied evenly to all the fields. Where 
there is a silo the main object is to produce a fine 
crop of corn, and thei'e is great advantage in having 
the cornfields near the buildings. Thus it usually 
happens that a large proportion of the manure is 
put on the cornfields close by the buildings, while 
Tie fields further back get little or nothing. The 
result is that after a term of years such manuring 
results in making some fields contribute to others, 
which makes an uneven fertility of the farm. We 
think the use erf a crop like Hubam clover will, in 
the future, do much to help that condition. The 
Hubam can be seeded in the grain in Spring and 
give a great crop after harvest for plowing under. 
On the average dairy farm there is a steady loss of 
plant food. Where clover is grown the greatest loss 
is in phosphorus, and on these soils the farm cannot 
be kept up and improved unless phosphates are used. 
Probably the best way to use them is to add about 
40 lbs. to each load of manure as it is hauled out 
and spread. We think it pays as well to use the 
phosphates with the manure as it does to feed grain 
to the cows when they have >ilage or pasture. Lime 
is also necessary if clover and Alfalfa are to be 
grown. There may be some farms on natural lime¬ 
stone land that will not respond to lime, but 90 per 
cent of the farms which have been 40 years or more 
in cultivation cannot give full production without 
lime. 
Making the Well Safe 
A NEIGHBOR of ours has made his well safe 
from contamination, as shown jn Fig. 561. by 
cementing the top all over, so that no surface water 
can get in. and also bringing the well curbing so as 
to extend over the concrete base. The water lost in 
j umping is also drained away, so that none of this 
can soak through the board top and get into the 
well again. 
The well shown in the illustration is about IS ft. 
deep, and is made by walling up with large sewer 
pipe, 2 ft. in diameter. A vein of water flows in 
nicely at the bottom and the sides are concreted, so 
that no surface water can get in. Water at this 
depth is pure, and generally only becomes’ con¬ 
taminated from outside sources. An additional 
feature is made by building a cupola, which aids as 
protection from the snow and elements. 
Ohio. C. M. BAKER. 
It. N.-Y.—The following note is written from 
Kansas. It is a timely warning, for this nuisance 
of the open top well is a great menace to health. 
‘‘In traveling through the country I am surprised 
at the great number of open Avells and wells with 
only a trap-door or loose cover, which are a con¬ 
stant source of great danger to the lives of the 
children on these farms. As I believe that this is 
partly due to thoughtlessness on the part of these 
farmers, would it. not be well for you to publish a 
warning in your jiapcr occasionally against this 
dangerous condition, as many children lose their 
lives from this cause?” a. l. potter. 
Singing at Farmers’ Meetings 
NE of the finest things you can have at any 
farmers’ meeting is good chorus singing. That 
should be encouraged in every community. Efforts 
should be made to develop song writers who can put 
local history and sentiment into song. Nothing will 
keep up the interest in a meeting so well as a well- 
trained chorus, and few things will do more to keep 
up local pride and interest than good songs. This 
l:as been demonstrated over and over both in local 
and national affairs. It is said that one of the great 
reasons why Denmark has been able to make such 
wonderful strides in co-operative work is the fact 
that the song writers fitted appropriate words to 
popular melodies, and the people sang them when¬ 
ever they came together. The average American 
does not sing enough. Most men seem to regard 
singing as “woman's work” and not of great account. 
Woman’s work for public interest is now fully equal 
to man’s, and in many cases far superior. Sing! 
Ix a race of carrier pigeons from Washington to New 
York, New Jersey birds won first, second and third 
places. These birds made the distance in about 4*4 
hours. 
