VOL. LVH.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., MARCH 29, 1902.
NO. 13
Storing Corn Fodder.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
Some things we learn only by experience. Making hay and storing corn fodder are examples. I would like to know
something of the experience of others on
these subjects. Is it best to tramp hay,
Of cut. or shredded corn fodder, while filling the mow. or is it best to throw it in
loose? I will give a little of our experience with cut corn- fodder. Early last
fall we cut two mows full; part of it with
the corn on aud some with the corn husked
off. It was tramped very little. It nearly all spoiled. Later in the season we
began filling a large mow, and when it
about half full we concluded we would
try tramping the balance as an experiment.
The cut fodder was then kept level over
the entire BMW, and all tramped so solid
that we could with ease
walk over it, except ten feet
at one end was not tramped
at all. We are feeding from
the side, the whole length
of the mow. In the lower
half and the ten feet at the
end where not tramped the
fodder is badly spoiled. At
the top, except aboot five inches right on the surface, it
is in very good shape. The
best and cheapest way of
handling the fodder crop are
important problems to solve.
W. H. Lafuse.
Liberty.
this the cultivator- alone must be used
until the corn is too high for it, when a
light drag made to go between the rows
will be a satisfactory tool to use. Shallow
cultivation frequently to conserve moisture, and to kill any weeds that may be
starting, is all that is necessary. I have
said nothing about time of plowing,
method of planting seed, etc. It is understood that all these are important in
starting the crop, but the point in this ar-
ti<-le was to emphasize the growing of
corn in a dry  season.
A.   N.   Springer.
Use and Abuse of Lime.
Editors  Iniilanit   rainier:
Lime is seldom abused by over use, but
in most cases too much is expected of lime.
It is not plant food in the true sense, but
it acts  powerfully  in converting  unavail-
fourth year. On very heavy clayey soils,
use lime whenever the soil shows a tendency to form surface clods. On no account neglect using fertilizer simply bemuse lime is used. Lime promotes the
usefulness of true plant food, but does not
take its place. The best time to use lime
is on turned under grass sod, of any kind.
As soon as the planking or harrowing is
finished in the spring, broadcast the lime.
It will work into the soil without aid from
the farmer, in fact, it disappears rather
quickly.
We have noted the necessity of using fertilizer as well as lime. Use quite as much
fertiliser as if you were not liming. On
heavy green manure crops, little nitrogen
need be used on freshly limed land, but
do not skimp the potash and phosphates.
Oals may be taken as a good illustration;
Growing a Good Corn Crop
in a Dry  Season.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
It is no longer considered
an  impossibility  to grow  a
good crop of corn in a very
dry season. Some essentials
there are,    however,    which
cannot be dispensed with to
make    a   complete   sneecss.
One of the essentials of first
importance   is   a   soil   well
filled with vegetable matter.
A      heavy      clover       sod
is understood to represent     this        about        as
nearly as may be. The next
is proper preparation of the
soil.     The first step in this
is plowing, or "breaking" as
it is familiarly    called. This
should   be  done   in   a   thorough   manner;
soil not turned over so flat but inclined.
A jointer should be used and all stubble
trash, manure, etc., put in bottom of furrow. Plowed irr this way there will be
no grass sods left to hinder the subsequent working of the soil. Harrowing is
next in order, or more properly speaking
the fining of the soil. At this season of
the year a drag will do wonders i ■■ the
way of pulverization of soil, ami will not
compact it, as does a roller. Going over
the ground alternately with drag and
smoothing harrow a fine seed bed may be
formed in about four times over. The
third essential is proper cultivation. This
must begin as soon as possible after corn
is in the soil ami continued until roasting
ears nre plentiful. One, or at the most
two days after planting, the soil should
lie thoroughly stirred with the harrow or
weeder, and at intervals of one week or
less, stirred again. The harrow and
weeder may be used until the corn is of
sufficient hight to be plowed easily. Then
the two-horse cultivator with small shovels should alternate with the weeder. until   the   corn   is   six   inches   high.      After
A  Tarty of Pleasure Seekers on an Alligator Hunt on Merritt's Island, off the Coast of Florida.
able plant food into such forms that plants
can assimilate same. Its principal use is
to correct the physical condition of soils;
loosening heavy clay soils and compacting
light sandy soils. If a soil is acid through
the decay of excessive organic matter, lime
will sweeten it and also dc3troy the green
moss so common in old pasture fields, or in
neglected lawns. Lime is generally used
freely at first, as it has all the effect of
abundant manuring or fertilizing. Organic
matter is quickly broken up and nitrogen
as well as potash and phosphate liberated
in soluble form. Even the insoluble soil
silicates are more or less broken up, yielding plant food in small amounts. The result on its face is that lime appears to be
in truth a fertilizer, but sooner or later
these stores of plant food are exhausted,
and lime no longer gives results. This is
properly the abuse of lime.
Lime also acts to prevent the formation
of surface crusts, so common where .tensive fertilizing is necessary in order to
procure heavy crops of early vegetables,
or where large crops of any kind are
grown. It should l,e used nt the rate of
40 bushels  slacked   lime  per  acre,  every
a crop of 60 bushels taearrs per acre 55
pounds of nitrogen, 6*1 pounds of potash,
and about 30 pounds at phosphoric acid.
You should use a pound of potash for
every bushel of oats you expect to grow.
If a good oats soil is limed in a cover sod,
even for the second year turned down, and
potash ami phosphates omitted, the crop
will lodge. It is a common thing to see
rich bottom lands planted to corn when
oats would be a far more profitable crop,
but, it is known that oats grown on these
lands make straw but a short crop of
grain, and that light-weight. This is a
sure sign of a need of potash and
I hosphates.
The ever-flow land, the benefits of systematic tillage in liberating the insoluble
plant food of soil particles is almost void
In this case nitrogen is generally present
in ample quantities, but potash and phosphoric acid in soluble forms, very deficient
The mineral plant food elements should
here be used freely, in order that the nitrogen may be used to advantage. Lime
is always effective on such lands, but
is used in smaller quantities, but more frequently applied. R. Garwood.
The Renters Side of the Question.
Fditora Indiana Farmer:
In the Farmer of March 8th, on the 10th
page and 4th column, Mr. Pendleton seems
to think that a tenant or a renter as he
calls them doesn't know how to plow, or
to hoe, or when to plant corn. I can show
him some men that rent farms than can
show some of your landlords how to grow
wheat and mow fence corners. Some
of the best farmers in our neighborhood
are renters, because if they were not good
farmers they could not pay such high rent
and keep up with the world, and school
their children, and clothe their families.
Many landlords seem to want a renter to
build 40 or 50 rods of wirse fence, and
put in 30 or 40 rods of new ditch, and
roof a barn and a hog house or two, and
pay $350 a year for 80 acres of land, and
give half of the wheat, at
the market, aud pay the
first installment of taxes.
Too many landlords would
compel the renter to take
his tired and worn out team
and haul gravel at $2 a day,
r.nd his wife must work for
the landlord's wife just
when she calls on her to, to
finish paying the rent on e
thicket that his boy's have
grubbed for one crop of
corn. There are many
landlords that are too close
on their renters. If they
would give the renters half
a show he would work with
a good deal better will and
would have a better heart
to try to school his children
and clothe his family and
feed  them.
J. C. R.
The Linden tor Bees.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
Would it be advisable and
profitable for a farmer on
a small farm, who keeps a
few bees because he has a
desire to, but does not put
his entire attention to. that
business, to buy a few Linden, (American Basswood)
trees from the nursery to
beautify the premises, and
for the benefit of the bees?
.Would the kind of trees put
out by the nursery admit of successful
transplanting, providing the proper care
is taken? Has any reader of the Farmer
had any experience in that line?
Hamilton Co. j   -3
—We certainly would recommend you
to plant the Linden. It is a beautiful
shade tree, and its bloom makes fine
honey. It is easily transplanted when
young.
The latest good story they are telling in
commercial circles is about Mr. Marshall
Meadow, the great merchant.
A man who was trying to earn $5 or $6
by writing him up for some publication
or other asked him this question:
"Mr. Meadow, how much do you think
you are worth?"
"Well," replied the great merchant,
meditating a moment, "to ascertain- what
I am worth you must first take the figures
representing the half of my wealth. Then
multiply those figures my two "
The  intelligent  reader,  of course,  does
not need to be told that it is just as difficult to ascertain the half of Mr   Mea
dow's wealth as the whole of it.-Chicaeo
Tribune.