VOL. LVH
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., MAY 17, 1902.
NO.
(i$ttgriB and !\n$vozv.
Will you please publish ln next week's Farmer
a good and reliable formula for grafting wax.
Also tell us when is the best time to do grafting.
A Carroll County Farmer.
There are many reliable recipes for
grafting wax. Most of them call for
resin, beeswax and tallow but in different
proportions. For this time of year the
following is as good as any. Resin 6
parts, beeswax 1, and tallow 1 part. Instead of tallow linseed oil may be used.
Mix all ingredients thoroughly, after
warming at the stove or in the hand. In
grafting cover every crevice completely,
so as to keep out all air.
Can you or some of your readers tell me what
grass to sow on land that ls mostly white clay,
much lute white clay land In southern Indiana.
The land has standing timber now, which will
be cut off. and I want to get lt to grass without
clearing, and sow seed as soon as timber ls cut
off. The land overflows when the river is on a
boom; otherwise it is dry. and I want a grass
that will stand the water during overflow and
rome out all right afterwards. The land is near
Green river, Ky., and water sometimes stands on
it  three or four weeks at a time. J.   R.   S.
This is too hard a question for us. We
don't know of any grass that will live
under water four weeks, and doubt
whether you will find any. Some reader
may be able to advise you. We think
your wisest pl:.n would be to throw up a
dike along the river bank and keep out the
overflow. Then bluegrass would grow
there.
I would like to know if there Is a liquid which
is used to spray with. If so, what is most recommended. H.   It.   S.
There are many liquids prepared for
spraying, but none is better probably
than the Bordeaux mixture, which you
can easily make at home, and no other
is so cheap. We have published the recipe
several times, and you can find it readily
if you have kept a file of the Farmer. It
consists of blue vitriol and lime, 5 pounds
of each. For a complete insecticide add
one quarter of a pound of pure Paris
fri-een-. This for one barrel of water. All
must be thoroughly dissolved and frequently stirred from the bottom.
I bought a sack of phosphate fertilizer for
strawberries, cucumbers, etc. How should it be
applied to strawberries that will fruit this year?
Would this kind  be good  for potatoes?
J.   J.    E.
We would mix it with 4 or 5 times its
bulk of sand, or mellow soil, and spread
it along the rows, raking it in to the soil.
It is fine for potatoes, but ought to be
mixed with twice its bulk of wood ashes.
Cow Pea Culture.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
Although the advantages to be gained
by growing the cow pea have been duly-
appreciated by our best farmers, yet the
present amount of land devoted to this
culture should be several times increased.
A large increase in the acreage of this
crop would certainly be in the nature of
a very practicable agricultural reform. It
would promote diversified farming, increase the profits of the live stock industry, and better the conditions of the soil
both mechanically and chemically. The
difficulty lies in the feet that even in this
day of scientific agriculture, too many
farmers take no thought for the immediate
present, and continue year after year, to
sell from their farms, soil fertility which
might readily be renewed by a few leguminous crops.
The cow pea is strictly a hot weather
vine, ami should not be planted before the
soil has become thoroughly warm. If
planted for hay alone, a planting about
the first of May will allow the harvesting
of two fully matured crops before frost;
but for seed production a later planting
say in June, has been found to give the
best results. The place in rotation* usually given to cow peas is that of a partial
crop planted between the corn rows at
the last, or at the next to tbe last cultivation; or else that of a second crop on
land where wheat, oats or rye has been
previously harvested. In a sandy loam
the cow pea should be planted in a single
drill, midway between the rows of corn at
the next to the last cultivation, so that
the last cultivation may serve the double
purpose of cultivating the corn, and of
giving the cow peas a start. Care should
be taken, however, on very rich land, that
the sowing, especially of the running varieties, should not be so early that the
corn will be overrun* by the vines. The
amount of seed to be used in sowing after
small grain, although varying greatly
with different varieties, is about one to one
and one-half bushels when sown broadcast,
and about half a bushel per acre when the
planting is in drills far enough apart to
permit cultivation. There are a number
of good varieties of seed which will yield
from 15 to 25 bushels of shelled peas to
the acre; and can be obtained from any reliable seed company.
In fertilizing the cow pea, a complete
fertilizer need not be used, since the plant
has the power of taking up free nitrogen
from the air and changing it to an available plant food through the action* of a
species of bacterium, or microscopic parasite, which grows in little nodules or tubercles on the roots. Nitrogen can be
taken from the soil, however, and is taken
from highly nitrogenous soils in decreasing
amounts until the nitrogen content is so
small that it may be easily obtained from
the air. There is at the same time an increase in the amount taken from the air;
the tendency being, to establish in* the
soil a normal amount of nitrogen. This
being the case then, cow peas may be used
to a great advantage on very thin, poorly nitrogenous soils, in which their roots
will store up large quantities of nitrogen.
The roots may then be left in the ground
to decay, and thereby furnish nitrogen in
an available form to subsequent crops.
Chemical analyses have lately shown that
many large tracts of old farm land are still
in a fairly fertile condition, except for
their entire lack of nitrogen; although
unlimited amounts of nitrogen are right at
hand, and need only the plowing under of
the roots of a leguminous crop to make
the supply of food available to such plants
as eorn, wheat, oats and grasses, which
depend entirely upon the soil for their
nitrogen. Since this power as a nitrogen
gatherer belongs to the cow pea, it is reasonable to suppose that nitrogen may be
omitted from its fertilizer, but on most
soils an application of about two hundred
and fifty pounds of superphosphate of
lime, and one hundred pounds of miniate
of potash is a valuable and economic fertilizer.
In composition cow pea hay resembles
wheat bran, and has a higher nutritive
value, since it contains more potash or
muscle former than tbe latter; the seed,
in fact, being richer in- protein than corn.
The nutritive value of the leaves is much
higher than that of the stems and pods,
which fact shows the extreme care that
should be given to the leaves ,to preserve
them during the curing process. By using a good quality of pea vine hay, the
farmer will find that the usual ration of
the more expensive corn' a^r his working
teams,  may  be greatly  reduced.      Taken
all in all, these widely divergent lines of
value, possessed by the cow pea, are to
be found in but few, if any crops; and no
intelligent farmer can afford to ignore the
desirability of its cultivation.
E.  M.  East.
The Awakening of Nature.
Editor* Indian* Fanner:
Winter is the night of the year. Nature
sleeps, covered with the fleecy blanket of
snow. The trees are leafless and bare,
without growth or fruitage. Wild flowers and plants are as if dead and buried.
Birds have mostly flown. Their nests
are vacant, their haunts silent. Insects
lie rigid with frost. Reptiles are in
hiding. Many wild quadrupeds are lying
in a state of hibernation. But night is
followed by daylight. Though slumber
may endure for a time, an awakening
comes in the morning.
In our latitude the first signs of Nature's
awakening appear early in March. Lord
Tennyson, in Locksley Hall describes the
vernal influence in Nature, as it ij observed in England, as follows:
"In the spring a fuller crimson comes upon tbe
robin's breast;
In the spring the wanton lapwing gets himself
another crest;
In the spring a livelier iris changes on  the  bur i-
isheddove;
In the spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to
thoughts of love."
Here in America the signs of spring not
only include the enriching of the plumage of birds and the propensity of young
men to fall in love but even the trees of
the field and forest add a new luster to the
color of their bark. The stately sycamores shine as if treated to a fresh coat
of house paint. The bushy willows, so
dull in winter, now appear in bright yellow. Apple, pear and cherry trees assume a healthier glow; and a peach orchard clothed irr purple-red becomes a
conspicuous object in the landscape,
though   yet   without   leaf   or   blossom.
The winter birds now take on new life.
The   English   sparrows   suddenly   become
so cheerful as to almost delude one with
| the idea that they contemplated some at-
, tempts at song. The blue jays soften their
hawklike screams to something approaching musical notes.      Horned larks multi-
| ply in numbers and gather in groups of ten
I to  twenty  on  bare  spots  in  the  country
roads and in the fields.     Flocks of tree
( sparrows,   winter   visitors   from   Canada,
i come from the sheltered thickets and ap-
! pear in our orchards and gardens. Crows
, in  numbers of  twenty  or  fifty  assemble
I in   tree-top  conventions   and   vociferously
discuss the current issues of the season.
The south winds blow for a day or two.
The thermometer rises. The barometer
lowers. The snow melts. Black clouds
form in* the west. Showers fall. A little
colder again, but the morning sun is bright
and cheerful. A robin appears in the
maple top. He looks about and listens,
as if wondering what had become of all
the animated bird and insect life of last
season. Presently he calls aloud to
drowsy Nature, "speak! speak!" Hearing
no reply to his challenge but the chatter
of saucy sparrows and the jeering of au
impudent jay, he remarks "tut! tut!'
and flies to a tree top on the next premises to repeat the summons. Sweet, long-
drawn whistles are heard high in air.
None but an ornithologist would credit
them to the bluebird, so different are
they from his usual warble to be heard
a few days later. A rapid, "wheat
wheat, wheat," comes from the old apple
tree. Who has spoken now? It is not
a   new  comer  but  our  ever-present  nut
hatch who has changed his winter "Yank,
yank" to a sweeter and more cheerful
note. Slate-blue snowbirds leave the
coverts of dense forests and invade village
street and park. A lonely killdeer and
high-in-air surveys the cornfields and
low lands, his last year's feeding grounds;
but finding them still somewhat frozen and
icy, passes on with au occasional exclamation of "the idee! the idee!"
There comes a still warmer day.     The
"clack, clack" of crow blackbirds is heard
from the pine trees.     The red-wings appear  about  the   ponds  aud   proudly   displaying their brilliant red, white and black,
shout "O-ka-lee, look at me, look at me."
A familiar "houk, houk" is heard from the
sky.     A wedge shaped,  undulating flock
of Canada  geese  is  cleaving the  atmosphere northward.     The leader's cry, being
interpreted,     means     "all     coming?"   or
"water in  sight."      "Houk,   houk"   from
the rear guard means, "all right here" or
go  ahead."      A  robin  now  mounts    the
barn roof and sings:     "Cheerily, cheerily,
wake  up,   wake    up,  cheerily,     cheerily,
cheer up, cheer up,  come,  wake up, tut,
tut."      The  farmer now  bestirs  himself,
drives woodward with sap pails, and from
the barn yard all eyes follow him,    and
all kind hearts grow restive of winter restraints and long for freedom, and meadows,   and   herbage.      Great    hawks   sail
lazily   in    the   sunshine.        Black-capped
chickadees   and  their  cousins  the  tufted
tits,  no  longer    content    with  repeating
"chickadee   dee,"   now   from   the   maple
grove loudly call, "sweet, oh! sweet, oh!"
Spring is at hand.     Nature is awakening.
Honey bees seek the pussy willows    and
red maples for pollen.     The marshes become   musical   with   amphibian   concerts.
Small boys toss marbles on dry spots on
the  side  walks.     Rosy-cheeked     maidens
smilingly present their teacher with bouquets of  spring beauties,  anemones,   ana
violets.      The  goddess  of  spring  reigns.
Nature is awake. J. M. Keck.
. ONE BOY'S DECISION.
A boy was told by the master of a communal school to strike out a passage m
the history of Christopher Columbus,
which referred to his kneeling down to
thank God on the discovery of America.
"Strike it out; there is no God," said the
master. On going home the boy said to
his mother: "Which is right, M. Appia
(the pastor) or the teacher; they cannot
both be right. The teacher says there is
no God and M. Appia teaches us about
God." After a little while, as if he had
been thinking about the matter, he said.
"Mother, I believe M. Appia is right and
if the days of persecution should ever
break out again when people are burned
for reading the Bible then I'll be burned
with my Bible."
The German emperor has issued his
command, and the doctors must now cut
off their beards. The kaiser's own physician as well as the empress' and their
assistants, we are told, will be obliged
to shave, and the army surgeons may next
expect to receive their orders. The
cause of all this stir, of course, is the
dangerous little microbe. The creatures,
it is found, attach themselves easily to a
physician's beard or mustache, when he
examines his patient's throats, etc., and it
is possible then for him to carry the
disease in his beard to some other person.
Two German professors and a French
professor have studied the matter thoroughly, and the former go so far as to
say that a skull cap should be worn by
the physician in the sick room.