Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1901-02-28

CAUSE OF CLUB ROOT.

D
Hog Manure and Cabbage-An Old
Theory Handled without Gloves.
Regarding club root in cabbage, my
experience has been that the question
Of soil has more to do with the matter
than the manure. If you have piece
of strong, loamy soil, inclining to clay,
with good natural drainage, you have
a soil that, with proper care in the
details of preparation, fertilizing, etc.,
can be safely counted on for a good
crop of late cabbage if the right varie-
ties are planted. But in that field
there may be here and there places or
spots that sag below the general level
of the rest of the field. Now. if during
| the growing season of this crop there
come Il few downpours of rain, a large
| proportion of the cabbage in those
spots will have ''big root" as it is
called here, hog manure or no hog
manure. Several years ago prominent
butcher of our neighborhood occupied
living on at that time. OF course we
had the manure. He had a trade that
called for large quantities of pork.
He bought cattle and pigs by the car
load. The pigs worked up the offal,
and we drew the manure on the cab
bage ground. The blood from the
slaughter house was led to a large
trough in the pigyard adjoining. Ow-
ing to this latter fact we discovered
that the proportion of nitrogen was too
great even for cabbage. We then be-
gan to mix it with the coarser product
of the barnyard by hauling out alter
nate loads of each to a pile in the
field where it was to be used. A cou-
pie of turnings now and then greatly
improved the mechanical condition
while increasing the availability of the
coarse matter If afraid to use the
hog manure alone, why not adopt some
notifications of this plan?
l never saw any more danger from
the use of hog manure than any other
kind; the trouble has been that | never
could get enough of it. recall also that
when l came into possession of my
larger farm there had been quite a
number of hogs fattened the autumn
previous, and there was a pile of about
two good wagon loads of clear hog
manure lying outside the pen. Be
sides this, we tore down the old pen
that had been built on the ground
about so years before, and it seemed at
the time that everything was hog
manure for about two feet down. At
all events we drew out IL good loads
altogether from that old pen and APP
piled the whole lot, with a half ton of
fertilizer, to an acre of ground for late
cabbage. The crop was sold in the
field for considerably more than | paid
for the ground. l wish we had dozen
or two of such things to clean up now.
l should be willing to take the chances
on "big root by using it.
| have heard this talk concerning
the danger of using hog manure for
cabbage as long as l can remember,
but in every instance that has come
under my personal observation it has
proceeded from a class of men who al
ways SOW their cabbage seed when
the "signs is in the head and kill
their pork when the moon is nearing
the full $50 the meat will swell in the
pot" To recapitulate: If | wished to
grow a crop of late cabbage and the
ground was bare, no sod, | should
draw all the coarse manure l could get
or pay for, not less than 20 loads per
acre, plow it under as soon as could
in the spring, top dress with a few
loads of fine stuff and about aene-half
ton of good cabbage fertilizer analyz-
ing per cent of nitrogen, s per cent
of phosphoric acid and 10 per cent of
potash applied broadcast. then thor
oughly cultivate not too deep once a
week till planting time This on
soil naturally or artificially well drain
ed (plant 215 by 21a feet one ought to
get $125 an acre from that crop.
But good crop of cabbage would not
be the sole object of this thorough
treatment. 1t is well known fact
that there is no crop grown that is bet
ter calculated to clean up weed in
tested piece of ground than late cab
bage, because to get a crop, even on
well matured ground, the cultivator
must be kept constantly going. and this
at a season of year when showers are
less frequent and weed growth less ac-
tive August is better month to sub
due weeds than June usually.
But, again, the next season l should
like to plant that field with corn. with
200 pounds of Eluriate of potash and
600 pounds acid phosphate per acre ap-
piled broadcast. | should plant it to be
worked both ways, then work it all
summer perfectly level and just before
cultivating it the last way for the last
time sow ten quarts Mammoth clover
of undoubted purity mot less than 81
per cent?, then run the cultivator over
lightly and the year following just
keep the top cut back. The next year
you can grow cabbage. potatoes or al
most anything, concludes a Rural New
Yorker writer who thus exploits the
question of hog manure and cabbage.
Galvanized Pans For Maple Sap.