The QuESTioisr Box. 269 



would have to watch the crops, note results and then feed the 

 plants just what they should have. 



Does it pay to let manure stay out all winter in the barn yard, when the 

 land needs it? 



Mr. Van Alstyne. — No, but we see it every day on some farms; 

 at the same time the owners are going out and buying commercial 

 fertilizers. This class of farmers are those who are all the time 

 howling about their taxes, but they never stop to think that they 

 are losing six times as much every year through the loss of their 

 manure and the injury done to their farming tools left out of doors 

 the year round. 



With cow manure at $1 per ton, what per cent, of liquids should be 

 credited? How can it be saved? 



Mr. Converse. — I would make the floors and gutters of cement, 

 then use absorbents in the gutters to hold the liquids. They con- 

 tain sixty per cent, of the value of the voidings of the animals. 

 Straw, horse manure, land plaster and other absorbents should be 

 used for this purpose. 



Where is the best place to buy Carolina rock? What are the prices? 



Mr. Cook. — I buy it for |11 per ton, from first hands. 



Mr. Fenner. — It is |14 with us. Prices seemed to vary accord- 

 ing to localities and markets. Some is more available and has 

 more acid in it than has others. There are several features 

 about South-Carolina rock, and, all things considered, I believe 

 it best to use the dissolved rock in the cow stables, behind 

 the cows. There are from 240 to 280 pounds of phosphoric acid 

 in a ton of the rock, with about 1,100 pounds of gypsum. 



A Farmer. — We buy pure plaster here for $3.50 per ton. 



What form of potash shall I buy, kainit, muriate or sulphate, for 

 tobacco? 



Mr. Cook. — Sulphate is, as a rule, worth from $8 to $10 per 

 ton more than is the muriate. I cannot now give prices. The 

 difference in price is in the less amount of salt in the sulphate. 

 There is no salt in that while there is in the muriate. I don't 

 know about kainit. 



