| iene. 
wheat at the rate of 100 pounds per acre. I used the ‘‘ Farmers’ Favorite” drill with 
fertilizing attachment, which conducts the fertilizer through the drill-tubes into the 
ground in immediate contact with the grain. I seeded with timothy at the same time. 
The wheat crop was apparently benefited 20 per cent., and according to our best judg- 
ment the grass crop that followed showed an increased yield of 25 per cent. 
To ascertain the effects of the superphosphates in subsequent experiments, here 
alluded to, I repeatedly crossed aud recrossed the fields with the fertilizers shut off. 
_ Inthe fall of 1870, between the 7th and 15th of September, I put in about thirty-eight 
acres of winter wheat; six acres were on raw ground, moderately manured from sheep- 
sheds and the barn-yard, and summer-fallowed ; eighteen acres on clover and timothy 
sod once turned and afterward cultivated; and fourteen acres on oat-stubble well 
worked. Upon a part of the latter some manure was drawn and about 150 bushels of 
ashes, the major part unleached. These manures were evenly spread and plowed un- 
der, not covering more than five acres. When ready for seeding, I applied to the six 
acres of summer-fallow and to the larger part of the oat-stubble ground a mixture of 
seven parts of ashes to one of common salt, at the rate of 2} bushels per acre. 
Upon the remainder of the oat-stubble ground and upon the sod-ground, I applied 
gypsum at the rate of 24 bushels per acre. The long-continued drought prevailing at 
that time had caused the earth to be as nearly destitute of moisture as it could be, 
insomuch that not afew farmers sowed portions of their fields the second time. Under 
these circumstances, the immediate effect of the fertilizers was to delay the germination 
of the wheat. Hence, that sown on the plots with the fertilizers shut off came up 
first, and for a time looked the most promising. But in due time the fertilized portions 
came up with a strong plant and with a much darker shade of green. This difference 
in stock and strength of color continued, with slight variation, until the ripening com- 
menced, and from that point until harvested, the fertilized portions could be distinctly 
discerned by the clear, white straw; that on the unfertilized strips, particularly of the 
Lancaster and Treadwell varieties, being more of a weather-beaten color. The excess 
of well-matured grain on the fertilized portions was so apparent that I collected a bun- 
dle of each, (fertilized and unfertilized,) growing only the width of a drill-mark (eight 
inches) apart, and threshed them separately. I found the quality of the grain decidedly 
in favor of the fertilized wheat. 
The total yield of the 38 acres was 1,160 bushels, 20 per cent. of which, I think, was 
due to the fertilizers thus used; gypsum giving the largest per cent. of increase and 
producing the most lasting good effect. This year, 1872, I have taken from the same 
ground a crop of red clover, and subsequently a crop of clover-seed. The increase in | 
each clover crop, where the gypsum was used, was at least 50 per cent.; some of my 
neighbors estimating it much higher. The difference was not so marked where ashes 
and salt were used. 
In the falls of 1871 and 1872, respectively, I applied to my wheat-fields, at the rate 
of two bushels per acre, gypsum and salt mixed in the proportion of three bushels of 
the former to one of the latter. Although the drought of 1871 held through the winter 
and up to near the time of harvest, causing almost an entire failure of the winter-wheat 
crop in this vicinity, yet very much of the wheat I did have was traceable to the use 
of the aforesaid fertilizers. How the crop now on the ground will be affected, remains 
to be seen. A mixture of salt and gypsum applied in this manner tends to keep worms 
from the root of the plant, and I incline to the belief that it is a preventive of smut. 
I use the same application upon my corn-ground before marking and planting; also 
upon oats, except When sown on corn-stubble, in which case the previous treatment is 
deemed sufficient. From results thus far, I conclude that salt and gypsum introduced 
into the ground along with the seed, in the foregoing manner, are quite as effective 
fertilizers as any in this market, and much the cheapest. 
Superphosphate retails, in this market, at $60 per ton. Sixty dollars will buy 12 tons 
of gypsum, or 4} tons of salt, or 6 tons of the mixture. My farm, the place of these 
experiments, liesin Seneca County, New York, between Cayuga and Seneca Lakes, about 
600 feet above the latter, and 1,100 above tide-water. The soil is a strong clay loam 
mixed with sand, gravel, and disintegrated rock, known as the Genesee slate group. 
The primitive forests were very heavy, consisting of white, red, black, and yellow oak; 
maple, basswood, black walnut, hickory, white ash, elm, and a few other varieties. 
A FRUITFUL VARIETY OF BUCKWHEAT. 
Jackson County, Iowa.—The silver-hull buckwheat sent here by the Department of 
Agriculture, has proved to be wonderful—7 pounds of seed yielding 35 bushels of beau- 
tiful buckwheat, the weight of which is considerably greater than that of the kind 
ordinarily sown here. 
TEXAS CATTLE-DISEASE,. 
Appanoose County, Iowa.—In August last, one of our shippers brought in 150 Texas 
steers and grazed them a few weeks, after which, at the solicitation of parties owning 
stock in the neighborhood, they were shipped East. The result was that nearly 200 
native cattle died on that range before frost. 
