RECENT FACTS. 437 



tive8 of waaU", iiuil Iht- diiVoieiicc v.liieU i.s likely to cxiwt betwccu the 

 IVosli aud tbo commercial aiticlc. 



JS'itraic of aoda and salt. — Mr. IMeclii «ayy that ^\ hen a iariucr obtaius 

 11 profitable iuerease from the use of nitrate of soda or from salt, 

 another, hearing of his success, makes a like application, and perhaps 

 meets with an unfavorable result. Why? Because the conditions of 

 soil \yere diflere'nt. In the first case there might have been phosphate 

 of lime lying- inert in the soil which the soda reached and rendered solu- 

 ble for plant-food ; in the other case there might not have existed any 

 appreciable amount of such inert material. The example thus pre- 

 sented by Mr. Mechi illustrates the lesson that no dependence should 

 be placed on applications of special fertilizers unless some knowledge 

 has been obtained by preliminary experiment or investigation concern- 

 ing the relative constitution of the particular soil. 



FARM ]MANAGE3IENT. 



Old ways and nmc icays in 2lissourL — " J. P.,"' now a farmer at Pleas- 

 ant Hill, Cass County, 'Missouri, states that the best part of his life was 

 spent in the ship-yards of New York City, which he left only about five 

 years ago. Notwithstanding his inexperience in farming, he has met 

 with a fair success, to which the information derived from agricultural 

 publications had contributed in no small degree. One of his neighbors 

 said that he did not understand how it was that a man from the ship- 

 yards could beat old farmers at their own business. Another declared 

 that he believed that Mr. V. raised more on 120 acres than he himself did 

 on 400. These men are old settlers, practice shallow plowing, and think 

 that manure counts for nothing in that region. Mr. P.'s experience has 

 proved to him the value of deep plowing and manuring, though Cass 

 County is one of the best in Missouri in respect to fertility of soil. 



Large farmimj in Connecticut. — C. C. and P. W. Goodrich, of Portland, 

 Connecticut, cultivate 75 acres of land, applying IG cords of manure 

 per acre. They have contracted for five years for the mamu'e of a 

 quarry company whose works lie one mile from their farm, and they 

 keep two teams drawing manure in the winter, and one team in the 

 summer. They use phosphate to the value of $200 annually, buy their 

 grain by the cargo, and grind it in their steam-mill. They feed about 

 200 pounds of meal per day. In 1871 they raised on 15 acres 16 tons of 

 tobacco, which they sold in ISTew York at prices ranging from 10 to 35 

 cents per pound. They raised and sold 3,000 pounds of turnip-seed 

 and one ton of onion-seed, which last brought $1 per pound. They also 

 grew 28,000 bushels of onions, for which they received $1.75 to $2 per 

 barrel. 



Farminf/ in Texas. — Dr. D. W. Brodnax, of Cameron, Milam County, 

 Texas, writes that Mr. John Gratham, of that neighborhood, with the 

 assistance of an infirm boy, seventeen years of age, cultivated and raised, 

 in 18G8, 22 acres of cotton, from which he gathered 27 bales averaging 

 514 pounds, equal to 2S| bales averaging 500 pounds. On other land, 

 with same labor, he made 1,000 bushels of corn. In 18G0, on the same 

 land, he made 20 bales of cotton, averaging 522 pounds per bale, and 

 800 bushels of corn. In 1870, on the same land and with the same 

 labor, he raised 24 bales, averaging 518 pounds per bale, and 1,200 

 bushels of corn. His wife and two little daughters assisted in gather- 

 ing and saving the erops. In addition, he raised potatoes, onions, and 

 all the garden vegetables usually cultivated here, largely in excess of 

 the wants of his family. He also raised a number of hogs, and had a 

 considerable qnantity of bacon to sell. He paid $3 per acre for his land. 



