1869. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



141 



cases may be caused by the use of a poor arti- 

 cle of superphosphate or other nearly worth- 

 less trash, palmed off upon him by an unprin- 

 cipled manufacturer or dealer in the article — 

 and, sometimes, a good and really valuable 

 concentrated manure may fail in increasing 

 the crop by injudicious application. Such 

 cases I have known in the use of guano and 

 superphosphate, where the seed, when planted 

 or sown in immediate contact with these pow- 

 erful manures, failed to "come up" — or if 

 they did come, their growth was greatly re- 

 tarded. 



Before the Southern rebellion, Peruvian 

 guano was sold at about $60 per ton, and 

 large quantities were annually used botii 

 North and South — more especially in many of 

 the older Southern States — for the wheat crop. 



More than twenty years of carefully con- 

 ducted experiments by Mr. Lawes, and the 

 practical results of thousands of farmers in 

 England, prove beyond all question, that for 

 the production of maximum crops of wheat a 

 full supply of nitrogenous manures is essential. 

 Mr. Lawes has furnished his wheat crops with 

 this supply by the direct application of about 

 150 pounds each of sulphate and muriate of 

 ammonia per acre. This, probably, would be 

 found too expensive for our farmers. Proba- 

 bly the cheapest source from which our far- 

 mers could obtain it, would be in the pur- 

 chase of a prime Peruvian guano, which con- 

 tains from fourteen to eighteen per cent, of 

 nitrogen, besides phosphates and potash. 

 This guano is now quoted in Boston price cur- 

 rents at $100 per ton, in greenbacks. The 

 average increase of wheat by the application 

 of 100 pounds of guano in England, is esti- 

 mated at three bushels, or nine bushels per 

 acre from 300 pounds of guano. L( it will do 

 that here, (at the price of flour for several 

 years past), we think it will pay, even at the 

 present price of guano. Nine bushels of 

 wheat will make two barrels of prime flour — 

 worth here $15 per barrel — 300 pounds of 

 guano, freight and application, will cost, say 

 $17, leaving a profit of $13 on the purchase of 

 the guano. It is said, figures don't lie. Per- 

 haps some may say these do. Well, if there 

 are any such doubters, I will have no contro- 

 versy with them, but will make another state- 

 ment that will not be discredited, viz : that 

 the people (including farmers) of New Eng- 

 land do annually pay out millions upon 

 millions of dollars for Western and other 

 brands of flour. How they manage to meet 

 such drafts upon their pockets, is a question, 

 more easily asked than answered. 



There are great numbers of farmers in 

 many sections of New England who have for a 

 long series of years successfully grown both 

 fall and spring sown wheat, never having pur- 

 chased a barrel of flour in their lives. What 

 these farmers have done, thousands of others 

 can do, if they will set about it in ''right good 

 earnest.'^ 



But to go back to superphosphates. Within 

 a few years past, there have been numerous 

 manufactories of superphosphates established 

 in this country, many of them requiring a 

 large money capital in erecting suitable build- 

 ings and the necessary fixtures, and most of 

 them, it is presumed, are intended as "perma- 

 nent institutions." This, however, will de- 

 pend very much upon the quality of the arti- 

 cle they put into the mai'ket. Self interest, 

 however, will prompt them to furnish the far- 

 mers with a No. 1 superphosphate, if they can. 

 What is generally understood to be a true 

 superphosphate of lime is composed of pure 

 animal bone and a certain per centage of oil 

 of vitriol, (sulphuric acid). 



I have within the past two years experiment- 

 ed with about fifteen different brands or kinds of 

 superphosphate. In colors ranging all the 

 way from the deepest black to white, and in 

 odor, from the most ofTensive to that which 

 was scentless. Why such difference ? We 

 common farmers cannot tell. We think, how- 

 ever, that the offensive odor of some super- 

 phosphates is not a safe criterion whereby to 

 judge cf its true manurial value. On my 

 farm different brands have exhibited dlllerent 

 results. Some kinds greatly increasing the 

 growth or yield of crops over others — perhaps 

 on other soils the effects might have been the 

 reverse. The safest way for farmers is to ex- 

 periment in a small way with different brands, 

 side by side, on their different soils and crops ; 

 by so doing, they may perhaps escape serious 

 loss. 



In illustration of the foregoing, at the New 

 Hampshire Farmers' Conventioa last week, 

 Jos. B. Walker of Concord, read at the meet- 

 ing a very able essay on the culture of "In- 

 dian Corn." In speaking of concentrated 

 manures for that crop, he said, in 1867, he 

 used three different brands of superphosphates, 

 — two of them proved first rate, the other was 

 worthless. He was asked whose brand it was 

 that proved worthless. He declined answer- 

 ins the question. The past season he grew 

 ovCTfour acres of corn on the "Concord in- 

 tervale." About one-third of the corn was 

 manured in the hill with hen manure ; the bal- 

 ance with Andrew Coe's superphosphate. 

 That portion receiving the phosphate was de- 

 cidedly the best, the yield being much larger, 

 and the corn sounder and better matured. 



Last spring, S. C. Pattee, one of our best 

 and most intelligent farmers, experimented 

 with a large number of concentrated manures 

 on his corn crop, on inverted sod, no other 

 manure applied to the land. He used eight 

 kinds of superphosphates ; seven of them did 

 well, — one nearly worthless. Besides the 

 phosphates, used fish pomace, hen manure, 

 night soil, &c. The phosphated rows ripened 

 in advance of the three last. He gave some 

 of the superphosphates to farmers in his 

 neighborhood. The effects were similar to 

 those on his farmu Phosphates applied to the 



