1869. 



NEW ENGLAND FAR^NIER. 



313 



extensively circulated in New England, and we 

 have been looking for the results of experi- 

 ments with the complete manure by Yankee 

 farmers, which should determine its practical 

 value on our soils. 



The following experiment with this fertilizer 

 on potatoes has been reported by a correspon- 

 dent of the Mirror and Farmer, "D. G." of 

 HoUis, N. H. 



Last spring I measured off a strip of land con- 

 taining seven square rods, and divided it so as to 

 have one rod in each plat, and planted them as 

 tollows, with the same number of pounds of pota- 

 toes to each plat for seed : — 

 No. 1. VViihoutany fertilizer. 

 No. a. Was a compound of my own getting up, 

 whicli 1 describe hereafter. 



No 3. Prof. Viiie's "Complete Manure," as fol- 

 lows : nitrate of soda, 3 lbs. ; carbonate of potash, 

 2 lbs. '2 oz. ; superphosphate of lime, 2 lbs. 2 oz. ; 

 quicklime, 9 oz. 



No. 4. Same as No. 3, with the pitrate of soda left 

 out. 



No 5. Same as No. 3, except the carbonate of 

 potash (pearlash.) 

 No. 6. Wittiout superphosphate of lime. 

 No. 7. Witnout quickhme. 

 The yield of the several plats was as follows: — 

 ISO 1 pro -tuced 21 J2 pounds, or 57>^ bushels per acre. 

 " 2 " 37>^ " " lllO " '' " 



" 3 " 68^ " " 156 " " " 



i. 4 .< 2U^ " " 573^ " " " 



" 5 " Zi-i " " 92 " " " 



" 6 " Zi)4 " " 92 " " " 



" 7 " 31>i " " 67X " " " 



The first question will doubtless be, "Did it 

 pay ?" Not l)y a long chalk, it you count the cost 

 of tbe doctor stuff', in proportion to the yield, — hut 

 it aid in this way : 1 found out just what that fit Id 

 wants to gi'ow a crop of potatoes. In otber words, 

 the experiment gave an analysis of the soil, much 

 cheaper than the chemist would have done it, and 

 much more to my advantage. 



Compound No. 2 was made as follows; 1 cask of 

 lime, slacked with 8 pails of water, in which a 

 bushel of salt had been dissolved. This was spread 

 on the floor, and 1 bushel of salt, about 3 bushels 

 of plaster, 4 of ashes, ^ peck of copperas, and 

 about 5 or 6 bushels of hen manure mixed to- 

 gether ; the planter and hen manure should oe thor 

 oughiy Hiixed before putting it with the other in- 

 gredi.nts. This will make a very strong com- 

 pound and a good one lor potatoes, but should be 

 spread considerably if put in the hill. It should 

 be kept in barrels, tightly covered up until used, 

 as It is very strong in ammonia. I think potatoes 

 less liable to rot when planted with this mixture 

 than with manure, and of better quality. 



We think that several of the ingredients of 

 Compound No. 2, are what chemists call in- 

 compatible, and should not be mixed together. 

 In an article published last week from the 

 Boston Journal of Chemistrij, Dr. Nichols 

 gives some of the reasons for this opinion. 



— The first class that graduated at the New Jer- 

 sey Agricultural College consisted of seven young 

 men, of whom one is a farmer, one a railroad engi- 

 neer, one a mechanical engineer, one a geologist, 

 one a mineralogist, and two are teachers. 



aqricdtjTtjraij items. 



—John Johnson, the father of upland tile drain- 

 ing in this country, lives to see within the State of 

 New York fifty-two factories of tile drains. 



— The Prairie Farmer says a Kentucky woman 

 feels more pride in having the first green peas than 

 the first spring bonnet. 



— A very full stomach in a horse always crowds 

 his lungs so that he cannot go fast, or work hard, 

 without danger. Let this be always kept in mind. 



— Gas tar mingled with the white wash applied 

 to the interior of a hen house, at the rate of one 

 gill to a pailful, it is said will disperse the lice. 



— The Utica Herald says, if the statements of 

 aggrieved farmers are to be believed, in no State is 

 swindling in commercial fertilizers carried on to 

 so great an extent as in New York. 



— F. C. Warren, of Reading, Vt., recently lost a 

 valuable cow from feeding her with hay in which 

 was mixed the dried stalk and leaves of the com- 

 mon meadow poke plant. 



— A correspondent of the Prairie Farmer says 

 fence posts covered with boiled oil thickened with 

 pulverized charcoal will make them last longer 

 than iron. 



— New milk applied to the eye-ball of cattle 

 with chaff in their eyes, it is said by a correspon- 

 dent of the Rural New Yorker, will remove the 

 chaff and cure the eye. 



— Would you force garden plants and have the 

 earliest green peas ? Sprinkle every forty-eight 

 nours with liquid manure made by leaching yard 

 manure, ashes, guano and bone dust. If the stuff 

 is strong, dilute largely. 



— A wealthy gentleman in New York died of the 

 glanders, lately. He caught the disease from a 

 fiivorite horse. This is the fourth death of a hu- 

 man being from glanders, since the organization 

 of the New York Board of Health. 



— A correspondent of the Utica Herald finds 

 nothing equal, as a destroyer of lice on cattle, to a 

 strong suds of soft soap and rain water, to which 

 is added common salt. This is applied by rub- 

 bing thoroughly over the animal. 



— A correspondent of the Rural New Yorker 

 says he has a young horse that for two winters was 

 feci upon nothing but barley straw, and that, too, 

 with chaff in. He considers barly straw, if bright 

 and well taken care of, as good or better than poor 

 hay for any animal. 



—The editor of the Gardener's Monthhj says : 

 "There is nothing that will make as good a border 

 as Box, or some of the dwarf Arborvitces. Of 

 flowering plants, the best is the Perennial Candy- 

 tuft. This will flower in April. The mountain or 

 Moss Pink — Phlox subulata — is a pretty edging. 



— Careful observation of the habits of the robin 

 by an ornithologi!!t in Massachusetts has proved 

 that he is beneficial one hundred and forty-two 



