1868. 



NEW EXGLAXD FARIMER. 



275 



els of this varisty, and will charge me only nine 

 dollars a barrel for tliem ! And I can buy the 

 Vanderveer Seedling for two dollars and a 

 half a peck ! Let me never cease to be thank- 

 ful for having been born and bred in a Christian 

 land ! Essecker. 



Salem, Mass., April 3, 18G8. 



Remarks. — AVhy not always live right in 

 the warm, cheerful centre of the world, instead 

 of shivering on the cold, inhosjjitable out- 

 skirts ? We have always preferred the laugh- 

 ing philosopher. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 HOME MAKrUFACTtrjRE OF "SUPEH- 

 PHOSPHATE." 



Editors of N. E. Farmer: — It affords 

 me much pleasure to respond to Mr. Winches- 

 ter's inquiries regarding the home manufac- 

 ture of "superphosphate." The cheapest and 

 most convenient vessel or receptacle in which 

 to prepare it, is formed by dividing in the 

 centre with a saw, a common molasses cask, 

 and using the two parts as tubs. Into one of 

 these, turn half the contents of a barrel of 

 finely ground bone, and moisten it with two 

 pails of water, using a hoe in mixing. Have 

 ready a carboy of sulphuric acid or oil of vit- 

 riol, and a cheap stone pitclier holding a gal- 

 lon. Turn this out full of the acid, and grad- 

 ually mix it with the bone, using the hoe. Fill 

 it again with acid and add as before, stirring 

 constantly with the hoe. The mass will froth 

 up considerably, but will not run over if well 

 stirred. Now add the remainder of the bar- 

 rel of bone, mix well, and stir in gradually 

 three gallons more of acid, und let the con- 

 tents remain until cold, using the hoe occa- 

 sionally if' it puifs up, or effervesces much. 

 When cold, mix with it a barrel of good dry 

 soil or loam, tlwrongldy blend it together, and 

 it is ready for drying. This may be accom- 

 plished by having some rough shallow boxes 

 ■which can be moved readily, filled with the 

 pasty mass, and placed in the sun. It requires 

 a week or two of clear weather to dry it, and 

 it must be thorovghly dried to grind well. 

 The grinding is the most troublesome part of 

 the process, as plaster mills are not accessible 

 to most farmers. It must be well pulverized, 

 and to pound it fine with a mallet involves 

 considerable labor and patience ; still it can be 

 done. It is best to prepare the superphos- 

 phate in the summer, the year before it is to 

 be used, as it can be more speedily and thor- 

 oughly dried in the hot sun, and then set 

 aside and pulverized in the winter, when 

 other work is not pressing. Two men will 

 easily prepare a ton in one day, and it can be 

 beaten up fine in two or three days. In turn- 

 ing out aiTd handling the acid some care must 

 be used not allow it to fall upon the skin or 



clothing. An old suit of clothing is best 

 adapted to the work. A carboy of acid costs 

 six or eight dollars, and can be bought of the 

 druggists, to whom the empty vessel can be 

 returned. 



The writer has prepared many tons of thia 

 fertilizer upon his farm premises, and it has 

 produced most marked and satisfactory effects 

 upon crops ; especially upon corn and roots, 

 A ton of bone, and a ton of soil with the acid 

 will give a little more than two tons of the 

 powder, which will cost less, and produce 

 much better results than most of the commer- 

 cial fertilizers in the market. A gill is fully 

 enough for a hill of corn. The bone should 

 be finely ground. A coating of insoluble sul- 

 phate of lime forms around each particle of 

 bone, and if they are of the size of a pea, ac- 

 tion is suspended before decomposition is 

 effected. It is folly to attempt to dissolve 

 crushed or coarsely ground bone in acid. 

 This must never be undertaken. It may be 

 well for farmers to prepare at first, a small 

 quantity of this superphosphate, and if they 

 succeed well, and like it, the amount can be 

 readily increased. Jas. R. Nichols. 



150 Congress St., Boston. 



For the New England Farmer, 

 STEAM PLOUGHS AINTD TRACTION" 

 ENGINES. 



As the production both of a practicable steam 

 plough and of a traction engine for common 

 roads has elicited the best energies and taxed 

 the ingenuity of inventors for a long time past, 

 and many years of patient experiment have 

 yet failed to produce an implement which shall 

 be both simple and efficient, it may interest 

 your readers to learn the following particulars 

 regarding a machine constructed for the build- 

 ing of common roads, and yet which is used 

 to perform both the offices referred to above. 



The machine is called a "Self-track-laying 

 Car," and was invented by Mr. Jesse S. Lake, 

 Atlantic County, N. J. It consists of a truck 

 sufficiently substantial to support an engine 

 and boiler of ten horse power, which supply 

 all the motive force. Over and around the 

 wheels of the truck passes, on each side, an 

 endless chain or band of flat bars of wood, 

 (similar to the tread or track of the common 

 horse-power so much used at our railroad sta- 

 tions) so connected and adjusted that, as the 

 car moves forward, this band is laid upon the 

 ground in front of the truck wheels and picked 

 up as soon as the wheels have passed over it ; 

 thus supplying a uniformly solid and compact 

 track for the machine. This enables it to 

 travel over the roughest or softest ground 

 with a reliable footing. 



To this car are first attached a gang of 

 ploughs with which to break up the ground, 

 on which when fully prepared it hauls and dis- 

 tributes loads of gravel. Its usual amount of 

 work is to start and pull four to eight two- 



