84 



THE GEFESEE FARMER. 



summer's toil; his mind is neglected for want of 

 time to attend to it; but the cold days of winter and 

 the long evenings give the farmer by his fire-side a 

 chance to inform himself of the events of the day 

 and to obtain a knowledge of his profession, so ne- 

 cessary to success. B. B. 

 Fharsalia, N'. T., Jcm''y, 185S. 



SUPERPHOSPHATE OF LIME AS A MANURE. 



From the manner in which agriculture is too gen- 

 erally conducted in our country — taxing the soil to 

 its utmost capacity in the production of grain and 

 forage, in raising stock, and then selling tlie produce 

 without returning to the soil an equivalent in manure 

 for the elements of fertility thus abstracted, among 

 tlie most important of which are the phosphates — 

 superphosphate of lime is now in many places an 

 important fertilizer, and is destined soon to become 

 an almost indispensible agent in renovating partially 

 impoverished soils throughout a large portion of the 

 Eastern States. Lands that have been a long time 

 under cultivation, and the grain and stock raised 

 thereon sold, and no manure used except what is 

 made from the hay and straw, and the small amount 

 of grain fed to working stock, together with lime, 

 often become so drained of the limited amount of 

 phosphates they contain as finally to produce greatly 

 diminished crops. On such soils, and others naturally 

 deficient in phosphates, the application of superphos- 

 phate of lime has an almost magical influence. 



I have been experimenting a little the last few 

 years in its use, both with what I have bought and 

 with that of my own manufacture. The first appli- 

 cation was to grass. It was sown on the sod in tlie 

 spring of the year. Its effect was soon perceptible, 

 and the grass was much heavier there than on any 

 other part of the field, and continued to be so for 

 two or three years, or until the ground was plowed. 



The next experiment was with about one ton of 

 my own manufacture, applied to wheat in conjunc- 

 tion with guano, on oats stubble land. As guano 

 with me never produces much effect after the first 

 year, I applied the superphosphate with the view of 

 benefitting the grass after the wheat. The quantity 

 of guano sown was two and one-fourth cwt. per acre, 

 plowed in, and the superphosphate was sown over 

 six and a half acres on the plowed ground, and har- 

 rowed in before drilling the wheat. A little that 

 was left was sown over a patch and marked ; thus 

 giving it a double coat. The wheat on this patch 

 was perceptibly better than that around it. Tlie 

 resifft of this treatment was a very large bulk of 

 straw, but only twenty-three bushels of wheat per 

 acre. It was, however, good; weighing sixty-four 

 pounds per bushel. It produced a strong set of grass, 

 and the last harvest a good crop of hay was cut oft" 

 the ground, estimated by some at two tons per acre. 

 The superpliosphate was made from bones collected 

 in the neighborhood for which I paid fifty cents per 

 cwt. ; ground, and dissolved in sulphuric acid. The 

 bones were coarsely ground, and it took fifty pounds 

 of acid to one hundred pounds of bones, and still 

 left so;ne not dissolved. It was then dried with 

 saw-dust and sown by hand. The acid costs in 

 Philadelphia $62,121- per cwt. It should be applied 

 to the bones in a wooden vessel, such as a half hogs- 

 head, and diluted with two or three times its bulk 

 of water. 



Superphosphate thus made is much better than 

 what is bought of the manufacturers, who make their 

 article out of burnt bones — if they iiie lones at all 

 — the organic matter being thus all destroyed. The 

 great difficulty in the way of making our own super- 

 phosphate is to get the bones crushed and to get 

 enough of them. 



The next experiment was in the foil of 1856. I 

 sowed some of the bought article on wheat where 

 the ground had been manured with the outside barn- 

 yard manure, which was -weak and not good for 

 much. The result was no benefit to the wheat, but 

 it caused a fine set of grass which grew so thick the 

 past wet season after the wheat was cut, as to choke 

 out the weeds ; while on the ground that the shed 

 manure had been put, the weeds grew strongly. I 

 also applied it to wheat alone, but with no apparent 

 effect. • 



Again, in the Spring of the last year, on a part of 

 a grass field that had not been manured Avhen in 

 wheat, I sowed the bought article at the rate of a 

 barrel per acre. The result was one hundred per 

 cent, more grass there than on any other part of the 

 field that had been manured. The last fall I sowed 

 a quantity of my own making on wheat, but of 

 course cannot yet tell the result. 



My conclusion is, that here both kinds of super- 

 phosphate are always beneficial to grass, and the 

 home made article will raise good wheat. And yet 

 its beneficial effects are not universal. A friend a 

 few miles distant has used it largely with no effect 

 whatever, while others have raised good wheat by 

 using the bought article. The only way for farmers 

 to decide the matter for themselves, is to try a little 

 in a small way first, and act according to the result. 

 Where its good effects are j)lainly seen, it would no 

 doubt pay to sow it on wheat ground before putting 

 in the wheat, even though it has been manured, in 

 order to insure a strong growth of grass. l. 



Cochranorille, Chester Co., Pa. 



THE BEST METHOD OF CURING TIMOTHY AND 

 OTHER GRASSES. 



TiMOTnvjis ripe or ready for cutting when it drops 

 the blooms, and herdsgrass is ripe when its earliest 

 seeds are in the dough state. Cut the grass when 

 there is no dew or rain on them, and as fast as cut 

 shock up in snug shocks six feet at the base and six 

 or seven feet high. Beat and settle them Avith the 

 hay fork and rake them down to make them turn 

 rain. This should all be done so rapidly as not to 

 allow the hay to wilt. Some five or six days after 

 shocking go over the meadow and rmi your hand 

 into the centre of every shock'; most of them will 

 be tound cool and dry and need no further attention. 

 But if you find any of them Avarm turn the shock 

 doA\-n as Ioav as its centre and alloAv it to remain 

 tAvo or three hours, or till perfectly cool, then shock 

 it up as before. When all the warm ones are treat- 

 ed in this manner your hay will need no further at- 

 tention till it is perfectly cured and ready for stack- 

 ing ov hauling to the barn. This method makes as 

 green and sAveet hay as you could desire; and one 

 great advantage is that you can make go^)i] hay in 

 rainy Aveather if you can but get time bet ween show- 

 ers to cut it and shock it up dry, for it Avill cure 

 perfectly though it rain every day. F. h. g» 



limne, Smith Co., Tenn., Jaii'y, 1858. 



