WHAT THE AUTHORITIES SAY ABOUT COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS. 159 



broadcast in early spring 400 pounds of kainit per acre 

 on inverted sod and very ordinary soil, and obtained 400 

 bushels of potatoes per acre. I will add, ttiat as a rule 

 I have not found the use of superphosphate alone to 

 pay in growing potatoes. All these remarks are intended 

 to apply to garden vegetables in general. — W. E. Weld, 

 Steuben Co., N. V. 



WHAT T. V. MUNSON IS IN FAVOR OF. 



In tree-growth, cotton-seed or cotton-seed meal is a 

 much more convenient and economical fertilizer than 

 barn-yard manure, providing the soil is already well 

 drained and porous ; but in a cold, stiff soil the barn- 

 yard manure gives best results as compared with chemi- 

 cal fertilizers used alone, so far as I can discover. How- 

 ever, I have not made a crucial test of this matter. I 

 have used here on sandy land in my nursery, cotton-seed 

 meal at $20 per ton, that appears to give better results 

 for cost than anything else, even when we get stable 

 manure at 25 cents per ton. An evaporated product 

 from the glue and tannery works, costing, laid down here, 

 $20 per ton, comes next to cotton-seed meal. Wood- 

 ashes and the ashes from the lime-kilns, when fresh, pro- 

 duce excellent results in our sandy soil. Have used 

 some bone-meal, but its effects are slow, apparently 

 better in the bearing vineyard and orchards than else- 

 where. It is most expensive. Cotton-seed meal is used 

 in melon-hills, along nursery rows, etc., at the rate of 

 from 200 to 1,000 lbs., per acre ; tannery product at 

 about same rate, with less wood-growth, but very effec- 

 tive; ashes, if unleached, at the rate of a ton to theacre. 

 This, combined with either the cotton-seed or tannery 

 product makes quite a complete fertilizer for worn-out 

 soils. The stable manure is used at the rate of 50 to 

 100 one-ton loads per acre, and costs, when distributed 

 from 50 to 75 cents per load. The lime-kiln product 

 can be distributed at about same cost as the stable 

 manure, but needs additions of other ingredients, such 

 as cotton-seed meal and bone, to make a fine fertilizer 

 for thin sandy soils. — T. V. Munson, Texas. 



BONE-DUST AND ASHES USED FOR FRUITS BY J. F. WHITE. 



For fruits I use wood-ashes and ground bone with 

 good results, also barn-yard manures. For vegetables 

 I usea fertilizer manufactured in Buffalo. This has given 

 me results equal to average barn-yard compost, and 

 where one has to buy and haul compost any distance, 

 the fertilizer is cheaper. As to the lasting effect, I think 

 manures of some kind must be used every year. Of the 

 fertilizer I use from 300 to 500 pounds. — John F. White^ 

 Livingston Co., N. Y. 



H. R. KINNEY GROWS FINE VEGETABLE CROPS MOSTLY 

 ON CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS. 



I have proved to my own satisfaction that both fruit 

 and vegetables can be grown to perfection on chemical 

 fertilizers without the use of barn-yard manure, and 

 for a number of years in succession on the same field. 

 Several years ago we tried raising vegetables on chemical 

 fertilizers, and my market-gardener friends thought it 

 would take only a short time to convince me of the im- 



practibility of thescheme. But now after having treated 

 one piece with chemical fertilizers for four years, raising 

 two crops a year, the last season beets and celery, and 

 both perfectly satisfactory, I have no reason to doubt 

 the possibility of growing excellent crops without the 

 use of barn-yard manure. We have been using less and 

 less stable manure on our small fruits for several years, 

 until at the present time we are using none on grapes, 

 very little or none on raspberries and blackberries, and 

 none on strawberries. When we come to the compara- 

 tive cost of chemical fertilizers and stable manure there 

 are many things to be considered. It is unnecessary to 

 speak of the fertilizer made on the place, or to compare 

 it with chemical fertilizers, but to look to the compara- 

 tive cost and vahie of what we must buy to supplement 

 the home supply. My own practice is to draw what 

 stable manure I can get for a fair price during the winter 

 when we have men and horses that are not busy, and 

 then buy fertilizers, using both the manufactured and 

 agricultural chemicals. And while we are only three or 

 four miles from plenty of stable manure, we usually pay 

 twice as much money for fertilizers as for manure. We 

 also use fine ground bone, muriate and sulphate of 

 potash, nitrate of soda, and sulphate of ammonia. The 

 amount used and the lasting effects depend on the crop 

 and the chemicals used, but the market-gardener is not 

 looking for more than two crops from one manuring, 

 and he wants them both in one season. I have used as 

 high as two tons of fertilizer to the acre in a season, for 

 two crops, with very satisfactory results, but have the 

 best results when the fertilizer is applied at two or three 

 times during the season, just now there is a great deal 

 being said about home-mixing of the fertilizers, and 

 while we use the raw materials some, we always apply 

 them separately and almost always broadcast. — 

 H. R. Kinney, Mass. 



FRANK wheeler's EXPERIENCE WITH FERTILIZERS. 



I have used chemical fertilizers alone, and in connec- 

 tion with barn manures, for ten years or more. Grapes, 

 the only fruit that I grow to any extent, I have ferti- 

 lized entirely with chemicals for more than ten years, 

 with satisfactory results. In market-gardening, where I 

 use it the most extensively, it is in connection with barn 

 manure of my own make, from highly grain-fed milking- 

 stock mostly. I think I get the best return for my out- 

 lay by using them together, than with either alone. 

 Asparagus I have grown on chemicals continuously for 

 seven years, on poor sandy land, that had not been cul- 

 tivated previously for years, with better results than 

 with barn manure, on the same land and with same 

 treatment otherwise, and more cheaply than if I had 

 bought barn-yard manure, and allowed a fair price for 

 my labor in handling it. I have always bought the 

 chemicals and mixed them as I thought best, differently 

 for different crops. My formulas called for much more 

 potash and a little more nitrogen in proportion to phos. 

 phoric acid, than nearly all of the ready mixed goods 

 on the market contain. I apply from $15 to $20 worth 



