50 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[February, 
3 is a very heavy hive, and in order to test the desirability 
ol' having swarms numerous in bees, I united four swarms 
before placing them in winter quarters. It should be 
borne in mind, by those who note these results during 
winter and spring, that this swarm commences the win¬ 
ter with four times ns many bees as each of the other 
three. No 4, which is the hive out of doors, consumed 
4J4 lbs. No. 1, and No, 4, are both Italian swarms, and 
are, as far as I can determine, in nearly every way 
about equal. Yet the latter, being exposed to out, of 
door changes of temperature, consumes 4% lbs., while 
the former takes but % fi>. This should be a point of in¬ 
terest to advocates of out-door wintering. 
——- m '»■ «— - 
f Review of the Live Stock Market 
for 1877. 
The history of the live stock market for the past year 
has been an eventful one. The first, six months of the 
year witnessed a slow but steady trade without serious 
fluctuation in prices. Then came the great strikes on 
the railroads which seriously interfered with business. 
For two weeks trade was practically dead, only a few 
poor local supplies furnishing stock for the butchers. 
Prices, however, only advanced to 141c. per lb. which 
was the highest point reached. From this time, onwards 
the business has been dull in the extreme and dealers 
and wholesale butchers, including those operating in the 
foreign shipments, lost heavily. Many failures occurred 
and business has been much depressed. The monthly 
sales of beeves for the year have been as follows: 
Month. 
January, .. 
February,.. 
March,. 
April,. 
May,. 
June,. 
July,.. 
August,..., 
September, 
October,... 
November, 
December,. 
Number Sold. Prices. . 
.46,015.8c. @ 13c. per lb. 
.36,036.7c. @ 13c. “ 
.37,542.7}c. (54 12Jc. “ 
.40,639.7c. 12jo. “ 
.52.877.8*c. @ 12*c. “ 
.39,241.8Jc. 135-c. “ 
.45,776.7c. @ !34 c. “ 
.... 38,487.7c. ®14*c. “ 
.30,824.7Jc. @13c. “ 
.50,287 . 6jc. @ 13c. “ 
.36,379.7c. ®12}c. “ 
.35,901.6c. @ 13c. “ 
Total,.489,133 
Weekly Average,.. .9.406 
The sales of stock other than beeves have been: 
Total. Weekly Average Range of Pnces. 
Cows,_2,654head.. 51....._$22@ $90 per head. 
Calves. 202,754 “ 
S Lam P bs & i’ 163 ’ 339 “ 
Swine, 1,144,195 “ 
. 1,976 
.22,311 
.12,003 
j Calves, 3c. (5i 6}c. per lb. 
j Veals, 7c. @ 9|c. “ 
j Sheep. 4c. @ 10c. “ 
j Lambs, 5c. @ 13c. “ 
i Live, 4^c. @ 7f-c. “ 
) Dres’d, 5jc. @ 8j-c. “ 
The foreign shipments of meats and live beeves and 
sheep, increased largely up to the fall months when the 
failure of several of the large operators showed the truth 
of what we have frequently stated as our opinion, viz: 
that the export business can never become anything 
more than a spasmodic affair, flourishing when prices are 
low and stocks heavy here, and when stocks are light and 
prices high on the other side. The expenses and risks 
are too great, and the profits, when any are made, are too 
small to sustain a steady trade. It may answer as a 
safety valve to relieve pressure here, but as soon as the 
pressure is relieved the movement must cease. We may 
build up a business in the course of years, but not until 
beeves bear a lower price here than we hope to see. 
-— ■». — - 
Instructive Notes about Switzer¬ 
land.— How few have any very definite idea of our 
little Sister Republic in the Old World. Here are a few 
items for the readers of the American Agriculturist , 
which Mr. Judd has boiled down from his traveling 
Note Book.—Switzerland is a northern country, though it 
does not look so on the map; it is on a line east of Lake 
Superior, or Quebec, Oat. 46 to 48°). It is a high country, 
very little of its surface being less than 1.500 feet above 
the sea level. Many of its mountains are over a mile 
(5,280 feet) high; 38 of them over 6,400 feet: 29 are over 
10,000 feet high, that is 2 miles and more ; 8 are 13,075 to 
15,150 feet high.—Switzerland's greatest length is 210 
miles; greatest breadth, 140 miles; total area, 15,747 
square miles, or one-third as large as New York State, or 
about twice as large as New Jersey or Massachusetts. 
Its people numbered in 1870 2,669.247, or about the 
same as in Ohio, or in Illinois. Of these, about seven- 
tenths speak German; over two-tenths French, the rest 
speak Italian. They live in 92 cities and towns, 63 ham¬ 
lets, and 6,800 villages. Over 350.000 children are taught 
in nearly 6,000 public schools. There are about 200,000 
fighting men, viz.: 85,000 belonging to the field army ; 
50,000 reserves; 65,000 militia. The public revenue and 
expense is only about 44 million dollars, or one-sixth 
as much as that of the City of New York alone. Its val¬ 
leys and hill-sides are largely in pasture lauds, support¬ 
ing 993,000 horned cattle, 100,000 horses, 447,000 sheep, 
375,000 goats, and 304,000 swine.—The Government is 
somewhat like our own: The National Council, cor¬ 
responding to our House of Representatives, contains 
135 members, about one for every 20,000 inhabitants, 
elected by the people once in three years. The Council 
of States, corresponding to our U. S. Senate, contains 
two members for each Canton. These two bodies to¬ 
gether are called the “Federal Assembly,” correspond¬ 
ing to the United States Congress, which is made up of 
our Senate and House of Representatives. The Nation¬ 
al Council elects a President and Vice President at ev¬ 
ery regular and every extraordinary session, who are the 
chief officers of Switzerland during their term of office. 
The President can not be re-elected at two consecutive 
sessions of the National Council. The National Coun¬ 
cil, and Council of State, in joint session, elect, once in 
3 years, 7 Executive Officers of the General Government, 
corresponding to our Secretaries of State, Treasury, 
War, Navy, etc. These, acting together, are called the 
Federal Council.— The 22 Cantons and 6 Half Cantons 
of Switzerland, corresponds * on a smaller scale, to our 
States, have their local governments, making local laws, 
etc., similar to our State Legislatures. 
---— 
Science Applied to Farming.—XXXVIII. 
Scientific Experimenting l>y Practical Farm¬ 
ers—Testing tile Needs of Soils By Trials 
with Fertilizers. 
As explained in the article of this series for 
April, 1877, there were sent out from the Experi¬ 
ment Station here, last spring, to farmers in Con¬ 
necticut and other States, nearly 50 sets of ferti¬ 
lizers, with explanations and directions for experi¬ 
ments. With them were blanks on which those 
who might be willing to take the needed trouble in 
measuring plots and crops and noting observations 
and results, were requested to make out reports, 
and return them to me. To tell the truth, I did not 
expect many reports. Much to my surprise and 
gratification, nearly twenty have sent more or less 
detailed accounts of their experiments. All are in¬ 
teresting and instructive—some particularly so. 
As an application of science to farming by practical 
men, who get their living from the labor of their 
brains and hands upon their farms, and who have 
found in them a means of testing the needs of their 
soils, and the ways of supplying them, I am sure 
these results will be widely welcomed. 
The principle upon which these experiments are 
based is, in brief, this The chief office of ferti¬ 
lizers is to supply the plant food that our crops need, 
and which the soils fail to furnish. It is not good 
economy to pay high prices for materials which the 
soil tnay yield in abundance, hut it is good economy 
to supply the lacking ones in the cheapest way. 
The most important ingredients of our common 
commercial fertilizers, are Nitrogen, Phosplm-ic acid, 
and Ibfash, because of both their scarcity in the 
soil and their high cost. It is in supplying these 
that guano, phosphates, bone manures, potash salts, 
and most other commercial fertilizers are chiefly 
useful. To testthe needs of the different soils with 
reference to these substances, .was the special object 
of the experiments, though the action of different 
fertilizing materials with different crops was also 
to be tested. The table below gives the composi¬ 
tions and costs of principal materials used. 
was contained in a bag of 20 lbs., on which the 
name and composition were marked. The several 
small bags were packed in one large bag, and witli 
them were sent printed explanations and directions 
for using. With other suggestions, was one that 
parallel trials be made with other fertilizers. I 
give some of the experiments herewith, reserving 
others,with recapitulation and conclusions,for a suc¬ 
ceeding article. The reports are essentially as they 
came to me ; a few changes in form being made for 
the convenience of the printer. 
Experiment witli Corn by Mr. ID. II. 
Birdsey, Middlcfield, Conn. 
Soil: Upland, gravelly loam, with gravelly subsoil. 
Previous treatment: Had been in grass for three pre\. _ 
years. Yield of hay estimated &t % to % ton per acre. 
Last manuring was (with oats) leached ashes; previous 
to this, barn manure and bone. Size of each plot: 10 
square rods. Amounts of Fertilizers: Plots 1—5, 20 
lbs. each; Plot 6 , yard manure, 5 cords per acre, with 
hen manure and ashes in the hill. Amount of Seed: 5 
quarts per acre. Distance between hills: 4 feet each way. 
Planted May 15. Harvested Oct. 26. Yield (corn in the 
ear, measured in bushel basket) as below. 
No. of Plot. 
1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
6 
Kind of Fer¬ 
tilizer. 
■5S 
% 
K| m 
s 
Superphos¬ 
phate. 
II 
g 
s 
II+I 
s+ 
C3 I—( 
~ ~ 
e S’ss 
'Tj 
£|§ 
Important Fer¬ 
tilizing Ingre¬ 
dients. 
o ~ 
k 51? 
fU* 
Phospli. 
Acid. 
fo 
Ph 
fo «, 
+o 
'A 
fo+O 
+OW 
Co’pl’te 
Ferti¬ 
lizer. 
Yield. Corn in 
Hie Ear. 
2} bn. 
■2i 1)11. 
6 bn. 
21 1)U. 
6 l»u. 
54 bit. 
Mr. Birdsey says in his report that ‘ ‘on Plot ft, with 
potash-salt, !», with dried blood, superphosphate, 
and potash-salt, and Plot <», with yard and hen- 
manure and ashes, (which also furnished potash,) 
the crops looked well through the season ; the 
stalks were strong, and large, the ears well-filled, 
and the grain good. On the others (without potash) 
the growth was very poor, the stalks small, weak, 
and yellow, and the ears poorly filled—mostly 
‘nubbins.’_The potash worked wonders wherever 
it was put.” He adds that “ on this land, bone 
formerly brought good crops ; with rye, about all 
the land would hold. But of late years bone does 
very little good, and don’t pay. The same is true 
of phosphates.” This is only one of a considerable 
number of cases I have observed in this region in 
which lands where bone, phosphates, guano, and 
fish, supplying phosphoric acid and nitrogen, have 
nearly ceased fo do good, and potash salts have 
proved very beneficial. We have had two bone 
mills in the vicinity for a good while. Fish-scrap 
is cheap, and our farmers have used a good deal of 
guano and phosphates. It would seem as though 
some of our fields had become relatively over¬ 
charged with nitrogen and phosphoric acid, and 
deficient in potash. It is noticeable in Mr. Bird- 
sey’s experiment that: (1) on the three plots which 
had no potash the crop failed ; (2) on the Three, 
where potash was applied, they were good ; (3) the 
crop with potash alone (No. 3) was as good as those 
with potash and other ingredients together, (Nos. 
Experimental Fertilizers. 
5 ^ 
I. 
II. 
III. 
IV. 
V. 
Fertilizer Used. 
lbs. 
At 
Cost 
Kind. 
per 
Acre . 
price 
ton. 
per 
Acre. 
$40.00 
$6.40 
$5.60 
Superphosphate *. 
320 
320 
160 | 
$35.00 
Potash Salt, “ Muriate.” .. . 
j Dried Blood. 
| Superphosphate. 
1 Dried Blood. 
$45.00 
$7 20 
160 ( 
106?=; J 
$37.50 
$6.00 
{ Superphosphate. 
j “Muriate of Potash.”. 
nx% y 
1062 3 ' j 
$40.00 
$6.40 
Furnishing Valuable Ingredients. 
Kind* 
Assum¬ 
ed iwr 
cent. 
lbs. 
per 
Aa-e. 
10 
aa 
Phosphoric Acid t. 
16 
51 
Potash. 
50 
160 
1 Nitrogen .. 
5 
16 
I Phosphoric Acid t. 
8 
25X 
j Nitrogen . 
3.3 
10H 
J Phosphoric Acid +. 
5.3 
17 
1 Potash. 
' 16.7 
53M 
Cost 
$6.40 
$5.60 
$7.20 
$3.20 
$2 85 
$2.13 
$1.87 
$2.40 
* From bone-black. Some of the best “ amraoniated ” superphosphates are made of bone-black superphosphate, 
nml dried blood, tin soluble form. The prices above, for cash, are, if anything, too high for Hie present state of 
the market. The 50 per cent “ muriate ” of potash, for instance, lias been sold extensively in this region for $40.00 
per ton, plus freight from New York. _ 
Besides the articles in the table, a number of 
others, as Plaster, Nitrate of Soda, Ground Bones, 
and Peruvian Guano, were supplied to those who 
wished them. They were all of the best quality, 
as tested by analysis at our laboratory. Each one 
H and 15.) It certainly looks very much as though 
this soil had enough of other materials thau potash 
for the present supply. Mr. Birdsey has since 
bought the 50 per cent muriate of potash at $42 per 
ton, delivered here. At this rate, the dressing of 
