1878.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
51 
Experiment with Corn, by !Wr. W. I. Bartliolemew, Putnam, Conn. 
Soil: Hill laud, surface, dark loam, moist, with clayey sub-soil.— Previous Manuring and Produce Per Acre: 1814, No manure ; hay, 1 ton. 1875, Barn-yard manure, 
12 cart loads ; corn, 35 bushels. 1876, No manure; oats, 40 bushels.— Experimental Crop , 1877: White Cap Corn.— Size of Each Plot: 10 square rods.— Amounts of Fertilizers 
Per Acre: Experiment Station fertilizers and superphosphates, 320 lbs.; unleached ashes, 32 bushels; leached ashes, 48 bushels; hog-manure, 16 cart-loads; hen-manure, 20 
bushels; night soil, 32 bushels.— Fertilizers applied in the hill. The dried blood and potash salts were scattered over more than a foot square in each hill, and covered 
with fine earth before dropping the corn.— Hills: 3!4 feet apart each way; 4 kernels in each hill.— Planted: May 15.— Harvested: Oct. 10.— Quality of Crop: As stated in table, 
•the corn grown by the use of hog-manure and, especially, night-soil, was much injured by mould. The husks and corn were, in some cases, completely rotted witli it.— 
Amount and Valueof Yields: “ 70 lbs. of the best yields make a bushel of shelled corn, which is reckoned [in table] at 70c. per bushel. The smaller yields were greener in the 
cob and corn, and are hardly worth the price affixed, but I concluded to give the exact yield in pounds, and have computed yield and value per acre from actual weight in each case. 
[Multiplying amount in each plot by 40.] No allowance is made for worth of fodder, which was, on the different numbers, very nearly in the same relative proportions as the corn.— 
Cost of Fertilizers: [Those from Experiment Station, per table above.] “ The price of superphosphates depending upon distance from market, 1 have reckoned 'all at cost at R. R. 
Station. [In estimate of gain from use of fertilizer, the omitted value of stalks would more than pay for carting and applying.] “ I have placed no prices upon the manures 
from the farm, as their cost is uncertain, but I am certain that the expense of carting the hog-manure to the field, and applying it, is equal to cost of phosphates in either instance.” 
Number of Plot. 
1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
6 
7 
s 
9 
10 
11 
12 
13 
14 
15 
16 
I 17 
Fertilizers Applied. 
Fertilizers from Experiment Station. 
No 
Ma¬ 
nure. 
Commercial Superphosphates, 
“ Ammoniated.” 
Wood 
Ashes. 
Farm-made Manure. 
Kinds. 
Pried 
Blood. I 
Svp'rp's 
phate. II 
Potash 
Salt. III. 
Mixture 
i+n. 
Mixt 1+ 
II+III. 
Plaster. 
Lister's. 
Wharms 
Russel 
Coe's. 
Bos- 
worth's. 
Dry. 
Leached 
Hog 
Manure. 
Hen 
Manure. 
Hen Me 
+ Pl'st'r 
Night 
Soil. 
Amounts. 
20 lbs. 
20 lbs. 
20 lbs. 
20 lbs. 
20 lbs. 
20 as. 
— 
20 as. 
20 lbs. 
20 as. 
20 as. 
2 Bush¬ 
els. 
3 Bush¬ 
els. 
1 Cart¬ 
load. 
5 Pecks. 
5 Pecks 
+5 as. 
2 Bush¬ 
els. 
Furnishing Ingredi¬ 
ents.* 
Nitro¬ 
gen. N. 
Pnos. A- 
cidP 2 0 5 
Potash. 
K,0. 
N+P.,- 
° 5 -' 
N+ P 2 0 
r,+ KcO. 
(1) 
— 
N + P,- 
O r , 
n + p 2 - 
O,. 
N + P 2 - 
0 5 . 
N + P.,- 
o.,. 
(2) 
(2) 
(3) 
(3) 
(3) 
(3) 
Hight July 1st, in inches. 
13 inch. 
31 inen. 
10 inch. 
20 inch. 
10 inch. 
12 inch. 
11 inch. 
29 inch. 
27 inch. 
31 inch. 
25 inch. 
14 iDch.,15 inch. 
18 inch. 
22 inch. 
22 inch. 
23 inch. 
Appearance of Crop at / 
Harvest. C 
Small. 
Average 
Small. 
Littlq below av¬ 
erage. 
Small. 
Small. 
Average 
Average 
Little 
above 
average 
Average 
Little below av¬ 
erage. 
Average 
Above 
Average 
Above 
Average 
Above 
Average 
Yield: Ears of Corn. 
60 its. 
182 lbs. 
68 lbs. 
166 lbs. 
146 lbs. 
85 as. 
74 as. 
176 as. 
178 as. 
192 as. 
iso as. 
153 as. 
165 as. 
180 as. 
240 a«. 
248 as. 
230 lbs. 
Appearance of Corn / 
harvested. l" 
Very 
poor a’d 
green. 
Sound 
and 
ripe. 
Very 
poor a'd 
green. 
—6 tbs. 
Sound, 
ears 
short. 
Sound, 
ears 
shorter. 
Very 
poor. 
Very 
poor a’d 
green. 
Sound 
and ripe 
Sound 
and ripe 
Sound 
and ripe 
Sound 
and ripe 
Sound. 
Sound. 
Little 
mouldy. 
Very 
sound. 
Very 
sound. 
Very 
mouldy. 
Increase in Yield.!. 
—14 lbs. 
108 lbs. 
92 lbs. 
72 lbs. 
lias. 
— 
102 as. 
104 as. 
lisas. 
lOOas. 
79 as. 
9i as. 
106 as. 
166as. 
mas. 
156as. 
Valueof Increase]: ) 
$2.24.i 
$17.28. 
.96.'* 
$14.72. 
$11.52. 
$1.76. 
— 
$16.32. 
$16.64. 
$18.88. 
$16.96. 
$12.64. 
$14.56. 
? 
$27.84. 
? 
Cost of Manure J- f 
$6.40. 
$5.60. 
$7.20. 
$6.00. 
$6.40. 
$1.50. 
$6.40. 
$6.40. 
$6.40. 
$6.40. 
$7.20. 
$7.20. 
? 
9 
? 
? 
Gain (or Loss)] f Acre ‘ 
$8.64. 4 
$11.88. 
$8.16. 4 
$8.72. 
$5.12. 
$0.26. 
— 
$9.92. 
$10.24. 
$12.48. 
$10.56. 
$5.44. 
$7.36. 
? 
? 
? 
* That is, the most valuable fertilizing ingredients. (1) Plaster consists chiefly of Sulphuric Acid and Lime. (2) Ashes contain all the ingredients of plant-food, but 
Nitrogen. The leached have but little Potash. (3) Contain all the ingredients of plant-food, t Increase (or decrease) as compared with No. 7, unmanured, ] Reckon¬ 
ing Corn at 70 cents per bushel. (4) Loss.—The Ammoniated Superphosphates contained 9 to 12-J- per cent of availble Phosphoric Acid, and 2 to 2£ per cent of Nitrogen. 
his experiment, 320 lbs. per acre, would cost S6.72. 
He calculates that the stable manure of No. 6 cost 
$40 per acre, besides the ashes and bone. He says 
that on the strength of this experiment he has 
bought several tons of potash salts and I learn that 
several of his neighbors have followed his example. 
In respect to the potash salts doing so well alone, 
this experiment is exceptional. I should not wish 
to invest too heavily upon the strength of a single 
experiment,on one field, with one crop. That potash 
is most wanted in that soil, I have no doubt. But 
in the next field the case may be different. As Mr. 
Birdsey’s is one of the simplest, Mr. Bartholemew’s 
is one of the most extensive experiments reported : 
In Mr. Bartholemew’s experiment, the following 
points are noticeable:—(1.) In the four cases, Nos. 
I, 5J, 6, and 7, where phosphoric acid was not 
supplied, the crop failed. (2.) In ever}- case 
where phosphoric acid was supplied, either alone, 
(i. e., as superphosphate with the lime and sulphuric 
acid incident thereto,) in No. 2, or with some, gen¬ 
erally little, nitrogen, in Nos. 2, 5, 8, 9, lO, and 
II, the crop was good. (3.) The amounts of phos¬ 
phoric acid per acre in Nos. 2, -4, and 5, were 51, 
251, and 17 lbs., respectively; the yields, 182, 166, 
and 146 lbs. show a corresponding decrease. Com¬ 
parisons of the amounts of phosphoric acid applied, 
and corn produced in the other cases, of which 
limited space excludes details, show a similar and 
singularly uniform ratio between the two. This 
parallelism between phosphoric acid and yield, 
runs through the plots with ashes which contained 
less of the acid,and broughtless corn; and those with 
farm manures, which contained more, and brought 
more. (4.) The yield with potash-salt, and with dried 
blood alone, was less than on the one plot with 
no manure. (5.) While the crop responded uniform¬ 
ly to the phosphoric acid, it got no apparent benefit 
from the other ingredients of either the chemical 
fertilizers, the ashes, or the farm manure. (6.) As 
indicated by the money costs of fertilizers applied 
and corn produced, there was uniformly a gain of 
from $10 to $12.50 per acre from phosphoric acid 
alone or with a little nitrogen, a smaller gain in 
each case where phosphoric acid was supplied with 
other substances, and, in every case where it was 
omitted, a loss. What that soil needs most, is 
clearly phosphoric acid. 
This report of Mr. Bartholemew’s experiment 
with fertilizers, is one of the best 1 have seen from 
a private farmer in this country. If his farming is 
equal to his experiments, and there are many others 
m that region like him, it is easy to see why the 
Woodstock Farmer’s Club, of which I hear he is a 
member, and the farming thereabouts, stand in such 
excellent repute. W. O. Atwater, 
Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn. 
- m a & CS>— ► •--- 
Requisites for ax Ice-House. —Ice may be 
kept under any circumstances, and in any kind of 
a house, if the following conditions are secured 
and maintained. The floor upon which the ice is 
packed, must be perfectly well drained, and closed 
against access of air. The ice must be in a suffi¬ 
ciently large body, at least 8 feet wide each way, 
and be stowed compactly, without air spaces be¬ 
tween the blocks or layers. If spaces between the 
blocks cun not be avoided, these should be closely 
filled with pounded ice. The ice should be cut and 
packed on a dry, cold day, when the blocks will 
freeze solidly together. There must be a perfectly 
air-tight, or non-conducting packing, around the 
ice, of at least one foot in thickness. Dry sawdust 
is the best material for packing ; waste tan bark is 
nearly, if not quite as good. There must be ample 
ventilation above the ice, to carry off the dampness 
which will arise from the packing. The evapora¬ 
tion of the moisture from the upper packing by a 
brisk current of air, appreciably reduces the tem¬ 
perature. The most frequent caus'es of failure in 
keeping ice are, the entrance of air from beneath ; 
the presence of water at the bottom which can not 
escape, imperfect packing, and too close confine¬ 
ment above. 
The N. Y. State Dairymen’s Association, 
i held its Annual Convention at Syracuse, on Decem¬ 
ber 18th. The Hon. Harris Lewis, the President, 
remarked, in his address, that the past year’s suc¬ 
cess could only be repeated in the coming season, 
by making every effort to supply all deficiencies in 
methods, practice, and appliances, and to bring a 
proper enthusiasm to bear upon the dairy business. 
He thought that those young men who left the 
farms to go to the cities, because farming was dis¬ 
tasteful to them, did well, for if they staid on their 
farms the sheriff would surely sell them out in 
time. A love for one’s business, be that what it 
may, is essential to success. The reading of several 
practical papers, and a visit to the salt works at 
Salina, occupied the two days of the Convention. 
The Utility of Dairy and Other Exhibi¬ 
tions. —Many farmers, dairymen, and others, en¬ 
gaged in different branches of agriculture, not to 
speak of various artisans and manufacturers, are 
inclined to consider exhibitions of their products a 
useless and expensive trouble. This idea is a mis¬ 
taken one, as the direct results of these exhibitions 
are very valuable, and their indirect influence, 
equally, if not more so. The public are made aware 
of the existence of many things heretofore un¬ 
known to them, and thus consumption is largely 
increased ; the close comparison of the work of dif¬ 
ferent producers, and the ambition engendered by 
this, tend greatly to an increased excellence in the 
products, and many new ideas are gained. There 
are other advantages besides these, but if these 
were all, they would be sufficient inducement to 
make these exhibitions desirable, not only to 
those most closely interested, but to the gen¬ 
eral public. As an illustration, may be cited the 
case of a dairy exhibition held annually at Frorae, 
in England, where cheese to the yearly value of 
five millions of dollars is made. The result is, that 
since 1870, when the first show of cheese was made, 
an improvement in quality, estimated at 50 per 
cent, has been made, and the yearly returns to the 
district have increased a million dollars. 
--— ■». —- 
Tree Scraping and Tree Scrapers. 
BY L. D. SNOOK, YATES CO., N. Y. 
If orchards were properly cared for, there would 
be no need of tree-scrapers, but with this, as with 
pruning, it is a too frequent practice to allow the 
trees to get in as bad a condition as possible, and 
then to have a serious time at pruning, scraping, 
and renovating generally. If our yearly advice, to 
give the trees each spring some alkaline wash, were 
regarded, there would be little use for the scraper. 
If one once puts the trunks of his trees in healthy 
condition, they look so much better, and really are 
so much more healthy and thrifty, that we are quite 
sure that he will not omit the slight yearly labor 
required to keep them in this condition. If one 
has a neglected orchard, he should not let this 
spring go by without an attempt to renovate it. 
Old trunks covered with loose scales of bark, and 
coated with lichens and mosses, should have in the 
first place a thorough scraping, and this should ex¬ 
tend along the larger limbs so far as is necessary. 
After this scraping they should receive a strong 
alkaline wash. There is nothing, to our notion, so 
good for this purpose as good home-made soft-soap, 
made from ley (or potash) and grease. The 
boughten soft-soap is mainly a fraud, it being only 
cheap hand soap made into a sort of jelly with 
water. If good home-made soft-soap can be had— 
