1879.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
225 
■who can and will do extremely useful work in this 
line. Many of them are experimenting this sum¬ 
mer. I wish to urge those engaged in the American 
Agriculturist Experiments to make their trials as 
thorough and complete as possible, and send in ac¬ 
curate and full reports. 
FAILURES AND SUCCESSES LAST SEASON—LESSONS 
TO BE REMEMBERED. 
Of course all of the experiments were not as 
thoroughly made nor as successful as those just 
mentioned. Some had no decided story to tell, and 
some none at all, except failure everywhere. Corn 
was tried on soil not adapted to it, pulled up by 
crows, and injured by worms. “A lot of small pigs 
rooted around ” one experiment to its great detri¬ 
ment ; “ the ravages of white grub ” rendered an¬ 
other unreliable ; “potato bugs” made havoc with 
a third. Frost and drouth injured a number, aud, 
I am inclined to mistrust, wrong application of the 
fertilizers still more. One experimenter applied 
only part of the fertilizers; another did not put 
them on until five days after planting; another was 
too busy to complete the weighing accurately ; and 
yet another was sick, and had to leave the details 
to the hired man. Some of the irregularities I can 
account for only by unevenness of the soil. We 
•can judge better of this where two or three plots 
were left unmanured as recommended; but most 
had only one, and a few none, for comparison. One 
•experimenter, surprised at the high yield of his un¬ 
manured plot, found, on closer examination, that it 
had been getting the benefit of the drainings from 
the ash-heap of his maple sugar works. 
INDECISIVE RESULTS ON RICH SOIL. 
One experimenter found “ a loss all the way 
through,” and wrote: “According to this show¬ 
ing, it will not pay me to use any manure—not 
even to move my barnyard manure, which I have 
always saved and made as much of as possible. I 
wish you would write me a letter to ‘ brace me up 
I am getting terribly skeptical.” Well, he got 47 
bushels of shelled com to the acre on the unma¬ 
nured plot. It appears that the field was dressed 
only two years ago with a lot of that yard manure 
of which he “ makes as much of as possible.” Land 
farmed as well as his report would lead us to think 
his was, and in condition to bear such a crop with 
bo manure, might easily fail to pay for such costly 
•applications the first year. And with such a store 
of plant food in the soil, the effects of the fertil¬ 
izers would naturally be so blinded that the exper¬ 
iment would give very little clue to what the soil 
would need when it should have only its natural 
strength to depend upon. I hope he will note the re¬ 
sults on the same plots during this present season. 
And finally some trials went wrong for reasons 
which are beyond the experimenter’s ken or mine. 
But a great many had a straight story to tell, and 
told it every time. And some, which in themselves 
seemed the least decisive, were, in reality, the most 
instructive of all. The following are among the many 
QUESTIONS ABOUT WHICH INFORMATION IS NEEDED 
AND CAN BE OBTAINED, ARE : 
1. The Feeding Capacities of Plants. —By this I 
mean the power which different plants possess in 
varying degrees of obtaining their food from soil 
and air. Clover will gather large amounts of nitro¬ 
gen where wheat will fail for lack of it. Our ex¬ 
periments of last season imply that com has in 
large degree the power of gathering and storing 
nitrogen. If future experience confirms this as a 
principle, and we find that instead of buying nitro¬ 
genous fertilizers for corn we can, at small expense, 
for mineral fertilizers, make our corn gather nitro¬ 
gen to enrich manure for other crops, the fact will 
be of incalculable value to farming generally, and 
especially in the older States. 
2. The Specific Effects of Different Fertilizing Ma- 
terials on Different Crops. —In last season’s experi¬ 
ments nitrate of soda and potash salts were gener¬ 
ally profitable for potatoes, while for corn, the 
potash salts paid in about one-half, and nitrate of 
soda in but few of the trials. How generally, and 
where such will be the case, it is important to learn. 
Indeed the feeding capacities of plants, and the 
specific effects of different fertilizing materials 
uipon them are among the weightiest problems 
in the present range of agricultural investigation. 
3. The Effects of Different Fertilizers in Different 
Circumstances of Soil, Climate, Weather, etc., includ¬ 
ing their direct effect as plant food, their indirect 
action in bringing plant food already present into 
available forms, and their effect upon the physical 
condition, the texture, of the soil. 
4. Comparative effects of artificial fertilizers and 
farm manures. 
For all these things careful work, close observa¬ 
tion, and full and faithful statements of results are 
indispensable. So let me ask the experimenters to 
note carefully the details provided for in the blanks 
for reports, and to enter their observations upon 
their memorandum books as they are made. Dur¬ 
ing this month the weather and the early progress 
of the crops on the different plots are among the 
things to be especially noted. W. O. Atwater, 
Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn. 
A Bidger for Boots and Other Crops. 
A description and sketch of an implement comes 
from H. Lane, Cornwall, Vt., who, if we mistake 
not, is the Hon. Henry Lane, to whom we are in¬ 
debted for a marked improvement in beets, and 
who has done much to advance root-culture gener¬ 
ally. The implement is for throwing land up into 
low ridges, upon the top of which the seeds of 
beets, mangels, rutabagas; onions, etc., are sown. 
Mr. L. quickly converts his corn-marker into a 
ridger. The corn-marker, fig. 1, consists of two 
cedar poles for shafts, connected by two cross-bars, 
and furnished with a handle two feet high ; the 
marking portion, which is attached at the rear of 
the handle, is removed. For the ridger, a piece of 
3x4 oak scantling, 48 inches long, has three culti¬ 
vator teeth bolted to it; one at 8 inches from each 
end, and the other in the center, making the teeth 
16 inches apart; this piece is shown at b. A 2-inch 
oak plank the same length as the scantling is cut 
into three teeth, as shown at c; these teeth are so 
out that their points will correspond to the culti¬ 
vator teeth. This plank is bolted to the back 
side of the scantling in such a manner as its points 
will be three inches higher than the lower ends of 
the cultivator teeth. The whole, scantling and 
plank, is bolted to the shafts of the marker, just 
forward of the handle, at the place marked c. The 
point where the scantling sits upon the shafts 
should be so bevelled that, when those are hitched 
to a horse, the cultivator teeth will stand upright. 
Mr. Lane says that with this implement upon land 
free of stones and coarse manure, he can make 
very neat and uniform ridges, two at a time, with 
great ease. The first ridge, to be straight, should 
be run carefully, using a line; by allowing one 
tooth to follow where the outside one went before, 
all the rest will be straight. Mr. L. formerly 
sowed his onions 14 inches apart, but he prefers 16 
inches. In setting out onions for seed, he plants 
on every other ridge. For beets, he formerly used 
every other ridge, but finding 32 inches to be need¬ 
lessly far apart, he has made another ridger exactly 
like this, except that the teeth and points are 24 
inches apart. He finds the ridger most useful, and 
gives the benefit of his experience to others. 
TChode Island Turkeys.— A correspondent 
asks, if Rhode Island Turkeys are a distinct breed. 
The State of Rhode Island has given its name to a 
first-class article of poultry raised within the State 
and in Eastern Connecticut, just as Orange County 
has given its name to the best quality of butter. 
This little State, and the adjacent counties in Con¬ 
necticut, give turkey raising a prominent place in 
their farming. The soil and climate are admirably 
adapted to the business, and the turkey crop is 
about as sure in its results as the raising of pigs, or 
I calves. Turkeys, especially the Bronze and the 
Narragansett breeds, have been bred for 6ize for a 
great many years, and flocks, averaging from 12 to 
14 lbs. each, when dressed for market, are not un¬ 
common at Thanksgiving and Christmas. They 
are sent principally to the Boston and Providence 
markets ; they are perfectly fattened, and the crops 
and entrails are always drawn, which may be one 
secret of their excellence. To have roast turkey in 
its perfection, it should be cooked and served at 
Thanksgiving along the shores of Narragansett Bay. 
Equalizer for Three Horses Abreast. 
The economy of using three horses abreast in 
field work is apparent. In plowing heavy soils, or 
in the use of gang-plows, three horses and one man 
will do the work of four horses and two men. At 
the present time, when we must diminish the cost 
of production by every possible method, this is a 
saving of no little importance. The difficulty in 
using three horses has been, the want of a method 
of so applying the force as to avoid side draft, 
and the trampling of one horse upon the plowed 
ground. We have recently tried a three-horse 
evener, known as “Frederick’s Equalizer,” and 
Fig. 1.—EQUALIZER FOR TWO HORSES. 
find it to answer its purpose in avoiding the above 
difficulties. To prevent a multiplicity of tools, 
this evener is adapted for use with either two or 
three horses, by making slight changes in the ar¬ 
rangement, as shown in the engravings. At fig. 1 
it is ready for use with two horses, and at fig. 2 it 
is shown as when intended for three horses. When 
Fig. 2. —EQUALIZER FOR THREE nORSES. 
this is used in plowing, the traces are crossed, as 
shown at fig. 2, by which the horses are brought as 
close together as is convenient; otherwise the 
traces are kept straight. The evener may bo used 
in wagons, harrows, plows, or harvesters, a stay 
chain being provided for use with a tongue. 
Slieep, —We hear very favorable reports from 
sheep owners and breeders, and the markets show 
that mutton is in demand, at good prices. Sheep 
raising in the West is rapidly becoming a staple 
business, free from the somewhat speculative char¬ 
acter which at first belonged to it. This isdoubtless 
in consequence of the practical experience gained 
by those who have retained their flocks, and who 
have turned early reverses to profitable successes, 
through perseverance. The Merino breeders are 
disposing of large numbers of rams for breeding 
purposes, and these can now be procured at reason¬ 
able prices by those who would improve their flock. 
Sweet Corn l'or Fodder. —A trial of several 
varieties of. sweet corn for fodder for milk cows, 
the past season, has resulted very successfully. 
Many good farmers have for years past considered 
sweet corn fodder to be worth more than that from 
field corn. The large quantity of sugar contained 
in sweet com makes it a highly nutritious food, 
sugar being as much a nutriment as starch—indeed, 
it is strongly believed by some physiologists that 
the starch of food is changed in great part to sugar 
during digestion and before assimilation. But it 
will be found in practice that the most valuable 
fodder is that which is grown so widely apart that 
the juices of the stalks are matured and the ears 
are considerably developed before the crop is cut. 
Small early varieties, planted in May and after¬ 
wards, may be gathered in July and August; and 
the medium late varieties, such as the Triumph, 
will come in in August and September; while the 
late Evergreen will last until frost stops the growth. 
