1880.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
135 
quired, however, is only half that needed for small¬ 
er bases, and there would be no lifting by frost 
At $1.75 per barrel for cement, and with gravel at 
hand, the outlay for 35 bases would be 5 cents each. 
A wrought iron bar 1 inch wide, half-inch thick, 
and four feet long, weighs about &i lbs. 
Important to Every Farmer. 
The American Agriculturist Farm Ex¬ 
periments to be Continued.—A Key to 
Valuable Knowledge Placed Within 
Reach of All. 
All the talk about “ Progressive Farming,” “Im¬ 
proved Agriculture,” “Science Applied to Farm¬ 
ing,” has two objects ; the increase of the farmer’s 
knowledge and of his crops. If a farmer must in¬ 
vest $19 to get $20 of increase from a field, it is 
poor science, and poor farming ; but if by investing 
$5 on a field the increased crop brings him $20, 
then “Science Applied to Farming” pays, and It 
pays him to know the reason why. 
There are Some Settled Points in 
Agriculture. 
Among these are : 1. All soils, excepting of 
course the virgin ones of the newer States, for profit¬ 
able culture must be manured. 2. The larger the 
crop upon an acre, the cheaper per bushel, ton, 
etc., should that crop be raised. 3. In our ordinary 
farming no farmer makes all the manure that he 
could profitably use upon his farm. 4. The main 
value of manure (stable or bard-yard) depends upon 
certain constituents, and these may be had in 
other forms ; in artificial or chemical fertilizers. 5. 
All soils do not alike need the same fertilizers. 6. 
It is a well established fact that while it will pay 
the farmer to buy the fertilizers his soil needs, it is 
a waste of money to buy and apply to his soil, con¬ 
stituents of which it already has enough. The 
question will naturally follow— 
How Can We Find Out Wliat tlie Soil 
Needs? • 
It is to help every farmer to answer these ques¬ 
tions: “ What does my soil need?” “What fer¬ 
tilizer can I buy that will pay a profit in crops ?” 
that the American Agriculturist Experiments were 
instituted. These experiments were begun in 1878, 
and were continued last year. Several results were 
given last month, and this month we present on 
page 136, in a tabulated form, an array of facts that 
will convince the most sceptical that 
The Right Fertilizer in the Right Place 
will pay. And not only pay, but the profit on the 
investment is often such as to help answer the vexed 
question : “ Will Farming Pay ? ” These results 
were obtained by just such men as you, “Farmer 
A,” or you, “Farmer B,” on just such farms as 
yours, and by just such means as are within your 
reach. These men are farmers, like yourselves. 
Now there are thousands, yes, tens of thousands, 
of just such men as these all over the country; 
every township, every neighborhood, has one or 
more readers of the American Agriculturist, who 
would have the same knowledge of their own fields 
that these farmers have of their soils. If these 
farmers knew that it would pay to buy Potash, or 
Phosphoric Acid, or Nitrogen, they would buy it, 
but they can not afford to run many risks. It is 
evident that every one of these experimenting 
fanners now knows better, to a certain extent, 
Just What He Wants and Does Not Want 
to put upon his land this year. Not a farmer who 
reads this but would gladly give $5 or $10 to know 
as to his farm what these people know as to their’s 
There is no way in which this information ca,n be 
had so cheaply and so certainly as that by which 
these farmers acquired it. They asked the soil, and 
The Soil Responded. 
The questions were in the bags of the American 
Agriculturist Fertilizer Experiments. The 
results obtained last year are so valuable, not only 
to the experimenters themselves, but to agriculture 
generally, that we propose to 
Continue the Experiments In 1880. 
While changes, and it may be some improvements 
anight be suggested, yet for the sake of uniformity 
and to prevent all mistakes, the methods and plans 
of last year will be unchanged for 1880. The same 
fertilizer in (with one exception) the same sized 
parcels, will be sent out with the same directions, 
at the same prices, and by the same dealers, 
though the prices of some materials have so ad¬ 
vanced that it will be done at a loss. 
Tlie Manner of Conducting the Experi¬ 
ments 
was given in full in the April No. of last year, and 
will be explained plainly and in detail in the direc¬ 
tions that accompany the fertilizers. We need only 
here give a general idea of what is to be done. 
Those who consult the article given in April last 
will find that three sets were offered, for one fourth, 
one half, and one acre, respectively. The offer this 
year is the same in every particular, except in the 
omission of the first, or quarter acre set. Very few 
called for that, and the area of land being too 
small for satisfactory results we now offer but 
Two Sets of Experimental Fertilizers. 
• Viz.: Set No. 2 for half an acre, cost $5, and Set 
No. 3, for one acre, co§t $8.30. It is thought bet¬ 
ter to avoid all confusion to continue the same 
numbers (2 and 3) for these sets that they bore last 
year, omitting No. 1. In order to insure uni¬ 
formity in the fertilizer furnished by the several 
parties who have agreed to supply them, the pub¬ 
lishers have stipulated that samples shall be ana¬ 
lyzed by Prof. Atwater, and that they shall in every 
case be satisfactory to him as to quality. Full di¬ 
rections for making the experiments will be fur¬ 
nished with the fertilizers, and also blank forms for 
recording the results. The farmer who orders this 
half-acre set will find it labelled thus : 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST I ioon 
FERTILIZER EXPERIMENTS j lim 
No. 2 —Half Acre Set. 
Cost of Set of Fertilizers, in bags, shipped, $5.00. 
This will consist of eight bags, A, B, C, D, E, F, 
G, If, which are to be used on eight plots, two 
being left unmanured for comparison. Bags A, 
B, C, contain Nitrogen, Phosphoric Acid and Potash, 
singly- Bags D, E, F, contain these constituents 
in twos. G, contains all three together, and H, 
contains Piaster only. 
EIGHT RODS. 
* -—— -* 
Plot O.... 
No Fertilizer; for comparison. 
*- 
Plot A — Nitrogen. 
Bag A, containing 10 lbs. of Nitrate of Soda. 
Plot B — Phosphoric Acid. 
| Bag B, containing 15 lbs. of Superphosphate. 
Plot C ....Potash. 
Bag C, containing 10 lbs. of Muriate of Potash. 
Bag 
is 
■§ * 
« 
Plot D — Nitrogen and Phosphoric Acid. 
(containic 
’ \ mixture < 
S 7 Y t lbs. ol Nitrate of Soda. 
(15 lbs. of Superphosphate. 
ft. * 
Plot E — Nitrogen and Potash. 
Bag E. 5 containing j 7X lbs. of Nitrate of Soda. 
B i mixture of) 10 lbs. of Muriate of Potash. 
Plot F —Phosphoric Acid and Potash, 
Ba°- F 5 containingJ 15 lbs. of Superphosphate. 
” ’ i mixture of \ 10 lbs. of Muriate of PotaBh. 
Plot G. ..Nitrogen. Phosphoric Acid,Potash. 
„ (eontnfninp- ( lb8 - of Nitrate of Soda. 
^ftisrsssjgiftaaisseaK^ 
Plot H _ Plaster (10 lbs.) 
Bag H* to learn the effects of this fertilizer. 
Plot OO ... 
No fertilizer; for comparison. 
How to Use these Fertilizers. 
Select a piece of uniform soil, as nearly like the 
rest of the field as may be. It can be marked out 
in any field prepared for a crop. It should be nearly 
level, so that one plot will not receive the washings 
from another. When plowed and harrowed well, 
mark off with stakes, in 10 plots, as shown in the 
above diagram ; one plot for each bag, and calling 
them as here indicated. 
Here you have the first and last plots marked 9 
and 00, while the others are one for each of the 
eight bags, which are marked with the same letters. 
Sow each bag uniformly over its own plot; that 
is, bag A, on plot A, etc. (the fertilizers are all 
finely ground and dry).—Harrow the fertilizers well 
into the soil, running the harrow lengthwise of the 
plot, taking care to confine each fertilizer to its 
own plot. Then plant or sow corn, potatoes, or 
any other crop over the whole, the same amount on 
each plot, running rows lengthwise of the plots, 
and cultivate and treat the whole alike during the 
season. N. B.—Those who wish, can divide the 
whole plot across into halves, planting, say, corn on 
the left-hand half and potatoes or other crop on 
the right-hand half, so that each crop shall extend 
across the fertilized strips. It is important to select 
worn out soils for soil tests, that is, those having 
only their “natural strength,” and little or no rich¬ 
ness left from former manuring. The soil must be 
uniform, or the tests will mislead. 
What tlie Experiment will Tell 
FIRST: By watching the growth, and measuring 
the gathered crop, it will be easy to see how the crop 
on that soil is affected by Potash, or by Nitrogen, 
or by Phosphoric Acid, or by combinations of them. 
SECOND : By comparing each plot with the no 
fertilizer plots, 0, 00, it will be easy to see which fer¬ 
tilizer pays expenses, or the greatest profit. 
THIRD : Such an experiment will be interesting, 
will stimulate thought, and prepare for more ex¬ 
tended investigations. If there are boys on the 
farm, it will awaken interests in their minds, and 
be a good agricultural school, on a small scale, at 
home. The Pamphlet sent with each Set will 
greatly help in this. 
FOURTH : It will be a good step towards help¬ 
ing each experimenter to decide for himself, and 
for his neighbors, what fertilizers, if any, they can 
go into more largely in the future. 
Of course a single trial will not tell the whole 
story. The trials should be continued through sub¬ 
sequent seasons. This is not a royal road to know¬ 
ledge, but it is a start in the right direction. 
Note.— It will be a good plan to add other similar 
Plots, and apply on them severally, stable manure, lime, 
and any other fertilizer at hand, for making a comparison. 
Jtrir The above is very simple. The bags 
are all of accurate weight, with standard fer¬ 
tilizers of known quality and composition, and all 
the experimenter has to do is to mark out the plots, 
and use the bag marked for each plot. The result 
in the growth and in the yield will indicate what 
each fertilizer will do, on any soil for the crop 
or crops grown, also what any two of them will 
do if used together, and what all will do used 
together. The different materials in each bag are 
thoroughly mixed and prepared, so that they have 
only to be sown without further mixing or care. 
The Second Set is for one acre, and is marked : 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST I 188Q 
FERTILIZER EXPERIMENTS, j ' 
No. 3 —One Acre Plot. 
Cost of Set of Fertilizers, in bags, shipped, $8.30. 
This is the same as No. 2, except that the quan¬ 
tity in each bag is doubled, for plots of double size 
(one-tenth acre each). As the expense for bags, 
putting up, shipping, etc., will be the same, for 
each set, the double amount of fertilizer put in 
will cost only $8.30, instead of $10. With the larger 
plots, more valuable results will be obtained, and 
more than one crop can be tried. The expense of 
the fertilizers, $8.30 per acre, will very likely be 
more than returned in the increased crop on a part 
of the plots. We strongly advise all to try Set 
