1880 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
325 
THE HOMESTEAD, 
A. HIGH-GEADB SUJ PKRPHOSPH ATE. 
As manufacturers of Animal Charcoal, we have at our hands the moat valuable material 
need In making fertilizers—viz.. Bone Black Dust. This fertilizing substance contains 
eighty per cent, of phosphate of lime, against fifty-live per cent, contained in raw bones; 
and its well known value commands so high a price in the European markets that but very 
few manufacturers of fertilizers in this country use it. Although the HOMESTEAD Fer¬ 
tilizer costs us more to manufacture than if prepared of the materials generally used, wo 
shall continue its present high standard, and place on the market a genuine, pure Bone 
Black Phosphate. 
• Almost, Mich., June 18th, 1879. 
Michigan Carbon Works, Detroit, Mich.: 
Gentlemen .-—Please notice the enclosed photograph of wheat cut from the same length 
of drill, seven inches apart—superphosphate and no superphosphate. Draw your own con¬ 
clusions which is which. Of course, this is showing more difference than the field will 
average; but this shows what superphosphate will do on very poor soil. This was cut 
from a very poor spot, but each having the same chance, with the one exception. It was 
cut 12th of June. Shows the earliness of tiiat fertilized. I have the best piece of barley in 
this section—100 lbs. superphosphate per acre sown on wheat stubble. The best farmers 
here are taking note of these things. 
Very truly, 
F. J. GROAT. 
Our works are among the most complete 
and extensive in the country, and have every 
appliance to enable us to furnish Standard 
Fertilizers at the Lowest Price. Our ma¬ 
chinery is of modern and improved construc¬ 
tion, and our goods are made under the 
guidance of an able chemist, who inspects 
every lot before being placed on the market. 
With the large amount of capital invested in 
the HOMESTEAD, we are much more inter¬ 
ested in having its high character maintained 
than any individual purchaser could possibly 
be; and this fact alone should assure the 
farmer that every pound he buys is all that 
is represented. 
Medina, Orleans Co., N. Y., August 7th, 1879. 
Michigan Carbon Works : 
Gentlemen .-—Enclosed please find a photograph of some barley. This barley was 
gTown on A. H. Poler’s farm, four miles south of Medina, Orleans Co., N. Y. 
I made a frame four feet square and set it in the standing grain on the day of its 
being cut. I then cut and gathered all that stood within the frame of each, where there 
was phosphate and where there was no phosphate. I let it lay in the sun one day to cure, 
then weighed each bundle as you see it. on the photograph. 
The phosphate was put down with the seed with a fertilizing drill, the teeth being 
six inches apart. These bundles were cut side by 6ide, only six Inches apart. The one on 
the left of the photograph had no phosphate, and weighed twelve ounces. The one on 
the right had one hundred and forty pounds of the Homestead Superphosphate to the 
acre, and weighed two pounds and fourteen ounces to the four feet square. This is 
correct , 
A. H. Poler also experimented on corn, potatoes, and winter wheat, with as good re¬ 
sults on each as on his barley. Of course he has not harvested his corn ; but it stands 
sixteen inches higher than the rest of the corn and earing one-half better. 
Yours, respectfully, 
GEO. W. POLER. 
ACXUAli RESTII/r AT OI R SEED-FARM ON EEXT17CE SEED. 
116 lbs. of lettuce seed, at $1.25.$145 00 
560 lbs. of Homestead, at $40 per ton. 11 20 
Homestead produced.583 lbs. per acre 
Where none was used.467 “ “ 
Difference favor of Homestead.......116 
keep well stirred while being applied, 
1 Bo-"- p --- 
PRICES, V “ 
g applied. Do not apply oftener than once in two weeks. 
Box containing 10 lbs....$1 00 
25 lbs...... 2 CO 
50 lbs... 4 00 
Sent anywhere in the United States or Canada, by express or freight, on receipt of cash orders. 
CHAPMAN & VAN WYCK, 
(Established 1849), 
DEALERS IN 
PERUVIAN 
Guano 
EXCLUSIVELY, 
170 Front Street, 
New York. 
fcNtTMttL AND GRAND PARIS WORLDS FAIR PRI^SS AND 
All. TRE U.S. STATE FAIR PREMIUMS IN 187 7. ft 1878. 
' PB 340^ 10 T ° ^ 
WIRES'USS 
PRESS. 
HONEY-. 
J Aptnessjm wsmujC. & 
fp. K DCDCRICKA CO.^LBA NY HYl 
TD Pure 
iREMIUM 
jjj^l 
II 
SSI 
ial 
Actual profit per acre.$133 60 
D. M. FERRY & CO. 
Send for Circulars , giving full reports of results and all particulars in regard to use. 
pgT’In places where we have no authorized agent a barrel of 200 pounds will be sent on receipt of $4. 
ODORLESS FLORALIS. 
Prepared expressly for Lawns, Flower Gardens, Pot and House Plants. 
DIRECTIONS.—Use three tablespoonfuls of the manure to a gallon of water. Steep twelve hours before using, and 
MICHIGAN CARBON WORKS, Detroit, Mich. 
GOOD AGENTS WANTED IN EVERY TOWN. 
STOCKBRIDGE MANURES 
Now is the time to order for FODDER CORN, HUNGARIAN GRASS, BUCKWHEAT, TOBACCO, 
BEANS, TURNIPS, etc. For Pamphlets and Price Lists send to 
BOWKER FERTILIZER 
Premium Bone 
IS THE 
Standard of Excellence. 
THE GREAT GRAIN and 
GRASS FERTILIZER. 
The Original Premium Bone 
Fertilizer is now manufactured 
on a large scale at Alliance, O. 
It is made from best bone stock 
and is warranted Pure. 
Address the Originator, 
LEWIS SCHILLING, Pres’t, 
Excelsior Fertilizer Company, 
Alliance, Ohio. 
I. X. L. SPRING TUG LINK 
an-S 
Pm 
Affords the greatest protection to HORSES, Harness, 
Wagons, Plows, Mowers and Reapers. Reliable and guaran¬ 
teed as represented. Protect yonr Horse, save your money, 
by procuring the celebrated D. RlSHER «fc CO.’S I.X. 
L. Spring Tug Link. Ask your hardware man for them, or 
send to D. RlSHER & CO., 
Corner of 4th and Wood Streets, Pittsburgh, Pa. 
containing a great variety of Items , including many 
good Hints and Suggestions which we throw into smaller 
type and condensed form , for want of space elsewhere. 
Continued from Page 300. 
In justice to tlie majority of our sub¬ 
scribers, who have been readers for many 
years, articles and illustrations are sel¬ 
dom repeated, as those who desire in¬ 
formation on a particular subject can 
cheaply obtain one or more of the back 
numbers containing what is wanted. 
Back numbers of the “ American Agri¬ 
culturist,” containing articles referred to 
in the “ Basket ” or elsewhere, can al¬ 
ways he supplied and sent post-paid for 
15 cts. each, or $1.50 per volume. 
The German Edition.— All the principal arti¬ 
cles and engravings that appear in the American A gricul- 
turist are reproduced in the German Edition. Besides 
these, there is a special department, edited by an eminent 
German cultivator. Our friends can do us a good service 
by calling the attention of their German neighbors and 
friends to the fact that they can have the paper in their 
own language, and those who employ Germans will 
find this Journal a moBt useful and acceptable present. 
Bound Copies of volume 38, and of every pre¬ 
vious volume back to Yol. XVI. (1857), neatly hound, with 
gilt hacks, Index, etc., arc supplied at $2 each (or $2.30 
if to be sent by mail). See Publishers’ Notes,2d cover page. 
Clubs can at any time be increased by remitting for 
each addition, the price paid by the original members ; 
or a small club may be made a larger one at reduced rates, 
thus: One having sent 6 subscribers and $7, may after¬ 
wards send 4 names more and $3, making 10 subscribers 
for $10.00; and so for the various other club rates. 
Terms to New South Wales, New Zea¬ 
land, Australia, Africa, etc. —To several in¬ 
quirers. Under the latest revision of ttie Postal Union 
Regulations the price of the American Agriculturist 
(either English or German edition), including postage 
prepaid through, will he covered by 7 shillings sterling 
per annum. This applies to the above countries, and to 
all others embraced in the General Postal Union. The 
simplest mode of remittance is by Postal Money Orders, 
payable in London, to the order of Orange Judd Com¬ 
pany. These can be readily cashed in N. Y. City at a 
slight discount, which the publishers will cheerfully pay. 
For Club rates, (postage included), see our second cover 
page, and reckon 22 cents to the shilling sterling. 
Grain Drills. —The even sowing of the grain at 
the desired depth, the proper covering of every grain, 
and therefore a saving in seed, are some of the impor¬ 
tant points in favor of using grain drills. Within a few 
years a new value has attached to these implements: the 
grain is sown in rows, and thus allows of the use of a 
cultivator, or Wheat Hoe. The importance of stirring 
the soil between the rows of wheat is now becoming well 
understood ; and the practice of hoeing wheat is on the 
increase. In Sept, last we illustrated a home-made wheat 
hoe, and there are some implements for the purpose now 
offered by their makers. With the more general use of 
the wheat hoe the method of broadcast sowing must pass 
away. Except on new land, where the stumps are thick, 
there is nothing in favor of the broadcast sowing. 
Soil and. Dry Weather,-" Heavy crops suc¬ 
ceed a season of drouth.” There are good reasons for 
the truthfulness of the above remark. In the first place, 
a wet season, especially one with heavy drenching rains, 
causes the soluble food materials to be carried down deep 
into the soil, or even out of reach of the plants, if the 
subsoil is very porous. On the other hand, dining a 
drouth, a reverse action takes place ; then, as the surface 
moisture is evaporated the loss is made good from be¬ 
low ; the water in the soil is brought up by capillary at¬ 
traction, and with it the salts of potash and other fertiliz¬ 
ing materials are carried up towards the surface of the 
soil and left there as the water is evaporated. It is upon 
this principle that the alkali covering on the western 
plains is produced. During a drouth the vegetation is 
not vigorous, and but a small crop is removed from the 
soil; tlie soil during dry weather is, so to speak, having 
a holiday—a sort of half-way summer fallow—in which 
food elements are forming in the soil, and not being used 
up by the plants because it is too dry for them to do 
much at growing. With such a preparation it is natural 
that the crop the next season should be a good one, pro¬ 
vided there is rain enough for the sown plants to grow. 
