1877.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
171 
ter and recording the results. So much depends on 
the effect of the season, whether wet or dry, hot or 
cool, that such experiments, to be reliable, should 
be continued for many years, and should be con¬ 
ducted under the exact methods of an agricultural 
Experiment Station. I have watched the matter 
pretty closely at Ogden Earm, and do not see any 
very material difference between ordinary early and 
late cutting, so far as the subsequent growth is con¬ 
cerned ; but there have been so many circumstances 
to be considered, that the observation has no es¬ 
pecial value. Where we have cut very early, be¬ 
fore blossoming (dried grass), there has always 
been a good subsequent crop, apparently only less 
than an original uncut crop, because the time for 
its growth was thrown into dry weather. The ex¬ 
perience of those who irrigate suitable grasses with 
6ewage throughout the season, shows that the sec¬ 
ond, and even the third cutting are as large as the 
first. Grass cut long before blossoming seems to 
make less valuable hay than that which is cut at 
just the right time—in full flower or in early seed. 
In a certain sense, the rowen cut late in the sum¬ 
mer, maybe called dried grass, but it is much firmer 
and richer than would be a corresponding growth 
in May and early June, when there is more rain. 
I am asked whether cotton-seed meal is a better 
fodder for milch cows than Indian meal. Decided¬ 
ly, no. It is very nutritious, very fattening, and 
very rich in constituents which add value to ma¬ 
nure. It is largely used in stall feeding in England, 
and it is used to a considerable extent in this State, 
(R. L) Eor beef cattle to be sold alive, it is very 
good, but it does not make very good meat, and is 
decidedly objectionable for dairy cows, being tal¬ 
lowy in its effect. I have found it to give butter a 
crumbling or flaky consistency, and have been 
obliged to give up its use. The fat that it pro¬ 
duces, when fed to beef cattle, is of an undesirable 
character. So far as meat and butter are con¬ 
cerned, Indian-com meal is vastly better. 
Science Applied to Farming—XXIX. 
A Farm Experiment with Commercial Fer¬ 
tilizers, and its Lessons. 
In the vineyard regions of the Rhine, in Germany, 
there are many farms in which nearly or quite all 
of the stable manure produced is used for the 
grape, which is the most important crop. Eor the 
rest of the crops it is necessary to rely upon other 
fertilizing materials. On one of these estates, 
which contains the famous Johannisberg vineyard, 
a series of experiments has been going on for sev¬ 
eral years, which illustrates very pointedly some of 
the principles that I have been trying to enforce in 
previous articles. Starting with the entirely cor¬ 
rect idea that the results of field experiments are, 
in most cases, only applicable to the place and cir¬ 
cumstances in which they are performed, Herr 
Czeh, the manager of the farm, propounded a 
question, in substance, as follows: 
Under the special circumstances of soil and crops 
which obtain here, what fertilizers (that is, which 
ones of the more important ingredients of plant- 
food and in what forms) will be most profitable ? 
Knowing that, to answer this question fully, 
would require repeated trials, Mr. Czeh planned a 
series of experiments to run through an ordinary 
course of rotation. On one field a ten year’s course 
was begun in 1872, and was to be: 
1st year, Oats. 4th year. Hoed Crops. 
2nd “ Fodder Vetches. 5th “ Barley with Lucern. 
3d “ Winter Grain. 6th to 10th year, Lucern. 
The soil experimented upon is a loamy sand, with 
a good many coarse stones. About one foot below 
the surface comes a compact subsoil. The field 
selected had borne potatoes for two years, and was 
pretty well worn down, and hence just adapted to 
the experiments. The plan of the latter was one 
suggested by Ville and consisted in applying to 
one plot a complete fertilizer, to another the same 
with the omission of nitrogen, while from a third 
phosphoric acid, and from a fourth potash was 
omitted, and so on, the last of the plots, seven in 
number, being left unmanured. The amounts of 
the different fertilizing materials U6ed on each plot 
are shown in the table below: 
Kind of Fertilizer. 
Pounds per acre on each plot. 
I 
II 
III 
IV 
V 
VI 
VII 
Superphosphate. 
Sulphate of Potash. 
Tbs. 
357 
178 
lbs. 
857 
134 
fl>S. 
Tbs. 
3.‘)7 
Tbs. 
357 
lbs. 
BS. 
Nitrate of Potash .... 
i78 
123 
312 
357* 
178 
178 
Sulphate of Ammonia. 
Sulphate of Lime (Plaster).. 
268 
312 
ii2 
357 
The land was carefully prepared (by plowing, 
harrowing, etc.), the fertilizers mixed with four 
times their amount of earth, and spread uniformly 
over the plots, the seed sown broadcast and har¬ 
rowed in with the fertilizers. The results the first 
year with oats are given in the table below, which, 
with the notes, deserves careful study. 
I 
Hii 
■mv.ifs 
Utils 
++++++ 
1 
: 
33 
1 
1 
! 
111 I* 
"in 
■umxQ .§ 
+ 1 ++++ 
: IN Igf 
'(np.ijs 
fo fyfjwtn. oi um.iB 
fi> piGpm fo s9/vy 
1:2.64 
1:2.15 1 
1:2.25 
1:2.12 
1:2.76 
1:2.55 
1-9 SK 
> .■“g'Swi: 
1 f :!«!§> 
■pi/snq , A 
Md SfVQ fo lyfiPAi S 
i 
1 
■aivxfg g 
•O 
a 
'UVDJft £ 
IIII11I 
§ 
2 
8 « 
fo 
imo£ .§ 
jg III jf 
: 
s OO^D 
5" 
i! 
§ ^ 
{■seyoufl 
■sypfsfo fyGty fS3fPd.tr) 
jfS 
£ § 
•UddKt 0 ) unfog; e 
< >7 
phosphat 
as long a 
4) Dark f 
;ly lodgec 
Is to say, 
•eceded t 
?! 
$ s 
•luossojq Of unfjdf[ a 
§ 
■* “ •* ■* 
s5l£®a 
■53 
02 
Eh 
<1 
O 
H 
ft 
t n 
Eh 
H 
§ 
E 
N 
13 
EH 
fo 
Complete Fertilizer. 
Without Nitrogen. 
Without Phosphoric Acid . 
Without Potash .. 
Without Sulphate of Lime 1 . 
Sulphate of Ammonia . 
Except that which was contained in i 
vest time mostly lodged, the stalks 1 
stood up well, ears very well develc 
, somewhat lodged . (6) Dark gr 
1, ears ordinary size, stalks large.... 
; fertilizers, are as indicated by the 1 
nured, as is indicated by the sign —. 
B 
X 
w 
•fofdfoMquinpy | 
£ t - a a a « 
^ . g boo g 
From this first trial the author infers “that this 
soil, which had not been manured since the memory 
of man, shows, first of all, a need of nitrogen. *■* * 
By the application of chemical manures the total 
crop was increased about 53 per cent. * * * With 
the complete fertilizer, contrary to all expectation, 
the yield was not particularly better, either in quali¬ 
ty or in quantity, (than those obtained when some 
of the ingredients,'as phosphoric acid, was omit¬ 
ted.) * * * In absence of nitrogen the other materi¬ 
als affected the specific gravity of the grain, but 
made little difference with the straw. * * * For 
some unexplained reason, there was less grain from 
the fertilizer without nitrogen, that where no ma¬ 
nure was used * * But these and other observa¬ 
tions based on one year’s experiments were not en¬ 
tirely conclusive. The next year vetches, or more 
accurately, a green-fodder crop of vetches,oats, peas 
and maize, mixed together, was to be grown. Ni¬ 
trogen in the form of sulphate of ammonia, was 
applied to all the manured plots. The season was 
very dry, and the crop proved a failure. The 
third year, 1874, winter grain came in the regular 
course of rotation. Probsteier rye was sown with 
the same fertilizers as were used for the oats in 
1872, and with similar results. 
The details, though very interesting and in¬ 
structive, and in some respects puzzling, would, 
I fear, be a bit too tedious for this place. I 
give, therefore, in their stead, some qalculations 
which Herr Czeh has made for comparing the 
crops of the two years. Reckoning the un¬ 
manured crops as 100, the amounts of the others 
would be as in the first two columns of figures 
below. The averages for the two years are given 
in the third column, while the last column shows 
how much the crops, where the different ingredi¬ 
ents were omitted, fell below the maximum that 
obtained with the complete fertilizer. 
Plot. | 
Fertilizer. 
iP 
it 
Average of \ 
two crops.] 
I 
II 
III 
IV 
V 
VI 
VII 
Complete Fertilizer. 
Without Nitrogen. 
Without Phosphoric Acid. 
Without Poiasli... 
Without Sulphate of Lime. 
Sulphate of Ammonia alone.... 
No manure. 
152 
120 
140 
141 
153 
143 
100 
162 
1 ill 
164 
152 
161 
100 
157 
134 
156 
146 
157 
121 
100 
23* 
1 
11 
none 
36 
57 
That is to say, counting the average of the total 
yields for the two years on the unmanured plots as 
100, that with the complete manure was 157. 
Where the nitrogen was left out, the yield fell to 
134, a loss of 23, without potash it was 146, a loss 
of 11. But without phosphoric acid, the yield was 
156, almost the same, and without sulphate of lime 
it was 157, exactly the same as with the complete 
fertilizer. The inference is clear. The phosphoric 
acid and the plaster did no good. 
From these experiments Herr Czeh infers that the 
phosphoric acid and sulphate of lime have no spe¬ 
cial value in fertilizers for this particular field. 
In citing these experiments, I have had two ob¬ 
jects in view, first, to give an illustration of one of 
the ways in which an enterprising farmer may 
study the needs of his soil and crops, and second, 
to illustrate the principle, too little understood 
by farmers, and not enough appreciated by many 
who claim to stand in advance of most farmers in 
knowledge of such matters; that soils vary in their 
needs of plant-food, and that, if we are going to 
buy fertilizers to put on them, we should select 
the ones that furnish the needed materials, rather 
than to pay our money for ingredients that are not 
needed. Phosphates and bone manures, which 
make up the larger part of the commercial manures 
in ordinary use, furnish varying, but generally 
small quantities of nitrogen, and little or no potash. 
Their most important ingredient is phosphoric 
acid; they all contain lime, of which, in the super¬ 
phosphates, a considerable is in the form of sul¬ 
phate. In a vast number of cases these are just 
what is wanted. But in the one just described, the 
phosphoric acid and sulphate of lime did very little 
good. It certainly would have been poor economy 
for Herr Czeh to buy phosphates and bone manures 
for the land and crops he experimented on. Peru¬ 
vian guano, which is rich in nitrogen, and furnishes 
a little potash, would have been better, but a large 
part of its value is in phosphoric acid, which was 
not wanted, at least not for present use. Of course, 
after long cropping, the conditions might be 
changed. But most of us can not afford to store 
up large excess of costly material in our soils, to be 
drawn upon, perhaps, a decade or a generation 
hence, and perhaps, never. We want our invest¬ 
ments to bring the best return in the quickest 
time, and we ought to try to apply such fertilizers 
as will do this, and at the same time bring the 
plant-food in the 6oil into equilibrium with the 
needs of our crops. To learn how to do this, is 
the object of such experiments as I have been 
recommending. W. O. Atwater, 
Conn. Agricultural Experiment Station, Middletown. 
Country or Village Cottage, Costing $1,000. 
BY S. B. REED, ARCHITECT, CORONA, LONG ISLAND, N. Y. 
This plan is designed to answer many requests 
for a “ eosev and homelike Cottage, suited to the 
wants of Mechanics and Laboring people, costing 
from $700 to $1,000.” It is best adapted to a west¬ 
ward frontage—with the hall, entrances, and porch¬ 
es protected from the north, but may be easily 
adapted to an opposite frontage by reversing the 
plan—placing the hall, etc.,, on. the opposite side of 
