370 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[October, 
the soil fails to supply. Sometimes one, and some¬ 
times several of these ingredients are lacking. 
The ones most often deficient are phosphoric acid, 
nitrogen, and potash. Sulphuric acid, lime, magne¬ 
sia, are less frequently wanting. Every crop re¬ 
moves certain other ingredients, as iron, soda, 
silica, and chlorine, hut these are supplied in 
abundance by every soil. 
Plant Pood Supplied By Aslies and other 
Fertilizers. 
To understand clearly the relative action of ashes, 
and some other ordinary fertilizers, let us notice 
their comparative costs and their actual effect in 
the field. Fifty bushels of unleached ashes, 48 lbs. 
per bu. (2400 lbs.) at 20c. per bush, would cost $10 
per acre. Sixty bushels of leached ashes, 60 lbs. per 
bu. (3600 lbs.), at 16fc. per bu. cost also $10 per 
acre. Many farmers apply them more largely.— 
A fair dressing of No. 1 Peruvian Guano, (“10 per 
cent Ammonia Standard,” brand) is 300 lbs. per 
acre. This will cost $9, at 3 cents per lb. ($60 per 
ton'.)—A dressing of 400 lbs. good “ Ammoniated 
Superphosphate ” at $45 per ton, or450 lbs. of pure 
ground bone at $40 per ton, would cost the same. 
A similar cost per acre would give of the German 
Potash Salts, 360 lbs. Muriate containing 80 per 
cent Chloride of Potassium (50 per cent actual 
potash), at $50 per ton ; or 300 lbs. of 80 per cent 
Sulphate (43 per cent actual potash), at $66.67 per 
ton.—Ten loads of barnyard manure, of 1500 lbs. 
per load, a very small dressing per acre, at $1 per 
load, would also be $10. Taking the above fertil¬ 
isers as they run, and the above as the average 
cost, and omitting the other ingredients (which are 
of small account, except the organic matter of the 
barnyard manure, which is always more or less use¬ 
ful), we hav the following table : 
This table brings out several important points. I 
wish the reader might look at the figures very care¬ 
fully,and note(l) what large quantities the ashes give 
of all the ingredients, except nitrogen—much more 
of each than is contained in the barnyard manure. 
(2) That the rest are all deficient in some of the im¬ 
portant ingredients of plant-food—the guano and 
fish furnish a good deal of nitrogen, and more or 
less phosphoric acid; the bone and phosphate a 
good deal of phosphoric acid and a little nitrogen, 
while the potash salts have little else of value than 
potash. (3). The unleached ashes furnish a great 
deal of potash, and the leached ashes considerable, 
while both have very large quantities of lime, 
whose indirect action in changing the inert nitro¬ 
gen, potash, or other plant-food of the soil into 
forms that the plants can use, is very valuable. So 
much for the chemistry. Now for 
The Effects of Ashes and other Fertilizers in 
the Field Farm Experiment. 
I examined some experiments of Mr. Farrington, 
the Farm Superintendent of the Maine State Col¬ 
lege of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, at Orono, 
which clearly illustrate the action of several of the 
above fertilizers. A meadow, a moderately heavy 
clay, was being reseeded to timothy and clover. In 
the middle several plots were measured, and differ¬ 
ent fertilizers applied. Land plowed August 15th, 
1872, and thoroughly pulverized. Seed sown and 
fertilizers evenly spread and harrowed in about a 
month later. 
Plot I.-Stable Manure.' 
Plot II.—Fish Scrap. 
Plot III.—'“Top-Dressing.” 
Plot IV.—Ammoniated Su¬ 
perphosphate. 
Plot V.—Lime. 
Plot VI.—Wood Ashes, (Tin- 
leached). 
Plot VII.—Ho Manure. 
The fish scrap (II) was the pomace left after 
pressing the oil out of Menhaden. The top-dressing 
(III) was a mixture of artificial fertilizers, calculat¬ 
ed to furnish nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash, 
in the proportions usually found in hay. The stable 
manure was applied at the rate of 6 cords per acre, 
and as the cost of the application to each plot was 
to be the same, the amount of the other fertilizers 
was very large, viz., at the rate, per acre, of about 
1,400 lbs. of superphosphate, 2,500 lbs. fish scrap, 
and 210 bushels of ashes. No manure applied since 
1872. Five crops taken off. Plot VI, ashes, has lead 
the rest from the start, and the fifth crop, this year, 
was good in quality and quantity. The timothy 
holds out well, with considerable clover, and but 
little of other grasses or weeds have appeared.— 
Next to ashes, Plot I, (stable manure), did very 
well two or three years, but has since fallen off very 
much ; the clover has nearly run out, and considera¬ 
ble Red-top come in. Plot III proved somewhat 
inferior to Plot I, but was superior to Plots II 
and IV, very probably on account of the potash it 
contained in the fish, and superphosphate having 
none. The fish scrap was rich in nitrogen, and con¬ 
tained also considerable phosphoric acid and lime. 
The first crop was good, the second poorer, and the 
last crop amounted to very little. The clover has 
disappeared, the timothy is scanty, both giving 
place to a sparse, inferior herbage. This is the 
characteristic effect of nitrogenous fertilizers—a 
quick, stimulating action, but their force soon 
spent. The scant mineral food of the fish supplied 
one crop, after which its strength was mainly gone. 
The superphosphate, (Plot IV), had less nitrogen 
and more phosphoric acid. The yield, though not as 
much at first, was more lasting. Still, its effect was 
soon gone, and both clover and timothy fell away, 
and red-top, daisies, and weeds feebly filled their 
places. The phosphate, like the fish, was a partial, 
one-sided fertilizer, supplying part, but not all the 
crop needed, and it could not, like ashes, urge into 
activity from their sluggish combination in the soil, 
the materials which in itself were lacking.—Plot V 
(lime) was no better than Plot VII. 
One experiment does not prove a principle. The 
chief value of the above is for the special place 
where it was made, but it is clear that for that time 
and place ashes brought the best returns for the 
money, and horse manure the next; and I should 
not be surprised if Mr. Farrington finds, as many 
other farmers have done, that even leached ashes, 
at 18 to 28 cents per bushel, would be more profita¬ 
ble than any superphosphate he could get at $45 
per ton, or guano at $60. I know there are many 
soils on which guano, nitrogenous superphosphate, 
or bone, will bring good crops for years and years. 
Where the nitrogen, and phosphoric acid, and lime 
they supply is all that is needed, and can be got in 
them most cheaply, there is the place to use them. 
By mixing these with German potash salts, com¬ 
plete fertilizers may be made which, like the top¬ 
dressing in Mr. Farrington’s experiment, will do 
good work. Sometimes such mixtures will serve 
as well as the best barnyard manure or ashes. But 
the ashes and manure are always sure, and in the 
majority of cases the results would, I believe, be 
very much like Mr. Farrington’s. 
W. O. Atwateb, 
Wesleyan University , Middletown, Conn. 
Better Times Have Come, 
For farmers certainly and decidedly, and measur¬ 
ably for many other classes. Our farmers have 
from this year’s wheat crop alone, enough surplus 
to bring them at least Seventy-five Million Dollars, 
probably near a Hundred Millions, if sold at present 
prices. And what is fortunate for them, owing to 
the great war in the East, and a to general shrink¬ 
age in this crop in Great Britain and on the Conti¬ 
nent, there is a demand for all our surplus, if it be 
not unwisely held back for too high rates, until the 
extra demand ceases and prices decline.—The Provi¬ 
dential delay of killing frosts, with the warm Sep¬ 
tember weather, has ripened up what will perhaps 
be the greatest com crop ever produced in our 
country, taken as a whole. The foreign demand 
will take a good deal of this in the kernel, and a 
great deal more in the form of pork and lard. For¬ 
tunately, a good yield of other crops will furnish 
food for the masses, and leave more wheat and corn 
for export. The crops are so bountiful that, even 
with the large foreign demand, prices are not likely 
to rise much, perhaps not keep quitq up to present 
rates, but any decline will increase the total amount 
of export. We judge that the present prices will 
be nearly 7 , if not quite, maintained. 
This country will probably receive from abroad, 
during a year from July, not much, if any, below 
Five Hundred Millions of Dollars for the products of 
the soil, including wheat, corn, cotton, tobacco, 
meats, live animals, pork, lard, butter, and eh,eese. 
This immense sum will go mainly into the hands of 
the producers, to he used in paying debts and 
making purchases; it will pass from hand to 
hand many times, through a multitude of chan¬ 
nels ; it will help the railroads and canals, will 
quicken manufactures and trade, and in the end 
benefit all classes, though none others so much as 
those who, by patient toil, have extracted these 
dollars from the soil. 
W. C. Tracy’s Poultry-House. 
On page 373 is given a view of the poultry-house 
of W. G. Tracy,Towanda, Pa. Mr. Tracy writes in re¬ 
gard to this house, that after several years use of it, 
he could not change it to suit him any better. In front 
of the. house is an orchard of two acres ; in the rear 
on the south is a meadow of six acres. "When 
the grass in the runs becomes thin, the fowls may 
be turned into the meadow and orchard. With this 
range the stock are always in the best of health, 
and the eggs rarely fail to produce strong chicks. 
The young broods are cooped in the orchard. The 
arrangements of the house are such as to secure 
light, ventilation, and warmth. All the windows 
are hung with weights and pulleys, and there are 
three ventilating shafts. The partitions are ceiled 
to the hight of three feet, the rest is lattice work. 
The perches are of 2 x 4 stuff, laid flat-wise, with a 
groove on the upper side, in which kerosene oil is 
poured every two weeks to destroy vermin; they 
are also movable, resting loosely in cleats nailed to 
the wall. Under each 
perch is a hoard plat¬ 
form to catch the drop¬ 
pings, and this is kept 
covered with dry dust 
two inches deep. The 
nests are cheese-boxes 
placed on the floor be¬ 
neath the platforms. 
The floor is always kept 
covered with clean, 
coarse sand. The store 
and feed rooms are un¬ 
der the stairs, as shown 
in figure 2, and there is 
also a pen for breaking up setting hens. The 
plan of the second story is given at figure 3. The 
runs are planted with plums, in the hope of thus 
circumventing the plum curculio. Mr. Tracy 
breeds Brown and White Leghorns ; Partridge and 
Black Cochins, and Plymouth Rocks. 
Fig. 3. 
