1862.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
361 
Experiments with Sorghum — Value of 
Gypsum. 
Friend Harris, in a recent number of the Gen¬ 
esee Farmer, gives a detailed account of some ex¬ 
periments on Sorghum with various artificial ma¬ 
nures, from which we condense the main points 
of interest. The soil, a sandy loam, had been 
under cultivation without manuring for some 
thirty years; the last three years it had lain in 
grass and clover. It was plowed and harrowed 
into mellow condition, and the sorghum planted 
June 4th, in hills about 3 feet 4 inches apart. 
Eleven plots, each containing one twentieth of 
an acre were experimented upon. The various 
manures were applied in the hill, being thorough¬ 
ly worked into the soil, and then covered with 
fresh earth, on which the seed was planted. 
The Sorghum was cut October 7 and 8, and 
the stalks accurately weighed in the field, with 
the following results: 
£ ^ j. 
:aS| 1,947; 3^44 
r;;l 
1S4|21,211 23,059 
415,097 21,203 
184 22,848 24,83(1 
1G2;13,058[1G,120 
16D 16,105 19,000 
;. sulphate of ammonia... 
4. superphosphate of lime. 
iisl plaster (sulphateof Hint 
bs. unleached hard wood a 
bs. unleached ashes and.... 
bs. plaster (mixed togethei 
common salt. 
sulphate of ammonia.... 
superphosphate of lime 
untouched ashes. 
superphosphate of lime 
unleached ashes. 
Each plot contained 201 hills, but as the above 
table shows, many failed. The seed either rot¬ 
ted in the ground or was injured by the manure. 
The last column shows in the plainest manner 
the relative yield per acre, allowing the same 
number of hills to have produced on each plot. 
The effect of plaster (gypsum or sulphate of 
lime) is interesting and instructive. Not only 
does the plot manured with this, show the great¬ 
est yield per hill, but with one exception (plot 
No. 3) the greatest number of hills germinated 
and grew. These two plots, No. 3 and 5, were 
superior to any others, all through the season. 
The superphosphate used was a superior ar¬ 
ticle, made from calcined bones expressly for the 
experiment. It should be understood that the 
best superphosphate contains at least 50 per cent, 
of plaster; so that if common plaster contains 
80 per cent of sulphate of lime, the 250 lbs. ap¬ 
plied to plot No. 5 would contain the same quan¬ 
tity of real plaster as the 400 lbs. of superphos¬ 
phate applied to plot No. 3; if 90 per cent., it 
would get 25 lbs. more plaster than plot No. 3. 
The plots receiving plaster and superphos¬ 
phate are the two best of the series. Plot No. 5 
is a little the best, and probably received a little 
more real plaster than plot No. 3. One thing is 
clear: the soluble phosphate of lime in the superphos¬ 
phate did no good, for on the plot No. 5 we have 
plaster alone; and on the other plot (No. 3) we 
have plaster and soluble phosphate; and yet the 
crop is no better from the two together, than 
from the plaster alone. 
In conclusion Mr. Harris frankly says he doe3 
not know why the manured plots should pro¬ 
duce so much more than the unmanured. It 
could not be wholly owing to want of sulphate 
of lime in the soil, for salt, which contains none, 
more than doubled the crop, and ashes quadru¬ 
pled the yield. He suggests that it may be due 
to the plaster accelerating the growth of the 
young plants, and enabling them to throw out 
roots and occupy the ground, and thus helping 
them to get all the food they required. This, 
however, it must be said, does not appear to 
fully solve the question, for it does not explain 
how or why it accelerates their growth—the 
great point involved, and desirable to know. 
Whatever may be the true theory, the experi¬ 
ment indicates that on soils similar to the above, 
plaster is of undoubted utility; practical men 
will therefore do well to test it for themselves. 
Plowing 1 tinder Green Eye for Manure. 
W. F., of Mercer Co., N. J., has a poor opin¬ 
ion of green rye as a manure for poor soils. He 
has now a piece of poor land which he 'would 
like to improve by plowing under green crops, 
having no stable or yard manure, but says : 
“ A few years ago I plowed under a good growth 
of rye in the Spring for corn, but failed to get 
more than half the yield in corn that I should 
have looked for without the green crop; the sea¬ 
son was favorable for it, but it came up poorly, 
looked yellow, and grew very slowly, notwith¬ 
standing it was well attended. * The same 
Spring another piece of rye was turned under 
(earlier) for oats. This also failed to give an ex¬ 
pected crop. From my experience above given 
I have had my doubts as to the propriety of 
plowing under grain crops in quick succession; 
but as to clover being good, there is'no doubt. 
I have been engaged in the farming business 15 
years.” [The experience of W. F. is quite dif¬ 
ferent from that of many others, so far as rye is 
concerned. As a general rule any green crop, 
plowed under, produces-good effects. Clover 
is undoubtedly one of the best green manures 
for soils already good enough to yield a 
growth of clover.—E d. American Agriculturist .] 
Bones Good for Manure. 
As most of our readers doubtless know, we 
do not attach great value to mineral manures, as 
a general rule. That was a beautiful theory, at 
onetime so strongly advocated by Liebig and 
others, viz: that the organic part of plants be¬ 
ing composed of the same elements as air and 
water, the main object of the cultivator should 
be to supply the inorganic elements, such as are 
found in the ashes of plants. Hence the im¬ 
portance attached to chemical analyses, to as¬ 
certain what are the mineral constituents of the 
plants or of their ashes. However much may 
yet grow out of this theory, it is pretty certain 
that, so far, the application of it has resulted in 
little practical good. 
But without stopping to discuss this matter, 
we may safely assert that, as a rule, organic 
materials, (animal and vegetable substances) do 
act beneficially as fertilizers, and that for the 
cereal or grain crops, those substauces yielding 
the most nitrogen or ammonia, produce the best 
results. Animal substances, especially lean 
flesh and cartilages, abound in nitrogen, and 
hence these are among the best fertilizers. 
Bones are made up of cartilage aiid a mineral 
part, which is chiefly phosphate of lime with 
some carbonate of lime. The manure manu¬ 
facturers claim that the phosphate is the most 
efficient and most valuable portion of the bones, 
and that therefore burned bones, or manures 
made from them, are of great value. We do 
not now and here discuss that question; nearly 
all admit that burned bones themselves are val¬ 
ueless, but that dissolving them in sulphuric 
acid sets the phosphoric acid free, in which state 
it becomes active. It may be queried whether 
the good results observed are due to the action 
of the phosphoric acid as direct food for the 
plants, or whether the freed phosphoric acid, 
together with the added sulphuric acid, may 
not act as absorbents of ammonia from the at¬ 
mosphere, and in this way produce the same 
effect as ammoniacal organic manures. It is 
certain that phosphoric acid has a very ready 
affinity for ammonia, and on this account it may 
be a more powerful fertilizer than other acids. 
But theories aside, the organic matter, the car- 
tilagineous portion of bones, is a good fertilizer. 
Trials without number show that bones ground 
fine, and applied to the soil, stimulate plants to 
active growth. If ground fine, or dissolved in 
acid, they become quickly available. When 
merely Crushed, they are a longer time in decom¬ 
posing, and their full effect is not so soon ob¬ 
tained. For fruit trees and grape vines, where 
more permanent effects are desired, coarsely 
broken or whole bones are useful. They decay 
gradually, and yield a little nutriment from year 
to year. Unburned bones are far too valuable 
to be lost. A single bone lying on the surface 
of the ground where not needed, wastes its sub¬ 
stance in the air. Put that one bone at the bot¬ 
tom of a fruit tree or vine, and it will gradually 
furnish all its valuable elements to increase the 
crop of fruit. Grind it to powder, or dissolve it 
in acid to a semi-fluid mass, and apply this to 
the garden, or to grain or grass, and it will be 
nearly all used up by the first crop, and show 
excellent results. We repeat, that bones are of 
too great value as a fertilizer to be wasted. 
Salt in the Manure Heap. 
One of the most economical articles about 
yards and stables is salt. It is just -as good to 
feed to the manure heap as to pigs and cattle. 
It is best applied in a weak solution in water with 
a common watering pot. Whether salt does 
or does not supply direct plant food, it at least 
prevents the escape of ammonia, the most valu¬ 
able part of the manure heap. This gas is always 
leaving animal manure; unless there is plenty 
of moisture present, or some agent to absorb 
it. Salt does this without arresting the decom¬ 
position of the mass. Sea shore farmers make a 
large use of sea-weed, without fully understand¬ 
ing the philosophy of its action. It is carted 
into the styes and barn yards several times in 
the course of the year, and intimately mixed by 
means of the plow with the droppings of cattle. 
Thus all the best parts of the manure are saved 
by the salt, and a large addition is made to its 
bulk by the vegetable matter of the sea weed. 
These weeds gathered from the shore are good 
manure by themselves, but are still more valu¬ 
able when decomposed and saturated with ma¬ 
nure drippings as they pass through the sty and 
yard on their way to the plowed field or meadow. 
Cocoanut Waste in Gardens, etc. 
The fiber of the outer husk of the cocoanut is 
extensively used in making mats, brushes, etc. 
In the process of manufacture,' a large quantity 
of refuse is separated from the fiber. A recent 
number of the London Gardeners’ Chronicle 
says that this substance is now being turned to 
great account in gardening. It is valuable as a 
mechanical agent for ameliorating stiff soils, 
makes an .excellent mulching, and forms a good 
substitute for leaf mold in the finer kinds of com¬ 
post for potting. Many other uses are named 
for this material in the garden and liot-house. 
Though few sources of supply exist in this 
country, these fa’cts are worth noting by culti¬ 
vators in the neighborhood of such factories 
