224 
MARCH 2i 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
The Farmers Club. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
| Every query must be accompanied by the name and address 
oT the writer to insure attention. Before asking a question, please 
see if it is not answered in our advertising columns. Ask only 
a few questions at one time. Put questions on a separate piece 
of paper.] 
Some Fertilizing Substances In British Columbia. 
A. S., Agassiz, 13. C .—My ground 1 h new and considered 
rich, but I And that a good quantity of stable manure 
helps it. Now I have an opportunity to get some salt¬ 
peter at about $30 per ton. I can also get lime at $1 per 
barrel, and some seasons I can get salmon fish for about 
$10 or $15 per wagon load, and by going to the canning fac¬ 
tories I could get fish scraps for taking them away. How 
had I better use these fertilizers and in what quantities ? 
Can I mix them to advantage or are they not worth the 
price asked ? I am in the 
fruit growing business in a 
small way, and want to make 
the land produce all it will 
at the least expense. Nearly 
all our timber here is soft 
wood, consequently but little 
ashes remain after it has 
been burned; how can I get 
the amount of ashes that I 
know from experience is 
wanted in the soil. One of my 
neighbors has been feeding 
his hogs peas in the straw ; 
after having eaten all that 
they would, the straw has 
been piled outside. Will it 
pay me to haul it at $1.50 a 
load for the cost of the ma¬ 
nure and hauling ? I can get 
sediment or swamp muck for 
hauling it about four miles. 
It has been formed from 
washings from the moun¬ 
tain side, decayed grass and 
other vegetation ; is it worth 
hauling that distance ? 
Ans.— Unless something is 
definitely known in regard 
to the source of waste salt¬ 
peter it would be a difficult 
matter to estimate its value 
as a fertilizer. Pure salt¬ 
peter or potassium nitrate, 
contains high percentages of 
both nitrogen and potash in 
their most soluble and avail¬ 
able forms, and would be 
worth,at present prices of fer¬ 
tilizing materials, about $90 
per ton. Fish scrap is also 
considerably modified i n 
value by conditions of mois¬ 
ture and fineness; unless very 
wet and coarse $15 per ton 
would seem to be a very rea¬ 
sonable price, and in any case 
it would be worth more than 
the expense of carting from 
the canning factories. A mix¬ 
ture of the saltpeter and 
fish scrap would make a 
complete fertilizer, though it 
would probably be benefited 
by the addition of some 
superphosphate. It would 
be impossible to state the 
quantity to be used without 
knowing something of the 
composition of the materials; 
experience must be your 
teacher in that case. Lime is 
a valuable addition to most 
soils, both for the direct or 
indirect benefit it gives, 
though $1.25 per barrel would 
seem to be an excessive 
price. If used, it may be ap¬ 
plied broadcast at the rate of 
about 40 bushels per acre. 
The above materials will 
supply all the ash or min¬ 
eral elements removed by the THE HU 
crops. It will doubtless pay 
you much better to haul fish scrap from the canning fac¬ 
tories than to pay $1.50 per load for pea straw. It will 
hardly pay you to haul swamp muck four miles; if thrown 
out of the beds and allowed to dry, it is worth hauling 
for use as an absorbent in stables and barnyards. 
Food for Fattening Shoats. 
F ., Oakesdale, Mich —I wish to fatten shoats which 
now weigh 100 pounds. We have wheat at 50 cents per 
bushel; wheat middlings at $15 per ton; bran at $12.50 per 
ton; and new-process oil-cake meal (linseed) at $36 per ton; 
which is the best for me to use ? 
Ans.— None of these foods is valuable for fattening. 
Wheat has only IK' per cent of fat; bran has SK per cent; 
wheat middlings three per cent; and new-process linseed 
meal 2\ per cent. At the price mentioned linseed meal is 
out of the question for the purpose; besides, it makes soft, 
wasteful pork. Bran is the best of the foods mentioned, 
and if you have potatoes to spare, cook these and mix 
the bran with them and the pigs will fatten faster than on 
any of the foods mentioned. The starch of potatoes is en¬ 
tirely digestible and with the bran will make an excellent 
food both for healthfulness and fat making. A good way 
is to boil the potatoes after washing them, in a large 
kettle, and then mash them in the water, adding bran to 
make a stiff pudding. If wheat is found the most con¬ 
venient food, it should be boiled quite soft and given cold, 
when it will have swollen so as to take up nearly all the 
water. Next to the bran and potatoes, the wheat well 
boiled will be the cheapest food. 
Manure for Trees; Borers; Winter Pears. 
Ii. S , Kcrnston, Va. —1. Will it hurt young pear trees to 
take away three or four inches of earth and put fresh hog 
manure at the roots and then put the earth back 7 2 What 
will kill borers in peach trees t 3. What are the best 
winter pears 7 How about Anjou 7 
Ans. —1. We should prefer to use a smaller quantity 
spread upon the surface as far as the roots extend and 
fork it under. 2. Alwlre punched into the.holes they bore 
SMANN GRAPE. From Nature. (See First Page.) Fig. 79. 
will often kill them. Further than this, we know of no 
remedy except the preventive one of painting the trunks 
with compounds which either disguise the wood or are 
distasteful to the female that deposits the egg. 3. Anjou 
is rather a fall than a winter pear. Clairgeau, Goubalt, 
Lawrence, Josephine de Malines, Doyenne d’Alencon, 
Dana’s Hovey, and Winter Nelis, are all excellent winter 
varieties. 
Experiments for an Illinois Renter. 
C. K.,Osman, 111 .—Would a rotation of clover, corn and 
oats in the order named, be as profitable to a renter, for 
cash—one third of the tillable land In each case—as to cul¬ 
tivate half in corn and half in oats, changing yearly, 
as is done in most cases in this section ? 
Ans. —This matter can be determined only by experi¬ 
ment, as much depends on local conditions, the kind of 
soil, yield per acre under the present system, effects of 
clover on the crops mentioned, etc., etc. I would advise 
our friend to try the experiment on 10 acres. He might 
conduct this experiment somewhat as follows : Sow the 
clover with oats, and after the oats are harvested keep all 
stock off. The following spring divide the field into two 
plots of five acres each. As soon as the clover is fit to cut 
for hay, cut one plot, but let the other stand. When the 
bloom on this latter is fully ripe, turn the entire crop 
under with a large plow fitted with a sharp rolling cutter. 
When the second or seed crop on the remaining plot is 
ripe, harvest it and then turn the sod. In the spring a 
disc harrow will put the ground in good shape for corn. 
Plant both plots at the same time and with the same 
kind of corn, and note the difference in yield. A little 
figuring will quickly show which is the more profitable 
course to follow, and whether either is superior to the pre¬ 
sent rotation. 
I feel certain that the clover would favorably affect the 
yield of corn, but it might be well to complete the experi¬ 
ment by sowing oats after the corn and comparing the 
yield on the two plots, and both with that on the other 
parts of the farm. This would settle the matter and point 
out the best course to follow. 
In this section it is neces¬ 
sary to grow two crops of corn 
on land that is treated to a 
full crop of clover before sow¬ 
ing it to oats. When oats 
are sown the first or second 
year after clover they lodge so 
badly as to seriously inter¬ 
fere with harvesting. A good 
rotation here is clover, win¬ 
ter wheat, corn, oats and 
then clover again. 
A renter .vho is paying $3 to 
$5 per acre for bis land can¬ 
not afford to experiment on a 
very extensive scale. If he 
believes that a certain course 
or rotation would be profit¬ 
able he should try it on a 
small scale. Generally, how¬ 
ever, a person living in a part 
of the country that has been 
long settled, can, by inquiry, 
learn of farmers near him 
who have tested these things 
to a greater or less extent, 
information of considerable 
value to him. In making 
these inquiries he should keep 
in mind the fact that the 
experience of any one man 
does not settle a matter con¬ 
clusively. Brains are neces¬ 
sary in conducting experi¬ 
ments when definite results 
are desired. FRED GRUNDY. 
Christian Co., Ill. 
Chemical Fertilizers In 
Illinois. 
O. A. O , Morrison, III.— 
My soil is a pure red peat 
muck, well drained and culti¬ 
vated till the surface soil is a 
rich, fine, brown loam. 1. I 
have a patch of large, vig¬ 
orous strawberries thus far 
without fertilizers of any 
kind. What fertilizers, if 
any, shall I use to insure the 
best crop this year ? 2 What 
fertilizers should I put on the 
same soil for an onion crop 7 
3. Cabbage and cauliflower 7 
4 Celery ? 5. Would it be ad¬ 
visable to plant potatoes on 
this soil 7 6. If so, what fer¬ 
tilizers ? 7. Is there a better 
way of applying ground bone 
and other fertilizers than 
broadcasting them by hand ? 
Ans. —1. It is hard to say 
what fertilizer to use on a soil 
already rich. We would ad¬ 
vise you to try on one part 
fine bone flour; on another, 
unleached wood ashes; on 
another, both; on another, 
add nitrate of soda. An ex- 
periment of this kind would 
answer the question. 2. All 
the fertilizer firms put up fer¬ 
tilizers for different crops. 
They vary in the amount 
of food constituents, some having a larger or smaller 
per cent of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, or potash than 
others. For most vegetables, a high-grade potato fer¬ 
tilizer would serve as well as any, though a higher per 
cent of nitrogen and phosphoric acid would often pay. 5. 
Yes; but we should use plenty of potash and phosphoric 
acid, for it is already, no doubt, rich in nitrogen. 7. None 
that we prefer. 
Manure Under Potatoes; Nitrate of Soda. 
W. V. D, Corunna, Ind. —1. Would It not be a good 
plan to dig the trenches deep for potatoes, put in a few 
inches of barn-yard manure, put in two or three inches of 
soil and plant the seed on that ? 2. What is the best way 
to apply nitrate of soda in connection with wood ashes on 
potatoes 7 
Ans. —1. We have tried putting in the manure first, as 
our friend suggests, without an increase of the crop pro¬ 
portionate to the cost and trouble. Besides, the tubers 
were scabby. 2. Our plan would be to prepare the land 
firsthand then to barrow in the ashes and nitrate. In the 
