84 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Feb. 11 
[Every query must be accompanied by tbe name and address of 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 
atone time. Put questions on a separate piece of paper.] 
A Talk About Home-Mixed Chemicals. 
\V. B. F. L., Oakdale, Va —1. From what reliable 
house can I get chemicals for fertilizing purposes ? 2. 
What about a mixture of bone, potash and soda 
(nitrate) for corn ? How should these ingredients be 
proportioned ? 3. I’ve seen in The Rubai, an adver¬ 
tisement of the Morgan harrow. Will some one who 
has used it tell about its practical as well as money 
value ? 4. Where can I obtain a machine that will 
distribute fertilizers among orange trees and stir 
them in the soil at the same time. If not made, I can 
put some manufacturer in the way of making such a 
machine, and there will be money in it for him. 
Ans.— 1. W. S. Powell & Co., Baltimore, Md., sell 
chemicals. 2. This mixture would make a complete 
fertilizer for corn or any other crop. It might not do 
so well, however, as one in which there were different 
forms of nitrogen and soluble phosphoric acid. The 
average composition of the chemicals named is: 
Nitrate of soda, 10 per cent nitrogen ; ground bone, 
20 per cent phosphoric acid ; muriate of potash, 50 
per cent potash. A standard fertilizer for corn should 
contain about 75 pounds of nitrogen, 200 of phosphoric 
acid and 130 of potash to the ton. A mixture of 300 
pounds of nitrate of soda, 1,000 of ground bone and 300 
of potash, or 1,000 pounds in all will give more nitro¬ 
gen and potash than is found in the ton of prepared 
corn fertilizer, and the same amount of phosphoric acid. 
The difference is that none of the phosphoric acid in 
the bone is soluble in water, while 100 pounds of that 
in the special fertilizer are available because a super¬ 
phosphate was used. The cost of the above mixture 
at present retail prices would be not far from $35. 
Here are two “home mixtures” made by Connecticut 
farmers for special use on the corn crop : 
No. 1. Pounds. 
Bone. 500 
Muriate of potash. 200 
Dissolved bone black.(100 
Tankage. 600 
Nitrate of soda. 200 
2.000 
No. 2. Pounds. 
Castor pomace. 800 
Tankage. 000 
Muriate of potash.... 200 
Dissolved bone. 100 
Nitrate of soda. 100 
Plaster. 100 
2,200 
Careful analyses showed the following composition 
for these mixtures in pounds per ton : 
Phosphoric 
Nitrogen. Potash. acid. 
No. 1. 85 108 200 
No. 2. 108 110 160 
No. 1 cost $35.00 per ton delivered. The cost of 
No. 2 was not estimated. These mixtures were made 
with special reference to what those particular soils 
were thought to need. The soils had first been tested 
with chemicals in combination and alone until it 
became evident that the soil of No 2 needed more 
nitrogen and less phosphoric acid than that of No. 1, 
and the mixtures were made up on that basis. The 
great objects of home mixing are to avoid buying 
unnecessary quantities of nitrogen, potash or phos¬ 
phoric acid, and to know that the forms in which these 
substances are supplied are suitable. Better try high- 
grade manufactured goods than to “home mix” at 
random without having first tested the soil for an idea 
of what it really needs. Raw ground bone is seldom 
used in the home mixtures; dissolved boneblack or 
some other form of superphosphate gives a better 
result. 3. We shall soon print a full account of the 
work done by the Morgan harrow. 4. We do not 
know of such a machine—for broadcasting and work¬ 
ing fertilizer into the soil. There are machines for 
drilling the fertilizer, but farmers want a cheap broad¬ 
caster. 
Potato Fertilizer for Cotton-Seed Meal. 
C. U. V. B., Beaufort, S. C .—What is the cheapest 
fertilizer for Irish potatoes ? Will not Peoer Cooper’s 
bone, sulphate of potash, and cotton seed or cotton¬ 
seed meal be the cheapest forms ? Delivered here 
cotton seed meal costs $24 per ton; Peter Cooper’s 
bone, $20, and cotton seed, $10. About sulphate of 
potash I have no information; what is its price, and 
the address of a firm from which I can purchase ? 
Ans. —The value of the cotton-seed meal will depend 
upon its analysis. For instance: take these two 
samples analyzed at the Connecticut station, 
Cost. Nitrogen. P. acid. Potash. 
NO 1. 24.50 4.23 1.83 1.49 
No. 2. 27.00 7.56 3.20 2.00 
No 1 was not thoroughly “decorticated;” so that 
more or less hulls were ground with the seed. Allow¬ 
ing the ordinary prices for potash and phosphoric 
acid, a pound of nitrogen in No. 1 cost 24 cents. 
Figuring the same way, a pound of it in No. 2 cost 
only 13.4 cents, though the price per ton was$2.50 more 
than that of the other. This is a good illustration of 
the necessity of buying fertilizing substances on an 
analysis. It also shows the impossibility of giving an 
accurate statement as to the composition of a mixture 
containing cotton seed meal. We have had no ex¬ 
perience with whole cotton seed as a fertilizer for 
potatoes, but should suppose it contains too much fat 
and oil for that crop. Taking the average composition 
of cotton-seed meal, bone and sulphate of potash, 
1,200 pounds of the meal, 600 of bone and 300 of sul¬ 
phate of potash will give an analysis much like that 
of a high-grade potato fertilizer, except that the mix¬ 
ture contains an excess of phosphoric acid. A better 
combination could be made up by using some nitrate 
of soda and superphosphate as described in other 
articles in this department. The retail price of sul¬ 
phate of potash in New York is $54 per ton, and it can 
be obtained of any of the dealers who advertise in 
The Rural. 
Why Plaster Fails on Wheat. 
B T. M., Newborn, Va. —Why is it that plaster or 
gypsum will not affect any kind of crops in this sec¬ 
tion ? It paid well to use it on corn, wheat and clover 
30 years ago, but now has no effect. I used three 
kinds of plaster on plots of clover, and had I not 
staked them, I never could have found them. Why is 
it that 40 years ago, new land, even without fertilizer, 
was sure to yield a good crop of wheat, and now it is 
not so sure a cropper as old land ? Forty years ago, 
too, we sowed our wheat broadcast on corn land some¬ 
times from the back of a horse, when the rag weeds 
were so tall and thick that a man on foot could not 
scatter the wheat; then we hogged it in with one plow¬ 
ing with single-shovel or bull-tongue plows, always 
harvesting from 15 to 20 bushels to the acre, of better 
quality than we can raise now, though the land in 
other respects seems to be as productive now as then ; 
but it needs much better cultivation now, and from 
200 to 300 pounds of fertilizer to make from 15 to 25 
bushels to the acre. Some attribute the failure of 
land plaster to the effects of the fertilizer ; but that 
will not do, for new land where they have never been 
used will not produce wheat without them, nor will 
plaster have any effect whatever on it. Forty years 
ago we rolled our corn in plaster before planting ; and 
a row planted without this precaution would come up 
yellow and could be distinguished all through the 
season ; now one cannot see any difference in rows 
where this has been done and where it has not. What 
is the explanation of this phenomenon ? 
Ans. —Blaster, which is sulphate of lime, is only one 
element of plant food, as it supplies only a very small 
part of the substance of any plant, as sulphuric acid 
and lime. Thus it may do well on any soil that is 
deficient in either of these elements, but may utterly 
fail otherwise, Forty years of cultivation take a very 
large amount of plant food from the soil, and the result 
is that it is largely exhausted of its fertility. Such 
experience as the above is the rule and not the excep¬ 
tion, and if what is called “new land” is fallow 
or woodland that has not been cleared, the case is the 
same, as the timber on woodland exhausts the soil, 
and has the same effects as growing crops would have. 
It is a common result of an application of plaster to 
give a deep-green color to the crops to which it is 
applied, but only so when there are in the soil other 
kinds of plant food that go with the plaster to make a 
full, square meal for the crops. One element being 
deficient, the crop is as weak as if all were absent, as 
unless the one necessary element is supplied, the rest 
can have no result. It should be noted, too, that super¬ 
phosphate of lime contains a large proportion of sul¬ 
phate of lime, which is really plaster, made by the 
combination in the fertilizer of the sulphuric acid 
used with the lime of the phosphate of lime used as 
the basis of the manufacture of the superphosphate ; 
so that when the superphosphate or any other fertil¬ 
izer containing it, is used, a considerable quantity of 
plaster is applied with it. This fact has much signifi¬ 
cance in the action, or want of it, when lime or plaster 
is applied along with, or after fertilizers. H. stewart. 
A Mixture For Forcing - Melons. 
C. H. H., Terre Haute, Ind. —I want a recipe for a 
complete fertilizer for musk-melons, of which I 
have made a specialty for two years. We force 
the plants under glass and gain perhaps one 
month in maturity. This plan is expensive, yet I 
have made it pay well so far. My soil is suitable for 
this crop, being from light sandy to light loam. Last 
year I used well rotted composts with very good re¬ 
sults. The year before I used a Cleveland, Ohio, phos¬ 
phate with no result whatever. As nearly as I can 
look into this crop, any fertilizer that approaches 
closely to a well rotted compost is most suitable. My 
land is no 4- too rich and yet is not poor. My experience 
with this ex op, for very early market and not so much 
for very heavy yield, is that the land must not be too 
good, otherwise earliness is retarded. 
Ans. —I have had no experience in growing musk- 
melons under the conditions mentioned. There is 
no question as to the value of well rotted manure for 
forcing an early maturity. The following formula 
has been used with great success in melon districts 
though the plants have not been forced : nitrate of 
soda 50 pounds ; sulphate of ammonia 150 pounds; 
dried blood or ammonite 150 pounds; boneblack super¬ 
phosphate 500 pounds; sulphate of potash 150 pounds; 
making a total of 1,000 pounds. This may be used 
alone at the rate of 800 to 1,000 pounds per acre, or in 
smaller quantities in connection with yard manure. 
It should be quicker in its action than well rotted 
manure, though it does not possess the valuable 
warming qualities of the latter. e. b. voorhees. 
A Recipe for a Big Potato Yield. 
Subscribe', Vermont .—For some years I have been 
engaged quite extensively in potato raising, but have 
not as a rule been able to get a paying crop of market¬ 
able size; I therefore give my plan for the coming 
season, hoping some of the readers of The R. N.-Y. 
will point out its weak points and suggest something 
better. 
I have 15 acres of old pasture, which was planted to 
potatoes last year, with 1,200 pounds of Stockbridge 
potato manure in the drill; the soil is a light, rather 
poor, yellowish loam, and was plowed last fall. In 
spring I propose to broadcast 500 pounds each of 
Stockbridge potato manure and land plaster, harrow 
well with a disk harrow, plow again and broadcast 
the same amount of fertilizer and plaster, then har¬ 
row, roll and plant with the Aspinwall planter in 
rows 33 inches apart, the pieces 15 inches apart in the 
drill, 1,000 pounds more of the potato manure being 
drilled in with the planter. For seed I shall use New 
Queen, Beauty of Hebron and Polaris, the tubers 
being about the size of turkey eggs and cut once. I 
shall harrow once before the vines come up and once 
soon after they have done so, and cultivate three or 
four times and cut up by hand the few weeds that 
show themselves. The crop will be dug early and the 
land laid down to grass. Would it be better to put a 
larger part of the manure in the drill ? 
Ans. —The plan seems to The R. N.-Y. sensible 
enough. No, we should not increase the fertilizer in 
the drill —but rather broadcast, say, 200 pounds more 
and drill in 200 pounds less. The advisability of using 
the plaster is a question our friend must decide for 
himself. In our own land we should omit it. We 
should also omit the second harrowing, trusting to the 
cultivation to destroy the weeds and mellow the soil. 
We would gladly hear from experienced readers as to 
the above. 
No New Weeds in Old Manure. 
A. H. C., Covert, N. Y —Where a farm has Canada 
thistles, Ragweed, Quack grass, Plantain, etc., would 
it be advisable to draw manure directly from the 
stables and spread it on sod for corn ; or better to 
pile and let it heat and use it next fall on wheat or 
grass land ? 
Ans. —On our own farm we should not mind Rag¬ 
weed, Plantain or Quack (Triticum or Agropyrum 
repens), where cultivation during dry, hot weather 
destroys the plants. In other parts Quack is not so 
readily exterminated and the Canada thistle is a 
terrible pest. The old manure would be the safer. 
Nitrate of Soda on Strawberries. 
A. II., Vermont. —1. What is The Rural’s opinion 
of nitrate of soda for garden crops, small fruits, etc. ? 
2. Can I sow it on a strawberry bed planted last 
fall without injuring the foliage or roots of the plants ? 
3. Where can it as well as superphosphates and sul¬ 
phate of potash be obtained ? 
Ans. —1. Nitrate of soda is useful to supply nitrogen 
in a very available form. On a rich soil, containing 
plenty of potash and phosphoric acid, it will give good 
results by quickening and pushing along the plants so 
that they can make greater use of the other sub¬ 
stances. Used on poor land deficient in either of the 
other substances, it will not give good results. Re¬ 
member that it is not a complete, but a one-sided fer¬ 
tilizer, supplying nitrogen only. 2. Yes, but it must 
be spread with care away from the foliage as much 
as possible, and while the leaves are dry. If you have 
last year’s volume of The R. N.-Y., on page 347, you 
will find a record of an experiment by Prof. Voorhees, 
of New Jersey. A bed that had been fertilized with 
kainit and a phosphate two years before, was given a 
dressing of nitrate of soda at the rate of 200 pounds 
per acre. On plots of one-eighth of an acre the gain 
from its use was 51 quarts. 3. From the Bowker Fer¬ 
tilizer Co., Boston, or the Mapes Fertilizer Co., New 
York. 
Onions After Turnips. 
T. S. H., Bridgeport, Conn .—I have a piece of ground 
which has produced, the past season, potatoes followed 
by turnips. I would like to plant it to onions the 
coming year. I -am told that onions do not thrive 
well after turnips. Is this true ?—soil a gravelly loam. 
Ans. —Without special fertilization with reference 
to the previous crops, turnips, cabbages or beets are 
