2i6 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
April 7 
ashes on the fruit. The other half acre could be de¬ 
voted to potatoes and vegetables for home use. A few 
apple, plum, cherry and quince trees may be set in the 
chicken yard, which would afford shade for the fowls. 
For profit in anything grown, he should use plenty of 
manure and fertilizer. The hen manure saved, com¬ 
posted with bone and potash, would help consider¬ 
ably. Tint most important to insure success, the 
master should get posted in everything he intends to 
do, by reading books and farm papers. He should 
not depend on hired help to do the planning ; let them 
do only the work. I am satisfied from my experience 
that if Poser follows the suggestions I have offered, 
he will realize considerable profit from his two acres. 
_ A. JOHNSON. 
[Hyery query must be aooompanied by the name and addresa ot the 
writer to inanre attention. Before aakln^ a qneatlon pleaae aee If It la 
not anawered in our adyertlalng oolumna. Aak only a few qneatlona at 
one time. Put qneatlona on a aeparate piece of paper.] 
What Is the “Alkali” on Western Plains P 
ter which is always in motion. As to the claim that 
is made, that if food is ground fine, it will not pass into 
the rumen, but on into the second, third and even 
fourth stomachs, it is not substantiated by our experi¬ 
ments in feeding ground meal and then killing the 
animal immediately after it had eaten it. Only a very 
small portion escapes and goes into the second stom¬ 
ach. Meal should be ground and put upon, or mixed 
with, some coarse material in order to compel the 
animals to masticate it, this mastication resulting in 
insalivating the food, which it is positively known 
greatly assists in digestion. The insalivation of fine 
food fed alone may be accomplished in another way, 
but thisis not always convenient, namely : Spread the 
fine-ground meal very thinly over a large surface, 
which will compel the animals to lick up their food. 
I believe with many others that if ground meal could 
be crushed between rollers instead of being ground 
with burrs, it would be more digestible, and hence 
more valuable. Meal ground with burr stones has 
sharp, angular corners, which in some cases appear to 
be almost as indigestible as sand. If this could be 
crushed so that the oil would exhume, and so that there 
would not be these sharp corners and unreduced sur¬ 
faces, I am satisfied that there would be a gain. 
[PBOF.] I. P. BOBERTS. 
B. B., Farmingdale, 111 .— What relation does the 
“ alkali” of the West bear to the fertilizer “potash” ? 
As there are many spots in Nebraska and other West¬ 
ern States where the ground is so thoroughly impreg¬ 
nated with this “alkali” that vegetation cannot thrive, 
is it not possible that such spots may contain a valu¬ 
able commercial fertilizer ? 
Ans. —The alkali soils so common in portions of the 
West when the rainfall is low, are familiar to most 
farmers. There is usually present some potash and 
some phosphoric acid, but these are in small propor¬ 
tion. The chief ingredients are sodium carbonate (sal 
soda), sodium sulphate (Glaubers salts), magnesium 
sulphate (epsom salts), and sodium chloride (common 
salt). Of these, the first or black alkali is mostdreaded, 
for it produces the “ gumbo” soil and destroys plant 
life when present in considerable quantities. The ap¬ 
plication of land plaster will change the injurious 
sodium carbonate to sodium sulphate, the neutral and 
less harmful salt, so that plants that formerly would 
not grow on the land thrive and produce well. In some 
cases, however, drainage must be had, and the injuri¬ 
ous salts washed out of the land. From the foregoing, 
it will be seen that the alkali is not due to the pres¬ 
ence of “ valuable commercial fertilizers.” 
N. D. Ex. Station. [prof.] e. f. ladd. 
Thomas Slag ; What Is It Good ForP 
H, M, S., Moira, N. Y .—1. Is Thomas slag a good 
source from which to obtain phosphoric acid to be 
used in top-dressing meadows ? Or, in other words, 
is the phosphoric acid in slag in a sufiiciently soluble 
condition to be used for that purpose ? 2. Would 
nitrogen in dried blood or other animal matter be 
likely to escape into the air if these materials were 
used for the same purpose ? 3. What is the best time 
of the year to top-dress meadows with commercial 
fertilizers ? 
Ans. —1. Yes and no. The slag has given good satis¬ 
faction in England, and in parts of Germany and 
France. In this country, results with it are often 
contradictory. A good deal of the difference is due to 
the fact that England has a moist climate, and grass 
lands there are usually damp. It has been found that 
this slag gives far better results in damp soils, or 
where there is an abundance of moisture. It is im¬ 
possible in our dry climate to keep the beautiful 
permanent grass lands so famous in England. Be¬ 
cause of this difference in moisture conditions, it is 
evident that the English system of fertilizing will not 
always work here. On dry uplands, therefore, we do 
not think the slag alone will give perfect satisfaction. 
2. It is our judgment that the lime in the slag would 
act to set free ammonia in blood and other organic 
matter. Therefore we would not advise mixing them. 
3. We would top-dress meadows in the spring. 
Is Finely Ground Corn Meal More Valuable P 
C, L. S., Deer River, N. Y. —Some discussion has 
arisen among the farmers of this community in rela¬ 
tion to the relative value of coarse and fine-ground 
meal, more particularly as regards corn, for feeding 
both cattle and hogs. Which is better ? 
Ans —Without any doubt the finer meal is ground 
the better, but this statement must be considered in 
connection with one which modifies it, namely : That 
the fiuer the meal, the less it is likely to be insalivated 
by the animal while eating. We all believe that it is 
detrimental for animals to eat food rapidly, and that it 
is beneficial for them to eat slowly, especially concen¬ 
trated foods, in order that they may be mixed with 
the saliva. As to fine meal becoming impacted in the 
stomach more than coarse meal, I may state positively 
that it does not. When the meal enters the rumen, it 
becomes mixed with a large mass of semi-liquid mat¬ 
Why Potash is Needed with Blood and Bone. 
2. H. G. L., Halifax, Mo. —What is The R. N.-Y.’s 
opinion of the inclosed analysis ? The fertilizer costs 
$21 per ton at the factory. I used it last season on 
corn, cabbages, potatoes, etc. 
Ans. —In one sense that is a good way to make out 
an analysis. If we knew how much of that phosphoric 
acid is available it would be excellent. This is prob¬ 
ably a mixture of dried blood and ground bone with a 
small amount of potash added, and, at the price 
named, is a cheap source of nitrogen and phosphoric 
acid. Such a fertilizer here would sell for over $40. 
For fruit, however, instead of 20 pounds of potash, 
it should contain 200. It will be a mistake to apply 
such a strongly nitrogenous manure to fruits. It will 
give an immense growth of wood, but poor and late 
fruit. On ordinary soils, fruits and vegetables must 
have abundant potash in order to develop. The R. 
N.-Y. urges Western farmers to demand more potash 
in their fertilizers. As an illustration of what we 
mean, we take this extract from a recent issue of the 
Western Plowman, referring to a man who went to a 
seaside town in Maine ; 
Beside the house where heboardeci wa« a field that had once been 
cultivated, but was now as barren as Sahara. *• What Is the matter 
with the land that nothlnt; will grow upon ItT" he asked the fisher¬ 
man, his host. “ Fish did It,” was the laconic answer. “ How ?” 
‘‘ Why, it was manured with fish.” Tou know farmers near the sea¬ 
shore use porgies, dogfish and other fish worthless for eating to fertil¬ 
ize the land. And don't the fish Just make the crops grow fora few 
seasons! Look at that patch now. For years It yielded the finest corn, 
potatoes and garden sass you ever beard of. You see the fish acts on 
land just as alcohol acts on a man. It stimulates It up to the highest 
notch, and as long as there Is any productive power left In the soil It 
goes Into the crops. But there came the time ^hen that field gave out 
all at once, and all the fish yon could heap on it wouldn’t make It bear 
so much as weeds or grass. The only thing is to let It lie fallow until 
the soil gains strength by rest. Farmers round the seashore have 
found out that though fish fertilizers give them tempting crops to 
start with, they must be handled as carefully as a man ought to 
handle rum or brandy. 
The editor of the Plowman turns this into an effect¬ 
ive argument in favor of temperance, but the fact is 
that if potash had been used with the fish the soil 
would have grown richer instead of poorer. Manures 
like fish, blood and bone, etc., that are rich only in the 
two elements, nitrogen and phosphoric acid, are one¬ 
sided and will not produce good crops after a term of 
years, without potash. Like a man, who requires air, 
food and drink, if you diminish the supply of one he 
will fail in his work until, if it is kept away from him 
entirely, he will die. A man in a race needs more air 
in his lungs than when sitting still. He needs more 
water in the hot hay field than he does Sunday after¬ 
noon sitting in the shade, and more food when chop¬ 
ping wood in the winter than when going visiting. 
The same with plants. Some need more of one element 
than others because their habits of growth and fruit¬ 
ing differ. One thing is sure. Use this blood and 
bone fertilizer exclusively on the richest soil and 
it is only a question of years before the crops will fail 
because of a lack of potash. 
How to Make Good Clover Hay. 
L. R. J,, Cape Girardeau, Mo. —I was much interested 
in Mr. J. S. Woodward’s article on clover hay. Men 
here will not believe that clover cut in full bloom can 
be properly cured. They wait till a large part of the 
blooms are brown. They claim that when cut early, 
it takes so long to cure that the hot sun, dew and rain 
ruin it; and if not allowed to lie in the field till no 
sap remains in the stems, it will mold in the barn. 
People here will not take the trouble to cock it. I 
want to try early cutting this season, but Mr. W. 
leaves my mind in doubt when he says that the mows 
must be tight. Now, can this method be adopted when 
the clover is put in barracks or in stacks covered with 
grass or boards ? He says, let it stand in cocks from 
one to three days. Does he mean that it depends on 
the weather, and how much damaged will these cocks 
be by rain ? I have about 100 acres to be cut, and 
want to make no mistakes. 
Ans. —What was meant was that it should stand in 
cock until sweating to such an extent that much of 
the juice of the stems had passed into the leaves. 
This, of course, depends much upon the weather. It 
will then, on being exposed to the air, very quickly 
dry out; and, if the weather is good, may be drawn 
from the cock without being opened. If, however, it 
be allowed to lie in the swath too long, the leaves be¬ 
come so much dried as to lose the power of absorp¬ 
tion through the cellular tissues, and the sap will 
pass much more slowly from stems to leaves, and it 
will then need to lie in cocks a much longer time. 
When left too long a time in the swath, it lofes many 
of its leaves, and those not broken off become 
blackened. 
When clover is very heavy and is cut with a side-cut 
machine so as to be laid in a swath and run over with 
the machine, 1 would advise that a tedder be used. 
This should be started as soon as the top of the swath 
is well wilted, but before the leaves have dried beyond 
the powder of draining sap from the stems. By 
throwing the clover up into the air a couple 'of times, 
in good hay weather, it will be dry enough to go into 
cocks and will not be burned. Put at this state into 
good sized cocks, rather high, if these can have two 
or three hours to stand it will take a heavy wind to 
blow them over and a heavy rain to wet into them 
more than a few inches. In bad weather, I have some¬ 
times let the cocks stand more than a week with no 
damage to the hay. 
While clover hay will keep much better, and may be 
put in much greener, into close mows, I have put hay 
cured as above into lofts where the bottom was made 
of poles or rails, and had it come out in splendid 
order. I have also put it into large stacks or ricks 
with swale grass or long hay for a covering and had 
it come out in good shape. It is not the juice of this 
plant that spoils the hay, but the outside dew or rain 
which is put into the mows that raise the mischief. 
If Mr. J. will consult the tables of feeding values he 
will find that clover, even before blooming has the 
greatest feeding value, although yielding a less quan¬ 
tity per acre. That, after blooming, its digestible 
albuminoids, carbohydrates and fat rapidly decrease, 
while the crude fiber as rapidly increases. At the 
same time, its nutritive ratio becomes wider. While it 
is more trouble to cure when just in bloom than when 
half the heads are brown, the greater value will 
amply repay all the trouble. If I had 100 acres to cut 
with a single machine, I would begin cutting at the 
earliest moment after full bloom and then much of 
it would become far too woody before it could be 
reached. j. s. woodward. 
Fish and Bone Black in British Columbia. 
Subscriber, Agassiz, B. C. —I can buy bone black de¬ 
livered at my railroad station for IJ^ cent per pound. 
If of the usual quality, is it worth that as a fertilizer 
for potatoes, strawberries, and fruit land generally? 
There are large fish canneries where I can get fish 
scrap that would cost, delivered, probably not to ex¬ 
ceed three-fourths of a cent per pound. Can I use 
this fish and the bone black together ? If so, would 
they answer as a fertilizer ? I know my soil needs pot¬ 
ash, but I can’t get it in shape to suit me. Could I 
use what is commonly known as concentrated lye at 
six cents per pound, mixed with either the bone black, 
fish scrap, or both, and have a cheap fertilizer ? I 
hardly think my soil needs much nitrate, as grass, 
clover and Timothy grow very rank. I have 150 pounds 
of saltpeter that I could mix with the other materials, 
but what quantities of each or any or all can I afford 
to use ? How can I mix them to the best advantage 
and get a cheap or a paying fertilizer ? I use all the 
stable manure I can get, but there is so much clover 
and Timothy seed in it that these two grasses become 
the worst kind of weeds I have to contend with, possi¬ 
bly excepting chick-weed, and I must find something 
for a fertilizer that doesn’t contain these seeds, if I can 
do so. 
Ans. —We suppose you mean dissolved bone black. It 
is worth $30 in this part of the country. The fish 
scrap at $15 per ton is very cheap, if dry and reason¬ 
ably fine. By mixing 1,000 pounds of the fish with 400 
pounds of bone black, you would have a good mixture 
