1894 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
235 
It is a trifle fatiguing—not to say sad¬ 
dening—to read such items as the fol¬ 
lowing, which we find in a late issue of 
a contemporary which modestly claims to 
be the very best farm journal published: 
Tjltne Is not a manure. Its action in the soli Is 
only mechanical and chemical. It renders a stiff 
clay friable, and it makes refined plant foods out of 
crude material. Lime does not make Kfaln, but it 
prepares the food for the plants that do make It. 
Is not our contemporary aware that 
wood ashes contain all the way from 25 
to 45 per cent of lime ? The raw bones 
of animals contain about 50 per cent of 
phosphate of lime of which about one- 
half is lime. They contain also upwards 
of 25 per cent of carbonate of lime. 
Where does this lime come from except 
the plants upon which the animals sub¬ 
sist ? It is true that lime has both a 
mechanical and chemical effect upon 
soils, the former in modifying the poros¬ 
ity, the latter in rendering insoluble com¬ 
pounds soluble, such, for example, as 
silicate of potash. It is nevertheless just 
as much a direct food as is nitrogen or 
potash or phosphoric acid or carbon. 
Commenting upon our long-time con¬ 
demnation of the word “phosphate” or 
“ phosphates ” as a generic name for fer¬ 
tilizers, a friend asks, “ How about raw 
bone flour or meal ? Is not ‘ phosphate ’ 
a suitable name for either ? ” 
No, we think not, because it is more 
than a phosphate, and therefore needs a 
specific designation. Suppose we add 
three or four per cent of whisky or wine 
or opium to a wine-glass of water; 
would our friend regard “water” as a 
sufficient or suitable name for the con¬ 
tents of the wine-glass ? Would he feel 
justified in giving it to any one to drink 
as water simply ? Raw bone should con¬ 
tain about four per cent of nitrogen ; 
therefore it is not a phosphate ; it is not 
a nitrate, the same as the content of the 
wine-glass is neither water nor wine. It 
needs a specific name—a name that may 
not deceive those who have occasion to 
use it. When one purchases South Caro¬ 
lina rock, he pays for, say, 60 per cent of 
phosphate of lime or perhaps 25 per cent 
of phosphoric acid. He learns that South 
Carolina rock means “phosphate” and 
nothing more. There is naught mis¬ 
leading or deceptive about it. If he buys 
acid phosphate, he knows that he is still 
buying phosphate, though in a soluble 
condition, as in South Carolina rock or 
in other phosphatic minerals, or in other 
superphosphates made from bone black 
or bone ash treated to sulphuric acid. 
So, too, when he buys nitrate of soda, he 
buys a substance which he is assured 
contains about 16 per cent of nitrogen. 
But when he buys “ phosphates,” as the 
name is often applied, he may be pur¬ 
chasing a smaller or larger amount of 
phosphoric acid, potash or nitrogen, or 
even a fertilizer without any phosphoric 
acid whatever, as an examination of the 
analyses of the station reports will show. 
What we condemn is the giving of any 
word that has a well-defined scientific 
meaning as a name for any other sub¬ 
stance that also has a well-defined mean¬ 
ing recognized by scientists and by stand¬ 
ard works. 
Well, now, just how does this use of 
the word “ phosphates ” work harm in a 
practical way ? There is scarcely a week 
that we do not read in the farm papers 
of fine crops of potatoes, onions, wheat, 
corn, or what-not, the credit being given 
mainly or in part to the use of 500 or 
1,000 or 2,000 pounds of '‘phosphates/^ 
Articles by the score, otherwise in¬ 
teresting, and well written, are de¬ 
prived of their chief value to the reader 
just because he did not know the sig¬ 
nificance of the word “ phosphates.” 
The most that he could know was that 
“ phosphates ” meant commercial or con¬ 
centrated fertilizer—bone, potash, fish, 
guano, dried blood, tankage, nitrate of 
soda, sulphate of ammonia, or some com¬ 
bination of them. 
This oversight does not occur in the col¬ 
umns of our farm papers alone. We have 
before us several bulletins of experiment 
stations tabulating the results of ferti¬ 
lizer experiments in which “phosphates” 
were applied, while in no part of the 
bulletins is the composition of the “ phos¬ 
phates ” set forth. 
A. M. Purdy who has had quite a long 
life of experience as a fruit grower, says 
he would plant trees in separate rows 
along lanes, roadside fences and the 
boundaries of fields, or in long rows with 
intervals of cultivated fields. He believes 
the time is coming when close planting 
of orchards in solid blocks will be aban¬ 
doned. In support of this he alludes to 
the fact that the end trees in the out¬ 
side rows of an orchard are much the 
best. 
As our plethoric Farmers’ Club columns 
will show, the question is often asked : 
“ What fertilizers should I use upon 
strawberry beds and when should they 
be applied ?” Let us here answer this 
question somewhat more fully than we 
have answered it before. 
A few years ago we tried the experi¬ 
ment of supplying several strawberry 
plants with dilute stable manure water 
and it was given as often as the plants 
needed watering. The result was an 
immense growth of leaf and stalk and 
few berries. This water is comparatively 
rich in nitrogen and phosphoric acid in a 
perfectly soluble condition, but it has 
little if any potash. According to the 
best of our knowledge, we can do no 
(Continued on page 242.) 
In writing to advertlserB, please always mention 
The Rubai, New-Yobkhb. 
R 
I 
F 
L 
E 
S 
Firearms 
Guaranteed ^ 
When marked 
HOPKINS & ALLEN MFQ. CO. X 
Q 
HULBERT BROS. & CO., • 
26 West 23d Street, . . New York. 
1 ne 
Send fo 
The Standard since 1857 
Send for Handsome Catalogue (free) 
or get one from your 
Dealer, 
REVOLVERS 
8 
of all varieties. 1 , 000,0001 
' r strawberry Pl’ts. 1,000.000!. 
I „ . R a B p b e rry. Blackberry,} 1 
I —ana— (jrapea. Currants and Veg-j 
I Vi n PC etable Plants. The largest , 
j T 1 U WO stock of select Fruit Trees, 
In the country. 72-page Catalogue, 
with descriptions /r«e. I 
T. J. DWYICK, Cornwall, N. Y. 
MJIRSIIALL 
STRAWBERRY 
14 Berries fill a Quart. 
CIRCULAR FREE. 
S. H. WA R REN, 
Weston, Mass. 
30 Varieties of S. B. Plants. 
Headquarters for the “LEADER” 
Send for my catalogue before or¬ 
dering elsewhere. Prices Reasonable. 
Address C. S. PRATT, Heading, Mass. 
STRAWBERRY PLANTS 
and PEARL TUBEROSES. 
PARKER EARLE.—A marvel of productiveness 
and superior quality. Succeeds on all soils; mid- 
season to late. Price, $4.00 per 1,000. 
GANDY.-T/iebest, well tested very late kind; fruit 
very large: high color; very firm and fine quality. 
$4.00 per 1,000. 
PEARL TUBEROSES.—Selected bulbs, 4 to 6 Ins. 
circumference, $6.00 per 1,060; No. 2, good bulbs, 
3 to 4 Ins. circumference, $4.00 per 1,000. 
B. REDFIELD, Edgewood Greenhouses, Glenslde, Pa 
GRAPE VINES. 
For $11 will mall postpaid a practical treatise on 
Grape Culture and 12 first-class vines, four each; 
choice of Niagara, Pockllngton or Lady Brighton, 
Salem or Delaware. Worden Wilder or Moore’s 
Early, best White, Red and Black varieties, or one 
each of the nine varieties. Safe arrival In good con¬ 
dition guaranteed. Price list free. 
J. H. TRYON, Willoughby, Ohio. 
)0000 
What a wonderful thing is a live seed. 
Immature, older dea<l it may too* the same. 
How to kno w ? Old gardeners say that 
4ee£l4£rm, 
This Is the proof of life. When grown we give i 
our word you will be satisfied—your success 
Is ours. BUllPEK’S FARDI ANNUAL i 
for 1894,172 pages, tells all about the Best 
Seeds that Grow. The newspapers call it the 
Leading American Seed Catalogue. Yours 
[free for the asking if you plant seeds. 
W. A TLEE BURPEE <S CO., Philadelphia. 
vines: 
GRAPE 
I I ■■ All best varieties. Hijrh- 
Mt Gradins. Small Fruits. Introducer of onrivafled 
new Red Jacket Gooseberry k Fav Currant. 
CatalogueGeo.S.Joaselyn, Fredonla,N. Y. 
GRAPE VINES is. 
Old and New Varieties. Warranted extra strong 
NONE CHEAPER. Send for Catalogue. 
EDGKNE WILLETT, North Collins. N. Y 
nurseries 
GROSBEY PEACH TREES 
10,000 Crosbey Peach Trees. 
40,000 Timbrell Strawberry Plants, 
from Reid’s stock. 
We areiHeadquarters'for 
GENUINE GREEN MOUNTAIN GRAPE VINES. 
This stock Is all fine. For further information address 
STEPHEN HOYT’S SONS, New Canaan, Conn. 
HARDY Trees, 
Shrubs, Vines, Evergreens, 
AND 
HARDY HERBACEOUS FLOWERS. 
PARKER EARLE. 
BEST AND MOST PRODUCTIVE LATE STRAW- 
BEllRY EVER OFFERED. 200 000 choice plants 
grown on new land. Ail small and tip plants thrown 
out. Best possible packing with plenty of live moss. 
Lightest, safe crate. More than 100 letters of high¬ 
est praise received from sales of plants made laso 
year through the medium of The Rural Nbw- 
Yorkkb. Price, l.'V.OO per thousand. 
R. MORRILL, Benton Harbor, Mich. 
Hardiest-thriftiest—largest yield of 
big fruit—drought proof—frost 
proof. We’ve tested300 
Kinds; this beats 
’em all. 
Send 
for handsome 
Illustrated circular, free, 
'Rockingham Fruit Farm, N. Epping, R. H- 
Tlio finest geueriil assortment of Hardy 
Ornamental Plants in America. 
Four Illustrated Catalogues (228 pages) free upon 
application. Send your list of needs for special rates. 
THE READING NURSERY, 
JACOB W. MANNING, Proprietor, 
READING MASS. 
Trees and Shrubs. 
Parsons&SonsCo. 
Kissena Nurseries, Flushing, N. Y. Lftd. 
FRUIT TREES, 
SMALL FRUITS, VINES, ROSES, 
ORNAMENTALS, Crates&Baskets. 
TI Ml BR E L L I say^Efs^CARM^N,^. N. Y., and Ieldorado 
STRAWBERRY. I H. E, Vandkman, U.S. Dept. | BLACKBERRY. 
NEW FIITJIT.S A SPECIALTY. _ Buydirect. r ui nrin Drirto’pnnrt nhl’f) 
Don’t pay double prices. Illustrated Catalogue FREE. LiTTillLiU) Dl lUgCpUl I, UUlUa 
SMALL FRUITS, GRAPES, SHRUBS, EVER- 
GREENS. ROSES, HARDY PLANTS 
^ O SPRING PIsANTING. 
0 Me At Bandsome new 160 page Catalogue Free. 
# # \ ^ ^ W ELLWANGER & BARRY, 
PPIIIT onil nPN A MPNTAI Hope Nurseries, Rochester, N. Y. 
TlXUii dilU. Awarded Several Medals at the World’s Fair. 
1 June Budded Crosbey and Lemon 
1 Free Peach at $ 3.50 per loo. 
j California Privet at from S 3 to j 
1 $5 per 100 . 1 
STRAWBERRY PLAN'IS, SUCH AS 
I GANDY, CHAS. DOWNING, SHARPLESS, BEDER 
WOOD, BUBACH, SHUSTER’S GEM, KEN- 
, TUCKY, MEEK’S EARLY, and others 
at proportionately low prices. 
_ 1 _ 
Strawberries, $i per i,ooo. 
i 
’ June Budded Abundance Plums 
I at low prices. 
Concord and Worden Grapes, 
2 years, $io per 1 , 000 , 
That’s what we will sell you pure plants of MICHEL’S 
EARLY, WARFIELD, CRESCENT, MAY 
KING and MIDDLEFIELD for. 
ADDRESS ALL COMMUNICATIONS TO 
JOS. H. BLACK, SON & CO., HIGHTSTOWN, N. J. 
Better than 
Ever for 
1894 . 
gstablUhcd use. 
Is Different from Others. 
It Is Intended to aid the planter In selecting the Seeds 
best atlapted for his needs and conditions and In getting 
them the best possible results. It Is not, therefore, highly 
colored in either sense; and we have taken great care that 
nothing worthless be put In, or nothing worthy be left out. Wo 
Inviteatrial ofourSeeds. We know them because we grow them. 
Every planter of Vegetables or Flowers ought to know about our 
three warrants; our cash discounts; and our gift of agricultural 
papers to purchasers of our Seeds. All of these are explained In 
the Catalogue, a copy of which can bo yours for the asking. 
J. J. H. GREGORY di SON, Marblehead, Mass* 
HIGH CLASS SEEDS. 
Our Ninety-Third Annual Catalogue is now ready, and will be 
mailed FREE on application. It contains the 
largest collection in the world of 
VEGETABLE, FLOWER and FARM SEEDS, 
including every standard variety and every novelty of 
established merit. 
Beautifully Dlustrated with Hundreds of Guts. 
t3/- We Mail it FREE..^ 
J.M.THORBURN & Co. IS JOHN ST.NewYORK 
