1895 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
139 
great loss of nitrogen takes place on bare fields during 
the fall rains. During the hot summer months, much 
of the “ organic” nitrogen has been set free, and the 
heavy rain beating on, and soaking through the soil, will 
wash most of it out if left alone. Thus we see the 
great importance of having some growing crop in the 
field at this time to follow a crop like potatoes or corn 
that has been heavily manured. A crop like Crimson 
clover or rye to grow through the late summer and 
fall, will utilize and store up this nitrogen—otherwise 
it would be wasted. It is, therefore, possible for a 
good farmer to handle his soil and crops in such a way 
as to keep in the soil nearly all the plant food left by 
his money crops. This plant food is in new combina¬ 
tions, however, and is not so readily available as when 
it was first applied to the soil. You will therefore 
see that soluble plant food should be added each year : 
that tillage and drainage are of great importance, and 
that there should be some strong and long-rooted 
plant like clover in every good rotation. Suppose a 
man has the skim-milk from a big churning. The 
way to make that available, is to have some pigs right 
on hand to eat it and turn it into pork. The pork 
holds it in a new combination. Just so with the 
soluble nitrogen left in the soil after a summer crop. 
There should be other crops right on hand to take it 
up and hold it in a form that water cannot wash 
away. The nitrogen in a clover root and in nitrate of 
soda is the same thing in different forms. 
Cotton-Seed Meal in Fertilizers. 
0. R., Granby, Conn. —Will cotton-seed meal and muriate or sul¬ 
phate of potash, make a good fertilizer for potatoes? If so, which 
would you prefer, the sulphate or muriate ? In what proportion 
to the meal would you use it ? How much per acre ? Is there any 
way to distinguish the undecorticated from the hulled meal ? 
Ans. —We explained last week about testing the 
“ undecorticated ” meal by putting a sample in water. 
The sulphate of potash gives potatoes of better quality. 
That is its only advantage over the muriate. Prof. 
Voorhees, of the New Jersey Station, writes this about 
cotton-seed meal. Y'ou will notice that phosphoric 
acid as well as potash, must be added : 
“ Cotton-seed meal at present prices, is one of the 
cheapest sources of organic nitrogen at the farmer’s 
command. It is, too, one of the best organic forms, 
experiments having shown that it is almost as readily 
available as when contained in what are regarded as 
the best materials furnishing organic nitrogen. Cot¬ 
ton-seed meal contains, on the average : 
Per cent. 
Nitrogen. 6.8 
Phosphoric acid. 3.0 
Potash. 2.0 
Disregarding the phosphoric acid and potash, the cost 
of nitrogen in cotton-seed meal at $20 per ton, is 15 
cents per pound. The phosphoric acid is practically 
all “available,” while the potash is quite as good as 
that contained in forms free from chlorides. Placing 
a proper value upon these constituents, the cost would 
be reduced, for nitrogen, to less than 12 cents per 
pound. Its best use as a general fertilizer, would 
probably be secured when mixed with phosphates 
and potash. As a simple mixture for potatoes, I would 
suggest the following : 
Pounds. 
Cotton-seed meal. 1,000 
South Carolina rock, superphosphate.. 650 
Muriate of potash. 350 
This would give a mixture showing : 
Per cent. 
Nitrogen. 3.4 
Phosphoric acid. 5.4 
Potash. 9.75 
This is a really high-grade material, both in quality 
and amount of plant food, and one which would cost, 
at prevailing prices for the sttperphosphate and pot¬ 
ash, not more than f-om $23 to $24 per ton. If not 
more than 600 pounds per acre of this mixture are used, 
I would recommend applying in the drill ; where 
larger amounts are used, part may be applied in the 
drill, and part broadcast.” 
Fine Figuring on Fertilizers. 
E. E. T., Scott, Pa .—On page 73 in the comparison of various 
crops with stable manure, potatoes are rated, nitrogen seven 
pounds ; phosphoric acid 3.2 pounds ; potash 11.4 to the ton. 
Taking 100 bushels as the average crop, we have the following 
amount of plant food per acre: Nitrogen 21 pounds; phosphoric 
acid 9.6 pounds ; potash 34.2 pounds. I take it for granted that 
this is the analysis of the tubers only. In supplying fertilizer 
for the potato crop ought not we to take into consideration the 
tops and roots as well as the tubers? We can take a soil that is 
void of all plant food and supply a fertilizer of this make-up for a 
500-bushel crop at a cost of $60 per acre. If we get only 200 
bushels, we have $40 left for labor and the following season we are 
sure of a good stand of clover. Then we have an acre of land that 
will cut good hay crops for the next five years. 
Ans. —In a general way, it is safe to conclude that 
the greater part of the potash and phosphoric acid not 
used by the potato crop, is left in the soil for succeed¬ 
ing crops of grain or grass. That is proved by the 
practice of potato growers who use, say, 1,500 pounds 
of fertilizer to the acre, and then grow a large crop 
of wheat and two heavy crops of grass without any 
more fertilizing. This matter of the lasting qualities 
of fertilizers, is explained in another article. The 
analysis given referred to the tubers alone. The tops 
and roots do not leave the soil. You cannot' possibly’ 
figure down to a pound what becomes of all the fer¬ 
tilizer put into the soil. Just think of one of Mr. 
Glass’s cows giving 20 quarts of milk and receiving 
50 pounds of ensilage and 15 pounds of bran ! She 
makes the following showing with the plant food in 
her ration : 
Nitrogen, Phos. acid, Potash, 
ounces. ounces. ounces. 
Fed on ensilage and bran. 9 63>£ 6% 
Returned in 20 quarts of milk. 3 l /» 1 0.9 
That is what she returns in actual salable product. 
Of course, some more is used in forming bone, muscle 
and flesh in the body ; but at least half is useless so 
far as the production of milk is concerned. It goes to 
GRAIN BOX AND RACK FOR COWS. Fig. 43. 
the manure pile, where more or less of it is lost accord¬ 
ing to the care it receives. Or, take another illustra¬ 
tion with the same cow, and see how much of her 
animal food is returned in the milk : 
Muscle- Fat- Pure 
makers, formers, fat, 
pounds. pounds. pounds. 
Fed on ensilage and bran. 2.35 12.69 . 75 
Returned in 20 quarts of milk. 1.37 2.15 1.54 
Of course, we cannot tell how much of this food was 
needed to provide fuel in the body. It is evident that 
considerable of the fat-forming materials was changed 
to pure fat. The point is that we must feed the cow 
a good deal more actual food and fertility than she 
returns in her milk. It won’t do to say, “ Here’s a 
cow giving 20 quarts of milk and gaining one pound 
of flesh per day—let’s take an analysis of the milk and 
flesh and feed food that will contain just that amount 
and no more ! ” That is theory, but it will not work 
in practice. We can’t get it down so fine as that. We 
must allow for other things. There is all the differ- 
ROD, RING AND SNAP TO FASTEN COWS. Fio. 45. 
ence in the world between soil and a cow as storage 
places for food ; yet the principles of feeding for pota¬ 
toes and for milk are not so much unlike. We must 
feed the cow more food than she gives back in her 
milk, and we must put in the soil, in one way or 
another, more than one season’s crop takes out. Why 
this is so, and other things about it, we hope to bring 
out in the articles on “ Wood Ashes and Bone.” No 
single article can do justice to the subject. 
What Pears to Fertilize Bartlett ? 
A. F. A., Claremont, Va .—What pears are best to set in a Bart¬ 
lett orchard to fertilize the lattter ? 
Ans. —In Bulletin No. 5 of the Division of Vegetable 
Pathology—Department of Agriculture on “the Pollin¬ 
ation of Pear flowers,” Prof. M. B. Waite cites the 
following important facts : “ It is evident that unless 
trees bloom together, at least during the greater part 
of the flowering season, they cannot cross-pollinate each 
other, no matter how well adapted they may be other¬ 
wise for crossing. The fact is that there is consider¬ 
able difference in the time of blooming of different 
varieties. The difference is greatest in the South and 
least in the North. * * * It is evident, therefore, 
that if pears are to pollinate one another, they must 
bloom approximately at the same time, and must at 
least overlap in blooming time to be of any benefit 
whatever. * * * In New Jersey, the Le Conte and 
Keiffer bloom three or four days ahead of the Bart¬ 
lett, while the Augoul8me is only about one day 
ahead. On the James River, the Le Conte and Keiffer 
bloom a week ahead of the Angoul8me, while the 
Bartlett i3 two or three days later still.” The fore¬ 
going facts abridge the list, from which judicious 
selections can be made to meet the wants of this in¬ 
quirer. If it were my own case, the following would 
be the selection: Clapp’s Favorite, Howell, Augou- 
18me and Early Harvest (of Ohio). Agreement, or 
sameness in time of flowering, governs the question of 
varieties, as it necessarily must. Carefully kept rec¬ 
ords, covering the flowering seasons of 1891, 1892 and 
1893, disclosed to me many interesting facts, and 
settled the belief in my mind, that there is not the 
slightest trace of Bartlett blood in the Keiffer—the 
loud claims made in its introduction to the contrary 
notwithstanding. 
Blight has wrought much injury to the pear in¬ 
dustry on this peninsula, but with all its terror, it is 
dwarfed into forgotten insignificance, by the menace 
of that generous dispenser of liquid sugar—thepsylla, 
and California’s dreaded scale. Kent County, Mary¬ 
land, produces more pears than any other area of the 
same size, between the two bays. Blight, in years 
past, did a great deal of damage to the fine orchards 
there ; not enough, however, to discontinue planting, 
most of which—there is good reason to believe—has 
been done without intelligent regard for affinities 
essential to complete pollination. Information on 
this important subject is rapidly becoming more gene¬ 
ral ; the accurate finger of science is pointing the way, 
encouraged and aided by the vast power of Tiie It. 
N.-Y. and other progressive papers. There soon 
will be no excuse for error in selection of suitable 
varieties, to overcome the trouble in regard to proper 
fertilizing of flowers. J. w. KERR. 
Denton, Md. 
Substitutes for Manure on Melons. 
J. G., Ohio .—I am short of manure this year. What kind of fer¬ 
tilizer is best for melons on sandy soil ? How much shall I use in 
a hill to equal a scoopful of rotten stable manure ? How much hen 
manure shall I use in a hill, and what shall I mix with it to make 
it moist? 
Ans. —No fertilizer will give you as good results on 
melons as stable manure, since the latter, in addition 
,to its plant food, gives needed warmth. A mixture of 
150 pounds of nitrate of soda, 300 of dried blood, 400 
of dissolved boneblack, and 150 of sulphate of potash, 
has been used successfully in some of the New Jersey 
melon districts. If you do not care to mix a small 
amount, one of the standard vegetable fertilizers will 
answer. Our advice would be to use the manure all 
over the field and add a good handful of fertilizer to 
each hill. We would use the hen manure as described 
in another column—crush fine and mix with dissolved 
boneblack and potash. 
Value of a Manure Shed. 
H. D. 8., Dillinger, Pa. —What is the ye.urly value of a manure 
shed, if there are 20 cows kept during the winter, 10 during the 
summer and six horses, fed a well balanced ration ? 
Ans. —We can do nothing but guess at it. The Cor¬ 
nell Experiment Station people estimated the year’s 
manure from a cow worth $29.27 and that from a horse 
$27.74. You understand that these figures are only 
comparative, and represent what fertilizers containing 
the fertility found in the manure would cost in the 
market. Manure left in a loose pile with fair drain¬ 
age away from it lost about half its fertilizing value 
in six months. You must remember that if it had 
been piled in a solid, compact mass, or if it had been 
hauled to the field as made, this loss would not have 
been nearly so great. 
A Boy's Little Greenhouse. 
II. M. IS., Orange, N. J .—I have a small greenhouse. What 
shall I plant in it for profit ? I thought of planting sweet peas; 
they might bloom in the spring, and might be good for the market. 
I like greenhouse work. 
Ans. —It is not easy to advise our young friend what 
to plant for profit in his greenhouse, as he has not 
stated the size, location, or heating facilities of the 
house. It is much too late to plant sweet peas v\ith 
the idea of selling the flowers at a profit, as they 
would not come in much ahead of those sown later in 
the open ground. Sweet peas, for early cut blooms, 
are planted by florists in the greenhouse from October 
to January, and transplanted to vacant places in the 
benches of <iarnatiens, mignonettes, or other plants 
