77o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
November 16 
SOME FERTILIZER EXPERIMENTS. 
P A.RT I. 
Prof. H. J. Wheeler, of the Rhode Is¬ 
land Experiment Station, has been for 
the past few years conducting a series 
of fertilizer experiments that are in 
many respects the most interesting ever 
attempted in America. We wish to talk 
about them in a few columns of Primer 
Science, as some of the lessons indicated 
by them are of the greatest importance 
to farmers. The most interesting things 
learned from these experiments are the 
following, which we hope to take up and 
discuss in some detail: 
1. The use of lime in “sweetening 7 ’ an 
acid soil. In these experiments, a soil 
so sour that it was just about sterile for 
most crops, has been changed by the use 
of lime so that it is now well set with 
clover. 
2 . The fact that different plants differ 
in their feeding habits to the extent 
that the same fertilizer will often show 
results with potatoes that might be up¬ 
set if the experiment were tried with 
corn or wheat. Just as a farmer almost 
instinctively gives one ration to the 
horse and another to the cow, so it appears 
that there are feeding distinctions in 
different plants that may, as a matter of 
profit, be considered. Recause a farmer 
found that a certain combination of food 
put the most pork on to a hog, he would 
not at once conclude that the same com¬ 
bination would, of necessity, make the 
most butter when fed to cows. Any one 
can see that; yet many of our fertilizer 
experiments would teach just about such 
a doctrine if they were taken without 
considering the fact that the soil needs 
of one crop are different from those of 
another. For example, on page 697, a 
reader referred to a field in which there 
were patches of “ alkali soil.” Corn 
would not grow knee high on these 
places, wh'le Timothy made a very rank 
growth on them. What did that mean ? 
It gave an illustration of the difference 
in feeding habits of corn and "Timothy 
—one being able to thrive Where the 
other could not. It is easy to see that, 
if we can learn something of the condi¬ 
tions of soil that give different plants 
their best chance to develop, we can 
apply our manures and fertilizers to 
much better advantage. 
3. How to test a soil in order to find 
out what it most needs. During the 
year, we get a great many questions 
from farmers who wish to know what 
the soil needs. They generally get good 
crops when they use plenty of stable 
manure or “ complete” fertilizer ; but 
some of them believe that they waste 
money in using these things, and that, 
possibly, potash alone or phosphoric 
acid alone might, for some years at least, 
do just as well at less expense. There 
are a good many farmers who have used 
complete fertilizers for many years with 
good results. While prices were high, 
they made money. That was enough for 
them, and they did not care to change. 
The last two seasons, with short crops 
and low prices, have taken the profit 
away from them, and they see that, pos¬ 
sibly, they have been using more nitro¬ 
gen or more phosphoric acid than was 
needed. How are they to make sure on 
this important point ? That is one thing 
these Rhode Island experiments will 
help to show us. 
4. Can soda be used to take the place 
of potash in our fertilizers ? It has been 
claimed of late that the farmer does not 
need potash in his fertilizer while he can 
buy soda for much less money. If this 
were true, that one is as valuable as the 
other, the whole system of fertilizing 
would be upset, nitrate of soda would be 
the most valuable fertilizing substance 
in the world, and waste salt would be 
much more valuable than it is now. 
The Rhode Island people are testing this 
matter with great care, and we shall see 
what they are finding out. 
Now as to lime in agriculture. There 
have been a number of attempts to 
‘“boom” lime as a fertilizer. Most of the 
leading scientists of this country appear 
to place less value on this substance as 
a soil improver than they used to do. 
They are now, apparently, pretty well 
agreed that little is to be gained by de¬ 
pending on the lime to supply direct 
plant food. Its mechanical effect by 
binding together coarse soils so as to 
make them more retentive of moisture, 
and of breaking up fine clays so as to 
make them admit water freely, is well 
understood. So, too, its power of break¬ 
ing up organic compounds, and neutral¬ 
izing or “sweetening” acids in the soil ; 
but we do not think that our scientific 
men have given due weight to the im¬ 
portance of this peculiar power of lime 
or the wide prevalence of acid soils in 
many parts of the North. 
The soil at the Rhode Island Station is 
typical of many New England fields that 
have been in pasture or meadow for 
many years. This soil has been in cul¬ 
tivation longer than most American 
farms, for the Narragansett Indians 
grew corn on it long before the whites 
reached this country. These Indians 
were famous in their day, as farmers— 
they always had grain to sell. They 
probably used more or less fish or sea 
weed as manure. Their tools were rude 
and feeble. The result was that the soil 
received large quantities of organic mat¬ 
ter, and was never deeply stirred to 
admit the air and frost. This was just 
the culture required to make the soil 
sour. Occasional use of wood ashes was 
probably made by the Indians, but this 
was not enough to counteract the acid¬ 
ity. The crops of .the early whites were 
much like those of the Indians, except 
that the ground was somewhat better 
prepared. It cannot be said that manures 
were used with much more discretion, 
because the Whites obtained their ferti¬ 
lizer facts from the Reds. 
Live Stock Matters. 
AN OHIO POULTRY FARM. 
SOME HENS THAT RAID A MORTGAGE. 
Near Norwalk, 0., is located the poul¬ 
try farm of Mr. Joseph Fisher. It con¬ 
sists of 60 acres, which are devoted to 
buildings, yards and land employed in 
growing feed for his poultry and the 
other stock necessary to carry it on and 
keep the family in milk, butter, etc. He 
has six buildings, divided into compart¬ 
ments by wire netting, with yards ad¬ 
joining. and keeps his poultry in small 
flocks. 
“Here is where I commenced,” said 
Mr. Fisher, as we stood in the door of a 
building 14x33 feet. “At first, I had only 
a room 9x12, then I put 10 feet on the 
end, then 11 feet more. I saw I could 
make a success of it, and put five feet 
along the north side. The next year, 
the big house was built, and I have been 
adding ever since till 1 have about 2,400 
feet of floor space (including boiler and 
engine room), and 18 yards of different 
sizes. I think that I have enough now 
—all I can manage alone, and no help I 
can hire can manage the business suc¬ 
cessfully.” 
“I see that you keep Light Brahmas, 
White and Brown Leghorns and P. 
Rocks ; but what are those black hens?” 
“ They come from a cross of a Brown 
Leghorn cock on P. Rock hens. The 
pullets come black with some brown on 
the hackles. They make the best win¬ 
ter layers I can get. Yonder is a hen 
that laid all last winter and all summer 
with only about two weeks lost from 
broodiness. These are my old hens, 115 
now. There are about 500 young pullets 
in the other buildings. I sold my 
roosters and early pullets for broilers. 
They brought §6 a dozen and went to 
Cleveland.” 
“ How many do you sell in a year ?” 
“ About 800, and with the old ones, we 
sold over 1,000 this year.” 
A Talk About Buildings. 
“ That small building next to the ice¬ 
house is the hospital, as I call it. When 
so many are kept, sometimes they crowd 
together on the roost during a cold spell 
and get warm and damp, and when they 
get off, some of them will take cold and 
need extra care. These we put here. In 
summer, we confine our broody hens 
here.” 
“ Then you have some sickness ?” 
“ Oh, yes ! mostly roup ; we never had 
any cholera. 
“ What do you do for roup ?” 
“ We put them by themselves and 
occasionally squirt some of the follow¬ 
ing mixture into their nostrils and 
throats from a small oil can : One tea¬ 
cupful of lard ; two teaspoonfuls of 
coal oil, and one teaspoonful of tur¬ 
pentine melted together. If they are 
taken in time we seldom lose any. Here 
is the main building, and these are my 
(Continued on next page). 
gHtetclIanMu# Jgulvcvtisinfl. 
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Grinding Mill 
in the hands of an ordin¬ 
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n essay on “Economy of Ground Feed,” by Manly 
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KNOCK 
THE 
A sore spot, green, 
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SPOTS »- ST. JACOBS OIL 
BRUISE 
OUT. 
and watch the color fade,) 
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IT IS MACICAL. 
Long-lasting 
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Sold only in cans, to make sure of fair dealing 
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If you have FIVE or more 
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use. Beware of imitating and 
infringing machines. 
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BEFORE 
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ANEW 
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THE KEYSTONE 
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The Business Hen. 
This little book is one of the most popular we 
have ever published. Every one interested at 
all in poultry, seems to want it, and to ap¬ 
preciate it. It gets down to the practical side 
of the question, and treats of the hen as the 
means of making a dollar. The price in cloth 
is 75 cents, but as the paper cover edition s 
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paper covers are being provided. Price, 40 
cents. Sent to any subscriber for sending us 
one new subscription. 
The Rural Nkw-Yobkkb, New Yobb 
