85o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
December 21 
CURING A SOUR SOIL. 
SOME FERTILIZER EXPERIMENTS. 
PVRT VI. 
What shall a farmer do to learn what 
his soil needs ? With a great many 
soils, as we have shown, the need is 
“ sweetening,” first of all. Lime will 
attend to that. The soil may be so open 
and porous that it will not hold water. 
The proper use of organic matter in the 
form of green crops may cure that. The 
subsoil may be so stiff and hard that 
water cannot sink into the soil, or the 
roots dig deep into it. The subsoil plow 
may remedy that; but aside from these 
mechanical operations and benefits, there 
are soils to be found in which one or 
more of the three essential forms of fer¬ 
tility may be lacking. That is, these 
elements may be in the soil, but not in 
forms soluble enough to permit the crops 
to use them. 
As we all know, the three essential 
elements of plant food are nitrogen, 
phosphoric acid and potash. For the 
sake of illustration, we may compare 
them to air, water and food—the great 
necessities of animal life. Turn a man 
out in a 10 -acre lot with plenty of water 
to drink, but no food, and he would soon 
starve. Bury him in a wheat bin with 
a cask of water, and he would quickly 
smother, though surrounded by good 
food. Thus leaving out any one of these 
necessary elements means death to the 
man ; and, in the same way, leaving out 
one of these three necessary fertilizing 
elements means death to the plant. 
How can we find out what is needed ? 
It is easy enough to tell when a man is 
hungry or thirsty, or choked for lack of 
air, but with plants the test is more 
complicated. Not long ago a man that 
I know went to an evening party to give 
a recitation. The room was small and 
crowded with people. The ventilation 
was very poor. This man had plenty of 
food and drink, but he felt drowsy and 
stupid. He drank two cupfuls of strong 
coffee, but that did him no permanent 
good, and his recitation fell flat. The 
reason was that there was no fresh air. 
He failed just as a plant would fail if 
deprived of soluble potash or phosphoric 
acid. It would seem to be one of the 
simplest things in the world for a man 
to know when he needs air; but here 
were intelligent people who needed an 
experiment to prove it. 
Now if such evident things as this 
need experiment and advice, you can see 
that finding the true needs of a plant is 
no easy task. For a time people thought 
they could analyze the soil and see what 
was needed, or lacking in it. This failed 
to prove satisfactory, because no small 
lot of soil would prove a fair sample of 
a whole field. Another reason was that 
different plants have different powers 
of dissolving plant food in the soil; one 
crop may feed on the surface and another 
far down, and a big root may utilize 
plant food that a smaller one cannot, 
and so on. Therefore, it is hardly pos¬ 
sible to take any acid for using in these 
soils that would give exactly the same 
results as the plants would. And so, the 
general opinion now is that the way to 
test a soil is to ask the plants themselves 
just what they need. 
How ? Here is the plan suggested by 
Prof. Wheeler. Take three plots 27 x 27 
feet—each 1-60 of an acre. Pick them 
out so that they will give fair samples 
of the average condition of the field. 
Leave space between from six to eight 
feet wide, and if the field is in sod when 
tested, leave the sod between these 
plots. After plowing and fitting, apply 
to one plot eight pounds of nitrate of 
soda and 10 pounds dissolved boneblack, 
to another eight pounds of nitrate of 
soda, and five pounds muriate of potash 
and to the third, 10 pounds of dissolved 
boneblack and five pounds of muriate of 
potash. We would broadcast this ferti¬ 
lizer evenly and harrow or rake it in. 
If desired to do so, a fourth plot of the 
same size might be used with all three 
of the elements in the proportion given ; 
and, of course, it will be well to have 
another plot with nothing in the way of 
fertilizer added. 
For crops for this experiment we sug¬ 
gest two—beets or mangels and some 
small grain like wheat, barley or oats. 
This will give two crops with different 
habits of growth—one of which will give 
a chance to judge by the eye while the 
other must be weighed for accurate re¬ 
sults. These crops, too, are greatly 
benefited by lime if the soil is sour, and 
in this connection another test may be 
tried by those who want to go beyond 
the litmus paper test before deciding to 
use lime all over the field. Take two 
plots of this same size—(27 x 27). Use on 
each eight pounds of nitrate of soda, 10 
pounds of dissolved boneblack, and five 
pounds of muriate of potash well raked 
in. On one plot use 67 pounds of lime 
(air slaked) and leave the other unlimed. 
Then plant the beets and small grain on 
each and watch for results. This is a 
simple test without many complications. 
We give the details now, so that farmers 
may think it over during the winter and 
plan for it. We shall refer to it again 
later and then try to show how to read 
the results—that is what the appearance 
and weight of the crops on these plots 
would indicate for the whole field. We 
shall now drop this subject until nearer 
planting time and talk about some of 
the principles that are to be considered 
in ‘‘Feeding a Hen.” 
Live Stock Matters. 
more oil to heat the building, than the 
hens could lay eggs to pay for. I have 
an oil heater ; the tank holds five quarts. 
In two hours, the heater uses up one- 
quarter tankful of oil, and one can see 
how much it would cost to keep an oil 
heater going. The manufacturers of 
oil heaters never claim to heat more 
than a room 15 or 16 feet square with an 
oil heater. The firm who made mine 
says that it costs a cent an hour to keep 
an oil heater going. The coal oil costs 
12 cents a gallon here, delivered by an 
oil wagon man. r. h. 
Waynesville, O. 
Grundy’s Poultry Grist. —I would 
like, in the first place, to know on what 
authority Mr. Grundy, page 774 . cries 
“hack!” at those who advocate the use of 
whitewash in the poultryhouse. And 
while we are on this “ hack ”neyed sub¬ 
ject, I beg to suggest that The R. N.-Y. 
could make mighty interesting reading 
by publishing its score card by which it 
determines whether or not a man is a 
“ hack.” 
This summer I had two houses infested 
with lice, on discovery of which fact I 
promptly whitewashed with an old 
broom. Since then, careful search fails 
to disclose a single louse. Of a truth, 
something can be learned even of 
“ hacks.” 
So far as the scratching shed is con¬ 
cerned, it is much like plate glass and a 
gilt weather-cock ; all very nice, but so 
far as actual cash returns are concerned, 
not by any means absolutely indispens¬ 
able. Moreover, in the face of actual and 
known facts, the assertion that hens can 
“ do no good ” if they have to live and 
sleep in the same room is preposterous. 
How many million hens does Mr. Grundy 
suppose there are in this country, which 
(Continued on next page.) 
FORKFULS OF FACTS. 
The Old Farm Horse. —“ How about 
the old farm horse ? What is due it anjr- 
way ? ” I am of the class who believe 
that the righteous and humane way is to 
give the best care so long as the horse is 
profitable, and then, in some merciful 
way, end its days. In my opinion, it is 
far better to do this and give what it 
would cost to feed and care for the old 
horse, to help some needy human being, 
rather than to keep the old horse at an 
expense after he becomes unprofitable. 
I think that the worst course is to sell 
for a trifle, or give away, the faithful 
old servants to be abused as they are 
almost sure to be, or what is about the 
same keep them yourself and allow them 
to suffer from neglect. F. e. v. e. 
Stanley, N. Y. 
Dishorning. —In 1891, my cattle all 
had their horns. That spring, one of my 
cows did not appreciate the idea of my 
being too near her young calf, and went 
for me ; only the rope by which she was 
tied saved my life. As it was, she 
knocked me sidewise fully 8 or 10 feet. 
In less than half an hour after, I had 
her horns sawed close to the skull. Tak¬ 
ing my information from The R. N.-Y., 
I at once procured 10 cents worth of 
caustic potash, and burned the buttons 
on my calves that season. This custom 
has been repeated yearly with entire 
satisfaction. The cattle are as gentle as 
sheep, and I have not had a knock-out 
since. All my older cattle had their 
horns sawed in 1891. G. w. b. 
Agassiz, B. C. 
Oil Costs Too Much.—I think that it 
would not do to use an oil heater to keep 
a henhouse warm enough in winter to 
prevent the combs on poultry freezing, 
for the simple reason that it would take 
|UtolIanfoui6! gUmtisini). 
In writing to advertisers, please always mention 
The Rural New-Yorker. 
If you have FIVE or more 
Cows a Cream Separator will 
save its cost each year of 
use. Beware of imitating and 
infringing machines. 
Send for new 1895 Catalogue. 
The Fe Laval Separator Co. 
Branch '"’ms: General Offices: 
ELGIN. ILL. 74 CORTLANDT ST.. NEW YORK. 
Kelly Duplex 
Grinding Mill 
will grind any kind of 
grain, cotton seed, corn 
and cob, corn, cob and 
shucks equally well and 
in grist of any quality. 
An essay on “Economy of Ground Feed,” by Manly 
Miles, M. D., F. R. M. S., and illustrated pamphlet 
of Grinding Mills will be sent free to any address. 
The 0. S. KELLY CO., Springfield, Ohio. 
Long Life 
to leather: Vacuum Leather Oil. Get 
a can at a harness- or shoe-store, 25 c a 
half-pint to fd .25 a gallon; book “How 
to Take Care of Leather,” and swob, 
both free; use enough to find out; if 
you don’t like it, take the can back and 
get the whole of your money. 
Sold only in cans, to make sure of fair dealing 
everywhere—handy cans. Best oil for farm ma¬ 
chinery also. If you can’t find it, write to 
VACUUM OIL COMPANY, Rochester, N.Y. 
BEFORE 
BUYING 
ANEW 
HARNESS 
Send 2-cent stamp for 80-page Illus¬ 
trated Catalogue of Custom Hand¬ 
made Oak Leather Harness, sold 
direct to consumers at wholesale 
prices. Why not buy from first 
hands and save the middleman’s 
profit. You can buy by mail as 
well as though here in person. 
Making to order a specialty. 
KI.Ne A CO., So. lOChnrrh St., Owe*., S.Y 
COOK Your FEED and SAVE 
Half the Cost—with the 
PROFIT FARM BOILER 
With Dumping Caldron. Emp¬ 
ties its kettle in one minute. The 
simplest and best arrangement for 
cooking food for stock. Also make 
Dairy and Laundry Stoves, 
Wat er and Steam Jacket Ket¬ 
tles, Hog Scalders, Caldrons, 
etc. 55U Send for Circulars, 
D. R. SPERRY & CO., Batavia. Ill. 
Farmers’ Boilers 
TANK HEATERS, 
AND 
Galvanized Steel Tanks. 
Send for particulars. 
STAR MFG. CO., 
Middlebury, Ind. 
PURINTON’S 
AGRICULTURAL BOILER 
Stands at the head of all articles for 
Cooking Feed and Heating Water for 
Stock, and is also the cheapest. 
Ifl.tH'OSold. Cooks. Boils. Steams 
anything. Write for prices. 
J. K. PURINTON & CO., 
Des Moines. Iowa. 
The Best Feed Cooker Made. 
Smooth, east-iron kettle; cold 
rolled steel body. Most con¬ 
venient, most effective, most eco¬ 
nomical. most durable, and 
cheapest Furnace Kettle on earth 
Reduced prices made now direct 
to farmers. Ask quick for our 
catalogue. 
ECONOMY MFG. COMPANY, 
HOMER, MICH. 
FEED FOR STOCK. 
We have 300 tons of Wheat Screenings, the best of 
feed for Sheep, or, when ground, good for hogs or 
cattle; 200 tons of Rye Feed, good for any stock, and 
all other grades of feed as cheap as the cheapest. 
CUTTER & BAILEY, 143 Washington St., Buffalo,N.Y 
USE Cl I BUI A carbon- 
TAYLOR’S r U m A Bisulphide. 
For klllingWoodchucks, Prairie Dogs,Gophers 
and Hats, Insects iu Grain, Seeds, etc. Shipped 
In 50-pound cans by the manufacturer. 
EDWARD K. TAYLOR. Cleveland, Ohio. 
I If P* B7DETD Q SEND FOR 
I iV Ea Gi l~ Em PC Sample copy of 
CLEANINCS IN BEE CULTURE. 
IA Handsomely Illustrated OCCCIIDDI ICC 
I Magazine, and Catalog, of DLL OUllLICO 
FREE. THE A. I. ROOT CO., Medina,!). 
~ NEW M AMMOTH 
Poultry Guide for 1896 Finest 
book ever published, contain b nearly 100 
ffl pages, all printed in colors, plans for best 
poultry houses, sure remedies and recipes 
for a’l diseases, and how;o make poultry 
* FT and gardening pav. Sentp'-st paid for 15c. 
John Bauscker .Jr..box CGFrep.pnrt., 1.1, 
Trained Ferrets SALE. 
S. D. FURM1NGER, St. Catharines, Ont. 
DAIRY CALENDAR * 
A Reference Book for Dairymen, Butter 
and Cheesemakers. 
By F. W. Wole, Assistant Professor of Agricul¬ 
tural Chemistry, University of Wisconsin. 18mo., $1. 
Send for descriptive circular. 
JOHN WILEY & SONS, 53 E. 10th St., New York. 
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 
exhausted, we fill all orders in cloth covers at 
paper cover price, while a new supply of 
paper covers are being provided. Price, 40 
cents. Sent to any subscriber for sending us 
one new subscription. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER New York. 
