MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
48 -II 
4’;trm (Bcoitomg. 
RELIABLE COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS. 
R. EL Allen & Co. have iBsued a circular 
descriptive of what they call “ Reliable Com¬ 
mercial Fertilizers,” which contains sufficient 
information of general interest to farmart 
to warrrant us in making the following ex¬ 
tracts. They say The constituents which 
wu look for as giving value to a commercial 
fertilizer are chiefly three, viz : Phosphoric 
Acid, Nitrogen and I'otaih. Phosphoric 
Acid and Nitrogen each exist in three forms, 
viz.: 
1. Now available as plant food. 
2. Soon to become so in the soil. 
3. Remotely available. 
Potash is always in the condition of imme¬ 
diate availability, if of any special value as a 
constituent of a fertilizer, and nitrogen exist* 
in fertilizers as ammonia, or as nitric acid. 
In the latter form it la at once available, af 
in saltpeter, which is a compound of nitric 
acid and potash. 
We propose to name only those fertilizers 
which a long experience enables us to offer 
with confidence, not only that they are of 
uniform composition, and well worth the 
prices askod, but the very best in market. 
FINE BONI-DUST 
consists of bones wi k more or loss flesh,etc., 
adhering, which have had the grease re¬ 
moved, and have been subsequently reduced 
to a fine po teder. It contains a high percent 
age of phosphate of lime, the phosphoric ado 
of which is, on accouut of its finely pulverized 
state, available chiefly the first season. There 
is also nearly three per cent, of nitrogen, 
which is available to the plant, as ammonia, 
the first season. 
COARSE BONE-DUST 
is similar to the foregoing, but the particles 
of bone being larger, its effects continue 
through several seasons. It is employed for 
grape borders, and for enriching the soil in 
planting trees. 
Bone-dust may be applied alone, or in 
composts. It may be dropped in the hill, or 
drill, before planting, and, unless iu masses, 
rarely injures the most delicate seeds. It 
may be applied upon loamy sells at the rate 
of 150 to 1,000 pounds per acre, aooording to 
the crop, and different soils require different 
quantities. Good results to the crops will, 
however, follow applications of even very 
large quantities. 
bone sawings and bone turnings 
are pure, hard bone, in a state of moderate 
fineness. They are used instead of the com¬ 
mon bone-dust, to feed to cows or other cattle 
having, or threatened with, “bone-sickness,” 
and to any young animals, as iu them the 
growth of bone is rapidly going on. Bone is 
the specific cure for bon e-sickness in cattle 
fed upo* old pastures where the phosphoric 
aoid has been exhausted. It is both applied 
to the land, and fed to the cattle. The saw¬ 
ings are fed to poultry, and are particularly 
adapted for the use of ladi- s in gardening, 
and for making composts, fertilizing bouse 
plants, etc., being neat and sweet articles to 
handle. 
LAND PIASTER, OR GYPSUM, 
may be regarded as a fertilizer, though act Lng 
indirectly, and it is of well-known value, 
away from the Bea coantv It seems to have 
a specific effect upon clover, and is useful 
upou potatoes, grass and grains. It is simply 
sulphate of lime, naturally combined with 
water, and capable of being slowly but com¬ 
pletely dissolved by water. It is usually 
applied by hand, or by the horse plaster 
sower. 
POTASH SALTS. 
The presence of potash In the ashes of all 
cultivated crepe, and of course in all fertile 
soils, gives aiauurial value to substances 
containing potash. A source of supply has 
been reo-ntly developed in the natural saltB 
of the Stassfurt mines. These occur in mar¬ 
ket in two forms. In one the potash is in 
the form of a chloride, pStrassfurt or potash 
salts,) iu the other of a sulphate, (Kaiuit.) 
Iu the latter form it is most acceptable to 
the plant; the other salt is, however, richer 
in potash. These salts are of general utility, 
and give marked effects on most crops. They 
need to b© thoroughly mixed and Oumpoated 
with earth or some other divisor, and may 
be applied upon grass at the rate of 200 to 300 
pounds per acre ; upon potatoes and other 
root crops in similar quantities. They are 
useful also upon com and grain crops, as 
well as upon tobacco, if used judiciously. 
Both EAiuit and the btrassfurt salts contain 
considerable quantities of common salt , 
which, as is well known, has an uncertain 
manurial value, which, however, is some¬ 
times remarkably beneficial. 
SUPERPHOSPHATE OF LIME, 
in its simplicity as a commercial fertilizer, is 
bone-phosphate acted on by sulphuric acid, 
causing a part of the lime to become gypsum, 
or sulphate of lime, and part of the phos¬ 
phoric to become soluble ill water. Thus it 
is much more quickly available to the plant. 
The fertilizer offers several other advantages 
over simple bone-dust. The jiortiou of bone 
not decomposed by the acid, is more or less 
acted upon, and becomes more rapidly of use 
to the err-pa, yielding both its phosphoric 
add and Its nitrogen. The sulpkurio acid is, 
besides, of considerable value, both in its 
free Btatc, and in the form of plaster, (gyp- 
Bum.) 
It is usual to add ammonia, or nitrogenous 
substances, to superphosphates ; and not un- 
frequontiy, potash is also'added, in order to 
form a complete manure, adapted to all crops. 
The basis of such a fertilizer is superphos¬ 
phate of lime. 
The excellence of a superphosphate do- 
pends upon the relatively large amount of 
soluble phosphoric acid It contains, ami upon 
its ammonia. It is so complex an article, and 
may be made from so many different things, 
that the trade in it offers unlimited opportu¬ 
nities for fraud, which, it is almost needless 
to say, are too often embraced by many, 
both of manufacturers and dealers. 
PERUVIAN GUANO. 
Guano contains phosphate of lime in a very 
easily soluble condition, a large quantity of 
ammonia, and a small quantity of potash. 
All Its valuable Ingredients are partially 
soluble in water, and almost all the rest 
/ire soon available ; hence it is very act¬ 
ive and efficient as a fertilizer ; but, un¬ 
fortunately, the quality is quite variable, and 
be trado iu this article is a monopoly of the 
Peruvian Government. No fertilizer is more 
easily or successfully adulterated. The. fraud¬ 
ulent article cannot be detected, except by 
hemical analysts, and usually has a value of 
only about half that of the genuine. 
We recommend thatgnanobe aluayu sifted, 
and bo mixed with at least twioe its bulk of 
rifted earth, and shoveled over till thorough¬ 
ly mingled. If sowed broadcast, it should be 
narrowed In immediately , as the hot sun vol¬ 
atilizes the ammonia. The quantity applied 
pei* acre varies with soils and crops, from 200 
to 500 pounds; but it must always be em¬ 
ployed xcilh caution. 
THE UNIVERSAL FERTILIZER. 
The varying quality and value of Pcryvian 
guano, the fact that it contains too much 
ammonia and too little of other valuable 
constituents to make it alone fit food for 
plants even upon poor or worn-out soils, and 
besides, the utter uncertainty that one bag 
of guano is like another, even of tko same 
cargo, has led us to have a fertilizer prepared 
containing ammonia, potash, and phosphoric 
acid, in such proportions as have been proved 
by Jong experience, most widely useful iu ft 
concentrated fertilizer. 
We guarantee it to be uniform in composi¬ 
tion. and to contain not loss that 5 per cent, 
of ammonia, 4 per cent, of actual potash, and 
§ por cent of soluble phosphoric acid. It is 
in the form of a fine powder and is very dry, 
and easily mixed with the soil; it may be 
composted, sowed by hand, or sowed by the 
drill, or broadcast plaster sower. It Is not 
liable to cake; undergoes no putrefaction ; 
ia not offensive t-o the smell, and will not lose 
its valuable properties if exposed to the air, 
to hot sunshine, or to rain, unless, indeed, it 
be 6oaked with water and fairly washed 
away ; and it is offensive to insects. 
“The Universal Fertilizer” must bo used 
with care not to place it in immediate con¬ 
tact with the seed ; but a little stirring of 
the soil, iu the hill where the application is 
made, obviates ail difficulty. It may be 
freely sowed broadcast upou gras® or grow¬ 
ing grain, with the best effects, using 200 to 
500 pounds per acre. For corn, it is either 
applied to the laud and harrowed in, or close 
about or in the hill at planting, or upon or 
near the hill after planting, or both broad¬ 
cast and to tko hill. The quantity to be used 
varies with the soil, and the purse of the 
farmer ; a liberal application pays much bet¬ 
ter than a meager one, which is never bo 
satisfactory. To give a tahlespoonful to eaoh 
hill of corn, requires about 300 to 600 pounds 
to the acre, according to the space between 
the hills; wheat requires from 200 to 500 
pounds , rye, 200 to 300 pounds ; oats, 200 to 
400 pounds *, grass, 150 to 500 pounds; tur¬ 
nips, 150 to 300 pounds *, roots iu drills, 200 to 
400 pounds. Garden soil for general crhps 
requires 400 to 600 pounds, well mixed with 
the soil; and fox* some crops, direct applica¬ 
tion besides, equal to as much more. It is 
shipped in bairels, containg 250 pounds each, 
eight barrel* holding a ton. 
TARE PARTICULAR NOTICE. 
Guano is best for grain and grass crops : ] 
Superphosphate for picas, beans and root 
crops, and especially for turnips ; Bones for 
exhausted pasture® ; Potash for fruits of all 
kinds ; Plaster for clover, and the Universal 
Fertiliser for everything. 
-——♦-*-♦- 
ECONOMICAL NOTES. 
Sod as Manure .—George Geddes, in tho 
Country Gentleman, writes :—As a manure, 
the value of an old sod will be somewhat 
understood when we consider the result 
obtained by Professor Kedzio of the Michi¬ 
gan Agricultural College at Lansing. He 
took a square foot of Juuo grass turf and 
washed away all tho soil in running water, 
and then weighed tho roots and surface 
grass, to determine the amount of green 
mauurai matter usually contained iu a heavy 
greensward, and found it to bo live pounds 
to the square foot—or at the rate of more 
than 100 tons to the acre. This was from a 
very heavy mat of June gras®, and the Pro¬ 
fessor says in a letter to me, in regard to this 
matter, “ This is doubtless in excess of ordi¬ 
nary June grass but he says he “ Thinks 
that few fanners estimate correctly the 
amount of vegetable matter they add to 
their soil by plowing under heavy green¬ 
sward.” 
77ie Greatest Enemy the American farmer 
has to contend with, says J. Dartt, is “weeds,” 
and “clean culture” tho greatest object to 
be obtained, in the cultivation of growing 
crops. . 
§rarg of a pluralist. 
DAILY RURAL LIFE. 
From the Diary of » Gentleman near New 
York Glsy. 
CITY MEN BEC0MIN0 FARMERS. 
May. 1.—About these days look out for re¬ 
solves of city men to move into the country 
and become farmers. The annoyances of 
city life are terrible to endure eveu when 
lightest, for one Is never safe from being 
robbed, run over by street ears, or burned 
out through the carelessness of neighbors. 
Horace Greeley’s famous advice “Young 
man, go West," is only equaled in importance 
by everybody’s recommendation to every¬ 
body else (the adviser being excused from 
taking his own medicine) “ to go into tho 
country, buy a farm and live like a prince.” 
This first of May moving time in New York 
is the straw which breaks t he camel’s back 
with many a poor fellow, where domestic 
felioity is annually diaturbad, and it is on 
tbiB auspicious day that many a wedded 
pair, resolves to buy a farm and thus escape 
the multitudinous annoyances of city life. 
Happy indeed are they who succeed in their 
great and laudable expectations, The first 
swelling buds upon the elm® and horse chest¬ 
nut trees in our city parks, call to many a 
mind the pleasures of country life. The 
fresh-laid egg and the song of the barn-yard 
bird that laid it, are surely tho first fruits of 
the farm in spring. Then come the green 
peas, fresh from the vinos, uo wilted, yellow, 
cholera-begetting things, such a® are found 
in city markets. Strawlierries, raspberries, 
blackberries and cream without end, with 
all their large or small adjuncts in the shape 
of fresh vegetables, melons, pears, apple® 
and other fruits thrown in, to make a man 
and hla family happy through the long, 
sultry, summer months. Added to all these 
and more, we must not forgot tho pure, 
bracing country air, the green fields, aud 
lovely landscape, free as tho robin who 
steals your cherries. “Happy is the man 
who has chosen wisdom’6 ways” and knows 
how to get so much pleasure at or a little 
below coBt. But I fear they are further 
apart and far more scattering than angel ’a 
visits, especially If the man is city-bred. Me- 
thinks I hear some one hurling at my head 
the common slang phrase of tho day, “ You 
know how it is yourself but it docs not 
suit, for I am not “ one of them still 1 can 
“ feel a brother’s woes” occasionally, when 
he happens to settle in my neighborhood. 
Unfortunately I have long resided where my 
opportunities have been very good for ob¬ 
serving how city men turn farmers. I say 
unfortunately, although it is certainly none 
of my business what others do with their 
money, or how they live, or whether they* 
live at ad, still one cannot help feeling for a 
poor fellow who, in making a grand dash 
after happiness in the country, gets nothing 
in return but a sure cure for the “country 
fever.” The why so ina uy are disappointed 
may readily be traced to impatience coupled 
with more or less ignorance of the minute or 
apparently insignificant operations upon 
which success depends. He ha® probably 
seen large blocks of buildings erected In a 
few months' time by employing plenty of 
laborers and the free use of money, and is 
inclined to believe that farming can bo car¬ 
ried on in the same way, forgetting that it is 
a very difficult thing to make a three-year- 
old colt out of a yearling, or to get two 
erupts of corn on the same piece of land in 
one season, even if fertilizers are U9ed ever 
so liberally. 
Then, again, farm laborers, such as are to 
be procured near our great cities, are not 
to be depended upon, especially If their em¬ 
ployer is away’ to business during the day, 
and no one to take charge of the place but a 
hired foreman whose only* interest in farming 
is to draw a good salary. A man may pour 
out money like water upon a farm or couu- 
try seat and get uo return for it except vexa¬ 
tions of the biggest kind ; for the wasteful 
tricks which ignorant laborers play upon 
their employers aro beyond the comprehen¬ 
sion of more intelligent men. 1 could readily 
fill a volume with instance® of this kind 
which have come under my own observation, 
hut l forbear, fearing that they might dis¬ 
courage some one from seeking pleasure and 
profit in country life. 
If I was asked advice on this subject, I 
should say, If you know nothing of farming 
keep out of it, else go and Joarn the business 
first; but if only seeking a home in thecoun* 
try, purchase one there, make just as few 
improvements as possible and for comfort 
sake only, but never dream of profit boyond 
that which is derived in pleasure. The hun¬ 
dreds of fine country seats whiohean be pur¬ 
chased in tho suburbs of any of our large 
cities from 35 to 50 per cent, less than what 
they* cost their owner, is proof, enough of the 
money lost in amateur gardening and farm¬ 
ing and on country residences. 
I0GS OF KATYDID. 
Daily Rural Like I send you inclosed 
a twig cut from a cherry tree upou which 
there are some kind of insect eggs unknown 
to me. I purchased the tree from Manhattan 
(Kausas) Nursery last fall. Can you tell mo, 
through tbe Rural New-Yorker, what 
these eggs are ? and oblige— W, Scofield, 
Alma. Kan. 
May 2.—The two rows of oval, grayish 
eggs placed side by sido and slightly overlap¬ 
ping like the shingle on a roof, are those of 
the oblong-winged Katydid (Phylloptera olr 
longifulia). You probably know the insect 
well, but never happened to find their eggs 
before, although quite common in all parts 
of tho country, and may be found attached 
to the small twigs of trees in winter. The 
Katydids arc seldom injurious, although not 
especially beneficial The regularity with 
whici the female places her eggs upon a 
twig, shows that she is an artist and some¬ 
thing of a mechanic. In tho Northern State® 
these insects always select a twig upou which 
to lay their egg® ; but in the tropics, as well 
as in our Southern States, where there are 
many broad-leaved evergreen trees, they fre¬ 
quently select a leaf for this purpose. 1 have 
seen orange leaves beautifully bordered with 
Katydid eggs, showing that habits of inseots 
may* vary in different climates. , 
TRIMMIN0 EVERGREEN HE00ES. 
It is hard work to trim an evergreen hedge 
with a pair of hedge shear®, as I know from 
che sensation in my anna this evening. But 
how neat the hedge looks when it is done, 
and just the opposite when the priming is 
neglected. It is really too bad that in a coun¬ 
try like ours, with an abundance of suitable 
evergreens, we see so few ornamental hedges. 
For appearance, the Hemlock is best; but 
au Arbor vita* hedge, if properly pruned, is 
highly ornamental, beside being useful. The 
cost of the plants is really nominal, and for 
all situations where a strong, unruly oattle- 
proof fence is not required, this plant may 
be used, and in fact should be used instead 
of wood or stone. The cost of an Arborvit* 
hedge is not one-half that of tho cheapest 
picket or board fence, and the annuul prun¬ 
ing will not equal the repairs necessary to a 
wooden one, while it is far more ornamental 
than the most elaborately-constructed wood 
or metal structure. It is just the time to 
start a hedge, and any one who has a place 
for such an ornament should improve the 
opportunity. 
, - 4 -»» - —- 
“Empress Grape.” —This is the name of a 
grape being offered by “agents” of nurseries 
in certain localities—or self-styled agents. 
Our readers had better not be “ taken in” by 
them until something more is known about 
this “Empress,” 
