408 
The Cheapest Nitrogen. —Prof. Jenkins of 
the Connecticut Experiment Station, says that 
the wholesale price of nitrogen in blood, 
azotin and sulphate of ammonia has not been 
so high since the fall of 1883 as at the present 
time, and nitrogen in nitrate of soda is higher 
than it has been for two years and a-half. 
The nitrogen of blood, azotin and sulphate of 
ammonia would probably cost to-day at re¬ 
tail in fresh stock not far from 18% cents per 
pound. A fall in prices is possible, but hardly 
to be anticipated, 
In view of these facts it is worth while to 
note that the nitrogen of cotton seed meal and 
castor pomace is at present relatively very 
cheap. Cotton-seed meal can be bought by 
the car-load to-day at $2(5.50 or $27.50 per ton 
at freight centers, or five tons for, say, $137. 
50. If carried for four months, add for inter¬ 
est $2.75, making the total ccst $140.25. 
These five tons contain about 
(578 pounds of nitrogen. 
300 pounds of phosphoric acid, 
180 pounds of potash. 
If we value the phosphoric acid at six cents 
per pound and the potash at 4% cents, the 
nitrogen will cost 1(5 9 cents per pound in 
cotton-seed-meal, as against 18 to 18% cents 
in blood, azotin and sulphate of ammonia. 
This comparison he believes is, if anything, 
ra'her unfair to the cotton-seed-meal. 
If bright fresh meal is bought, stored in a 
dry place and fed judiciously through the 
winter.it will be worth a good deal more than 
the above figures indicate. The prices of 
fertilizers may decline before spring, no one 
can certainly tell, but the suggestion above 
given is worth thinking of. 
Keeping Manure. —Sometimes an inde¬ 
pendent thinker will burst in upon us with a 
statement which affronts the “science” of 
the past woefully. A few years ago such an 
audacious voice bluntly affirmed that animal 
manure is never agaio so good as when it is 
dropped. This, in the face of all theelaboiate 
directions for making composts with which 
farmers have been favored in the agricultural 
papers, seemed very audacious. Nevertbe- 
liss, science now backs up this asserlicnof 
plain common seme. The careful experi¬ 
ments of Dr. Voelcker, Chemist of the Royal 
Agricultural Society of England, prove that 
manure gradually depreciates by keeping, 
under the very best management, gaining in 
water, and losing in valuable organic matter 
which is spent in the fermentation. How, 
then, must it waste and lose under the ordin¬ 
ary exposure in a yard, subject to excessive 
heatirg and washing by rain! 
Rage for Low-Priced Fertil izers—A 
the present time, says Prof. Jordan, the most 
serious drawback (both to manufacturer and 
consumer) is to be found in the foolish rage 
for low-priced fertilizers. Ground limestone 
at $8 per ton, the refuse of salt works at $12 
per ton, and dear at 50 cents, raw South Car¬ 
olina reck (not acidulated) at $8 to $10 
per ton, the refuse of alum works at $12per ton 
(and in large amounts positively injurious to 
land and crop), New' Jersey shell marl at $10 
per ton, with not enough soluble potash to pay 
the freight, and marl and common lime mixed 
and sold under misleading names, all find by 
far too many purchashers, who appear to mis¬ 
take bulk for quality and with whom low 
price is synonymous with cheapness. The 
same farmer, when star-ting out to purchase a 
horse, would not look for the lowest-priced 
one which he could find, but would take the 
animal which he considered the cheapest 
for the price asked. Let us apply the same 
rule to the purchase of fertilizers and it will 
not lead us astray. We want a given result 
for the lowest possible outlay, and (provided 
we get the result neededj the smaller the bulk 
handled the better, for we thus save both 
freight and labor. 
Other things being equal, Prof. Jordan fiDds 
that there is most fraud in the lower-priced 
and least in the higher-priced fertilizers, 
w'hich [in most cases] the manufacturers keep 
up to the former standard. Many of our 
manufacturers having established the reputa¬ 
tion of their standard brands will not reduce 
them to 6uit the demand for lower-priced 
articles, but still keep them up to the same 
guaranteed analyses. In some cases that 
might be named, and in more than are sus¬ 
pected, a lower grade has Deen made by mix¬ 
ing cheap “fillers” with the standard goods, to 
reduce the price per ton to a point which will 
satisfy the market demand, but analyses 
prove that in mauy cases the purchaser pays 
dearly for the reduction, and that the profits 
of the manufacturer are as great per ton on 
the lower-priced goods. We might instance a 
case of high-priced fertilizer placed on the 
market at a price, which, at the time, made 
FEB 46 
it the cheapest source of phosphoric acid of¬ 
fered. Failing to make any sale, the manu¬ 
facturer mixed two tons of cheap “filler” 
with each ton of the fertilizer, and, by offering 
the mixture for one-half the original price, 
obtained $180 for what he had previously 
asked but $120 for, and the addition had 
nothing of value in it. 
SHORT STORIES. 
Futility of Analysis of Soils. —For a 
time, Mr. C. V. Mapes remarks in his treatise 
on “ Tobacco Growing, ’’analysis of soils was 
supposed to open a new era in agriculture, 
but it is now admitted by all the best author¬ 
ities that it fails utterly to discriminate be¬ 
tween the elements that can be appropriated 
by crops and those that are for the present 
generation as valueless as the rocks of flint 
stones. There are soils, one fertile and the 
other nearly barren, that will show the same 
chemical analysis. There may bo some 3,000 
pounds of nitrogen per acre in vegetable 
organic matter and other forms, and yet not 
enough available to yield over 12 bushels of 
wheat. On just such a field Dr. Voelcker, 
Chemist to the Royal Agricultural Society of 
England, tells us less than 25 pounds of nitro¬ 
gen in soluble form increased the yield to 
more than double. One pound of the right 
form of nitrogen may be worth moie than 100 
pounds of another but inferior form, for use 
as plant food... 
Farmers do not, as a rule, says the London 
Agricultural Gazette, seem to realize that 
every drop of liquid manure wasted is so 
much of a most valuable stimulant lost. The 
merest glance at the chemical analyses of the 
urine of the four principal kinds of British 
live stock—cattle, horses, sheep, and pigs— 
will show that 35 parts of the total solids 
therein contain about 37 parts of nitrogen, or 
rather more tnau IU per cent, ot tne most 
costly manurial ingredients used on the farm. 
Three cwt. of the solids of urine contain almost 
as much nitrogen as two cwt. of nitrate of soda, 
or 1% cwt. of sulphate of ammonia. 
One cannot use the soil as the cook makes 
a cake or a pie, mixing so mauy ingredients 
and getting the same results, says the Weekly' 
Times. It varies in composition and character 
for almost every square foot of it. One plot 
or one analysis affords little information for 
the rest of it. The only safe way is to supply 
sufficient plant food—a square meal, in fact, 
containing everything that the crop may or 
might want—In due proportion. Good stable 
manure made by well fed animals is the staple 
fertilizer, and contains everything that plants 
require for their fullest and most profitable 
growth, and in procuring a substitute for it 
the safest is that mixture of artificial sub¬ 
stances which most nearly approaches it in 
character and is kuown as complete manure. 
Consequently it follows that the so-called 
“test” with artificial fertilizers as a means of 
getting an approximate analysis of a soil are 
delusive and unprofitable. 
To give the readers a fair idea of the profit 
made by manufacturers, Prof. Johnson of 
the Connecticut.Experjment Station, analyzed 
68 fertilizers, the average cost of which was 
$34.55 per ton. The Station’s average valua¬ 
tion was $28.70, the difference being $5.85 and 
the percentage difference 20,3. That is, the 
same quantities of nitrogen, phosplioiio acid 
and potash, wnich were contained in an aver¬ 
age ton of these fertilizers, could have been 
bought in raw materials of standard quality 
in ton lots in Connecticut, for $28.70 cash; in 
the average fertilizer they cost $34.55, and 
hence the manufacturero’ and dealers’ expenses 
and profits on a ton of fertilizer averaged 
$5.85, or 20.3 per cent, of the cost of the 
materials. 
Prof. Johnson gives a number of analyses 
of home-made fertilizers, all of which show 
that they compare favorably in composition 
with the best commercial fertilizers. Adding 
three dollars per ton for cost of mixing,the Sta- 
tionValuation and the cost to the farmers who 
bought the raw materials and mixed them 
was the same . 
These analyses justify the statement that 
while it is often cheaper to buy the best com¬ 
mercial mixtures, ammoniated superphos¬ 
phates and special manures, than to buy and 
mix the chemicals, yet the experience of a 
yearly increasing number of farmers shows 
that money may be saved by the seasonable 
purchase of raw materials and their use in 
home-mixtures. 
In 30 years' continuous growing of wheat, in 
the world-renowned experiments of Dr. Lawes 
of England, the plain superphosphate, even 
with the addition of potush, magnesia and 
soda, but without nitrogen, produced an aver¬ 
age increase for the whole time of only 1% 
bushel per acre annually above the yield 
from the natural soil. The yield from the 
natural soil was 15% bushels. This was the 
average yield for 30 years. Some years it 
was only three or four bushels, and some years 
23 bushels, When nitrogen, in the form of 
salts of ammonia (sulphate of ammonia), was 
added to the mixture of plain superphosphate, 
potash, magnesia and soda, the yield went up 
to nearly an average of 35% bushels per 
annum, as much, within about 1% bushel, as 
from annual dressings of over 15 short tons of 
farnj-yard manure. There were no signs of 
exhaustion of the soil at the end of 30 years, 
even with this heavy continuous cropping of 
wheat with the chemicals alone. But in this 
case all the leading fertilizing ingredients were 
supplied, including nitrogen. Similar results 
followed experiments in growing barley for 
some 20 years with and without nitrogen.... 
It is said of Faust’s Improved peanut that it 
does not require a rich soil, and on medium 
land has yielded from 100 to 130 bushels per 
acre. The vines average from 3% to four 
feet across, making most valuable forage for 
stock. 
One of our subscribers writes us that in one 
instance in Monmouth County, N. J., a field 
of 10 acres has not received any manure, ex¬ 
cept chemical fertilizers, for about 10 years, 
and that field is producing double the crops it 
did under the old system, when yard mamure, 
marl and lime were used. Now, this result 
has been obtained, not by use of ordinary 
superphosphates; but by the application of 
special and high-grade fertilizers.. . 
Seldom has there been such diversity of 
opinion as there exists at present as to what 
the future prices of hogs will be. Some argue 
that the evident shortage of supplies iu the 
leading hog-producing Western States will 
undoubtedly stimulate prices. Otheis say 
that cheap corn will make hogs considerably 
cheaper than they are now; others, again, 
maintain that prices are not likely to be ma¬ 
terially different throughout the season, as the 
above two influences are likely to act as a 
check on each other in the way of au advance 
or a decline. Just now this opinion seems the 
mest likely to turn out correct. 
Among the mauy remedies for mildew, 
sulphur, in one or another of its many forms, 
is always found most efficacious, and it is 
used iu a variety of ways. The flour of sul¬ 
phur has been used for many years for this 
trouble by dusting it over the mildewed plants. 
This mode of using sulphur is undoubtedly 
good at times, but iu Mr. W. H. Taplm’s ex¬ 
perience, as recorded in Garden and Forest, a 
better way isthis: Take of moderately strong 
tobacco-water, one gallon; add to it four 
ounces of sulphur, then boil the mixture for 
30 minutes or a little longer. After it has 
cooled, add one part of water to every three 
parts of the mixture, and syringe the affect¬ 
ed plants. In bad cases a second or even a 
third application may be necessary on success 
ive days. This mixture also tends to keep 
down green fly, thereby doing double duty.. 
Another mixture in great favor withsome 
growers is sulphate of lime. A good recipe for 
tb is compound is the following: Take of f resh 
lime, five pounds; of sulphur, five pounds, 
and of water, six gallons. This should be 
boiled, down to two gallons; after which it 
should be allowed to settle, and only the clear 
liquid should be used at the rate of half a pint 
of the sulphate to an ordinary watering-pot 
of water. The plants should be syringed 
with the latter mixture on two or three suc¬ 
cessive afternoons. 
Sulphate of potassium has also been high¬ 
ly recommended, in the proportion of half au 
ounce of the sulphide to two gallons of water, 
applied in the same manner as the pre¬ 
ceding mixture. The unpleasant odor of the 
potassium solution may sometimes prove to 
be au objection, however. 
Commmrcial muriate of potash contains 
about 80 per cent, of muriate of potash, 15 per 
cent, or more of common salt. It contains 
about 50 per cent, of actual potash. 
Sulphate of potash usually contains about 
25 per cent, of actual potash and 30 per cent, 
of sulphate of magnesia and three per cent, 
of common talt, besides sulphates of lime 
and soda. 
If we were raising peaches largely, we 
would use groui dbone and kainit or muriate 
of potash. 
The London Agricultural Gazette says 
that Mr. Voss estimates that 700,000 to 800, 
000 tons of bone manure and superphosphate 
per annum are now made in Euglaud, or four 
times as much as was made 30 years ago. Of 
basic slag, Mr. Voss says that only small 
quantities are used there as the soil seems 
but little adapted for it, and most of that 
which is produced is exported, chit fly to 
Germany, where about 300,000 tons (partly of 
home manufacture) are slid to have been 
used in 1887. Half the basic slag produced in 
Great Britian Mr. Voss declares to be of such 
low quality as to be almost useless as a 
manure . 
Mr. Bowker strongly advocates that fer 
tilizers should be applied a little at a time and 
often. 
The reason for this is that quick-growing 
crops matuie iu (50 to 90 days, and should 
have their fertilizers ready at hand to act and 
supply plant food when wanted. Instead of 
applying large quantities ot soluble fertiliz 
ers at one time for successive crops, apply 
what each crop requires at the time each crop, 
is planted; and, if the crop does not seem to 
thrive, apply an additional quantity in be¬ 
tween the hills or rows. 
The R. N.-Y. commends the above to the 
women who propose to take tbo prizes in the 
Rural New-Yorker’s Women’s National 
Potato Contest. 
The worst thing about the fertilizer busi¬ 
ness, says Dr. Hoskins, is that so few farmers 
pay cash that all have to pay credit price, as 
all the busiuess has to be done through local 
agents. Were the farmers ready to-day, 
as a class, to buy their fertilizers for 
net cash, taking the goods from the 
cars in January, February and March, 
while the roads are good and the time 
convenient to get them home, they gould 
buy their fertilizers on the average $4 per 
ton cheaper than they now get them. In 
order to do this, they would have to buy by 
the car-load and pay the money when the 
goods are delivered. 
The N. E. Homestead mentions two large 
New England fertilizer firms that have given 
up the business because the raw material of 
which fertilizers are made is worth from 20 to 
30 per cent, more than it was a year ago, while 
it is impossible to sell the manufactured goods 
at higher prices. 
The Homestead advises farmers who pro¬ 
pose to buy fertilizers to make their contracts 
as early as possible, for it is a question how 
long prices will continue without an advance, 
especially if the value of raw ma'erial con¬ 
tinues firm. If farmers will only club their 
orders and buy their fertilizers by the car¬ 
load for cash, they will get prices that will 
astonish them. The manufacturer can afford 
to ship fertilizers by car-load direct to con¬ 
sumers at a profit of only $2 a ton, provided 
he gets the cash in hand without expenses. It 
is the long credits and the selling in small 
lots that make the business so unsatisfactory 
to the trade, and the prices so high to the 
consumers. 
Last August Prof. Roberts of Cornell Uni¬ 
versity, received from seedsmen Joseph Breck 
& Sons, of Boston, Mass., a package marked 
“Economic Seed Manure for Wheat aud all 
Seeds.” It was found, on being analyzed, to 
contain potash, phosphoric acid aud nitrogen 
—the potash in the form of bichromate—and 
to be worth per ton $31.91. The firm charges 
50 cents per four-ounce package, or at the rate 
of jour thousand dollars per ton. The read¬ 
er may judge of the “ Economy ” of the ma¬ 
nure. Prof. Roberts gave it a careful trial, 
however, by growing wheat in pots, soaking 
one lot of seeds in a solution of the Economic 
Manure, another in water, and a third in a 
solution of Bradley’s superphosphate of the 
same strength as the “ Economic.” So far 
from having any effect on the germination or 
early growth of the wheat plants, the “Eco¬ 
nomic ” proved to be valueless. 
WORD FOR WORD. 
-S. B. Reach : “Sometimes it seems a 
pretty safe rule to calculate the merits of au 
article in an inverse ratio to the zeal with 
which it is advertised.” 
-N. Y. World : “ More or less excitement 
prevails in the minds of some persons over 
the extraordinary reports from the use of 
sulphate of iron, or the common copperas 
of commerce, when used iu connection with 
the potash and phosphate fertilizers. The 
Marquis of Paris, who is also a successful 
fruit-grower aud market-gardener, has em¬ 
ployed it extensively. His practice is, after 
applying other fertilizers, to sow copperas at 
the rate of about one ounce to the square 
yard of surface for all garden crops, and for 
trees and fruits as well. A scientist of some 
reputation, who has experimented with cop¬ 
peras, has also reported successful results. 
The editor of Rural New-Yorker has made 
four experinifuts in the use of sulphate of 
iron on corn and potatoes. The yield was less 
in every case where the copperas was used.” 
-Massachusetts Ploughman : “ There 
have been few, if any, experiments made in 
potato plant feeding with fertilizers that are 
so extensive or more conclusive than those 
made at the Expiriment Grounds of the Ru¬ 
ral New-Yorker.” 
-Mafes’s Catalogue: “ The Rural New- 
Yorker of July 4,1888, describes au ‘Ideal Fer¬ 
tilizer ’ as ‘one that furnishes the foo 1 constitu 
cuts in different forms, all of which are availa 
