75* 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
NOV 16 
Ccoiwiraj 
% 
MAKING A FERTILIZER 
OUT OF 
Tankage, Ms; and Hen Manure 
SUITABLE FOR POTATOES. 
A subscriber in Eastern Kansas sends 
the R. N.-Y. the following note: 
“What would be a proper mixture, by 
weight, of ground cattle tankage—princi¬ 
pally bone — elm-wood ashes and chicken 
droppings for a complete potato fertilizer, 
to be used on black sand river bottom loam 
—a soil that will produce 150 bushels ot po¬ 
tatoes per acre without fertilizer ? How 
much should be used per acre and how 
should it be applied (the crop will be irri¬ 
gated if necessary) to produce the largest 
yield? The supply of material is abun¬ 
dant.” 
This note has been referred to the direc¬ 
tors of the agricultural experiment stations 
in the States in which fertilizers are most 
generally used. The replies follow : 
FROM G. H. AVHITCIIER. 
I must say that the problem the solution 
of which is sought by the R. N.-Y.’s Kansas 
inquirer, is a very difficult one ; for the ma¬ 
terials (except ashes) are so highly nitrogen¬ 
ous that it is practically impossible to mix 
a well proportioned fertilizer for potatoes 
from them. I do not know the history or 
character of the correspondent’s soil, but I 
have no doubt it is very well stocked with 
nitrogen and I feel very sure that a fertili¬ 
zer with no nitrogen, or with but one or two 
per cent, at most would be best on it for 
potatoes. 
The following analyses represent the 
average compositions of hen manure, 
“ tankage ” and ashes. 
HEN MANURE 
TANKAGE 
ASHES 
Fresh 
Water 45.73 
* 14.61 
* 12.00 
Potash .18 
5.5 
Phosphoric acid .47 
10.67 
1.85 
Nitrogen .79 
* Mass. Ex. St. Rt. 1888 
7.08 
The potato crop is 
one that 
uses up 
potash and phosphoric acid in greater pro¬ 
portion then it does nitrogen ; the following 
table compares corn, wheat and potatoes, 
showing the actual number of pounds of 
nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash taken 
up from the soil, per acre, for the various 
crops. 
o 
o 
d 
bo 
o 
u 
J3 
r-x: *2 
ofliS 
%-> X. , 
occ- 
£ £-r- 05 
71 er- £ •*-» 
CS © o O 
<z2-t 
d.c> 
to eS 
A 
to 
s 
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£ 
V 
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P-. 
o 
CL 
«^c§-= 
— — 
Corn. Per Acre 
Sound ears 97 bu) lbs. 
Soft ears 15....;- 76.74 
Fodder 5.352 lbs. 1 
lbs. 
lbs. 
3 ! .6 
82.6 
1: 1.5 
1. 2.3 
Wheat. 
Grain 15 bushels 1 
Straw one ton.. J 25.0 
12.2 
14 9 
1 : l. 
U 12 
Potatoes 200 bu. 88,4 
21.6 
67 2 
1 : 2.8 
1; 31 
This table shows that the ratio of nitro¬ 
gen to the two minerals in potatoes is small, 
and it also shows that the ratio of potash 
to phosphoric acid is larger; that is, while 
wheat uses nearly as much nitrogen as it 
does of both phosphoric acid and pot¬ 
ash, potatoes use 2.3 times as many 
pounds of the latter as they do of the form¬ 
er ; and not only is this the case, but in the 
ash of wheat there is only a little more pot¬ 
ash than phosphoric acid (1.2: 1); while the 
ash of the potato shows over three times as 
much potash as of phosphoric acid; or, to 
put the table in another form : for every 
pound of phosphoric acid used by wheat, 
1.2 pound of potash and 2.1 pounds 
of nitrogen are required; while potatoes 
under like conditions use up 1.7 pound of 
phosphoric acid, .9 pound of nitrogen and 
5.3 pounds of potash, 
follows: 
This 
tabulates as 
Phosphoric 
Pot- 
Nltro- 
Wheat requires food In the 
acid. 
ash. 
gen. 
following ratio. 
1 
1.2 
2.1 
Potatoes. 
1.7 
5.3 
,9 
I have entered somewhat into these de¬ 
tails because 1 wish to make it clear that 
potatoes do not require nitrogen to any¬ 
where near the same extent that wheat 
does; but their demand for potash is far 
greater. The results of experiments in 
New Hampshire have led me to fix upon 
two combinations of crude fertilizing chem¬ 
icals for potatoes. One of these has no ni¬ 
trogen and is designed to be used when po¬ 
tatoes follow some crop which has been 
manured with nitrogenous animal man¬ 
ures; the other has a small amount of 
nitrogen and would meet most cases. 
Combination IX. (New Hampshire Exper¬ 
iment Station bulletin 6. p. 31) is as follows: 
ANALYSIS 
OF MIXTURE. 
Dissolved Bone-black.. 340 lbs. Pbos. acid II per cent. 
Muriate of Potash.... lfiO *• Potash 16 “ 
Enough for one acre.. 500 •• Niirogen - 
Combination X (same bulletin). 
ANALYSIS 
CF MIXTURE. 
Dissolved Bone black.. 300 lbs. Phcs.acid 9 fi per cent 
Muriate of Potash.... 150 “ Potash 15.0 “ 
Sulphate of Ammonia. 50 “ Nitrogen 2.0 “ 
Enough ft r one acre.. 500 “ 
These I believe to be well proportioned 
potato fertilizers. 
Now to return to the problem at hand, 
how can the hen manure, tankage and ashes 
be mixed ? First of all, let me say that the 
ashes must not be mixed with the other 
materials ; for whatever soluble or reverted 
phosphoric acid there may be in the tank¬ 
age or manure will be rendered insoluble 
by the action of ashes, if the mixture fer¬ 
ments, and there will also be a loss of nitro¬ 
gen in the form of ammonia; hence unless 
the mixture is used immediately, one 
should never mix ashes with organic mat¬ 
ter containing phosphoric acid or nitrogen. 
A mixture of tankage and fresh hen 
manure in equal parts would contain some¬ 
where near 5.6 per cent of phosphoric acid, 
four per cent, of nitrogen and less than 
one-tenth per cent, of potash. The potash 
evidently must come from the ashes, and 
to get 67 pounds will require 1,200 pounds, 
or about 25 bushels. In this amount, there 
will be 22 pounds of phosphoric acid, which 
is exactly the amount needed by the crop, 
so that the ashes alone would prove a very 
well proportioned fertilizer; but suppose 
we take 500 pounds of mixed tankage and 
hen manure in equal parts, and 1,000 
pounds of ashes for an acre : this would 
supply the following: 
Lbs. 
Hen Manure and ) ~ nn 
Tankage mixed, f ° 
Ashes, 1000 
Nlt'g'n 
Phos. 
add. 
20 28 
18 
P'tash. 
K 
55 
Total supplied, 20 46 5o)$ 
Required by crop, 38 . 21 67 
Now the difficulty is at once seen : we get 
too much phosphoric acid. But perhaps 
this mixture will come as near as we can 
get with the materials mentioned. If the 
R. N.-Y.’s correspondent could buy muri¬ 
ate of potash at a reasonable price, the 
problem could be solved as follows : 500 
pounds of the mixed hen manure and tank¬ 
age ; and 500 pounds of ashes, while 100 
pounds of muriate of potash would give 
20 pounds of nitrogen, 37 of phosphoric 
acid and 78 of potash. 
N. H. Experiment Station. 
FROM DR. PETER COLLIER. 
I would say that I don’t know, but I 
would make experiments were the case my 
own. I certainly would not, however, mix 
elm-wood or any other ashes with chicken 
droppings for fear there would be a loss of 
nitrogen through the chemical action of the 
fixed alkalies upon the hen manure. 
Geneva, N. Y. 
FROM W. W. COOKE. 
On the supposition that the ashes are un¬ 
leached and the chicken droppings partial¬ 
ly dried, as they would naturally be when 
swept up from the chicken-house floor, a 
mixture of 350 pounds of tankage, 300 
pounds of ashes, and 200 pounds of hen 
manure would give a fertilizer equal to 600 
pounds of a first-class ammoniated super¬ 
phosphate with an abundance of potash 
and be a full amount for an acre. 
Vermont Experiment Station. 
FROM C. S. PI1ELPS. 
The fertilizing materials at the disposal 
of this Kansas correspondent are so varia¬ 
ble in composition that it is impossible to 
recommend a mixture having a definite 
percentage of the three essential ingredi¬ 
ents—nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash. 
Elm ashes are rich in potash. If well dried 
and quite free from earth or sand, they 
will contain not far from 10 per cent. Tak¬ 
ing the ashes on this basis, and the general 
average of tankage and hen manure, the 
following mixture would be a good one for 
use on rich bottom lands : Tankage (large¬ 
ly bone) 800 pounds; chicken droppings, 
400 pounds; ashes (elm wood), S00 pounds. 
This mixture will contain : 
Nitrogen. 2)£-3K per cent. 
Phosphoric acid.4 -4).;' “ “ 
Potash. 4 - 4 V 3 “ “ 
The mixture may be applied at the rate 
of 1,500 pounds per acre, 1,000 pounds to be 
harrowed in and the rest applied in the hill 
or drill. In using a mixture of this kind 
one precaution is essential. Ashes contain 
much caustic lime, or calcium oxide, and 
should never be mixed with compounds 
containing ammonia—as tankage, blood, 
hen manure, or sulphate of ammonia—and 
allowed to remain in a pile for several 
weeks, or even days, before using. If this 
be done, organic nitrogen will be rapidly 
changed to, and given off as, carbonate of 
ammonia, and of course, lost to the plant. 
When mixtures of this kind are desired, 
they should be prepared not longer than 
one day before wanted for use. 
Storrs School Connecticut Agricultural 
Experiment Station, Mansfield. 
FROM DR. E. H. JENKINS. 
It is impossible to give an answer. Tank¬ 
age consisting chiefly of bones, contains in 
every 100 pounds, about four pounds of ni¬ 
trogen and 20 pounds of phosphoric acid. 
Ashes contain from five to nine pounds of 
potash and two pounds of phosphoric acid 
in every 100 pounds, while “hen manure” 
refers to anything and everything scraped 
from the hen roost and may be a strong or 
a very weak manure. But what does the 
correspondent’s soil lack ? It may be only 
water or it may be drainage; if so, any 
manure may be wasted or worse than 
wasted on it. It may be that it has an 
abundance of nitrogen and phosphoric acid 
in it already; if so, the tankage will be of 
little use. The only rational plan for him 
to follow is to test his own land, using the 
materials named singly on separate rows 
aud in various combinations, supplement¬ 
ing them perhaps with certain chemicals. 
The details of this plan have been so fully 
described that I need not go into the mat¬ 
ter—see for instance, Bulletin No. 1 of the 
Storrs Station. If he does this, in a year 
from now he will have some indications of 
what his soil needs and what it does not 
need, that will be a great help to him and 
his neighbors. 
Connecticut Experiment Station, New 
Haven. 
FROM DR. C. A. GOE 8 SMAN. 
Ground cattle tankage and hen manure 
vary so widely in composition that it is 
hardly possible to decide how much of each 
should be taken. Wood ashes ought not to 
be mixed with hen manure; such a mix¬ 
ture would set the ammonia free; for this 
reason the wood ashes are best applied sep¬ 
arately—before or after the hen manure. 
Taking into consideration an average com¬ 
position of the various articles mentioned, 
I should recommend the following propor¬ 
tions per acre : 350 pounds of ground tank¬ 
age; 350 pounds of hen manure aud 600 
pounds of good, unleached wood ashes. 
Massachusetts Experiment Station. 
FROM E. B. VOORIIEES. 
Soils of the character mentioned usually 
respond favorably to additions of mineral 
or ash elements, viz : potash, phosphoric 
acid, lime, etc. The quality of this partic¬ 
ular soil also indicates that reasonably 
large dressings would be required for the 
greatest profit. 
Where wood-ashes are cheap they should 
furnish the chief amount of fertilizing ma¬ 
terial. A mixture of the following propor¬ 
tions applied at the rate of 3,000 pounds per 
acre, would seem to be advisable: unleached 
ashes 2,000 pounds; tankage 400 pounds, 
and hen manure 600 pounds. This quantity 
of material would furnish, approximately, 
125 pounds of potash, 80 pounds of phos¬ 
phoric acid, 30 pounds of nitrogen and 600 
pounds of lime—an applicatian of plant 
food equivalent to about 1,200 pounds of a 
high-grade potato manure per acre; an 
amount which is within the profitable 
limit in average seasons. The application 
should be made as follows: 1,500 pounds 
of the ashes should be broadcasted after 
plowing and well harrowed into the sur¬ 
face soil. The remainder of the ashes and 
the other materials should be thoroughly 
mixed and evenly distributed over the row 
previous to planting; the covering of the 
potatoes would insure a complete incorpo¬ 
ration of the fertilizing material into the 
soil near the roots of the plant. The ashes 
which contain considerable quantities of 
lime, would probably act quickly upon the 
nitrogenous materials in the mixture, 
which should therefore be used soon after 
mixing to prevent possible loss of ammonia. 
New Jersey Experiment Station. 
IMPLEMENTS YET NEEDED IN 
POTATO GROWING. 
The progress we are making in methods 
of culture calls for constant additions to 
our already large stock of implements. Just 
now the progressive potato-grower has rea¬ 
son to complain about the lack of various 
tools to facilitate some operations in our 
modern method of growing potatoes. We 
need, for instance, a single device for pul¬ 
verizing the soil in the bottom of the 
trenches. Possibly such an implement 
might be combined with shovel-plow and 
seed-coverer. The sketches shown at Fig. 
Fig. 277. 
277 are merely a suggestion as to how a tool 
might be made, that would probably an¬ 
swer the purpose. The scarifier (Fig. 2) 
should have four or five strong tines or 
teeth; those on the outside shorter than 
the middle ones, and the whole adjustable 
to the beam of a shovel plow as shown in 
Fig. 1. It seems to me that a tool of this 
kind (drawn by two horses, as a single horse 
would have to walk in a furrow) could be 
used to mellow up the soil in the bottom of a 
trench to a considerable depth, and if some 
fertilizer be applied below the seed, the tool 
would mix this up quite thoroughly with 
the soil at the same time. 
Another implement needed is a simple 
device for scattering the fertilizer evenly, 
and at any desired rate over the lightly 
covered seed-pieces in the trenches, and a 
third implement, to the construction of 
which our manufacturers should give 
speedy attention, is a more convenient con¬ 
trivance than any yet offeree] for the appli¬ 
cation of poisons on the vines. Devices of 
this kind are now made, but they are in¬ 
tended for wholesale operations, while we, 
poor people, (and I belong to the majority) 
who grow the crop only to the extent of a 
few acres at most, suffer for the want of a 
cheap and effective spraying apparatus to 
be carried on the back (knap-sack-fashion, 
like the higher-priced Vermorel or Weaver 
pump) and arranged for spraying Paris- 
green solutions for the potato bug, tobacco- 
tea for t he flea beetle or kerosene emulsions 
for other insect foes. These suggestions 
are offered for the consideration of manu¬ 
facturers of agricultural implements. I see 
no reason why they could not accommodate 
us, and at the same time be doing some¬ 
thing for their own benefit. T. G. 
Niagara Co., N. Y. 
,pi>mo logical. 
THE LINCOLN—A NEW SEEDLING 
PEAR. 
The parent of the seedling pear of which 
I sent specimens to the R. N.-Y. a few days 
ago, is 54 years old from the seed, and is ns 
vigorous as any tree at any age; it has al¬ 
ways been free from blight or any other 
disease to my knowledge. It is oue of the 
heaviest bearers known to me. It is a fine 
grower, making one of the most beautiful 
fruit trees seen anywhere. As it is a seed¬ 
ling it reproduces itself from the roots, and 
any person acquainted with the tree can al¬ 
ways distinguish its offspring by their uni¬ 
formity of growth and hardiness, and the 
