78S 
NO 48 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
one-twentieth. On this we sowed 2J bushels 
of Clawson. Fearing the manure applied for 
potatoes was not sufficient for the success of 
the experiment, we concluded to make an ex¬ 
periment with fertilizers at the same time; 
consequently we procu red two bags, 400 pounds 
of Mapes’s Wheat Manure, “ A ” brand, and 
used 200 pounds ou each side of the field, leav¬ 
ing a strip through the center—nearly one- 
third of the piece—without any. 
The wheat came up very evenly and covered 
the ground nicely before winter Bet in. The 
sides of the field showed the effect of the fer¬ 
tilizer from the start. It was plainly visible iu 
spring, aud so continued till the wheat beaded 
out, when the difference was not quite so ap¬ 
parent ; but we had faith that it would show 
iu the yield of grain. To tost this, at harvest 
we saved five swaths through the middle of 
the field, and five through both sides, and 
stored them separately. On September 26th 
we had it thrashed with the following results :— 
the five unfertilized swaths from the center, 
yielded five bushels; the five fertilized swaths 
from one side gave five bushels, and the five 
from the other side, five aud a half bushels. We 
confess Jo disappointment. We do not know how 
to account for the difference of half a bushel in 
the product of the two fertilized portions, as 
the contents of each bag of fertilizer cov¬ 
ered about the same area. Had we saved but 
the portion yielding the five and a half bushels, 
to be compared with the product of the unfertil¬ 
ized portion, we should have given the fertilizer 
the credit of the extra half bushel at once, and 
proceeded to calculate how much its use had 
increased the crop ; but since the yield from 
the fertilized portion ou one side, is no greater 
than that from the same area unfertilized, we 
have no data to calculate from, and the query 
arises;—Where does the profit or benefit appear? 
We could see uo difference in the grain from 
any portion of the field. The total yield was 
SO bushels, to us a very satisfactory one, with 
or without the fertilizer. Had we not gone 
quite so far, but accepted the looks of the 
growing crop as sufficient evidence of the value 
of the fertilizer, our faith in It would have 
been stronger. Now it is wavering and un¬ 
certain. 
We have sown the adjoining field to Clawson 
this fall, and it is up and looks well. We have 
used no fertilizer yet, not that we expect or 
believe we shall have, or ought to have, as 
good a crop without it, but because of doubts 
as to what it was best to use. When we decide 
this point we can apply it as a top-dressing. 
The guaranteed analysis of this “ A ” brand 
we applied, is as follows: 
Anunonia. Jr. . 3 to 4 per cent. 
Phos. acid, soluble and available— 10 “ 12 
“ “ insoluble. 2 ** 4 “ 
Actual potash. 2.5$ “ 33$ “ 
A total of 17£ to 23J lbs. per 100, the balance 
being sulphate of magnesia, soda, lime, sul¬ 
phuric acid, etc. This is claimed to be a com¬ 
plete manure, containing even a larger than 
U6ual percentage of phosphoric acid, the 
most essential element that the wheat crop is 
claimed to need. 
Now, are we to deduce from this experiment 
that our soil is already rich in the above in¬ 
gredients, and needB no addition ? If so—and 
the crop seems to hint that way—it seems a 
useless expenditure of money to add to it what 
it does not need, except on the principle of 
feeding it before it is hungry—generally a safe 
thing to do. Our theory is that a soil that 
will give a good crop without manure, ought 
to give a better one with it, and unless we can 
see the increased profit from the application, 
we are apt to be dissatisfied with oui invest¬ 
ment. We cannot divest our minds of the idea 
that our new wheat field needs something, but 
what should it be ? This is our dilemma. 
Who will aid ns in its solution ? 
Montclair, N. J. 
-- 
Weevil-Eaten Peas. — Professor nenry 
Comstock, Professor Riley’s successor in the 
Entomological Division of the Department of 
Agriculture, Washington, D. C., writes us that 
although his opinion on the above subject can¬ 
not be worth very much, as he has never tried 
any experiments on the germinating power of 
such peas; yet, were he a farmer, he certainly 
would not plant peas injured in this way, if 
sound ones could be procured. For even in 
those cases in which the embryo ib not injured, 
it is evident that the young plant will suffer 
from want of the nourishment usually derived 
from the cotyledons. 
When so trustworthy an authority as the 
editor of the Germantown Telegraph, says that 
he knows that weevil-eaten peas are net worth¬ 
less for seed, having “ seen good crops from 
such seeds,” we need no longer wonder that 
farmers aud gardeners in general hold the 
same opinion. The tests which we and others 
have made and printed in these columns, give 
abundant proof that weevil-eaten peas are 
worthless or so nearly so that they are not 
worth sowing, much less paying for. If the 
editor of the Germantown Telegraph next 
spring will, himself, select 100 weevil-eaten peas 
and plant tnem, we agree to make him a 
“ handsome present,” if so many as fifteen of 
them germinate and mature fruit—provided 
he will make us a “handsome present", if less 
than fifteen germinate and bear fruit. Respect- 
ully submitted, Major Freas. 
Jarra toiwraj. 
HISTORY OF A POOR FARM. Ho - 19. 
The Value of Lime In Composts. 
“ Are you going to fill up your cellar ?” asked 
Mr. Martin, in a joking manner, as my man 
was busy unloading swamp muck into it from 
the wagon. 
“ Yes, I intend to fill it up. Let us see how 
much it will hold:—It is 50 feet long by 24 
wide, and I will fill it six feet deep. That is 
7,200 cubic feet, equal to 240 loads of 30 cubic 
feet each. I intend to fill it every month during 
the winter. I am spreading nearly a foot thick 
of swamp muck from my fish pond, alternately 
with a layer of manure, and am mixing lime, 
as you see, with the swamp muck.” 
“Mixing lime in your manure cellar!" Mr. 
Martin ejaculated. 
“Certainly; why not? what are you 
afraid of ?” 
••You will spoil the manure, that’s all," re¬ 
marked my old neighbor. 
“I don’t know,” said William; “we have 
been putting lime on the wheat fallow, right 
after we spread the manure, aud you have 
done it ever since I knew anything or can 
remember, and you never told me that it would 
hurt the manure.” 
•' But that is different from this,” replied his 
grandfather; “here the lime is put right ou 
the manure, and that will surely spoil it.” 
“ Why does it not spoil the manure in the 
field?" I asked. 
“Because it is in the soil; the good of the 
manure goes into the soil, and nothing is 
wasted then.” 
“Precisely," I replied: “you are right, no 
doubt, and cannot you see that I am right, too. 
Look at that swamp muck covering the manure 
for a foot in depth. Is not that sufficient to 
hold everything that may escape from the 
manure, if anything should escape—which I 
doubt. Besides, the lime is mixed with this 
muck and will not reach the manure until it is 
dissolved aud is carried up and down by the 
circulation of moisture. You see that hose ; 
we turn that on to the stable floor aud wash it 
down occasionally, and that keeps the manure 
below, quite moist." 
The old gentleman shook his head. Mr. 
Martin said. “ I don’t know how it will turn 
out, hut 1 have read a hundred times ihat lime 
should never be mixed with manure.” 
“But you know it is done, year in and year 
out, by good farmers who know their busiuess, 
and who grow good wheat and raise good 
crops of clover, by manuring and liming their 
fields at the same time. Now, I am Baving 
labor and putting the lime and manure to¬ 
gether here, in place of making two jobs of it 
in the field.” 
Fred had nicely leveled off the top of the 
heap and waB coming out of the cellar when 
I took from my pocket-book a strip of red 
litmus i>aper and asked him to test lhe heap 
where it waB Bteaming the most and from 
which the strongest smell came. 
“ What is that ?” asked the old gentleman. 
“ That is a strip of litmus paper, which is 
used to test liquids or vapors for acids or alka¬ 
lies. Red litmus paper is turned blue by an 
alkali, and when blue, )6 turned red again 
by au acid, and it is so sensitive that a very 
small trace of ammonia or acid is detected 
by it." 
Fred went all over the heap and at last dipped 
the paper in a small pool of liquid at the bot¬ 
tom of it; but even there the red color did not 
change. “ You see there is no ammonia about 
this heap of manure, and the strong smell 
which now comes from it, must be something 
else.” 
“The fact is," remarked Dr. Jones, “it is a 
great mistake to suppose all the smell that 
comesfrom manure is ammonia. The decom¬ 
position of organic matter gives off much sul¬ 
phuretted aud carburetted hydrogen, aud these 
are the foul-smelling gases which we notice so 
much. These gases are acid, and that is the 
reason why Fred’s litmus paper is not changed 
by the moisture charged with them." 
“It is only free ammonia thatcau escape and 
waste, and fresh manure has very little free 
ammonia in it, especially when the stables are 
sprinkled, as this is, with plaster every time it 
is cleaned out,” said Fred. 
“ Well said, Fred,” replied Dr. Jones, “ I sup¬ 
pose you could tell us something about the nitri¬ 
fication of organic matter in such a heap asyon 
have in that cellar*" 
“ Certainly, if you wish ; it will explain a 
good deal about the action of lime in com¬ 
posts,” said Fred. 
“ In former times, when the saltpeter beds 
of Chili were not discovered,’’ said Dr. Jones, 
“ and the supply of saltpeter was small, it was 
procured for war purposes for making gun¬ 
powder, in precisely the manner in which that 
heap of manure is made. There were—aud are 
now—what are called saltpeter caves in which 
the soil impregnated with organic matter and 
potash and lime, undergoes a process of nitrifi¬ 
cation, in which the nitrogen of the organic 
matter unites with oxygen in course of the 
slow decomposition of the organic matter, and 
with water or hydrogen, and forms nitric acid. 
This acid immediately combines with any 
potash or other alkaline substance, as lime or 
soda, and forms nitrates. In the old method, 
the earth of barn-yards and under stables, or 
manure, leaves, etc., were packed in heaps, 
mixed with Boil, ashes and lime, and were kept 
wetted; urine and other liquid matters rich in 
nitrogen were poured on to the heaps and after 
a time the heap was leached, and the lyt evap¬ 
orated, leaving an impure saltpeter which was 
purified for use. It was in this rough way 
that our ancestors found materials for killing 
each other by means of * villainous saltpeter,' 
and now we use the very same method, or may 
do, to make our soil rich and feed and keep 
each other alive. But excuse me for interrupt¬ 
ing you, Fred." 
“ I think you have told the whole story,” 
said Fred. “ But I might add that it is a ques¬ 
tion whether ammonia is used by plants until 
it is changed into nitric acid, and if it is not 
used in a free state or in combination, as salts 
of ammonia, then the production of nitric 
acid aud of nitrates is what should be aimed at 
in making composts and in mauaging manure, 
and if any ammonia is formed, we should try 
to fix it by using plenty of absorbing matter, as 
earth or muck, or by using plaster or other sul¬ 
phates to neutralize it. But (here is a large 
portion of carbonic acid given off in such a 
heap as we have there, and that will combine 
with any free ammonia aud fix it. I don’t 
think all the ammonia that will be lost from 
that heap, will make ns poor; it will be out of 
the cellar and another one begun before a 
month. We intend to fill and empty that cellar 
once a month regularly after this.” 
“Then you will have corn to sell and to 
keep, Fred,” said Mr. Martin. “ But I want to 
know how much lime you are using.” 
“ Cue barrel of lime, slaked fine by exposure 
to air for a few days, just covers the whole 
heap so as to make it white. There are three 
barrels in the heap so far, and it is three feet 
deep,” replied Fred. 
“Thefactis,” I remarked,“there is agood deal 
of error spoken and written about the use of 
lime with manure. The old Scotch and English 
farmers, good old practical farmers they were, 
with no science about them—talk of science to 
them and they would ask if it was a new kind 
of manure—" 
“That they would,” said Dr. Jones. “T have 
heard of one of those old-fashioned farmers 
who, on being told that 8ome Unitarians had 
moved into the neighborhood, asked soberly, 
‘ What be they ? Be they a new koind o' 
cattle ? If they’ll beat the Short-horns, 1 wants 
some on ’em, sure!’ No science about those 
fellows, but they grew fine crops.” 
“Well, I was going to say that those far¬ 
mers always used lime in their composts with 
the manure aud plenty of ditch scourings, old 
turf from hedge rows and other general scrap- 
ings-up of clearings about the farm and build¬ 
ings. When visiting in England and Scotland, 
many years ago, I have seen the limestone 
hauled, and burned in a kiln, to be used for this 
sole purpose, and compost heaps on a farm of 
100 acres, which, put together end toend,'would 
reach across the farm. That is how eight 
quarters (64 bushels) of wheat per acre can be 
grown. But of late, because lime or ashes act 
to liberate ammonia from its solutiou in water 
or from combination with carbonic or sul¬ 
phuric acids, and set it free, it has been taught 
that it should never be mixed with manure. 
But never is a word I discard altogether. A 
mere practical farmer who knows nothing ot 
the causes of the effects he produces, or of the 
laws which govern the behavior of manures, 
plants, soils, air, water and chemical sub¬ 
stances, should perhaps never do it. But a far¬ 
mer who is educated in the science of his busi¬ 
ness—a scientific farmer such as Dr. Jones, 
for instance—may do it when he pleases, be¬ 
cause he will know why and for what purpose 
he does it, and what will be the consequences; 
and, knowing that the effect of the lime will be 
to increase the fermentation and to hasten the 
decomposition of the manure or compost, he 
will be careful to use such absorbents, and keep 
the heap in such a moist condition, that if auy 
ammonia is produced, it will be absorbed and 
held securely. We need to give our crops food 
that is digestible. Raw food they will not 
touch. And of all the agents we possess, which 
will help to prepare—or cook, in fact—the food 
we offer to our crops, there Is none better or 
cheaper than lime; aud I do not know of any 
method of using it, that is better or more con¬ 
venient than this that we are practising,” 
“Don’t you think ashes are as good as 
lime ?” asked the old gentleman. “ I have used 
thousands of bushels, and I can show you land 
that was dressed 35 years ago, that has greener 
grass on it now than where I have put no 
ashes. It is a pity ashes are so scarce.” 
“ Ashes are better than lime,” I replied; 
“ because while they consist, for the greater 
part, of lime, they contaiu eorne potash. Uu- 
leached aBhes contaiu 10 percent of potash aud 
20 or 40 per cent of lime; and leached ashes con¬ 
tain scarcely any potash, aud, of course, a 
larger proportion of lime than the unleached 
ashes. I consider the lime of ashes more use¬ 
ful than the stone lime, because it has once 
existed as organic matter and probably sooner 
enters into that condition again than mineral 
lime. But where can we procure ashes ? The 
supply is exhausted, and therefore we are 
forced to use lime to help make composts.” 
-» » » -- 
MANAGEMENT OF QUACK. 
H. IVES. 
The foul crop commouly called quack, comes 
so Btealthily on to a man’s premises that, often 
before he is aware of it, his farm will be over¬ 
run with it, or it will obtain such a firm root- 
hold in some fields that the owner, hardly 
knowing how to manage it. allows It to remain 
a few years for mowing or pasturage, during 
which time the ground is bo filled with a com¬ 
plete net-work of root-stocks or subterranean 
stems—not roots properly so called—making 
horizontal growth about three inches below 
the surface, that the growth of the stock and 
leaf above ground is impeded. The extermin¬ 
ation of tills pest has so often been found an 
arduous task that many deem it useless lo try 
to eradicate it; but years ot experience in 
killing it have satisfied me that any land, free 
enough from stones, stumps and trees to allow 
the proper working of the plow and other im¬ 
plements, can be cleared of quack with an out¬ 
lay of no more labor or cash than might be 
profitably expended in the proper management 
of such crops as the ground may produce while 
undergoing treatment for clearing it of this 
foul pest. 
There are three ways of mauaging quack. 
The first is that followed by the timid mao who 
fears it is impossible to get rid of the nuisance. 
He works or half works the infested ground 
with poor tools. This will give the pest just 
enough tillage to reuovate its strength, reuew 
its growth aud impart to it sufficientvitallty to 
choke out everything else. The secoud way is 
to give the ground good tillage which will 
cheek the foul crop enough to prevent it from 
greatly disturbing the growing crop, and if this 
method of management is continued with good 
tools, the good farmer has little inconvenience 
to fear from having quack on his laud. In 
fact, after having had a good deal to do with it, 
I have come to the belief that it is not so much 
of a curse, after all; for if the laud gets over¬ 
run with it, it will be resting from other crops, 
and the ground will become so filled with the 
dense, vegetable growth of the roots as to be 
really enriched when these are killed by the cul¬ 
tivation necessary for another crop. And if 
such crop should fail, or if the seeding to 
grass or clover should not “ catch," then the 
quack—which has been biding its time—will 
very soon cover the ground and to have the 
soil covered with something I think so import¬ 
ant to agriculture that, when my clover did not 
catch well ou some dry years, I waB almost 
thankful to see quack thicken over it. Then 
the thorough tillage needed to keep the quack 
from injuring, say, a hoed crop, was pretty sure 
to secure a better yield from the latter than if 
that extra tillage was not required. For this 
kind of management of quack, it is important 
that the land should be plowed quite deep in 
the fall; for as the roots are not very far 
below the surface, a deep furrow turned pretty 
flat, will give a layer of cleau soil above the 
roots of the pest, to plant aud work in, and 
then by cultivating once a week to keep the 
grass from showing itself above ground, it cau 
be kept well under during the whole season, 
whether the ground is summer-fallowed or 
planted to corn or potatoes. If intended for the 
latter purpose, however, it should be cultivated 
late iu the fall, to expose the old roots to the 
winter’s frost. 
The third mode of mauaging quack is to kill 
it out completely, so as to entirely rid the 
ground of it. There are two ways of doing 
this. The first is to summer-fallow the field, 
thoroughly cultivating it as often as once 
a week t hrough the season, l’low it late iu the 
fall as deep as it was broken in the spring, and 
the next year plant for a hoed crop, so that it 
can be watched for the purpose of destroying any 
single root of quack that may have survived. 
This, I know, will prove effectual, for I treated a 
six-acre lot of heavy quack In this way seveu 
or eight year ago, and have not seen a spear 
of the pest there for several years. This, how¬ 
ever, involves the loss of a year’s use of the 
land, and the expense of working it a year. 
The best aud cheapest way, however, of 
clearing any laud of quack, no matter how 
completely it may bo over-run by it, is begun 
by plowing the tough turf iu the fall. Then 
in the spring, drag or eultivutc or gang plow 
the ground to subdue it, as iu summer-fallow¬ 
ing, until rather late planting-time, when a 
hoed crop, preferably corn, should be put iu, 
and it will come up quickly enough to permit 
the use ot the cultivator before the grass gets a 
start. Continue to cultivate as often as once a 
week ; give the corn one good hoeing, aud a 
second if it needs it; but after the first hoeing, 
the cultivator will do better work by throwing 
the earth every time up to the corn, as the im¬ 
plement is run first one way, and the next time 
