482 
July 4 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
flue-toothed harrow, forming a dust mulch, so as to 
retain the moisture that will carry the plants through 
the usual Summer drought. If a .iberal amount of 
fertilizers Is used and constant shallow cultivation 
given strawberries can he kept in profitable bearing 
for four or five years. If, however, they are neglected, 
they cannot be expected to produce well after the first 
or second year. elmbhi g. tukts. 
Ind-iana. 
MAPES, THE HEN MAN. 
THE END OF THE STORY.—The young bride who 
stole eggs and disappeared the first night after her 
arrest, did not enjoy her liberty very long. After 
walking 15 miles in a pouring rain she was again 
taken in custody and held for the grand jury. The 
man who promised to give her companion in crime a 
chance to earn an honest living, while sentence was 
suspended, was sick of his bargain within 24 hours, 
BO the young husband was also sent to the grand jury 
for burglary. It used to be thought by many that it 
was a more serious offense to enter a building that was 
locked than one that was not locked. It is now held, 
I believe, at least in New York State, that simply 
lifting a latch and entering to commit a crime is 
burglary. These young criminals understand this evi¬ 
dently. and while admitting that they took the eggs 
and sold them, claim that they were hunting for 
strawberries and found the eggs in a nest out of doors. 
No one saw them on the premises, but my chain of 
circumstantial evidence Is probably strong enough to 
convict of burglary, which means a possible sentence 
of five years in State prison. 
CLOVER FOR POULTRY,—S. H. W., Horseheads, 
N. Y., asks at what stage of growth 
clover is best for poultry, and how it is 
prepared for this use. Second growth 
clover is usually preferred, I believe, and 
it should be cut and cured as for cows, 
while in full blossom. Avoid rain and 
drying winds, retaining the leaves as 
much as possible. Cut into very short 
lengths, and steam or scald a few hours 
before using. The clover meal which 
can be purchased in the markets is prob¬ 
ably good, when made from first-class 
clover hay, but is very expensive, so 
much so that I have never thought it ad¬ 
visable to give it a trial. 
SWINE QUESTIONS.—“I am interest¬ 
ed in Mr. Mapes and his pigs. Billy G. 
2d gained seven pounds the third week 
of his life. What feed was used besides 
the sow'^’s milk? How many pigs were in 
th6 litter? Did the others average near¬ 
ly as well? After weaning will he have 
the run of a lot or be kept in a pen? 
How will the others be kept? It will 
interest me very much to know how the 
average pig does (he has a lot of them), 
and the food used. I have a nice lot of 
little fellows on hand and wish to do the 
proper thing for best results.” t. ii. 
Claiborne, Va. 
The mother of Billy G. 2d was one of the sows that 
were kept on dry feed for a month before farrowing, 
and lost part of her pigs. Of her litter of 11 three 
were dead at birth, and three more died within a few 
days. Of the five left one is under size, but the rest 
are the equals of Billy in all respects. Neither sow 
nor pigs received any skim-milk before weaning; 
simply cornmeal and middlings, equal parts by 
weight; three pounds of the mixture a day before far¬ 
rowing, and six pounds a day after the pigs are about 
10 days old. This litter ate very little except moth¬ 
er’s milk until they were weaned. Billy G. 2d did not 
keep up his record of seven pounds a week, since he 
only weighed 29 pounds at six weeks old when 
weaned. Billy is now kept in a pen by himself, 6x8 
feet, with plank floor, with all the whole corn and 
skim-milk he wants all the time. If I had a thou¬ 
sand pigs I would feed them nothing else, provided I 
had a sufficient supply of milk at a cent per gallon. 
Our supply is so limited that little is left for pigs 
after the hens and chickens get their share. On this 
account we shall use cornmeal and middlings for most 
of our pigs. 
MILK FOODS.—There are a number of firms at¬ 
tempting to manufacture milk flour for human food 
out of skim-milk, and it is probable that the day of 
skim-milk for pork manufacture is about past. I 
consider skim-milk an excellent article of food, used 
intelligently, and if a dry powder containing all its 
solids can be successfully put on the market there 
is a great future before it. Skim-milk cheese requires 
a cast-iron stomach to stand the strain of digestion, 
while it has nearlF our export trade In cheese, 
The mculty gua ejD&ggs cf settm c-rud? gHIoj-iniiH 
into the consumers’ hands makes its value on the 
farm or at the factory very Insignificant, compared 
with the nourishment it contains. The cost of get¬ 
ting it in consumers’ hands will be very much re¬ 
duced when the water is all eliminated, so that every 
grocery store can keep a supply on hand. The prob¬ 
lem of making a milk powder from pure milk is much 
more difficult, since the fat it contains renders it much 
more liable to become rancid. A good many men of 
brains are at work on the problem, however, and that 
too may soon be solved. o. w. mapes. 
BIflEF FERTILIZE!! TALKS. 
The Use of Bone Alone. 
Would raw ground bone at $34 be as economical to use 
In a rich soil as a high-grade complete fertilizer? Would 
it be beneficial to use lime after the continued use of 
either, or do they contain enough lime for average soil? 
I do not think my soil is in need of potash. If this be 
the case, might 1 use bone successfully for a number of 
years, say two five-year rotations? a. s. h. 
Lltltz, Pa. 
Raw' bone varies somewhat In composition, but for 
a good sample $34 is a fair price. Before giving even 
a guess as to the wisdom of using bone alone we 
should know what crops you grow. It is true that on 
some strong and heavy soils bone or even dissolved 
phosphate rock alone will produce good crops of grass, 
small grain and corn. We should want to be perfect¬ 
ly sure that potash is not needed before dropping it 
from the fertilizers. If potatoes came in the rotation 
we should certainly prefer the high-grade mixture. 
While bone may supply all that your soil needs for 
grain and grass we think you would take less risk In 
using the mixtures. There is a common misunder¬ 
standing about the use of lime. Most fertilizers con¬ 
tain enough of it to provide more than the crops need 
as plant food. Where soils are acid the chief reason 
for using lime is not to provide plant food but to 
sweeten or neutralize the soil. The lime in the bone 
and In most fertilizers will do this slowly if at all. 
To do it rapidly and effectively a more active form of 
lime should be used. Thus it happens that even 
where bone is used or even on limestone land it may 
be necessary to use air-slaked lime with each round 
of the rotation. We greatly doubt the chances of your 
being able to produce 10 successive crops on bone 
alone. 
Potato Fertilizer for Turnips and Millet. 
Are chemical fertilizers as good as barn manure to 
raise French turnips of good quality? I have several 
bags of high-grade potato fertilizer on hand. Would 
you advise me to use it for turnips? Could a high-grade 
potato fertilizer be used to good advantage for Japan 
millet? Would nitrate of soda be of any benefit In 
addition to the fertilizer for either the millet or turnips? 
Judson, Mass. h. e. l,. 
Yes, on land that contains a fair amount of vege¬ 
table matter the plant food in high-grade fertilizers 
will grow turnips as well as that in manure. A potato 
fertilizer will make the turnips grow, but it is not the 
cheapest mixture for turnips. The potato plant re¬ 
quires the most soluble forms of plant food, while tur¬ 
nips will often grow when fed on the coarser and 
cruder forms. For example, a plain mixture of tank¬ 
age, acid rock and kainit or muriate of potash would 
produce a good crop of turnips, while on the same 
ground potatoes might fail if nothing else was used. 
We would use the potato fertiliser rather than carry 
|t QFer, jafiftfl miliet rsQuires either g Flcb soil or 
heavy feeding. The potato fertilizer will make it 
grow, and 150 pounds of nitrate of soda per acre, in 
addition to the fertilizer, will probably pay. We 
w'ould not use the extra nitrate on the turnips. 
Raw Bone or a ‘‘Superphosphate.'' 
Is this bone meal worth $29.50 at Chicago? 
Guaranteed Analysis. Per cent. 
Nitrogen, available . 3% to 4% 
Equal to ammonia. 4(4 to 514 
Phosphoric acid .23 to 27(4 
Equal to bone phos. of lime.25 to 39(4 
Is the phosphoric acid more or less cheap than in this 
superphosphate at $22.50? 
Guaranteed Analysis. Per cent. 
Nitrogen, available . 1.64 to 2.47 
Equal to ammonia. 2 to 3 
Phosphoric acid, available. 8 to 10 
Insol. phos. acid from bone. 4 to 8 
'Total phosphoric acid.12 to 18 
Equal to bone phos. of lime.26 to 39(4 
Potash (K 2 O), actual. 2 to 3 
Equal to sulphate of potash. 3% to 5(4 
What does raw mean as applied to bone meal? 
Delavan, Wls. c. m. t. 
The value of any sample of ground bone depends 
largely upon its fineness. When it is ground to a 
fine powder both the nitrogen and phosphoric acid 
are more soluble than when it is coarse. Without 
knowing more about the sample mentioned we can 
only give an opinion. You are guaranteed 75 pounds 
of nitrogen and 460 pounds of phosphoric acid. An 
average of many samples shows that about 60 per 
cent of ordinary ground bone ranks as “fine,” and 35 
per cent as “coarse.” As compared with other chemi¬ 
cals the nitrogen in fine bone is worth 15 cents a 
pound and that in coarse bone 10 cents. The phos¬ 
phoric acid in the fine bone is worth 
four cents and that in the coarse bone 
tw'o cents—the latter being only half as 
available as the former. Assuming that 
the sample which you mention is of the 
average fineness it will be worth about 
$25 as compared with other chemicals 
here. The statement that “every ounce” 
of (he plant food in raw bone meal is 
“available” is misleading. The coarse 
parts of the bone may not be fit for feed¬ 
ing the plant for several years. “Avail¬ 
able” means ready to be utilized at 
once, and this is certainly not true of 
coarse bone. In the superphosphate you 
are guaranteed 32 pounds of nitrogen, 
160 of phosphoric acid and 40 of potash. 
Calling the nitrogen worth 15 cents a 
pound and the phosphoric acid and pot¬ 
ash each four cents we have a valuation 
of $12.80. To figure in another way the 
nitrogen in the bone may be considered 
worth about $10, which leaves $19.50 as 
the cost of 460 pounds of phosphoric 
acid, or about 4(4 cents a pound. In the 
superphosphate the nitrogen and the 
potash are wozTh about $6.50. This 
leaves $16 as the price paid for 160 
pounds of phosphoric acid. This shows 
very well the poor economy of buy¬ 
ing these so-called “superphosphates,” which are 
usually acid phosphate with a small amount of 
tankage and muriate of potash. You can usually 
buy a ton of acid phosphate containing 250 pounds of 
available phosphoric acid for $12 to $14, while In this 
“superphosphate” you must pay 10 cents a pound for 
It We do not know what crop you intend to use this 
for, and so cannot fairly compare the bone with the 
acid phosphate. Bone is prepared in various ways 
for fertilizer. "Raw” bone is crushed or ground after 
being well dried. Steamed bone is cooked by steam 
under powerful pressure and is more available than 
the “raw.” Dissolved bone is ground and “cut” or 
treated with sulphuric acid, thus making it more 
available even than the steamed. 
Lime From Shells and Limestone. 
What is the difference between shell lime and stone? 
Which is the better for the ground? t. t. h. 
St.'Albans, N. Y. 
The actual lime obtained from oyster shells or pure 
limestone is the same. Both the shells and the lime 
are burned, the heat driving off the carbonic acid, so. 
that the lime is left with various impurities. When 
water is added to this burned lime it “slakes” and 
crumbles into fine powder. Oyster shell lime when 
slaked contains about 60 per cent of pure lime, while 
stone lime contains 70 per cent. The oyster shells 
carry more or less sand, which appears in the burned 
lime sometimes to the extent of seven per cent. The 
actual lime from oyster shells will show as good re¬ 
sults as the lime from limestone, but the latter may 
contain other substances, like magnesia or alumina, 
which give additional effects. In Maryland It was 
found that tbesfi impure stone limes gave best r?- 
8uU§ os very liglit golis. 
CALYCANTHLIS FKRTILIS. FLOWERwS AND FRUITS. Fig. 178. 
See Rukat.isms, Page 486. 
