96 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER] 
February 11 
Farmers’ Club. 
[Every query must be accompanied by the 
name and address of the writer to insure atten¬ 
tion. Before asking a question, please see 
whether it is not answered in our advertising 
•olumns. Ask only a few questions at one time. 
Put questions on a separate piece of paper.] 
FERTILIZERS AND SOILS. 
Use of Potato Fertilizer. 
It. M. II., Lakeville, N. Y.—l. What is the best 
way to use phosphate for potatoes ? Would you 
put it in the hill first, cover with soil, then plant 
the potatoes, or plant them together, or put the 
phosphate on top of the hill ? 2. About how much 
would you use to the hill ? 
Ans. —1. We shall assume that by “phos¬ 
phate” our friend means a complete fer¬ 
tilizer containing, let us say, four per 
cent of nitrogen, about 12 per cent of 
phosphoric acid, and about eight per 
cent of potash. Unless we had evidence 
that the land needed only phosphate, we 
would use all three. We would place 
the fertilizer on the seed pieces, slightly 
covered, rather than to place the fer¬ 
tilizer on top of the hill. 2. We would 
use a little over 3^ ounces to the hill 
if planted three feet apart. 
Sulphuric Acid and Bones. 
O., Sturgis, S. D .—I have the following recipe: 
To 100 pounds of water, add slowly and cau¬ 
tiously 43 pounds of pure sulphuric acid; into 
this, throw 100 pounds of hones; when dissolved, 
add four times its bulk of dry earth, mix and 
pulverize completely. Is this a good fertilizer? 
If not, why? 
Ans. —There is nothing of fertilizing 
value in this mixture except about three 
pounds of nitrogen, and 25 pounds of 
phosphoric acid contained in the bones. 
There is nothing in the sulphuric acid 
that will add to the fertility of the mix¬ 
ture. It will, probably, weigh 700 or 
800 pounds when filled up with dry 
earth. This, as you will see, will make 
a very poor fertilizer, and at current 
prices of sulphuric acid, it would hardly 
pay to mix. We do not advise the home 
use of sulphuric acid. It is dangerous 
stuff to handle, and costly when bought 
in small lots. It seems like small busi¬ 
ness to go through all this manipulation 
to dissolve 100 pounds of bones. We 
would much prefer to pack them in lay¬ 
ers of wood ashes, as we have often de¬ 
scribed, and soften them in that way. 
Lime to Catch Clover. 
G. G. IV., Williamstown, Mass .—What is the best 
and cheapest way to get a clover sod on land 
where stable manure will not grow a good crop 
of clover ? I find that it comes in where wood 
ashes have been used. The soil is a heavy slate 
loam. With wood ashes at $0.50 per ton, and 
muriate of potash at $42 per ton, which is better 
for me to use for small fruits and clover ? 
Ans. —We advise you to use lime on 
that soil. Many soils throughout New 
England are so sour that crops like 
clover cannot make a good growth. 
Some of these soils are light loams which 
are not supposed to be acid. Lime will 
neutralize these soils, and make them fit 
to produce clover. Send to the Rhode 
Island Experiment Station (Kingston) 
for bulletins on lime and its use. The 
average ton of wood ashes contains 100 
pounds of potash, about 35 pounds of 
phosphoric acid and 700 pounds of lime. 
A ton of muriate contains 1,000 pounds 
of actual potash. We prefer to buy pot¬ 
ash in muriate, and to buy lime in case 
it is needed. The lime and the potash 
in the ashes cost too much. 
Utilizing a Dead Horse. 
C. It. IV., Mountainside, A. J .—What iB the 
quickest way to get a dead horse Into fertilizer 
fit for use ? How long will it take to decay so 
that I can use it ? 
Ans. —It is my private opinion that the 
best thing for a farmer to do with a dead 
horse or dead cow is to bury it, as any 
method of utilizing it is difficult. Be¬ 
sides, the handling is extremely offensive, 
particularly if the weather is at all 
warm, and it furnishes a great attrac¬ 
tion for all the dogs for miles around. I 
think it could be composted, if the meat 
is cut into small pieces and placed in 
layers with manure and plaster or kainit. 
Put down a layer one foot thick of man¬ 
ure, a layer of two or three inches of the 
meat, well sprinkled with plaster or 
kaieit, also sprinkling a little lime over 
this, then another layer of manure, and 
repeat, and cover the whole mass with 
plaster and then with earth. The heap 
should, however, be kept moist, so that, 
in the rapid decomposition of the meat, 
the ammonia will not escape, since if it 
is dry, the lime will assist in setting free 
the ammonia rather than in fixing it. 
Good wood ashes may be used instead of 
lime or kainit. I do not think that 
poisoning the flesh with strychnine will 
be likely to do any harm in the manure ; 
arsenic, however, should be avoided. 
Another method of utilizing the flesh, 
which is less disagreeable from the stand¬ 
point of offensive odor, though perhaps 
more expensive, is to use caustic potash, 
which attacks the flesh very rapidly, and 
makes a liquor rich in dissolved nitro¬ 
gen. This liquor may be absorbed by 
dry earth or peat, or even sods, and then 
distributed upon the land, making a fer¬ 
tilizer rich in available nitrogen and 
potash. E. B. VOOKHEES. 
Director N. J. Experiment Station. 
Tan Bark for Fertilizer. 
C. F. M., Freeburg, Fa .—How can I use tan bark 
as a fertilizer ? Will it pay to mix it with barn¬ 
yard manure ? With what other material may it 
be mixed, so as to be beneficial to the soil ? 
Ans. —Undoubtedly the fertilizing ele¬ 
ments in spent tan bark will vary con¬ 
siderably, according to the percentage 
of water which it contains, the kind of 
bark used, and the method pursued in 
preparing the liquor. The following, 
however, gives the average of three 
American analyses, compared with aver¬ 
age analyses of wheat straw : 
Nitro- Phos. 
Water, gen. acid. Potash. 
Spent tan bark. 14.00 0.20 0.04 0.10 
Wheat Btraw.... 12.56 0.59 0.12 0.51 
It will be seen that spent tan bark is 
very poor in plant food compared to 
wheat straw. It has, however, great 
absorptive powers. Spent tan bark will 
absorb, in 24 hours, from four to five 
times its own weight of water, and if it 
can be used in a dry condition, it may 
serve a good purpose as an absorbent in 
stables and pens. This substance, with¬ 
out doubt, will decay slowly in the soil, 
and may prove detrimental if applied on 
light soils in a dry season; that is, in¬ 
jury from drought may be still further 
increased. On the other hand, very 
heavy soils might be improved by its use, 
particularly in a wet season. 
Penn. State College. G. c. watson. 
The Facts Are With Us 
They rest upon the surest evidence it 
is possible to produce, namely, the testi¬ 
mony of those who know. Vast numbers 
of people say Hood’s Sarsaparilla has 
cured them of scrofula, catarrh, rheu¬ 
matism, dyspepsia, and other diseases 
caused by impure or impoverished blood, 
and now they are in perfect health. You 
may be one of this number if you will take 
Hood’s Sarsaparilla 
America’s Greatest Medicine. 
Hood’s Pills cure all Liver Ills. 25 cents. 
Co.’s famous World’s Fair Tomato, Boss Flat Dutch 
Cabbage, Baltimore Cabbage Lettuce, Lord Balti¬ 
more Watermelon, etc., also our illustrated catalogue. 
Try our seeds and you will always plant ihetti. 
GRIFFITH & TURNER CO., 
ZVZ North Paca Street. Baltimore, fid. 
WE NO LONGER SUPPLY 
SEEDS TO DEALERS. 
PURCHASE FROM US DIRECT. 
Everything F THE Garden 
“Everything for the Garden ” is the title 
of our Catalogue for 1899, and it really is 
a 190-page book, 9x11 Inches, containing over 
700 engravings and 6 superb colored plates 
of Seeds and Plants. And as all are drawn 
from nature,we show, as in a looking-glass, 
the best of the old and the latest of the new. 
To trace advertising, and give our Cata¬ 
logue the largest possible distribution, we 
make the following unusually liberal offer: 
Every Empty Envelope 
Counts as Cash. 
To every one who will state where this ad¬ 
vertisement was seen, and who encloses us 
10 cents (in stamps), we will mail the Cata¬ 
logue,andalsosend, free of charge, our famous 
50-cent “ Empire State ” Collection of Seeds, 
containing one packet each of New Large- 
flowering Sweet Peas, New Butterfly 
Pansy, New Jubilee Asters, New Golden 
Rose Celery* New York Lettuce, and 
Ponderosa Tomato, in a red envelope, 
which, when emptied and returned, will be 
accepted as a 25-cent cash payment on any 
order of goods selected from Catalogue to 
th« amount of $1.00 and upward._ 
Peter HendersonM 
35^37 CoRTLANDlSl^fW YofiK 
ESTABLISHED 1802 
Our 1899 Catalogue is now ready, 
and will be mailed free on applica¬ 
tion. It contains a larger assortment 
of Seeds, and more information about 
them and their culture, than any 
other Seed Annual published. We 
have been for the past 98 years the 
leading Seed House of America. 
J.M.TH0RBURN&C0. 
(late of 15 John Street) 
36 C0RTUN0T STREET. NEW YORK 
7i\ 
BOOK 
Write for it to-day. It will pay you. no matter 
how many others you have. CHOICEST VEG¬ 
ETABLES, ELOWER8 unci GRAINS. SEEU 
POTATOES, FRUIT PLANTS nnd TREES. 
Careful and prompt attention given all orders. 
Satisfaction Guaranteed. 
Send us the addresses of 6 or more of your friends 
who buy seeds or plants and we will send you 
2 Pkts. Choice Seeds Absolutely Free. 
1 oz. Sweet Peas, the very best only 10c.; % lb. 26c. 
FORD SEED CO., 
Dept. R. N. Y., Ravenna, Ohio. 531 
Seeds! Seeds! 
75th Anniversary Catalogue of 
Vegetable, Farm and Flower Seeds, 
Is now ready, and maUed free to all applicants. 
BRIDGEMAH’S SEED WAREHOUSE, 
37 Bast 19th St., New York City. 
nuiiiniimiiiiiiiiiinuiimmiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiHiMiniHiiiiHHiiiiiiii 
Spring 
is almost here with its 
blossoms and balmy j 
days. Planting lime, 
too, and you must 
have the seedsman’s 
catalogues to see what i 
is newest and best for ; 
your Flower or Vegeta- \ 
ble Garden. Ours is bet- j 
ter and brighter than 
ever, full of choice sur¬ 
prises, nnd illustrated j 
in half-tone from direct g 
photographs. We send g 
it free if you are a seed 3 
buyer. 
JOHNSON & STOKES, jj 
21 7 and 219 Market St., § 
PHILADELPHIA. 
BURPEE 
That Grow SEEDS 
Leading American Seed Catalogue 
for 1899,—Mailed FREE to all. 
A bright Book of 176 pages, with elegant colored 
plates and illustrations from nature. Gives much valu¬ 
able new information. THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS 
in cash prizes. Write a postal card TO-DAY I 
W. ATLEE BURPEE A CO. PHILADELPHIA 
lV . FARM ^ 
. SEEDS 
_ Salter's Seeds ar e Warra nted to Trodnce. 
f Malilon Luther, E. Troy. P».. Mtonlshed the world 
/by Rrowiug 250 bushels Big Jour Oats , J. Bru.icr, 
I Misbicott, m, 173 bush, barley, and H. ho^oy, 
I Ked Wing. Minn., bv growing 320 bush. Salzer s corn 
per acre. ? If you doubt, write them. W 0 wish to gain 
200,000 new customers, hence w ill send on trial 
10 DOLLARS WOR TH FOR 10c. 
10 pltgsof rare farm seeds, Salt Bush, Rape For Sheep. , 
the $3000 Corn. *• Bit; Four Oats, BeardlessBarley, l 
Bromuslnermis— yielding 7 tons hay per r*jf 
soils.etc., -M0o. Wheat." ineludingour mammoth , 
Seed Catalogue, telling all about our Farm 
seeds, etc., all mailed you upon recciptorbut i 
10c. postage, positively worth $10, to get a 
start, 100,000 tibia.Reed Potatoe. 
Pleas© 
tend this 
sdv. along. 
at ( 1 1.2 0 and u p a bbl. 
35 pkgs earliest veyeta* 
ble seeds, 51.00 — 
Catalog 
alone, 5c. 
No. Ill 
BEST SEEDS ON EARTH ! 1 
DIRECT FROM GROWER TO PLANTER. 
From Saginaw Valley Seed Gardena. 
Michigan Northern Grown Seed Potatoes, 
, Vegetable, Flower ami Field Seeds. Every- I 
thing In Seeds at lowest prices 
To Introduce my superior Northern 
Grown Seeds everywhere, I will give away, 
Absolutely Free as Premiums 
1,000,000 Packets of 
Vegetable and Flower Seeds 
Send your name and address Uwlay for mv 
SEED BOOK which tells how to get THE 
, BEST SEEDS FREE. Seeds that will grow. 
HARRY N. HAMMOND, 
Seedsman, 
DDE Bill FREE 
To get new customers to test mv seeds 
]will mail my handsome cutHloftue 
Tor 1899, lithographed and beautifully illustrated, and a 10c, 
Du© Bill, good for 10c. worth of seeds for trial, abaolutelj 
free. It is full of bargains. All the Bent Seed*. Bulba, 
j Plants, Rosen, new Fruita, Farm Seeds, Jrotatoea, 
etc., at lowest prices. Ten Great Novelties offered without 
aames.1 will pay $50. FOR A NAME for each. Don't buy 
j four stock until you see this new catalogue. Several varieties shown 
n colera. Great inducements for orders this year. You will b© 
•urprUed at my bargain offers. Send your address on Postal to-day. 
rell your friends to send too. Old customers will receive a copy. 
F. B. HILLS, Seedsman, Box 79 > Boa© Hill, N.Y 
brown. 
BEST in the world; 
other as GOOD; 
warranted to be bj 
the 
Prettiest book 
in all the world I 
lcand up for large packets, 
yours and neighbors names for 
my Beautiful Illustrated Catalogue. 
R. H. SHU MW AY, Rockford, III. 
warranted to be by far 
CHEAPEST. 
Vegetable Plants. 
Make money by raising early vegetables. Onr 
plants are guaranteed to be of good size, and to be 
grown from extra selected seeds. The largest estab¬ 
lishment in the United States devoted exclusively 
to the raising of vegetable plants. The prices quoted 
below are for transplanted, well-hardened plants. 
1’er ICO. Per M. 
Cabbage plants ready March 15.$0.40 $3.00 
Tomato plants ready May 1.40 3.00 
Celery plants ready March 15.40 3 00 
Pepper plants ready May 1.40 3.00 
Eggplant plants ready May 1.50 4.00 
We raise all of the leading varieties. Stump for 
catalogue. Cash must accompany all orders. 
J. K. HUTTON, Conyngham, Pa. 
CFFITC From the GROWER, seed" pot at"oe's.*' 
Lb La uM Raised on our own Farm. Prices the lowest possible. Send for 
our Catalogue now—this very hour. It costs you nothing and you ought to see 
it before buying any seeds. Jos, Harris Co., Moreton Farm, via Coidwater, n. y. 
