1904 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
67 
BRIEF FERTILIZER TALKS. 
Chemicals With Corn on Sod. 
I want to plow a sod up in the Spring for corn. I shall 
cover it this Winter with manure, and would like to 
know, if I drilled some fertilizer in, whether it would 
pay in additional corn. If so, how much fertilizer and 
what kind? Ground is a heavy soil with a gravel subsoil, 
high and dry. a. f. 
New Jersey. 
A good sod well covered with manure ought to give 
a good crop of corn. We should not use fertilizer in 
addition—certainly not nitrogen. If for any reason 
you want to grow a big crop without figuring too 
closely on cost, you can add 225 pounds of acid phos¬ 
phate and 75 pounds muriate of potash per acre. This 
may not increase the corn crop enough to pay the 
cost, but the fertilizer will not be lost. Our own plan 
would be to use less manure to the acre and more 
rock and potash with it. 
Different Forms of Nitrogen. 
Does it make any difference what the ammonia in ferti¬ 
lizer is taken from, the fertilizer to be used for potatoes, 
cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, wheat and hay? Some 
people tell me that it does not make any difference as 
long as a fertilizer contains so much per cent of it, but 
I can hardly agree with them. I understand ammonia 
can be taken out of bone, fish, nitrate of soda, tankage 
and so on, and it seems to me ammonia taken from those 
different articles cannot all possess the same quality of 
plant food. Am I right in my ideas? If so, which article 
above mentioned will produce the best plant food for the 
above crops in general? F. s. k. 
Long Island. 
“Ammonia” or nitrogen is taken from more than a 
dozen different sources in mixing ferti¬ 
lizers. Nitrate of soda is a form in which 
the nitrogen is soluble in water, and al¬ 
ways ready to feed the plant. We might 
liken it to sugar, which is available at 
once. We put it in our mouth and it dis¬ 
solves immediately. Sugar is extracted 
from sugar beets, sugar cane, or even 
from cornstalks or grain. If we put a 
slice of sugar beet in the mouth it does 
not satisfy us, because the sugar is not 
available. It must be extracted from its 
cruder forms before it satisfies us. In like 
manner, the nitrogen in fish, blood, tank¬ 
age, bone or cotton-seed meal must be 
made over or go through various chemical 
changes before it can “satisfy” the plant. 
For example, take dried blood, fish and 
ground bone. They all contain nitrogen 
in what is called the organic form—that 
is. organized by growth or living force. 
Before it can be used to feed the plant this 
organic nitrogen must be changed so that 
the plant can absorb it. With moisture 
and heat this organic nitrogen decays and 
goes through various changes until it 
takes the form which we find in nitrate of 
soda. All the various forms of organic 
nitrogen come to the nitrate form at last, 
some requiring more time than others be¬ 
cause they are slower to decay. For in¬ 
stance, dried blood becomes available 
much more rapidly than ground bone, so 
that its nitrogen is worth more. Suppose 
we planted early potatoes, and the soil re¬ 
mained cold. If we used some nitrate of 
soda in the fertilizer the crop would not 
lack nitrogen because the nitrate is all ready to feed 
it. If we used nothing but bone or tankage we could 
not hope for an early crop, because the organic nitro¬ 
gen requires heat to make it available, and the soil is 
too cold to permit it to decay. If we use a mixture of 
nitrate, fish, blood, tankage or bone we shall have a 
constant supply of soluble nitrogen from the first, as 
these different forms of organic nitrogen decay one 
after another, and thus feed the plant without loss. 
If we were to use nothing but nitrate of soda we might 
lose much nitrogen by drainage, since it is all soluble. 
By using the other forms we may keep it locked up 
safely until decay sets it free. 
Lime and Potato Scab. 
The Michigan Farmer recently printed the follow¬ 
ing. Is it right? “The application of lime with or with¬ 
out manure would have no tendency to make potatoes 
scabby. Scab is a fungous disease, and if the live spores 
are present the tubers will be affected.” inquirer. 
Not according to our experience. Scab is certainly 
a fungous disease. It grows best in an alkaline soil, 
and is slowest where the soil is acid. If the seed is 
scabby, or if the soil contains the germs, we feel very 
sure that lime will increase the amount of scab on 
the crop, because it will sweeten the soil and thus 
give the /;cab germs a better chance to work. As all 
know, milk will sour quicker in a warm room than 
it will in an ice box, because the temperature of the 
room encourages the germs, while the cold depresses 
them. The Rhode Island Experiment Station has 
made this point very clear in its bulletins. A reader 
in northern Michigan once reported the use of wood 
ashes without any increase of scab. We had samples 
of his soil examined, and no scab germs could be 
found in it. His seed was also clean. In such a case 
lime could not produce or increase scab, but where 
the germs were on the seed or in the soil, we are quite 
sure that the lime would have injured the crop. 
What the Soil Needed. 
My orchard soil is sand, from which hard-wood timber 
was cut. It was cropped the first three years trees were 
set, and needs fertilizer. I turned a piece of sod to ex¬ 
periment on. I divided it into five carts. The west fifth 
I used a heavy dressing of horse manure, the east fifth 
put on corn fertilizer at rate of 300 pounds to acre, and 
when potatoes were up the same amount of corn fertilizer 
again on hills. The west fifth with manure yielded thir¬ 
teen bushels, the east fifth with fertilizer yielded 914 
bushels and the center fifth with no fertilizer of any kind 
yielded 8% bushels. Can you tell me what the soil needs 
that will benefit the fruit trees? I feel that I am asking 
a foolish question, as I experimented on potatoes. This 
is something like feeding corn to cattle and making the 
profit out of hogs following the cattle. The commercial 
fertilizer was composed of nitrogen, 1.65 to 2.46; am¬ 
monia, two to three per cent; total phosphorus, 10 to 12 
per cent; available phosphoric acid, eight to 10 per cent; 
potash, five to six per cent. b. 
Northern Michigan. 
This is-a sensible question. We are glad you asked 
it, because it will help others who are trying to learn 
what their soil needs. With 600 pounds of that ferti¬ 
lizer you used, to the acre, about 12 pounds of nitro¬ 
gen, 50 of phosphoric acid and 35 of potash. A 
“heavy” dressing of horse manure may mean 10 tons, 
which would give 100 pounds of nitrogen, 60 of phos¬ 
phoric acid and 130 of potash. We should say first, 
that the extra nitrogen in the manure caused most of 
the difference in the yield. If potash was most need¬ 
ed the gain of the part where you used the fertilizer 
over that where nothing was used would have been 
much greater. The manure may have caused some of 
this gain by sweetening the land or bringing bacteria 
into it, but the results indicate that nitrogen is the 
element most needed on that soil. That being the 
case you will make a mistake in using a fertilizer so 
low in nitrogen. You should use a mixture with three 
per cent, at least. You would have better results by 
using five tons of the manure per acre, and 400 pounds 
of the fertilizer with it. 
Fertilizers for Various Soils. 
As a rule, in mixing fertilizers for cereals to be used on 
clay soil that is in a fair state of cultivation and drains 
well, what proportion of each of the plant foods would 
you consider about right? I would also ask the same 
question in regard to loam soils. c. H. b. 
New York. 
As a rule clay soils are x'ich in potash. Some of 
them contain considerable nitrogen. Their greatest 
need is usually phosphoric acid, both because they 
are naturally lacking in that element, and because 
acid phosphate on the clays acts to set free quantities 
of potash. That is why in some parts of the West 
acid phosphate alone on the clay soils where clover 
is grown will supply all the fertilizing needs for some 
years. It stimulates the growth of clover and makes 
potash available. As the clover returns nitrogen to 
the soil this gives a complete fertilizer. The lighter 
soils are deficient in both potash and nitrogen, and in 
mixing a fertilizer these wants are considered. In a 
general way for use on a clay soil we should use 2 1 / s 
per cent nitrogen, 10 per cent of phosphoric acid and 
three per cent of potash. Loam soils are variable, 
and without knowing more about this one we should 
suggest a proportion of 3V 2 per cent ot nitrogen, eight 
of phosphoric acid and seven of potash. This, how¬ 
ever, is only theory. We have not found it safe to 
guess at the natural fertility in a soil. The chemists 
tell us that in the upper foot of soil on an acre of 
average land there may be natural plant food enough 
to give 500 crops or more. Yet, if we were to plant 
some crops in that .soil without manure or fertilizer 
we would barely get our seed back, while a small 
quantity of soluble plant food added would give a 
bountiful yield. Drainage or more careful tillage on 
such soils will sometimes pay better than fertilizing, 
because such operations help the soil to give up its 
plant food. 
Cafalpa; Dwarf Pears; Plums. 
1. Are there any fruit trees or desirable shade trees 
that would grow on land where water stands for several 
weeks each Spring, not steadily, but with Spring thaws 
and early rains? 2. When and how may gooseberries be 
propagated? 3. What are the main advantages and dis¬ 
advantages in planting pears as dwarfs instead of stand¬ 
ards? 4. Give me an impartial description of the Wick- 
son plum. Do you suppose it would do well in southern 
Nebraska? Would the Wyant do to fertilize it? 5. 
What is meant by girdling fruit trees to make them 
bear earlier? e. k. 
Juniata, Neb. 
1. The Catalpa will probably endure the standing 
water on the ground in Spring about as 
well as any valuable tree. It will make 
valuable timber for posts after a few 
years. If this tree is planted great care 
should be taken that only the true'west¬ 
ern type is secured. By planting close, 
about 6x6 or 8x8 feet, the trees will make 
tall trunks. 2. Gooseberry bushes are 
propagated by cuttings and by layers. 
The young wood is cut into lengths about 
eight inches long, set in good soil in 
early Spring and cultivated thoroughly. 
Layers are made by digging the soil 
about the old bushes, bedding down some 
of the branches and covering them very 
lightly with earth until they send up 
sprouts, after which time tliey are cov¬ 
ered deeper. Roots will form along the 
main branches during the growing sea¬ 
son, and when Fall comes they can be 
taken up and cut into sections having 
both tops and roots, ready for planting. 
4. The advantage to be gained by plant¬ 
ing dwarf pear trees over standards is 
that they bear much earlier. By planting 
them deep they will serve the purpose of 
early bearing and after a few years pear 
roots will come out above the quince 
stocks, and these will in the course of 
time make the trees almost as thrifty as 
standards. 4. The Wickson plum is one of 
the seedlings of the Japan type that was 
originated by Luther Burbank, of Cali¬ 
fornia. The tree is thrifty and upright in 
habit, and is now growing in some parts 
of Nebraska, where it succeeds fairly 
well. The fruit is of medium size, round¬ 
ish conical in form, of a reddish yellow color and 
good in quality. Wyant is one of the American type 
of plums, and a very good variety, but it is doubtful 
if it would be of any special value as a pollenizer for 
Wickson. This would have to be tested. 5. Girdling 
trees to make them bear is done in several ways. One 
is to cut canoe-shaped patches up and down the 
bodies of the trees and take out the bark in June. 
Some take out a ring of bark several inches wide en¬ 
tirely around the body of each tree. Others cut 
gashes but take out no bark. In all cases if done 
while the bark peels very freely no damage is done 
to apple and pear trees, but it will kill trees of the 
stone fruit. h. e. v. d. 
A HEMLOCK MULCH.—The item on page 4, concern¬ 
ing pine needles for mulching, is interesting. I have 
noticed in a 50-acre lot, recently cleared, that had grown 
up to berry bushes, that the very finest red raspberries 
(often superior in size and quality to cultivated berries), 
were to be found growing about the top of a fallen hem¬ 
lock tree, and often along the trunk of a fallen hemlock 
that was of too poor quality for lumber. Evidently the 
hemlock needles are not as acid as the pine kind. On 
very much the same kind of land, a few years ago, I 
planted a 66 x 66-foot potato patch by way of experi¬ 
ment. It was on a slope of 40 degrees, and the variety 
of undergrowth cut from the ground may be judged by 
the fact that one armful of wood from the pile cut there¬ 
from had seven different kinds of wood in it, and it 
was not picked out purposely, either. Well, there were 
a few hollows on this slope, and when clearing it off I 
threw some hemlock tops and small limbs in the hollows 
to fill up. Potatoes were planted two feet apart each 
way. Those in the hollows had very little dirt above or 
below, but they were the nicest and smoothest of any 
in the miniature field. G. s. G. 
Newport, N. Y. 
TRANSVAAL DAISY, Natural Size, Color Bright Scarlet. Fig. 31. 
See Riu-alisms, Page 72. 
