1904 
Potash from Kainit. 
W. B. K .—Give proportion for a fertilizer 
that will make three per cent nitrogen, six 
phosphoric acid and 10 potash, using kainit 
as a base. Your recent formulas are in¬ 
teresting, but I wish to use kainit as a base.^ 
A.\s.—You ask the impossible. Kainit 
is a potash salt which averages 12V 2 per 
cent of potash. You want 200 pounds 
of potash and to provide this you must 
have 1,600 pounds of kainit. It will be 
impossible to provide 60 pounds of ni¬ 
trogen and 120 of phosphoric acid in the 
remaining 400 pounds. Bone would 
come nearest to it, giving 14 pounds ni¬ 
trogen and 100 pounds phosphoric acid. 
Why use kainit? It is more expensive 
than muriate. 
T11E RURAL NEW-YORKER 
2i5 
and put them in sacks, then dig the re¬ 
maining rows and sack them. We drive 
alongside of a row of sacks, one man 
handing the sacks to the man on the 
wagon( sacks untied); he packs them 
in the wagon with the untied end up. 
In that way they are taken to the po¬ 
tato cellar and dumped, loading about 
50 bushels to the load. Cost of digging, 
picking up and storing is about 3% 
cents per bushel. The harvesting of po¬ 
tatoes, in regard to cost, depends large¬ 
ly upon clean culture, large yield and 
large tubers. 6 * yost. 
Luzerne Co., Pa. 
Condition of Peach Buds in West 
Virginia. 
q jl h —We wish to use kainit as an 
insecticide, knowing the small per cent of 
potash -would come in play, too. We plow 
for corn, just as soon as the frost is out, 
to the depth we wish to plow. Would you 
sow the kainit soon as snow is off and 
frost begins to start, or wait until after 
land is plowed? I have understood it was 
not advisable to use kainit too near seed¬ 
ing time. Is that a fact? 
Avs-We advise using all chemicals 
after plowing— harrowed in. Even if 
you use the kainit to destroy insects you 
should put it as near the surface as pos¬ 
sible, for the insects you are after work 
mostly at the top of the ground. You 
will most likely be disappointed with 
kainit as an insecticide. In order to do 
any particular damage to the insects 
you will have to use enough of it to in¬ 
jure your corn. It is supposed to be the 
salt in the kainit that kills the insects 
and too much of the salt will hurt the 
corn. 
The Fertilizing Value of Soot. 
C. O. L., Lockport, N. Y .—Has soot from 
soft coal any value as a fertilizer? 
A vs.—Let us compare soot with stable 
manure: 
Pounds In a Ton. 
Phos. 
Nitrogen. acid. Potash. 
Manure .10 6 ^ 
Soot . 6 10 5 
While the soot apparently ranks fairly 
well we must remember what it is. Lit¬ 
tle particles of unburned wood or coal 
fly up with the smoke and settle upon 
the chimney. That makes “soot” which 
is like a very fine charcoal. The plant 
food it contains is not as available as 
that in the manure and we would not 
use it in the place of other fertilizers. 
At the same time good results are some¬ 
times noticed when soot is used. These 
results do not come from fertility added 
by the soot but from other effects upon 
the soil. The soot will make a cold, 
heavy soil warmer by giving it a darker 
color and opening it to the air. Dark 
soils absorb heat rapidly and thus warm 
up in Spring so as to be fit for crops 
earlier. 
That Pennsylvania Potato Crop. 
W. .4. B., Beiuiea Co., N. Y.—The Pennsyl¬ 
vania potato field illustrated on page 109 j 
lias the appearance of having every row 
dug as they came before picking up. How 
does Mr. Yost manage to dig every row 
as he comes to it without mashng and 
covering a good many potatoes? Will Mr. 
Yost also tell us a little more definitely 
how much potato fertilizer he used per 
acre, and how much it cost him per ton? 
Ans—I planted the potatoes on clover 
sod (red shale soil); rows three feet 
apart, two pieces with from two to 
three eyes in a hill, about 18 inches 
apart in the row. I used 800 pounds of 
the potato manure per acre, 400 pounds 
at time of planting, scattering in the 
hill by hand, mixing it with the soil, 
then dropped the seed by hand. Seed 
pieces were five or six inches apart in 
the hill, cut side down. I applied 400 
pounds of fertilizer around the plants 
when about six inches high, covered it 
with hoe. This fertilizer cost $38 per 
ton. The analysis is four per cent am¬ 
monia, available phosphoric acid seven 
per cent and 10 per cent potash. As to 
digging, we used a one-horse potato 
plow. Every other row was dug, then 
potatoes raked away from the other row 
so they would not cover. In my genera 
digging we plow out every other row 
On February 12, 100 buds of each of the 
following varieties of peaches were care¬ 
fully examined to determine the extent of 
injury done them by the severe freezes of 
the Winter. Tire buds were taken from a 
vigorous six-year-old orchard in Upshur 
County, located at an elevation of about 
1,800 feet, and the following list shows the 
number of dead buds in each hundred: 
Lovett’s White, 22; Mt. Rose, 20; Elberta, 
20; Bokhara, 48; Crosby. 8; Reeves’ Fa¬ 
vorite, 13; Ford’s Late, 12; Salway, 10, 
Triumph, 7; McIntosh, 13; Crawford’s Late, 
31; Carman, 8; Heath, 68; Admiral Dewey, 
10; Fitzgerald, 29; Oldmixon Free, 21; Alex¬ 
ander, 11; Sneed, 7; Greensboro, 4; Cham¬ 
pion, 13; Barnard’s Early, 14; Lewis, 11; 
New Prolific, 4; Mathews, 33; Bilyean, 2; 
Fox Seedling, 36; Wilkins’ Cling, 31; Levy's 
Late, 15; Yellow St. John, 62; Kalamazoo, 
16; Iron Mountain, 54; Stump, 27; Oldmixon 
Cling, 45; Wheatland, 46; Lemon Free, 27. 
FRED E. BROOKS. 
W. Va. Experiment Station. 
WAT E R. 
If you want water only when the wind blows a windmill will doyonrwork 
and cost less money than our Rider and Ericsson Hot-Air Pumps, but If you want 
water every day while your flowers are growing and do not want your pump blown 
down when the wind blows too hard, no pump In the world can equal ours. We 
have sold about 20,000 of them during tho past twenty-flvo years, which is proof 
that we are not making wild statements. 
Our Catalogue “C 4” will tell you all about them. Write to nearest store. 
Rider-Ericsson Engine Company, 
35 Warren St., New York. 
239 Franklin St., Boston. 
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Teniente-Rey 71, Havana, Cuba. 
22 Pitt St., Sydney, N. 8- W. 
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40 N 7th St., Philadelphia. 
No. 25 of the Planet Jr. Family. 
I Below on *^6 ^Hii|aj^i>riH^eeder. r, Ho7. a CuuIvator wantoned* Vums^aTeds 
I ments are required to change from and adapt it to Us ditierent uses. 
- No. 8 Planet Jr. Horse Hoe 
shows in its construction accurate appreciation of gardener's.needs and1 genius: In 
■ manufacture. It narrows to 91 nches and widens to A>. hs high, rigid steel frame, 
handle adjustment, reversible pointed and round edge hoes, 
K standards, patent depth regulator, etc., arefeaturcs which distinguish 
^ from every ordinary cultivator. The fullhne of Planet Jr. Seeders, ui 
*• Wheel Hoes, Walking and Riding and One and — 
“ Two Homo Cultivators, etc- Is shown In the 1904 catalog- 
over 100 Illustrations, including 10 half tones of farm 
k . And gardon scones in this and foreign lauds. It’s freo. 
S. L. ALLEN & CO., 
Box 1107-V Philadelphia, Pa. 
Seeds 
Dropped 
In plain 
sight. 
ihandgardehtoolsi Plants and Fertilizes. 
Fo» seeding, furrowing, covering, rolling, . nnarf One .peration for 
iioeing.cuiti^ng.ra^g.etO. 
New Universal £ star Pattern bii lings 
Planter and Fertilizer 
Write for latest cataloguo 
of farm specialties. 
AMES 
Hand Seeders and Cultivators. 
Best adapted 1 i ne for all work, 1 arge 
I or small gardeners. Tool for every 
liiurposo. Combination tools, 0 in 1. WMo- 
ll, adjustable. Hull details In freoUKH 
"cataloguo. Writ© for It. — - 
PLOW COMPANY, 54 MARKET 
STREET, BOSTON, MASS. 
Bacteria in Milk and Its Products, by 
Prof. H. W. Conn; 306 pages; 43 illustra¬ 
tions; price, $1.25. A work ol’ value to all 
v/ho care to make a careful study of bac¬ 
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the subjects treated are: General proper¬ 
ties of bacteria; milk from diseased cows; 
types of milk bacteria; slimy, blue and bit¬ 
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fever and typhoid; dairy inspection; Pas¬ 
teurization; harmless bacteria; butter and 
cheese; microscopic study of milk. Pub¬ 
lished by P. Blackiston’s Son & Co., Phila¬ 
delphia, Pa. 
A “Hired Man” Talks.— The writer 
wishes to protest against the general 
practice of farmers (as a class) of i ailing 
at the ignorance, carelessness and gen¬ 
eral cussedness of the farm “hired man. 
These remarks are called forth by a sen¬ 
tence in B. T. B’s. remarks on page 135. 
He says: “It is almost impossible to plow 
an orchard without barking the trees, es¬ 
pecially if hired help does it.” The writer 
is himself a farm “hired man,” and has 
also for short periods in Winter worked 
at other occupations. He has worked 
alone and with other men at farm and 
other work, and is convinced that the farm 
“hired man” is no worse at least than his 
brothers in other lines of work. Hie 
writers observations and experience leads 
him to believe that the “hired man ’ is 
invariably made good, bad or indifferent, 
more by the example or influence of his 
employer than from any other cause. It 
would' be well for the farmer to search 
diligently for the beam in his own eye 
before he plucks the mote from the "hired 
man’s.” w. M. M. o. 
Marlboro, N. Y. 
THE 
FLAT TOOTH 
made the weeder a 
successful tool. It 
is the famous Hal- 
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license entitles us 
to manufacture the 
Farmers 9 . v 
Handy Wagon 
With 4-Inch Tire Steel Wheels 
ONLY 
Hallock Weeder 
the tool perfectly adapted to weeding and light sur¬ 
face cultivation of all crops in various conditions of 
soil. When equipped with our positive force feed 
seodor attachment as illustrated, it assures a good 
stand of all grasses by light covering in mellow soil. 
Sows from 2 to 18 quarts per acre. Catalog and book 
of Hold scenes, half-tones from photographs, show¬ 
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KEYSTONE FARM MACHINE CO. 
1547 N. Beaver Street, York, Pa. 
$21.95 
Low and liandy. Saves labor. Wide tires, avoid 
cutting farm into ruts. Will hold up any two-horse 
load. We also furnish Steel \V heels to fit, any axle. 
Any size wheel, any width of tire. Catalogue free. 
EMPIRE MANUFlCmiHG CO., Boi 70, Quin cy, 111.^ 
Local agencies and complete repair stocks everywhere 
PLANO 
HARVESTERS 
International Harvester Co. of America, Chicago, U. S. A. 
From 
■ Seed-Time 
Until Harvest 
every growing plant takes its 
food from the soil and exhausts it. 
Restore this loss by using a fertil-* 
izer containing eight per cent, of 
Potash 
for Fruits, Grain, Grass or Roots, 
Our Educational Books 
are Sent Free on 
Application 
GERMAN KALI WORKS, 93 Nassau St. 
NEW YORK. 
