1896 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
559 
stock the various fertilizing chemicals, are all push¬ 
ing the sale of their “ mixed goods,” and this is easy 
to understand when we discover that plain super¬ 
phosphates are now sold in Ohio at an advance of $2 
to $5 per ton above their wholesale cost, with freight 
added, whereas the price asked for a mixed “phos¬ 
phate” with a fancy brand, runs from $5 to §12 per 
ton above the necessary cost of the materials of which 
it is composed, while the cost of mixing cannot 
amount to 10 cents per ton in any well equipped 
establishment. chas. e. thorne. 
Ohio Experiment Station. 
Less Wheat Grown in Western New York. 
The use of commercial fertilizers for wheat is 
largely decreased from former yeax’S ; not because the 
farmers have lost faith in the value of the fertilizer, 
but because, at the price of wheat for a few years, 
the increase would scarcely pay for the fertilizer used. 
Our farmers, as a rule, use about 300 pounds of a com¬ 
plete fertilizer for which they pay, on an average, 
about $30 per ton, so that the 300 pounds cost them 
$4.50 ; as wheat averages about 65 cents, they would 
have to get about seven bushels extra per acre to get 
the money back, letting the straw pay for labor of 
applying. The fact is that our farmers are largely 
abandoning the growth of wheat, and would do so 
entirely, only that they regard wheat as the best of 
all crops to seed after, and they want the straw for 
use with the stock. 
While it used to be no uncommon thing for a 
farmer to have one-fourth of his cleared land in 
wheat every year, it is now the exception to see so 
much as one-tenth. What we do grow, is mostly 
after oats or barley, possibly early potatoes. Gener¬ 
ally a slight coat of stable manure is applied after 
plowing, and worked into the top soil by repeated 
harrowings and cultivating. Farmers notice that, 
where they apply no more than five good loads of 
stable manure to the acre in this way, the wheat will 
endure a bad winter, frequent freezing and thawing, 
better than where so much as 300 pounds of fertilizer 
are applied. Then, it is a fact that the seed is more 
certain to take, and the succeeding crops of grass 
will be better with the stable manure. Still, I think 
that, were the price of wheat to go to $1 per bushel, 
our farmers would use more commercial fertilizer 
than ever, using both that and the stable manure on 
the same land. s. woodward. 
Niagara County, N. Y. 
Dissolved Rock in Pennsylvania. 
The use of fertilizers has been increasing for several 
years in this State, and in some localities, nearly the 
entire crop of wheat receives an application of com¬ 
mercial fertilizers in some form. Dissolved S. C. rock 
is, perhaps, more generally used for wheat than any 
other form of commercial fertilizer. In some locali¬ 
ties, dissolved bone is preferred, but as a rule, the 
rock is used. The farmers are gradually coming to 
see the advantage of purchasing high-grade goods 
rather than those of an inferior percentage of fertiliz¬ 
ing ingredients. The saving in freight and in hand¬ 
ling is quite considerable, particularly in localities 
distant from the coast. Our farmers are, for the 
most part, depending for their nitrogen supply upon 
barnyard manure, which they apply more thinly than 
formerly, thus covering a larger area. Many are 
using clover, both Red and Crimson, as nitrogen 
gatherers, consequently, less money is being expended 
for fertilizers of this character each year. In many 
localities, there seems to be a sufficient amount of 
potash in the soil, and farmers are learning to test 
their lands by experiments on a small scale before 
purchasing largely of mixed goods. This department 
has licensed 919 different brands of fertilizers for sale 
in this State this year. The usual application of dis¬ 
solved rock is from 200 to 350 pounds per acre, of 12 
to 14 per cent available phosphoric acid. 
Deputy Sec’y Agriculture of Pa. john Hamilton. 
FERTILIZER ANALYSIS FOR FARMERS. 
PROF. JORDAN GIVES FURTHER VIEWS. 
Last week, we gave the opinions of some of the 
experiment station directors regarding the analysis 
of fertilizers for individual farmers. Prof. W. H. 
Jordan, of the New York State Station, gives below 
a more extended review of the matter : 
It is a director’s duty to exercise economy in the 
use of the station’s resources. In order to do this, he 
must avoid useless repetition of work, and in all 
cases, must aim at a definite result guided by clear 
understanding of the conditions involved. For this 
reason, the director and his staff must be in a position 
to exercise correct judgment as to the wisdom of 
making an analysis or doing any other work, and no 
intelligent judgment is possible without a knowledge 
of related facts. It would be absurd to allow any 
farmer of the State to claim of the station an expen¬ 
sive service without putting the director in possession 
of such facts as will enable him to determine whether 
the work is necessary. Such liberty would place the 
station resources at the disposal of persons not quali¬ 
fied to judge as to their proper use, and would con¬ 
fuse all plans for systematic effort. These are general 
considerations which relate with equal force to any 
department of station effort. 
Now what are the facts as related to the inspection 
of fertilizers ? Let me illustrate by citing the condi¬ 
tions as they exist in New York. All manufacturers 
of commercial fertilizers who offer their goods for 
sale in the State, must file at this experiment station 
a statement of the guaranteed composition of the 
goods. The station is given the authority to ascertain 
by the analyses of samples of the goods, the samples 
to be selected in a proper manner, which of the 
brands of fertilizers actually sold in the State con¬ 
form to the guarantees. In order to accomplish this, 
the station sends into various parts of the State, 
agents to secure samples, which are afterwards 
analyzed by the station chemists. So far this year, 
over 800 brands have been registered at the station. 
The station agents have already taken about 425 
samples representing about 325 bi*ands. The samples 
are now being analyzed, and two agents are soon to 
visit other parts of the State to secure, as fully as 
possible, samples of the remaining brands. Just now, 
let us suppose a farmer sends us a sample of fertilizer 
taken in a manner of which we know nothing, and of 
which he refuses to give the name. We refuse to 
LEAF OF THE STRAWBERRY-RASPBERRY. Fig. 177. 
See Ruralisms, Page 562. 
make the analysis blindly, and these are the reasons 
for our refusal : 
1 . The six station chemists are working steadily to 
accomplish the analyses of the samples officially 
taken, and of other materials that are related to the 
investigations under way. It means a great deal to 
turn aside or weaken this systematic plan of work, and 
it should not be done unless for important reasons. 
Who shall be the judge of these reasons ? 
2 . The sample sent in may be one from a brand of 
goods which the station has already sampled this 
year, perhaps in two or more places. That being the 
case, there is generally no reason why the analysis 
should be repeated. To do so would be a useless 
repetition of work unless some very special conditions 
prevail. Even if the analyses were justifiable, the 
station should be assured that the sample was taken 
in a manner to insure accuracy. For these sound 
reasons, then, the station asks the farmers to take it 
into their confidence in order that it may intelligently 
serve their interests. 
3. What the station consents to do for one farmer, 
it must do for all farmers who make the same request, 
and it is easy to see what delay, confusion and waste 
of time would result from indiscriminate analyses of 
the unknown and unauthorized samples that might 
be sent in if no conditions attended their reception. 
If the farmer refuses to give the facts asked for by 
the station, such refusal indicates, either that he 
makes the request for some insignificant or selfish 
reason, or that he does not place confidence in the 
integrity of the station director or his staff. If the 
farmer’s refusal is caused by the former reason, then 
the analysis certainly should not be made, and if by 
the latter, he is inconsistent to apply to the station 
for help under any conditions. If the station staff is 
not composed of men of undoubted integrity who are 
worthy of the full confidence of the public, then a 
complete reorganization would better occui\ Only 
men of the highest sense of honor are entitled to a 
position in such an institution. 
The fact is that the farmer cannot complain if the 
station refuse his request for service, unless he does 
all he can to aid the station in serving him. The 
farmer gets the information he needs with the least 
trouble by giving to the station authorities the con¬ 
fidence they deserve, and thus placing them in a posi¬ 
tion to act intelligently and promptly. 
THAT "WINTER OVERCOAT FOR LAND." 
MR. MORSE EXPLAINS WHAT HE WANTS. 
In reading the replies to my inquiry for a crop to 
cover land in winter to prevent washing, I see that 
some replies show that the writers could hardly 
understand why I should want the crop to winterkill 
so as not to interfere with spring culture. The place 
I had particularly in view, for the winter mulch crop, 
is a peach orchard. I have often seen it recommended 
to sow Crimson clover in a peach orchard to plow 
under in spring. There have been several drawbacks 
to this practice in my experience. When I sowed the 
clover as late as the last of July, it did not make a suc¬ 
cess. Sown in this climate, at that time, the young 
plants wex-e very largely—I may say, mostly—killed 
by sunscald when in the seed leaf, so a very poor 
stand was secured, either in the orchard or corn fields. 
At about August 1, we usually have some very hot 
weather and little rain, except brief showers, just 
enough to sprout the clover and leave the sun to kill 
it. Such was my experience more than once. 
Now if I succeed in getting clover to grow satis¬ 
factorily in an orchard, I do not find it so easy to 
plow in ; in fact, I find plowing in an orchard exceed¬ 
ingly awkward. When the trees get a few years’ 
growth, where each row of trees stands, there will 
be a strip unplowed, with a dead furrow on one side 
and a ridge on the other if the plowing is all from 
one side. If each space is plowed as a land by itself, 
there will be a dead furrow in the middle of the 
space, and the unplowed strip by the trees with a 
ridge on either side ; either arrangement is very un¬ 
satisfactory, and necessitates much after-work. If I 
can have a mulch crop which all dies, I can cultivate 
with a spring-tooth harrow, going through the rows 
in both directions, which works most of the ground 
without ridging. After so working, I separate the 
harrow, using one-half with one horse, go through 
the rows diagonally, and “ haw” and “ gee” the trees 
alternately. By careful driving in this way, the 
whole land can be worked close to the stems of the 
trees, and left level. My trees are set one rod apart 
in squares, which leaves the trees in the rows taken 
diagonally, between 23 and 24 feet apart, being suffi¬ 
cient room for driving as I said above. 
I have sown peas with oats now two years in the 
orchard. If the mulch is left to rot on the ground, it 
is some trouble in the spring. If the crop is cut for 
gx-een feed in October and November, the stubble and 
roots are sufficient to prevent washing, and the value 
of the crop is considerable. Several writers have 
spoken of the liability of oats rusting when grown 
late. I have never known them to rust when sown as 
late as, or later than, August 1. I have sown them 
August 20, and had a good, heavy growth. In my 
experience, oats withstand frost equally as well as 
barley, and I think are better for a fodder crop, 
either as to quantity or quality. Peas, sown in Au¬ 
gust, will grow until the ground freezes. The harrow 
which I use, is mounted on low wheels, can be read¬ 
ily drawn to and from the field by raising the teeth, 
and be readily separated into two one-horse harrows. 
It is the best tool for orchard work I have found. 
Massachusetts. m. morse. 
A TALK ABOUT “ TUB " SILOS. 
THEY ARE GAINING IN FAVOR. 
Mr. A, a noted importer and breeder of Shropshire 
sheep, a resident of Genesee County, N. Y., has, with 
the aid of his hired man, constructed a round or tub 
silo that he has used two seasons with much satisfac¬ 
tion. It is 22 feet high, with a diameter of 12 feet, 
and occupies a portion of the bay of a grain barn as 
commonly found in this grain growing locality. 
For foundation, the surface soil was removed to a 
depth of about 18 inches ; large, flat stones were then 
laid in, and smaller stones were used to level up nearly 
to the surface. Water lime cement was used to finish 
up the work, the first coat being quite thin in order 
thoroughly to fill the spaces between the stones. The 
construction of the silo consisted merely in setting up 
