190S. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
381 
“A FERTILIZER ANALYSIS.” 
II. 
Our reason for taking The Country Gentleman’s 
statements and figures as the basis of these articles is 
the fact that Mr. Tucker conducted what he calls “an 
independent investigation.” Briefly stating his argu¬ 
ment seem to be: 
1. Chemical analysis is not a fully satisfactory test 
of a fertilizer’s value. 
2. Even if it were a sure test there are grave pos¬ 
sibilities that sampling is carelessly or dishonestly done. 
3. The figures given by the chemists are not reliable; 
in his own words “we take no stock in the figures.” 
These are serious things to say or intimate about a 
class of men and a system authorized by law and 
greatly respected by honest men. When a man starts 
out to discredit what most of us believe to be the best 
way of doing a thing we naturally expect him to sug¬ 
gest something much better. His “independent investi¬ 
gation” consisted in taking samples at the factory be¬ 
fore they were delivered, and sending them to a 
chemist not connected with the experiment station. 
It is not likely that Mr. Tucker would buy ink and 
paper for 'file Country Gentleman, or milk and butter 
for his table in that way. He would sample them after 
they were delivered, and he would not be satisfied 
with an inspection at the factory or creamery. A 
farmer wants to know how much plant food is deliv¬ 
ered at his farm—not how much there was in the 
factory. The Buffalo Fertilizer Company offer to send 
samples of their goods to independent chemists. They 
are not the only concern to do this. The Smith 
Chemical Company, of Ohio, make the same offer. 
This concern secured an injunction to restrain the 
Ohio Secretary of Agriculture from printing the fer¬ 
tilizer analyses. They are accused of bribing an in¬ 
spector to “switch” samples—that is to take a sample 
of poor goods and replace it with a much better sam¬ 
ple for analysis. When samples of these goods were 
honestly examined they were found very poor in qual¬ 
ity. Both the Smith Company and the Buffalo Com¬ 
pany could well afford to make their fertilizers far 
above analysis this year. They would naturally do so 
in view of the poor showing they made at the sta¬ 
tions. Yet both must carry their past record. We 
were, therefore, greatly surprised at the analysis of 
some of the good sampled by Mr. Tucker. We print 
below the analyses of one brand, “Garden Truck,” as 
given by Prof. Cavanaugh and at three stations last 
year: 
ANALYSIS OF "GARDEN TRUCK." 
Available 
Ammonia 
Nitrogen. 
I’Lios. 
Acid. 
l’otash. 
Shortage. 
Country Gentleman . . 
G. 4 
.. . F. 3.26 
8 
8.17 
6.40 
$2.65 
Michigan .. 
G. 4 
8 
8.32 
7 
6.02 
8.55 
Connecticut . 
G. 4 
8 
7.(52 
7 
7.14 
.57 
New York . 
G. 4 
_F. 1.54 
8 
7.66 
7 
5.13 
11.62 
Two other samples of this “Garden Truck” were 
analyzed at the Michigan Station. One showed a de¬ 
ficiency of $7.97 and the other of $3.27 per ton. This 
“deficiency” is figured on the basis of the offer made 
by the Buffalo company of paying 35 cents for each 
pound of ammonia and five cents for each pound of 
potash or phosphoric acid below their guarantee. We 
see that The Country Gentleman found 14.8 pounds 
less ammonia than was guaranteed. This is worth 
$2.22, while the shortage of potash, deducting the ex¬ 
cess of phosphoric acid, represents .43. The others 
are figured in the same way, and we believe they state 
accurately just what the fertilizers contained. We are 
informed that last year in Michigan as many as eight 
djfferent samples of one Buffalo brand were taken in 
different parts of the State by different men. Every¬ 
one was found below guarantee. 
We are sorry that Mr. Tucker does not tell us hozv 
he took his samples in order that we might compare it 
with the regular method. The method employed in 
Connecticut is as follows: 
The sampling agent is provided with a long brass tube in 
the shape of a trier, which will reach from the top to 
the bottom of a hag of fertilizer, lie is instructed to 
draw a sample from at least three packages and, if the 
stock on hand is large, from a larger number than this, 
lie must lay the bag on its side, thrust in his trier inverted 
from top to bottom diagonally and then turn it over. In 
this way he draws a cylindrical core of the fertilizer from 
the top to the bottom and from side to side of the bag. 
These samples are thoroughly mixed on a paper, a box 
holding about a pint of the mixture is filled, labeled and 
brought to tlie station for analysis. 
This was the method followed by Dr. Jordan when 
the Station did the sampling. We assume that the 
' Department of Agriculture does it in much the same 
way. Mr. Tucker should tell us wherein this method 
fails to secure a fair sample of the contents of the 
bag, and what better method he has devised. 
We would like to ask him, too, how he knows that 
the bags lie sampled were the same as thousands of 
others of the same brand, or how he knows they were 
actually sold and delivered. Had he gone to a farm¬ 
er’s barn and taken samples after the goods were 
delivered, he would have then obtained a fair basis for 
examination, but the possibilities of picking up a “gold 
brick" at a fertilizer factory are worth considering. 
At the Buffalo factory, and at most others, large 
piles, of so-called “base goods” are made up early in 
the season. Those piles contain certain amounts of 
nitrogen, potash and phosphoric acid. When any spe¬ 
cial brand is wanted a certain weight of these base 
goods is taken, and with it enough blood, nitrate, 
potash or bone to make the analysis desired. For 
example, suppose some of this “Garden Truck was 
wanted. A quantity of these “base goods” would be 
brought to the elevator, and certain quantities of 
nitrate, blood, tankage and potash added. They would 
all be. shoveled into the elevator and carried up to 
the mixing and bagging mills, where they would be 
well mixed and poured into bags. Usually from 500 
to 1,000 pounds are mixed at one time, and it is easy 
to see how the addition of a few shovelfuls of nitrate 
or blood would shoot up the per cent of nitrogen 
like a balloon. Give us half an hour in advance, and 
let us stand below with a shovel, and we will agree 
to deliver Mr. Tucker a genuine “gold brick” of a 
sample that will always run .above the analysis printed 
on the bag. How does he know he got hold of just 
such fertilizers as the farmers buy? We mention 
this because Mr. Tucker insinuates that “accident, 
ignorance or design” may lead to unfair sampling of 
fertilizers after they leave the factory. We shall take 
his objections up in detail. At least a sample taken 
after delivery will show what a farmer actually buys, 
while Mr. Tucker cannot possibly certify that what he 
sampled was ever actually delivered. 
EVENTS OF THE WEEK. 
DOMESTIC.—Tlie Alabama Supreme Court holds both 
the general prohibition and the nine o'clock closing laws 
to be constitutional and effective. Attack has been made 
on both by the liquor forces of the State. In upholding 
the general prohibition act the court also gives validity 
to the local option law that was involved in the cases 
brought. The two laws were argued together, and the de¬ 
cision is taken by both sides to settle the questions. Mo¬ 
bile interests have fought tlie two provisions from tlie lirst, 
holding that both will lie ruin to a coast city, such as 
Mobile is. . . . Tlie Grand Jury in the United States 
Court at Savannah. Ga.. April 11. returned indictments 
against tlie American Naval Stores Company, the National 
Transportation and Terminal Company, both with head¬ 
quarters in Savannah, and those officers of tlie American 
Naval Stores Company : S. l\ Shorter, chairman of the 
board of directors: Edwin S. Nash, president: .7. E. 
Cooper Myers, vice-president; C. J. Deloach, secretary; 
G. Mead Broad man, treasurer, and Carl Moeller, manager 
of the Jacksonville (Fla.) branch. Tlie defendants are 
charged with combining and conspiring for tlie restraint 
of trade in foreign countries and with the same offence 
in tin 1 T'nited Slates and with attempting to monopolize 
the naval stores trade. It is alleged that through con¬ 
spiracy they stifled competition and manipulated the naval 
stores market to suit themselves. If is alleged they have 
violated the lirst and second sections of tlie Sherman anti¬ 
trust law. The cases will not: be tried until Fall. Shotter 
and Myers were indicted upon similar charges a year ago. 
At that time Mr. Nash gave testimony for flic Govern¬ 
ment. Shotter and Myers and others indicted with them 
entered pleas of guilty then and fines aggregating $30,000 
were assessed against them. . . . The greatest fire that 
lias visited any part of the Boston metropolitan district 
in 10 years devastated the manufacturing, tenement and 
PROF. RAYMOND A. PEARSON. 
retail business, sections of Chelsea, a suburb of Boston, 
April 12. burning over more than one square mile of ter¬ 
ritory and leveling many of the city’s best structures. Tlie 
loss was estimated at $5,000,000, and the City Solicitor 
thinks it may reach $10.000.not). About 1,500 families are 
homeless. Seven persons were killed. Half a hundred 
persons were either injured or painfully burned. The lire 
originated in the rear of the Boston Blacking Company's 
works near the Everett city line, where employes were 
drying rags. The exact cause of the tire is not known, 
hut it is supposed that spontaneous combustion among the 
rags was responsible. A terrific gale from tlie northwest, 
which at times had a velocity of 60 miles an hour, carried 
burning shingles, embers, and myriads of sparks to a score 
of buildings, most of them of cheap wooden construction. 
The fire started almost in the extreme southwest section of 
tlie city and cut a path to the extreme southeastern end 
of the city, which borders on Chelsea Creek. Among the 
structures destroyed wore 13 churches, two hospitals, five 
hanks, the Public Library. City Hull, live school houses, 20 
business blocks, about 20 factories, and upward of 300 
tenements and dwelling houses. . . . At Chester. I’a.. 
April 13. serious disorder occurred as a result of a street 
railway strike. Tlie Chester Traction Company taps the 
countryside between Chester and Philadelphia, 20 miles 
away. The men struck for 10 per cent increase and recog¬ 
nition of the union. . . . Rioting again broke out at 
Pensacola, Fla., April 13, between union sympathizers and 
non-unionists involved in tlie street railway strike and 
additional troops have been ordered to the scene. Tlie city 
is patrolled from one end to the other. . . . Two hun¬ 
dred and fifty feet of the 400 foot Hauser Lake dam across 
the Misouri River near Helena. Mont., was washed out 
April 14. Tlie powerhouse, 200x100 feet in size, was under 
water. Tlie dam was completed a year ago at a cost of 
$2,000,000 and the 25.000 horse-power developed was 
utilized by local industries, the Butte mines and tlie 
Washoe smelters at Anaconda. ... At Oak Hill, a 
suburb of Manistee. Mich., fire started in a store by a child 
playing with matches spread rapidly. April 14. and In a 
few hours 50 houses and two stores had been destroyed. 
Two hundred persons, the families of Polish lumbermen, 
were made homeless. Only one person, a Polish woman, 
was injured. She probably will die. The loss is esti¬ 
mated at $50,000. 
NATIONAL APPLE SHOW.—One thousand dollars in 
gold will ii° awarded as a special prize to tiie grower of 
the best single apple exhibited at the National apple show 
in the Spokane (Wash.) State Armory, Doc. 7 to 14. 1008. 
Tlie competition is open to the world. In addition, prizes 
aggregating $14,000 and numerous trophies, medals, banners 
and ribbons will he hung up for exhibits in other classes. 
Officers of the Spokane County Horticultural Association, 
headed by II. W. Groenhurg, under whose auspices the ex¬ 
position will he held, have completed preliminary arrange¬ 
ments for the incorporation of the National Apple Show 
Society under the laws of Washington, with a capitalization 
of $100,000, .which will be immediately subscribed by local 
people. 
ADMINISTRATION.—The fear of the Administration 
that one or more big monopolies in the production of coal 
will be established in various parts of the country is hinder¬ 
ing tlie development of coal mines in several localities and 
an acute situation lias been reached in Alaska. In two 
places in Alaska an unusually fine quality of coal lias been 
uncovered and expert examination by representatives of 
the Government and of private parties has satisfied inves¬ 
tors that a highly profitable industry may be built up there. 
A Chicago syndicate lias proceeded with the construction 
of a standard gauge railroad for a distance of To miles 
toward the Matanuska fieL’s in southern Alaska, anil a New 
York syndicate, headed by T 1*. Morgan & Co. and tlie 
Guggenheim Exploration Coir oar,v, lias been building from 
Ta Katalla toward the Boring River fields. After expend¬ 
ing $2,000,000 or $3,000,000 t e. Morgan-Guggenheim in¬ 
terests have suspended work on ,e Katalla road, declaring 
that it is useless to proceed fur er until tlie Government 
is willing to allow a patent fo he o> ained to the coal lands. 
I.ate in 1900 tlie President withdrew Tom entry all known 
coal lands in the public domain thro -gliout the Western 
States and Alaska on the ground tlnC ere was danger of 
a new monopoly in coal production. ’i , e withdrawals were 
enormous, amounting to more than 60,00 >.000 acres. The 
Alaska coal is pronounced better teen a. - found in the 
United States west of Pennsylvania, nd a, ue of it is 
said by tlie Government experts to he better t. n tlie Poca¬ 
hontas steaming coal of West Virginia. There lias been 
such a want of native coal on the Pacific oast, and im¬ 
ported coal lias always been so expensive • >t petroleum 
lias been used on many of the vessels runnit,- nt of San 
Francisco. Oil fuel is even used on some of fie Alaska 
rivers, although there are vast quantities of coal native to 
the territory. _ 
PROGRESS IN MICHIGAN FAIRS. 
The officers of a number of different fairs of the State 
met recently at Lansing and formed an association for 
mutual advantage. None >f these fairs comes Rilo com¬ 
petition with others, and u ‘s felt that such questions as 
to amusement features, the sei'ing of poo ; s, the holding of 
sales of animals and producis, the planting of grounds 
so as to make them attractive, the utilization of tlie 
grounds so that they sha. he of some value during the 
entire year, and tlie awaken ng of an interest in school 
exhibits, as well as many o, !c •• matters may well he 
taken up by such an organization with advantage to each 
member. The officers are as follow: President, I H. But¬ 
terfield, secretary Michigan State Fair; vice-president, A. 
II. Foster, secretary Allegan County Fair; secretary and 
treasurer, G. A. Weed, sect ry Lake Odessa Fair. Mar¬ 
shall. Charlotte and Hastings have formed a circuit and 
will work together. Charles W. Garfi 1 of Grand Rapids, 
chairman of the premium lis' commr ee of the West 
Michigan State Fair, calls atten on fo the list this year, 
which lias been arranged with a view to securing an artis¬ 
tic exhibit of fruits. The societ; lias decided this year 
to make a departure and try to put a touch of art into 
the exhibit itself. For in 'bince a prize is offered for Hie 
best display of a single van- ty of Winter apples, the artis¬ 
tic form of the exhibit re, eiving firsi consideration in 
making the award. “By having a long center table filled 
with these competing exhibits of Wintei Fall and Summer 
apples, peaches, pears, plums and grapes, ’ says Mr. Gar¬ 
field. “if the artistic quality >s strongly in evidence, it 
could be made tlie finest and nost attract "e show that 
has ever been given at any of our State fairs. To ray 
mind there is no question about this statement. To ac¬ 
complish the results, however, the person who selects the 
variety and picks out the individual specimens must either 
himself have genius in art or lie must associate with him 
somebody who lias the art instinct. Those competing for 
the prizes must get out of the old conventional lines of 
the exhibit and originate some unique plans that will 
touch tlie sensibilities of the attendants f the fair. It is 
not necessary that the exhibitor shall hi the grower of 
the fruit. Anyone can compete who lias qie opportunity 
either to gather or purchase the fruit. The fair associa¬ 
tion will welcome with delight an exhibition made along 
these lines. I recall in tlie early eighties Hie first exhibit 
made of the Wealthy apple from the State of Minnesota 
at a meeting of tlie American Pomologies i Society in 
Philadelphia. That exhibit of the one variety was the 
talk of that meeting, and largely because of 'he art put 
into the exhibit.” _ a. g. 
LOCATING IN HAWAII. 
TOii page 65 some one asked the Hope Farm man about 
locating in Hawaii with $600 capital. He was advised to 
stay at home, or if he wanted to fn farm life, to try a 
job as hired man Very little has t'een written on the 
opportunities which Hawaii offers the home seeker We 
wrote one of our subscribers on the Island and have 
received this answer. I 
In answer to your inquiries in regard to con¬ 
ditions in Hawaii. I will state that with the exception of 
some of the old Ilawaiians, all citizens of the Territory 
speak the English language. Most of the foreigners who 
have been here any length of time can express their wants 
in English, and many of them speak tlie language fluently. 
The English language lias lxen taught ip all the public 
schools for the past 15 years. Transportation in all parts 
of the Islands is expensive. In some parts of tlie Islands 
steam plows and other improved implements are used, hut 
in a great part of the country, especially in districts 
where coffee is grown, tlie pick, mattock, and hoe are the 
only implements used in cultivating: hence living is more 
expensive here than in the farming districts of tiie States. 
It is hard to say what amount of money is needed by a 
newcomer in making a start here. So much depends on 
liis habits of economy and industry and his ability to 
adapt himself to new conditions. I would say that tinder 
favorable conditions $2,000 would he sufficient, but more 
would he better. If i were living in the States and 
wanted to locate in Hawaii I should try to get half a 
dozen or more persons with families to join in with me 
and form a colony, i would write to Hon. Walter F. 
Frear, Governor of Hawaii. Honolulu. Hawaii, and ask 
if arrangements could not he made whereby half a dozen 
or more families could he located on Government land; 
the terms, conditions, etc. i would state wliat references 
I could give to show that my intentions in locating on 
Government land were to make a home and not for the 
purpose of speculation. Such arrangements have been 
made In the past, and prominent men in tlie Territory 
favor the plan now. Of the many nationalities represented 
in Hawaii, the Japanese are Hie most numerous, and more 
are coming in all the while. On the other hand in most 
country districts the American farmer is conspicuous by 
his absence. In order fo account for th a reluctance of 
tiie Americans to locate in Hawaii one or more of flic fol¬ 
lowing reasons are generally given : Distance from market; 
expense of transportation: centralized form of govern¬ 
ment. reluctance of the owners of farming lands to part 
with the title, tlie word lease being used here in the 
place of sell : Iasi and most important of all. tlie progress 
the Japanese have made so far in every effort they have 
made to supplant the citizens of the country in every line 
of business carried on in the Territory excepting those 
which require large sums of money in their prosecution. 
Napoopoo, Hawaii _ g. g. 
A reader says he bought some Alfalfa seed which was 
found to contain seeds of Russian thistle and other weeds. 
Shall he sow it? We would not without thorough screen¬ 
ing at least. Tlie Geneva, N. Y.. Station, will tell where 
to get the screening wire. 
We hit a tender snot in starting a discussion of sore 
shoulders in our work horses. Farmers realize that the 
point where the shoulder fits into the collar is the danger 
spot in farm power. We shall have reports of practical 
experience that will help every horse owner. 
It is reported that the harbor authorities at Hamburg, 
Germany, have a specially constructed steamship for the 
purpose of destroying rats on vessels arriving from plague- 
infected ports. A mixture of carbonic oxide gas. carbonic 
acid and nitrogen is conveyed, by pines into the holds of 
vessels, and after thorough fumigation currents of fresh 
air are blown through. 
