1 008. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
“A FERTILIZER ANALYSIS.” 
Part IV. 
During the Winter we tried to show 1 hr* difference 
between various forms of nitrogen—as nitrates, am¬ 
monia and organic. It is a great advantage for a 
farmer to know what he is buying. For example, if 
he wanted a fertilizer to use on grass in April lie 
would not willingly buy tankage or leather meal, be¬ 
cause he must have something that the grass can use 
at once. I hc tankage might suit the corn, as that 
crop makes its greatest demand in July or August 
when organic nitrogen is most likely to decay and 
give up its plant food. Prof. Hopkins, of Illinois, in 
a recent address, made this remarkable statement: 
Tile most popular tiller at the present time Ih the de¬ 
cayed peat from tnieh hogs an are common In Tazewell and 
Mason comities, and for several years a large plant has 
been In operation near Manila, where the decayed peal Is 
dried and ground and shipped to various fertilizer fac¬ 
tories. » The peat, has stieli a low fertility value tlml the 
common experience in all countries has shown that It Is 
not profitable for farmers to haul It from the hogs and 
spread It on the land, al no eost whatever exeept for 
labor. 
lie says that a fertilizer claiming to analyze two 
per cent of nitrogen, eight of phosphoric acid and 
two of potash is made by mixing this dry peat or 
muck wilh acid phosphate and potash, and that Illinois 
farmers have been paying $25 to $27 a ton for it. 
Many farmers who have hauled muck out of a swamp 
and spread it on their fields know how useless it is 
as a fertilizer unless it is composted. Mixing it witli 
fresh made acid phosphate would make the nitrogen 
in the peat a little more available, hut probably no 
more so than if it were composted with wood ashes 
or lime. 
Suppose a farmer bought a ton of this (2-8-2) fer¬ 
tilizer. He is guaranteed 40 pounds of nitrogen, 
which represents pounds of ammonia. As we 
have seen, the Buffalo Fertilizer Company offers to 
pay 15 cents for each pound of ammonia below guar¬ 
antee. Taking this value for 48^ pounds, and the 
farmer pays $7.27 for about half a ton of dried swamp 
muck—which might be worth 50 cents in bis own 
swamp! Yet the manufacturer is safe, because be 
simply guaranteed 40 pounds of nitrogen without say¬ 
ing what kind it was. This simple illustration will 
show any larnicr llu* folly of buying fertilizer without: 
knowing what its nitrogen is. On the great majority 
of our farms the organic forms of nitrogen can be 
supplied cither in manure or in green crops like 
clover or peas. In such cases all a farmer need buy 
arc the soluble forms the nitrates and llu* ammonia, 
lie would he foolish to pay large prices for nitrogen 
in dried muck or other insoluble forms. 
How is be to find out? He can only get the in¬ 
formation through the station bulletins. The Buffalo 
I'ertili/.er Company offers to sell on a guarantee, and 
to rebate for any shortage. Yet in the analysis which 
they depend on for settlement all the nitrogen is 
grouped under the misleading head of. “ammonia.” 
I he buyer docs not know whether he is buying nitrate 
or dried peal for aught the analysis lolls him. The 
Country Gentleman finds fault with the stations, and 
undertakes to show how the work should he done. It 
simply gives the amount of “ammonia” in the Buffalo 
goods, and leaves a farmer no wiser than lie was 
before. In order to show what we mean we copy 
figures from the Vermont Station bulletin showing 
how the nitrogen appeared in several of the Buffalo 
goods. 
From 
Organic 
Total 
Total 
iruiir- 
ii It rales, matter. 
found, antecd. 
Farmer's Choice , 
.08 
.08 
.82 
Fish Guano . 
1.48 
1.48 
.82 
High Grade .Manure. . 
- 1.70 
l 22 
o p 2 
8.28 
Wheal and Corn. 
1.51 
1.51 
1.114 
Vegetable and Potato.. 
.60 
1.23 
1.70 
2.45 
From tliis we see 
that two 
of these 
brands 
have 
more or less nitrates, while three of them do not 
carry any soluble nitrogen. Surely a farmer knowing 
this would not buy these three brands to use on 
grass, or on some crop which required rapid forcing. 
I hat is the sort of information a farmer ought to 
have before buying nitrogen. Suppose a farmer 
wanted to grow a large crop of celery. One of his 
neighbors has a pile of thoroughly rotted horse 
manure, well fined and ready for the garden. Just 
as they are ready to make a bargain along comes 
the neighbor on the other side and offers manure 
50 cents a ton cheaper. He will guarantee there is 
just as much nitrogen in it as there is in the other 
sample. When the farmer comes to look at it he 
finds a lot of dry, hard chunks of cow manure, There 
may be as much nitrogen in it, but there is just 
ibis difference between the tough, hard organic nitro¬ 
gen and the nitrates in the well-rotted manure. Now 
I be Buffalo Company or some other concern might go 
to a farmer and say, “You are using a 8-8 6 fertilizer. 
A e can let you have the same guaranteed analysis at 
$1 a ton less!" Ii might be just like the difference 
between the rotted horse manure and the dry, chunky 
vow manure. In one case analysis would show a 
large proportion of nitrates and, in the other, almost 
all organic. 
I here is nothing in the whole line of fertilizer in¬ 
formal ion more important than this, for millions of 
dollars are taken from farmers every year, through 
Ihe sale of inert or unavailable forms of nitrogen like 
peat, leather, hoof meal, etc. Many of the stations 
pick the nitrogen apait and show farmers what to 
buy. In spile of what Mr. Tucker may say they are 
doing this work reliably and well, and farmers who 
ludy their figures are well repaid. We hope to see 
llu' time when intelligent farmers will refuse to buy 
anything except soluble nitrogen. 
Next week we will give another side to this. 
EVENTS OF THE WEEK. 
DOMESTIC.- Sixty two suits against eight railroads, 
charging violations of the 2K hour law, that provides for 
I lie protection of cattle, sheep and hogs In transportation 
In stock curs, were (Hod In the United States District 
Court at Chicago, April 17, hy District Attorney Sims 
and Assistant District Attorney Atwood. One hundred 
similar suits that were commenced several months ago 
are now pending before District: Judge I,amlls. In the 
cases tiled April 17 fines aggregating $81,000 are possible, 
and District Attorney Sims asserted it was the Intention 
of the government to demand a maximum penalty in every 
ease. ... A tornado swept through Cumming Co., 
Nebraska, and Into Thurston County April 28, and three 
people are known to have been killed, a number Injured, 
and a number of bouses destroyed. . . . Driven by a 
heavy south wind, names swept through Cape May Point, 
N. .1., April 28, destroyed two hotels and live cottages, and 
damaged two other cottages. The loss Is estimated at 
from $75,000 to $100,000, most of (lie collages, although 
unoccupied, being completely furnished. . . Pour 
men were killed, three seriously injured, and 100 others 
had a narrow escape from death April 28, when an ex¬ 
plosion occurred In Mine | »f the lOlIsworth Collieries 
Company, at Ellsworth, Washington County, Penn. The 
dead are foreigners. . Evidence of a traders’ boy¬ 
cott wns brought out April 21 In Kansas City, Kan., where 
A11orney-tieneraI Jackson, of Kansas, Is taking testimony 
to ascertain It Ihe Kansas City l,lv<> Stock Exchange anil 
the Trailers' l.lve Stock Exchange arc operating In viola¬ 
tion of the anti trust laws. II. S. O. Mason, who had done 
business at the yards for seven years, testified that lie 
was notified by one of the members of the Traders’ Ex¬ 
change not to have anything to do with the Kansas Cllv 
l.lve Stock Commission Company, because, It was alleged, 
that concern was doing business al the yards without u 
membership In the exchange. Mason sale! that a member 
of the Traders’ Exchange had given him a list of traders 
that he was not to deal with. "I asked him,” said Mason, 
“why I hoy had been put on the blacklist, and he told me 
It was because they were selling to and dealing with the 
cooperative company." . . . More than 200 dead and 
at least 500 Injured was the record of (lie casualties of 
tornadoes In l/uilsiana, Mississippi and Alabama, April 
~4. The tornadoes lasted altogether about I” hours, 
striking promiscuously one town after the other. Many 
hours after the tornadoes struck trains hearing nearly 200 
injured came crawling cautiously out of the tornado dis¬ 
trict, leaving behind I hem one town, Purvis, Miss., utterly 
demolished, five others practically blown away, and 15 
little villages more or less In ruins. With the wounded 
came the details of one of the worst wind disasters In 
the history of the Culf States. The destruction of Purvis, 
Miss., was all over In a few minutes. Of about 200 
dwellings, only seven were left standing. The courthouse, 
the only other building In town to withstand the wind, 
was Immediately packed with dead and Injured, and served 
as the only available hospital within many miles. The 
total death list In that city and vicinity Is placed al 02. 
C. W. Cromwell, or Jackson, Miss., In attempting to 
describe the storm, said Ilia I all he could realize wan that 
the air was full of Hying timbers. These Umbers dealt 
death to many persons who sought safety In the open air, 
while the falling of walls was a still greater peril to 
those who remained Indoors. Later estimates say t lie 
death list w ill reach 850 and the Injured | ,50(1. The prop 
erfy loss Is lull'd to figure, but In the aggregate It will run 
Into the millions. While small property holders are the 
principal sufferers, holders of large timber tracts have 
antlered severely because vast, areas of heavily timbered 
lands have been swept clean. ... A terrible disaster 
occured April 25 at Notre Dame de i.asallc, Ouchce, by 
which 84 people are known to have lost their lives. The 
hamlet Is situated at the foot of a hill, and about 5 o’clock 
In the morning, when most of the villagers were In their 
beds, a landslide occurred. The face of the hill for a 
height, of HO feet fell over to a length of about half a 
mile along Ihe Llevrc River, preelpltalIng the mass Into 
the river and for about 000 yards on the other side of 
If, smothering everything In Its way under yards of 
earth. . . April 20 the Marlon, a small Mississippi 
River steamboat, was capsized |»y a storm above Memphis. 
Eleven men and one, possibly two, women were drowned 
and 75 more men and women, crew and passengers, were 
left perched on llmhsof trees for hours In the rain awaiting 
rescue. . . . The Supreme Court April 27 sustained 
the validity of I lie taxi's imposed hy the Stale of New Jer 
Key on the submerged lands In New York Ray belonging 
to the Central Railroad of New Jersey. The hind In ques- 
tlon Is valued at $2,500,000, and the' railroad resisted the 
Imposition of taxes hy New Jersey on the ground that the 
State having surrendered to New York Jurisdiction of the 
land up to low mark had no rigid to Impose taxes. The 
court held that the lands In question were subject to tin* 
sovereignty of New Jersey and dial the exclusive jurisdic¬ 
tion given New York by the agreement of 1884 did not 
exclude the rigid of the sovereign power to tax. The 
validity of the lax was therefore affirmed. . . . The 
Utica Kreo Academy, one of the largest and best equipped 
high schools between New York and Buffalo, was de¬ 
stroyed hy fire April 27, entailing a loss approximating 
$250,000. . . Snow and frost did much damage 
throughout the West April 27. Street car service In St. 
Pant was delayed hy snow and at Superior, VVIs., the anow 
storm was one of the heaviest of the year. There was a 
light fall In central Missouri. Damage by frost the previous 
two iilglds to the orchards In Ihe friilt regions of Colo¬ 
rado was esllmal al at $1,000,000. The minimum tempera 
lure In Nebraska was 211, accompanied by a killing frost. 
Snow fell throughout the northern part of the Stale. 
Nine persons were killed and a score Injured, several of 
them fatally, when a limited car on the Detroit, Jackson 
and Chicago Electric road collided, April 28, with a regu¬ 
lar car near Denton Mich. It Is said flial confusion of 
orders was responsible for the collision. . . Sollg 
SI I verst e| n. the young Russian Jew, who was mangled by 
the • preinallire explosion of the bomb lie was preparing to 
throw al the police In Union Square, New York, on March 
28, died April 2K In Bellevue Hospital. 
OBITUARY. Edwin llo.vt, of the firm of Stephen Hoyt's 
Sons Company, New Canaan, Conn., died April 17, aged'7(1. 
The nursery business of Stephen Hoyt’s Sons Company was 
started in 1840 by Stephen llovi, the father of the de¬ 
ceased. After Stephen Hoyt’s death, the business was car¬ 
ried on hy Ills sons, James and Edwin Hoyt, under the 
firm name of Stephen Hoyt's Sons. In Hint the business 
was Incorporated under Hie name of Stephen Hoyt’s Sons 
Company, of which Edwin llovi became president and 
manager and remained so until the time of his dentil. 
Mr. Hoyt was In IHHH ii member of the State l.eglslalure 
from New Canaan and a member of the State Board of 
Agriculture, vice-president of the Board of Control of the 
Connecticut Experiment Station and a member of ihe 
('ounce! Icu I Nurserymen’s Association, chairman of the 
Board of Trustees In the Elrsl Congregational church of 
New Canaan and a member of the Board of Deacons, til¬ 
ing also otherwise actively Interested In Ihc town In which 
he lived. He was president of the Elrsl National Bank of 
New Caiman, and had large property Interests which will 
probably Inventory from $800,ono to $400,000. lie Is snr 
vlvcd by bis brother, James, a widow, three daughters and 
one son. The funeral was held at his late resilience and 
was largely attended hy people from different parts of 
the Stale and from New York, as well as hy Ids neighbors 
and friends. 
NOTES ON A CONTINENTAL TRIP. 
| A private letter from Clark Allis, of Orleans Co., N. Y., 
contains some Interesting notes on a recent trip as far 
West as Arizona. We scleol a few comments which may 
Interest readers. It Is not generally known that Mr. 
Allis Is Interested with Senator II M. Dunlap and others 
In an Illinois farm.] 
Thro are 7(10 acres In the farm. 200 acres of nlco 
orchard, and we are setting 150 acres this Spring there. 
We paid less than $40 per acre for the farm and tools, and 
think we have made a fine deal, as the former owner, Mr. 
White, had been superintendent of a St. I.ouls stock yard, 
and always kept the farm well stocked and used more for 
pasture than crops. There arc 80 acres of good timber on 
the farm. J wrote Mr. Porrino of Centralla. III., I would 
have a wall of three hours there, and If he was In town 
would like to hcc him. When we arrived we found Mr. 
Perrlne at the depot, and he Insisted on taking us out to 
their fine country home to dinner, perrlne Bros, sold their 
York Imperials last June for $8.50 per barrel, and they 
came to $800 per acre. They sold the Jonathan anil 
Crimes for $5.50 per barrel later. We went from there to 
Memphis; at Memphis all night, then to Hot Springs, Ark., 
Utile Rock and Oklahoma City, El Reno, Port Worth, El 
Paso, Old Mexico, Maricopa and Phoenix. We did not travel 
much at night, blit went to see the country, and we did. 
One hears so much of all those boomed towns and all the 
country out that way It Is worth seeing. Phoenix Is In 
the beautiful Salt River Valley, and Is the finest Irrigated 
seel Ion I have ever seen. When the great Roosevelt dam 
is done Phoenix Is destined to he a Idg city; it Is M n | ( .,. 
one now. We came home hy Tucson and Sail Antonio \\'e 
were In Houston over Sunday and went to Calveston 
Monday. The sea wall Is an Immense thing, but It does 
not give confidence to some of the people, for- wlnni t lie 
weather reports say high wind from the Culf, many "git.” 
at once to Ihe mainland elites for refuge. We went to 
Calveston one road and Imek another; we always travel 
that way when possible. On the return trip we saw 
acres and acres of pear orchards that are handled the 
cheapest of anything I have ever seen; tillage, trimming 
and harvesting the fruit all done by big droves of cattle; 
Ihe only profit I could see was what the cattle brought, 
and they were mostly poor crosses on native Texan long¬ 
horns. I had long wanted to see the rice lands, but I 
have seen, and am more than satisfied. | doubt If anything 
Is more depressing to look at than the miles of level 
rice land with Us dykes every few rods to hold the water 
Its abandoned farms, for f am told that after three to 
five years the land gets poor and the rice gets red, with 
poor sale for It. Houses are miles apart, and conditions 
such that a man from ‘‘Hod’s country" wonders how a 
man with any desire to he decent to his family can bring 
them to such a place. Through so much of tills and the 
country a little higher so many boomed and deserted vil¬ 
lages and farmhouses tell a sad story of disappoint merit 
and hardship for all that were associated, hut for the 
women and children my heart aches. One railroad man al 
Houston said many northern people come down with their 
goods, tools and stock, all showing them to have left a 
home where they had all comforts and some of the lux¬ 
uries. After a year or longer hack they would start with 
everything, hut a wreck of what they came with. When 
asked where they were going they would .say "hack home,’’ 
and to the question, "How long are you going to ntii\r 
there?” they would reply; “Forever, and we will never tell 
anyone to move here." The country Is very low and fiat, 
almost nil the way from around Houston to away east of 
New Orleans. The beautiful Spring (lowers in New Or¬ 
leans are In such profusion and extent that It Is beyond 
description. Primroses, white, pink, yellow and Interme¬ 
diate shades, phlox of different colors, lupins with shades 
brought down from the Summer sk.v and dozens and 
dozens of other kinds; every time the train would slop 
I would he off and away and would bring back something 
new and each new kind would he pressed and saved hy 
Mrs. Allis to he studied, mounted and examined hy her 
later, perhaps on some cold Winter day, when she will 
live over all the pleasures of the trip. One exceedingly 
striking bouquet was white pond lilies by the acre In Mis¬ 
sissippi. The colors of Hie Texas flowers equal the spring 
lints, and that Is ns far ns my Imagination can soar. We 
spent a little time at Birmingham. Ala., and mv friend said 
the Birmingham of to-day Is quite different from the 
same town of one year ago; then Its Jails were crowded 
and Its criminals could not he taken care of, and under 
no license arrest had fallen off over forty-five p.-r cent. The 
temperance conditions In the South and West are enough 
to make old York State get up and clean house, Illinois 
voted out l.loo saloons and will keep on as she Is going. 
The liquor men tell some very strong stories about the 
way they sell more under the temperance laws than they 
ever did under license, hut If that Is so why do they raise 
so much money to fight “local option.' and fight so' hard? 
I am a total abstainer, never lasted tea. coffee, tobacco, 
or any kind of Intoxlcnl Ing drink (or been, hut at Okla¬ 
homa f’ll.v I asked the waiter If he could get me a glass 
of beer. He said; "N'o, sab, I hnin'l had a glass myself 
In a long time." 
We visited Mammoth Pave, and It Is rightly named and 
very Interesting to see with Its Immense rooms and odd 
shaped rock formations, and Its many wonders; It Is also 
rich In history, especially the story of Its niter deposits. 
We were now In the most noted ’ section of the United 
States, the old Blue grass region of Kentucky. We were 
soon In the land of the night riders and wondered If they 
would shoot me because I did not chew and smoke tobacco ; 
that would he about as reasonable as the deeds they do] 
We visited several men that were members of the Society 
of Equity, but all vigorously denounced the lawless mem¬ 
bers who are breaking the Wiwh and bringing Kentucky's 
reputation lower and lower. They wished the United 
States Marshals could lie turned loose and shoot the law 
breakers when they were burning arid destroying properly. 
I do not think I have seen a more beautiful country than 
the Blue grass region, ot which D-xIngton seems' to he 
the center. At Lexington land Is selling for around $200 
per acre, but al Smltbficld I saw a line stock farm a man 
had Just purchased for $20 per acre, (too acres and ns the 
only crop the night riders object to Is tobacco u man does 
not need to have a row. Our cousins snld tobacco wns 
the hardest crop on land one could raise, and one that 
seemed to have a demoralizing effect on all who had any 
thing to do with it. We had a month of fine warm Summer 
weather, and have seen an Immense lot of land. All Slates 
have Home good land but also some that Is |nsl used to 
hold the world together, but Texas has a lot too poor 
for that, and could throw away four or five Stales of poor 
land that would never he missed except hy the Jack rabbits. 
One bears so much of the rich lands of Oklahoma and 
Texas; they have good land, hut they have the price 
higher than land that will return more Income can he 
bought for In Kentucky or many of the Eastern States. In 
some of the West and South are cheap lands, hut the more 
one owns the cheaper he feels and the poorer he Is. Western 
New York is a good place yet. ci.aiuc am.is. 
NEW JERSEY IJVFJ STOCK COMMISSION. —A law 
was passed at the Iasi session of the New Jersey legisla¬ 
ture, authorizing the establishment of a Live stock com¬ 
mission, I lie purpose of which Is: I. To purchase and 
maintain stallions of draft mid coach types for dlstrihu 
lion and use In the several counties of the State, wherever 
breeders’ associations have been duly organized, and which 
provide dams for breeding, which shall conform to the 
standards and rules cstaldlshcd hy the commission. 2. 
■ ° Hid In Ihe selection and dlst rlhut Ion of breeding sires 
and da ins ol other classes of live stock, 8. To constitute 
a stallion examining hoard. This commission has the 
power and authority to make such rules and regulations 
as to the purchase, distribution and use of stallions and 
other breeding animals as shall, In their lodgment, best 
promote the live aloelt Intorcsls of Ihe State An appro 
prlatlon of $20,000 has been made to carry this law Into 
effect, anil after this an annual appropriation of $5 ono 
for maintenance Is provided. Naturally, the object or 
this law Is to encourage the live slock Interests of New 
Jersey, more especially thill of horse breeding, though It 
Is believed thill the provision providing for the selection 
and dlst rlhut Ion of breeding sires and dams of other 
classes oi live slock will he ii very Important factor In 
the development and Improvement of all our breeds of 
live stock, especially so since the law makes the Animal 
Husbandman of Ihe Experiment Station, Professor E. <’. 
Mlnkler, the executive officer of the commission. 
New Jersey Exp. Station. •«. a vooiutncfl. 
order «.r the day. Owing to ihe total failure of the appt 
cron last year hy freeze, we canned find any Codling moth 
and feel hopeful that they can be kepi under control b 
thorough spraying. The canker worm Is doing consider 
aide damage to unsprayed orchards. ■ „ 
Hoysvllle, Kans. 
