276 
THE CULTIVATOR, 
Sept- 
Adulteration of Concentrated Manures. 
Ev;erj man must know a moment’s reflection, 
that when such high-priced manures as sell for fifty 
dollars per ton, are in active demand, there is a pro¬ 
digious temptation on the part of every dishonest deal¬ 
er, to sell adulterated mixtures, if he can save by such 
a miserable operation some twenty dollars or more per 
ton. The market in England for guano and super¬ 
phosphate of lime, has lately been more than exhaust¬ 
ed, and this has brought into requisition all the dif¬ 
ferent modes of adulteration that ingenious rascality 
could suggest. If fraud has generally prevailed in 
England, we do not see why it may not also prevail 
in equally honest America, and we feel bound there¬ 
fore to put farmers and purchasers on their guard,— 
especially against those who keep their processes se¬ 
cret, by placing “ no admittance” even to scientific 
editors, over their door. 
Prof. Way has recently published several analyses 
of adulterated guano, showing the nature of the frauds 
practiced. It appears that a favorite ingredient for 
this purpose is gypsum, because, like guano, it burns 
whiter, and becomes lighter in weight, and consequent¬ 
ly is not easily detected. Some specimens in market 
were found to contain more than fifty per cent of this 
ingredient. Scoundrels of a bolder stamp resort direct¬ 
ly to the sand and loam pit. Two years ago, and pos¬ 
sibly at the present time, there existed an organized 
factory near London, with drying stoves, reverbera¬ 
tory furnaces, and grinding mills, for the sole purpose 
of drying, pulverizing, and preparing loam for the 
use of the guano manufacturer, where it might be had 
of every variety and of all shades of color. Prof. Way 
found some specimens of marketed guano to contain 
about 50 per cent of sand and clay, besides considera¬ 
ble portions of gypsum—some of these guanos being 
found with but little over one per cent of ammonia, 
while the best Peruvian article contains over 17 per¬ 
cent. 
The scarcity of guano in England has run the price 
up to thirteen to fourteen pounds per ton, or over six¬ 
ty to nearly seventy dollars; and farmers in our own 
country have for some time past had to pay fifty dol¬ 
lars. It will do no harm to be on their guard, in re¬ 
lation to this as well as other marketed manures. 
Honest dealers will not fear investigation, but will 
rejoice in it. The price is “eternal vigilance” and 
fifty dollars besides, but the outlay often pays well. 
How to Destroy Yellow Dock. 
Messrs. Editors —It seems that the yellow dock is 
troublesome in other localities as well as here. An 
inquiry in a late number of the Country Gentleman, 
how to exterminate them, has. attracted my attention. 
It is about twelve years since they made their appear¬ 
ance in my fields; at first I paid but little attention 
to them, for they did not increase fast; but after get¬ 
ting the seed into the manure they began, to multiply 
rapidly, and in making some effort to subdue them I 
found they spread and propagated from the root as 
well as the seed. I began to feel alarmed, for they 
were becoming very nymerous in all my grass lands, 
and how to get rid of them I did not know, but formed 
a resolution three years ago to wage a war of exter¬ 
mination in some way. 
I sent to an ag. ware-house in Boston, and purchased 
a pair of stiff heavy plate subsoil spades, 16 inches in 
length; I ground down the lower edge sharp, and af¬ 
ter the haying season was over, put two men at work 
in the fields, cutting them off from 6 to 10 inches be¬ 
low the surface, and then pulling up the part of the 
root thus separated with the fingers, and after letting 
them lay upon the ground until wilted, gathered them 
up and put them into a pile on the side of the high¬ 
way. I employed these men for the most part of 
three weeks in this operation, and gathered a large 
quantity of these roots which have rotted down on the 
roadside, and they have never appeared above the sur¬ 
face where they were cut in the ground. Some small 
ones escaped the eye of the workers, and seed was in 
the hay of that year, so'that I must repeat the opera¬ 
tion this year, but there is not one now where there 
were five before I cut them three years ago. 
I believe if they are cut off 6 inches below the sur¬ 
face, pulled up and removed from the field, it will 
stop them; they will not sprout or vegetate from the 
part* of the root left in the soil. The part left is too 
far below warmth, light and air to start into life anew. 
I have written these few lines that your inquirer 
may try the experiment if he chooses. It has answer¬ 
ed a good purpose with me, and I think all farmers 
should be prompt to impart their experience whenever 
and wherever it is required and may prove an advan¬ 
tage to others. 
This root is said to possess medicinal qualities, and 
is often sought after by botanical doctors, or as some 
would say “ professional quacks,” but as they flourish 
only in a rich soil, and take possession of our best 
lands, we can hardly afford to suffer them to remain 
for this purpose. J. W. Colburne. Springfield, Vt. 
July 19, 1954. 
Fruit Growing in Canada. 
Messrs. Eds. —I am trying hard to cultivate fruit 
in 44£° north, which I find to be a difficult thing to ac¬ 
complish. I have 70 varieties of apples ; many of 
them were lost last winter by the cold. I should like 
to get instruction in regal'd to this evil that I have to 
contend with. I have not raised much fruit to boast 
of, but I have an Isabella grapevine that I am proud 
of. In the spring of 1851,1 planted a slip of the vine, 
that is three years last spring, and it now stands on 
the trellis with one hundred and twenty-one fine stems 
of grapes. I am on the south shore of the Rideau 
Lake where it is six miles wide, which keeps off the 
frost two or three weeks in the fall. My peach and 
nectarine trees ai’e dead. I have twenty varieties of 
the sweet cherries ?- some trees grow middling well; 
others die. I think they cant grow in this country 
and do well. I have pear trees on the quince, that 
are now well loaded with fruit; others that I think 
will fail. I should be pleased to learn if there are 
any varieties of peai-s that will do well as far north 
as this. W. II. Sherwood. Portland , C. W. 
