1913. 
1163 
THE RURAL, N EC W-YORKER 
ACID PHOSPHATE AND STABLE 
MANURE. 
We have been told to use acid phos¬ 
phate with stable manure, both to add 
what the manure lacks and also to pre¬ 
serve it. Now we are told that the bac¬ 
terial action in the manure pile makes 
about eight per cent of the phosphorus 
inert. What are we to do now? 
READER. 
Go right ahead and use the acid phos¬ 
phate with the manure—on the follow¬ 
ing good authority: 
“Doubtless the work referred to is that 
of the Wisconsin Experiment Station, 
published by W. E. Tottingham and C. 
I-Ioffman in Research Bulletin No. 29, 
May, 1913. They found that the imme¬ 
diate efficiency of acid phosphate wa« 
lessened by mixing it with stable man¬ 
ure. Nevertheless, another important 
consideration is that if a sufficient amount 
of it is used with the stable manure as 
produced, it very largely prevents fermen¬ 
tation. Furthermore, if present in man¬ 
ure where ammoniacal fermentation is in 
progress, it aids very materially in hold¬ 
ing the ammonia, particularly wherever 
proper attention is paid to maintaining a 
reasonable state of moisture in the man¬ 
ure; so that the immediate effect of the 
manure in lessening the availability of 
the acid phosphate is counteracted to a 
considerable extent in preventing undue 
fermentation, and by way of holding the 
ammonia when a certain amount of am¬ 
moniacal fermentation does take place. 
“It would also appear from the work 
of the Wisconsin investigators that by 
the second year this phosphoric acid does 
become available, even though for a time 
it has been locked up in somewhat tin- 
available form in the micro-organisms of 
the manure.” h. j. wheeler. 
“I would point out that water-soluble 
lime phosphate does have a tendency to 
revert, when mixed with animal manure. 
This reversion does not, however, reduce 
the availability of the material to any 
marked extent. Your reader, therefore, 
is in error when he claims that acid phos¬ 
phate, when mixed with manure, is ren¬ 
dered inert by bacterial action. Indeed, 
the so-called ‘precipitated phosphate,’ 
used abroad, represents water-soluble 
lime phosphate that had been made to 
revert by the addition of lime. These 
precipitated phosphates are found to be 
available by actual crop tests. Hence, 
the value of acid phosphate for mixing 
with manure would not be affected in any 
way by the tendency to revert.” 
J. G. LIPMAN. 
Director N. J. Station. 
quired, and although rather expensive as 
compared to dry cells have a long life. 
For continuous use better results are ob¬ 
tained by using a magneto for the run¬ 
ning current and batteries for starting 
only, in this case the batteries are used 
so little that good results can be had 
from dry batteries. w. w. d. 
Farm Irrigation in Kansas. 
What do you think of small irrigation 
plants in Kansas? Would they not pay? 
Has the State done anything toward in¬ 
vestigating this subject. w. H. z. 
Pittsburgh, Pa. 
The Kansas Agricultural College has 
just issued a circular telling how five 
farmers at Great Bend have formed a 
co-operative society for irrigating 750 
acres of farm land. They will build a 
dam across a creek which flows through 
their land. These farmers were set to 
thinking when a 30-acre wheat field 
which had been overflowed by a small 
freshet made 26 bushels per acre. 
“On the advice of the State engineer it 
was decided to build a concrete dam 20 
feet high and 130 feet wide across the 
creek. The dam will have gates in it and 
a bridge on top. A spillway at one end 
will take care of flood waters. Such a 
dam, Mr. Gearhart says, will back up 
water in the creek for 10 miles. On some 
farms through which the stream passes 
it will be an easy matter to use this back 
water by cutting through the banks of 
the stream, which rise above the sur¬ 
rounding land in many places. Where 
the water is below the neighboring fields, 
pumps will be used to lift the water. A 
water wheel at the dam will furnish 
power to do some of this pumping. The 
agricultural college engineers are prepar¬ 
ing to give much of their time this Fall 
in helping to construct ponds, water sup 
plies, and irrigating plants. Many calls 
are being received now from all parts of 
the State asking for help in this work 
These applications will be cared for in 
the order received.” 
Vetch and Other Crops. 
Home-mixed Fertilizer. 
Will you kindly tell me what analysis 
my fertilizer mixture will figure out if 
I use 600 pounds nitrate of soda, 600 
pounds dried blood, 1,800 pounds fine 
ground bone, 900 pounds muriate of 
potash? This will mean practically two 
tons of fertilizer and no filler for the 
same money I now pay for a 2-8-6 brand 
tor 2% tons. T. w. K. 
May’s Landing, N. ,T. 
This mixture with chemicals of average 
quality would show the following com¬ 
position : 
Nitro- Phos. 
. gen Acid Potash 
600 nitrate of soda 96 
600 dried blood ... 72 12 
1,800 bone . 54 450 
900 muriate of pot. 450 
3,900 total . 222 462 450 
This gives to one ton 108 pounds nitro¬ 
gen, or over 5 per cent, 226 pounds phos¬ 
phoric acid, or 11 per cent, and 219 
pounds potash or nearly 11 per cent. In 
3*4 tons of the other brand you obtain 
100 pounds nitrogen, 400 of phosphoric 
acid and 300 of potash. 
Wet Battery for Gasoline Engine. 
1 an I use a wet battery, bluestone, 
une and copper to run a gasoline engine? 
How many cells will it take? We have 
trouble to get good dry batteries, and I 
'"ink it would be better and cheaper to 
use the wet battery if practical. 
Lrestwood, Ky. G. o. K. 
M et batteries using bluestone, zinc and 
copper are known as gravity cells, and 
are used only for telegraph and signal 
work requiring very small amount of 
current. They would not be suitable for 
Kas engine starter, neither would the 
A'Clanche cell using sal ammoniac, zinc 
and carbon. Good dry batteries are the 
most convenient, but if not readily ob¬ 
tainable I would recommend the Edison 
Lelande type of primary battery using 
copper oxide plates, zinc and caustic 
soda. Six or eight cells would be re- 
I have thought of giving you my ex¬ 
perience with vetch, but others have writ¬ 
ten what I had in mind. I thought, too, 
of asking you about sowing Winter wheat 
instead of rye with the vetch, but you 
say the wheat will not hold up the vetch 
as well as rye. A writer in a recent 
issue of The R. N.-Y. speaks of rye do¬ 
ing well on land where wheat would do 
but little or nothing. It seems to me if 
the wheat will make even a feeble growth 
it will be enough to keep the vetch off 
the ground, and is not that about enough? 
In my native town in New Hampshire 
they used to raise some wheat and make 
a little of their flour, but here the soil 
is lighter and I never knew a farmer to 
raise a bit. It is now I think five years 
since I sowed my first vetch, and I have 
sown every year since without buying 
seed, but owing to the dry weather I 
have raised so little I have let it all ripen 
to get the seed. I had better luck this 
year on a small piece sowed for the sec¬ 
ond time with rye, and on the first piece 
I sowed five years ago and which I pas¬ 
tured the next year, that is in 1910, corn 
in 1911 and oats and peas in 1912, this 
yeaV had on it more vetch than ever with¬ 
out any more seed sown, and it did well 
without anything to hold it up, but did 
not grow as tall as on fresh-sown ground 
with rye. I hope soon, if the seasons 
are favorable, to save seed enuogh and 
be able to cut a lot green for hay, and 
I should prefer to have wheat to rye. 
I like The It. N.-Y. for what it puts 
into two or three lines, like “Give the 
hind an L. L. D.” and something like this, 
“Legumes will make poor land good, 
Hungarian will make good land poor.” 
It may be this will apply to rye and 
wheat in favor of the rye. I should be 
glad to see this discussed. I did not 
like what you said awhile ago about mak¬ 
ing a meadow by the Clark method. You 
said that method was very expensive, and 
I doubted if you thought that way profit¬ 
able, but later when you speak of raking 
out witch grass roots and burning I 
want to ask if it is not wicked to burn 
any organic matter that can be plowed 
in and make humus? Grass seed is ex¬ 
pensive, and it costs a deal to prepare 
the ground for it, and then there may 
not be a good “catch.” Witch grass hay, 
if cut early, is good enough for me, and 
costs but little. j. p. 
Massachusetts. 
II. N.-Y.—With us rye certainly gives 
a far better crop on poor land than 
wheat, and it may be seeded nearly 30 
days later with chance of a fair crop. 
The wheat surely does make better fod¬ 
der or hay with the vetch, but the rye 
will stand up better. It is wicked to 
burn any ordinary organic matter which 
can be safely plowed under or piled 
around a tree. We are inclined to make 
an exception with roots which are as 
hard to kill as witch grass and which 
sprout so quickly. We kill out witch 
grass to prevent its spreading under¬ 
ground. 
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