1910. 
CHEMICALS FOR POTATO FERTILIZER. 
R. D. R., Cooperstoicn, Pa .—What is the 
best form to buy potash, ammonia and phos¬ 
phoric acid to make a good potato fertil¬ 
izer to use on rather poor soil, which is 
bottom land, a clay soil? What amount 
of each to the ton, and what should be used 
as a filler? 
Ans. —As a potato fertilizer for such 
soil we should want about 3 x / 2 per cent 
of nitrogen, eight of phosphoric acid 
and six or seven of potash. We should 
want at least two sources of the nitro¬ 
gen, so as to furnish both nitrates and 
organic nitrogen. The following combi¬ 
nation would do it: 
Phos. 
Nitrogen. Acid. Potash. 
275 lbs. sulphate of 
potash . 135 
1,200 lbs. acid phos¬ 
phate . 168 
300 lbs. nitrate of 
soda . 48 . 
225 lbs. dried blood. . 27 . 
This cannot be called the best combi¬ 
nation, and it may not be the cheapest, 
but it will be likely to make the potatoes 
grow. It would be better in some re¬ 
spects to have two sources for phos¬ 
phoric acid and use some fine ground 
bone and less acid phosphate. 
until I could. I did so and all the plants 
lived. The other lot came a little later 
on, was repacked in a snowdrift on north 
side of hedge and the snowdrift covered 
with straw. All the plants lived. Then 
the idea came to mo that the plants might 
just as well have been in a box-car two 
A MARYLAND ORCHARD IN NEW LAND. 
II. S., Maryland .—I have about nine 
acres I wish to set to apple trees; new 
land, will be cleared up this Winter; black 
gravel, high cultivation, strong subsoil, 
forest growth, chestnut, White oak and 
poplar principally. I would like your opin¬ 
ion as to whether it will be better to set 
trees next Spring, or crop the land for 
two or three years before setting trees. 
I wish to crop the land in corn for five 
or six years, then follow the mulch sys¬ 
tem. Will Crimson clover do well in this 
new land sown in corn first of August? 
Give me a list of varieties that will grow 
as strong and vigorous a tree as Summer 
Rarnbo, and as good quality fruit that will 
be in season from December 1 to April 1. 
I want about five varieties. I would like 
opinions as to how others would manage 
this piece of land. 
Ans. —Cropping the land in corn for 
five or six years would simply be using 
up its store of humus and reducing its 
fertility. If you want a good orchard 
my advice is to plant it at once, and 
cultivate the trees in potatoes or some 
low-growing crop that will come off 
early enough to sow Crimson clover on 
the land to turn under in the Spring 
and maintain the humus in the soil. You 
might grow corn and sow the clover 
among the corn at last working, and 
cultivate the seed in shallowly, and turn 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
the clover under the following Spring, that came late died badly—often as much 
and in this way can keep the land in as 95 per cent 1 have also obtained m -V 
... , _ , . plants from more than one nursery each 
corn without wasting humus. Judging yeai% anfl from points furt her south of me. 
from what you say the forest growth Three years ago I turned over a new leaf, 
was I would say that some addition of 1 ordered all plants shipped early. I was 
phosphate and potash would be useful surprised-almost angry—to find the first 
, , T , , , lot at the express office in March, four 
to trees and corn, and I would prefer or flve weeks before the ground -thawed. 
to use the basic slag meal, since it car- The instructions were that if I could not 
ries a large percentage of free lime, and hecl in > to loosen the slats on the top 
land of that nature will be helped by the of the drates and leave thcm in the cellar 
lime. About 300 pounds of basic slag 
and 25 pounds of sulphate of potash per 
acre will help trees and crop. I would 
suggest the following varieties for Win¬ 
ter apples: Stayman, York Imperial, 
Rome Beauty, with Grimes Golden and weeks, out of the four that they lay in my 
Jonathan for early Winter. These are cellar, and thus deprive the "robber ex¬ 
good growers except the Grimes I press compan y” of about ten dollars. With 
, , , . ,. . . , this happy thought in mind, I, from ad- 
w u c during the early years of the or- vertisements found in The It. N.-Y. last 
chard encourage its growth by clean Winter, ordered 30,000 plants from south- 
cultivation and application of mineral ern Points, a thousand miles away, part 
fertilizers and clover. Plant yearling by express and rcmaInder b y freight, plants 
, . , , , to be dug the first of March, or as soon 
trees. 1 he} are cheaper than older ones, after as possible. Two of the lots arrived 
and are mere switches of live buds, so on the same day—March 30. Those by 
that you can cut back after planting and pxpress had been packed six days, and 
start the heads 20 inches from the f 0 ."?* ye * y . rougb bandllng ’ /hose by 
, . freight came in perfect shape and condition 
ground, in these days of spraying you after having been on the road two weeks, 
should have low-headed trees, and they Some of them were “heeled in,” but most 
are better in every respect than tall of thcra were re P acke d in the snowdrift. 
trunks. After the trees have developed £!! live T d exc , ept , a °! , thc heel ? ddn ’ 
. 1 where I carelessly allowed loose earth to 
to cl good size seed tne orchard down get on the crowns. 
to grass, mow the grass several times a Of course, by restriction wo can raise 
year and use the cut grass as a mulch plants that win make a little better show- 
under the trees. But do not do as the °/v th ° S f We bUy ’ but 
, T . . . if I could not raise them in a separate 
.New York Experiment Station did, and patch from the bearing field, or should not 
imagined they were practicing grass have enough, or wanted new varieties, I 
mulch, by letting the grass grow as high would not hesitate to order them from 
as a man’s shoulders and rob the trees a,m ,° St any dIstance and *V freight very 
c 1 ccs early, and from some point one hundred 
ot moisture. But cut frequently and to two hundred miles south. I prefer the 
then annually top-dress the grass with snowdrift for keeping the plants in the 
bone meal and potash, and if you attend dormant state, and have no doubt but 
. : c c ,• , that they would keep perfectly for months 
to spraying for fungus diseases and the _ ycSi year8> so long as the snow lasted . 
Codling moth you will have smoother J)i g a square hole in the snowdrift, for 
„ „i„ , -r , . , each variety, clear down to the ground, 
tipples and more uniform bearing than in Pack plants in with roots together, same 
a cultivated orchard. w. f. massey. 
75 
etterfarming 
^A John, Deere 
7 Book 
Out 
j|A Farmer Can, 
^Get it Free 
l TF interested in farming, get our FREE 
1 book called “BETTER FARMING.” 
It tells all about—■ 
Alfalfa 
Dairying 
Seed Wheat) 
Corn Crops 
Stock Feeding 
Art of Plowing 
Boll Weevil 
Controlling Weeds 
Making Hay^ 
Fighting Frost 
Silos 
Cultivation 
Cotton Crops 
Soil Fertility 
Gasolene Engines 
Adjusting Plows 
ORDERING STRAWBERRY PLANTS FROM 
A DISTANCE. 
As the time is drawing nigh for plac- and carefully. But ‘plants/ whether° home 
ing orders for strawberry plants, my ex¬ 
way they came, sprinkling in a little snow, 
just enough to cool and dampen the plants. 
Pack a foot of snow on top and put enough 
chaff, straw or other non-conducting mate¬ 
rial on top to preserve the snow until plants 
are being set. Of course, if the snow 
leaves or is lacking, you will heel in snugly 
perience along this line at tins time will 
be of use to many of your readers, judg¬ 
ing from the discouraging reports noted in 
The R. N.-Y. last Spring. My losses from 
plants dying, the first five years, were more 
than one hundred dollars, and I had re¬ 
solved more than once never to have an¬ 
other plant shipped in, and to raise my 
grown or not, should, at the North, be set 
as early as possible. c. F. s. 
Cheboygan, Mich. 
How Shape I Build My Barn? —I would 
like some of The It. N.-Y. readers to give 
plans, materials used, and dimensions for 
the construction of a good dairy barn, to 
accommodate 25 or 30 head of dairy ani¬ 
mals, such as cows and young stock. I 
have plenty of old stone walls, and a 
own or go without. But I had noticed, couple of old barns that can be’used in 
however, that the plants that came the earli- dairy^nimals^only. 1 desiro the j b{ “' n for 
est made the best growth, while plants Pennsylvania. 
Hired Help 
HH Costs Big Money 
Your land is high priced and hired help expensive. 
There is only one way to make big money—use ini* 
plements that cut down the cost of your crops. Isn’t 
it true that when you break something on a plow it 
is nearly always a cast part? Whereverstrain comes 
on a John Deere Plow there you will find steel—tool 
steel. Take any plow that has had hard work for 
five years, put it along side of a John Deere which 
has been in service that long—and see the difference. 
Then there is no paint to cover up poor material. 
You can see the wear and the defects. The John 
Deere will be solid, staunch and ready for the hard* 
est job. Then you begin to know that quality counts. 
You can take pride in owning a John Deere — 
the standard plow of the world for i 
two generations. '.'1 
text ‘ - f * , /♦ * 
jX. 1 *-' V r 'TjV? r ' •' * ■ w' 1 1 i'pTL J If', 
MftxTWBHn. 
. , in 
We will send you the 80-page, illus* _ 
(rated book free if you write and ask for 
Package No. 33 
Mention the package number sure, then 
you will get exactly the right stuff. 
DEERE & COMPANY. M0L1NE.1LL 
Stump Puller 
Warranted the most practical machine made. One man can lift 
20 tons. 3 styles. 10 sizes. $25 and up. Screw,Cable or Hand Power. 
Wo make cheapest TILE DITCHER and tho best 
Pnrn- liarwactor ever s °kl* Ono horse cuts 2 rows. 
UUIII ndl VColtsl One man. No twine. On trial. 
Agents wanted. Our new 64-page Catalog FRKE. Write Today. 
H. R BENNETT & COMPANY. WESTERVILLE, OHIO. 
100 lbs. of an ordinary Fertilizer 
(testing 2-8-2) 
FILLER. 
28LBS 
NITRATE OF SODA 
12 LBS 
ACID 
J } PHOSPHATE 
56 LBS 
Needs Sixteen Pounds of 
Muriate or Sulphate of 
WelFbalanced Fertilizer 
(testing 2-8-10) 
r tr » u r D~P & p /■ 
~ FILLER/^ 
I2LBS V _ 
NITRATE/OF SODA 
12 LBS 
make 
ACID 
PHOSPHATE 
56 LBS 
I 
1/ M URIate' of - IpOTASH ~4~LBs." 
If you prefer ready-mixed fertilizers, insist on having 
enough Potash in them to raise the crop as well as to 
raise the price. 
Crops contain more than three times as much Potash 
as phosphoric acid. 
MURIATE OF 
POTASH 
20 LBS 
It was found years ago that the composition of the crop is 
not a sure guide to the most profitable fertilizer, but it does not 
take a very smart man to figure out that a balanced fertilizer 
should contain at least as much Potash as phosphoric acid. 
Insist on having it so. 
If you do not find the brand you want, make one by adding 
enough Potash to make it right. 
To increase the ‘Potash 5 per cent., add 10 pounds of Muriate 
or Sulphate of Potash to each 100 pounds of mixed fertilizer; to 
increase it 10 per cent., add 20 pounds. 
Talk to your dealer and ask him to carry Potash in Jk CUT T"fr Jk ^7 Q 
stock or order it for you. It will pay you both, for JL A Jtl. I JnL JL W 
For particulars and prices write to ^ 
GERMAN KALI WORKS. Continental Building. Baltimore 
