1910. 
DOES SPRAYING ASPARAGUS PAY ? 
Experience From Massachusetts. 
I have been asked whether it pays to spray asparagus 
for the rust. Who can answer such a question as well 
as one who has sprayed for the rust for nine or 10 
years? In order to ascertain the facts in regard to 
spraying asparagus, a visit to the farm of P. M. Smith, 
Eastham, Mass., was made with the following results: 
In 1886 and 1887 16 acres of Moore's Cross-bred as¬ 
paragus were set, eight acres of which were in one 
held called the “Bee Hive” lot. All of the above 16 
acres were cut till 1908, when four acres were aban¬ 
doned. The rust appeared in Eastham in 1896. The 
first spraying was done in 1900. The formula follows: 
Stone lime, 2J4 pounds; blue vitriol, V/ 2 pound; water, 
2.) gallons. This Bordeaux Mixture was put- on with 
a machine, cost $200, (see Fig. 427) which had six 
nozzles, two above and two on each side of the row, 
so the stalks and under branches would be covered. 
The machine was drawn by a pair of horses, and one 
row was sprayed at a time. The first spraying was 
done July 15, 1900, and every 15 days thereafter till 
five application had been made. About 200 gallons 
were used per acre at a total cost per season for the 
1C acres of $150. The formula has varied slightly, 
and up to 1910 arsenate of soda was 
used as a poison for the beetles, but the 
past season arsenate of lead has been 
substituted. The spraying dates for 
1910 follow: July 18, August 1, August 
13, August 24, September 5. All of the 
“Bee Hive” lot was sprayed four times, 
and all but about 20 rows was sprayed 
five times. The 20 rows with four ap¬ 
plications were nearly dead with rust, 
but the rest with five sprayings was fine 
and green. The yield on the 16 acres 
up to 1907 has been per year in boxes as 
follows: 1895, 1063; 1896, 1015; 1897, 
1252; 1898, 1105; 1899, 1084; 1900, S72; 
1901, 705; 1902, 604; 1903, 784; 1904, 
982; 1905, 960; 1906, 1089; 1910, on 12 
acres, 676 boxes, three dozen in a box. 
The gross returns per year have been 
over $2500. 
All beds set in Eastham up to within 
a few years have been killed out by the 
rust, amounting to about 200 acres. This 
would mean about $40,000 loss in rev¬ 
enue to the community per year. Prob¬ 
ably a large share of the acreage would 
be in cutting condition to-day if it had 
been properly sprayed. Is it necessary 
to spray five times per season? Perhaps 
not, but who can tell when to begin 
spraying? Is the first application un¬ 
necessary? The last one apparently was 
necessary. Mr. Smith has kept alive a 
large acreage of asparagus and no doubt 
has made spraying pay. Can others do 
the same? The South Eastham Aspara¬ 
gus Co. in 1893 set 35 acres in asparagus. 
The company began to spray in 1903 
with Bordeaux, but only sprayed three 
times per season; in 1905 used sulphur 
dry, 1906 used Bordeaux with arsenate 
of lead for the beetles. The president of 
the company says that none of the spray¬ 
ings did any good and the bed (35 acres) 
is now abandoned. The land where the 
35-acre bed is abandoned is similar to 
Mr. Smith’s and it would seem as 
though the five applications had prevented the rust 
from damaging his bed while the three applications on 
the 35-acre bed had failed to protect it. Other sprays 
have no doubt been used in experimental work. Lime- 
sulphur is highly spoken of as a substitute for Bor¬ 
deaux Mixture. 
But who wants to spray? The expert plant breeders 
of the country are working hard to put the spray peo¬ 
ple out of business. At Concord, Mass., the Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture and the Massachusetts Agricul¬ 
tural Experiment Station are conducting experiments 
in breeding and fertilizing to prevent the asparagus 
from rusting. Prof. J. B. Norton, one of the best 
plant breeders in the U. S. Department of Agriculture, 
has for several years been breeding a more rust- 
resistant asparagus. The results obtained during 1910 
are very encouraging, and will no doubt make spraying 
unnecessary. At the field day meeting of the Massa¬ 
chusetts Asparagus Growers’ Association, held Sep¬ 
tember 16, 1910, many plants bred to resist the rust 
were shown. A new variety, the Reading Giant, gives 
great promise, and is large and rust-resistant. So it 
seems that spraying asparagus for the rust pays, and 
would be a good practice until more rust-resistant 
varieties can be established. Prolonged experiment 
will be needed to prove the value of these resistant 
varieties. C. w. prescott. 
THtfi RURAL NEW-YORKER 
FERTILIZER MANUFACTURE ON THE FARM. 
The Process and Appliances Required. 
Realizing as we do the necessity of availing our¬ 
selves of every opportunity to return fertility to our 
soil, we find such an opportunity frequently presents 
itself in the unfortunate death of our own or our 
neighbor’s live stock, and in the possession of offal 
from beef, etc., slaughtered on the farm for town con¬ 
sumption. The value of these waste products as a 
farm fertilizer is well known to the farmer, but that 
its preparation for use as such by his own efforts is 
both possible and practical, he does not know. The 
large packing houses put out only two parts of a fer¬ 
tilizer, viz., ammonia and phosphoric acid. These 
are purchased by the fertilizer works and mixed with 
a substance rich in potash to give a complete fertilizer, 
and this in turn mixed with a filler, as it would be too 
strong if used in the usual way. In the large packing 
houses the process of making fertilizer material is 
somewhat complicated and intricate, owing to the 
large number of different machines through which the 
material passes before it is ready to be sold. The mak¬ 
ing of fertilizer from offal and the carcasses of ani¬ 
mals is a simple process, however, when a compara¬ 
tively small amount of the elements of plant food can 
be lost without causing a serious monetary loss in the 
running of the factory. For instance, a pound or so, 
or only a few ounces, lost by the farmer in making 
his own fertilizer, would amount to a ton or so in a 
day in a large establishment that killed a hundred 
head or more. On the farm such fertilizers means 
the utilization of material otherwise wasted. 
In the process in use to-day in making fertilizer, the 
essential points are to cook the material thoroughly 
under a high pressure of steam and then to dry it 
until only a small percentage of moisture -remains. 
The cooking process separates the fats or carbohy¬ 
drates from the nitrogenous compounds, and the dry¬ 
ing process prevents the ammonia or nitrogen in same 
from becoming combined with moisture and escaping 
in the form of gas. In applying the above process to 
the farm of to-day there would be needed the follow¬ 
ing : A boiler capable of generating steam at a pres¬ 
sure of 60 or 80 pounds; a drum or steam-tight tank 
strong enough to withstand the above pressure, and a 
coil made up of short pieces of pipe coupled together, 
or a length of pipe bent in a spiral. The coil’s shape 
and size will depend upon the shape and size of the 
drum which it should fit. Also, in case the product is 
to be used in a grain drill, a mill to grind it to the 
desired fineness must be employed. As to this latter, 
an old feed mill will answer the purpose admirably. 
©S3 
A boiler is such a common piece of machinery that 
it needs no description. The tank for cooking the 
material can be made at any boiler shop, and probably 
be cheaper and easier to handle in the long run than a 
makeshift I am about to explain. In case a person 
vdshes to use a hot-water boiler, as is used in resi¬ 
dences to heat water, it should be examined carefully 
for rust pits, as the presence of these would make it 
unsafe under steam pressure. The tank or drum should 
have a large hole in the top, fitted with a gasket 
damp, for the filling and removal of material. These 
can be had at any boiler shop. The hole can be cut 
with a cold chisel or drill, drill to be preferred, as it 
does not bend the plate. Farmers living near a city 
can pick up a suitable tank at almost any junk yard 
or machine shop for about $10 or maybe less. After 
supplying the vat or cooking drum, the next step is 
the steam coil. This can be made by the farmer if lie 
owns or has access to a pipe-threading stock and dies 
cr it can be made by a plumber or pipe fitter. This, 
coil can be made so as to go into the cooking vat, but 
as there is no necessity for having the material air¬ 
tight while using the coil, it would be advantageous 
to have a receiving tank, open at the top, to receive 
the material after leaving the cooking vat. Such a 
tank of galvanized iron, about three feet by two, can 
be purchased for $3.50 or $1.00. The 
steam coil should be made so to fit the 
tank, that when the latter is filled with 
material there are but six or eight inches 
between pipes. 
When the fertilizer material comes 
from the coil and is cooled, it will be 
lumpy, and the bones, if any, will not be 
noticeably affected in their structure. In 
case the fertilizer is intended for use in 
a drill, this material must be ground to 
the desired fineness, as mentioned be¬ 
fore; a mill such as is used for ordinary 
grinding on the farm can be used for 
this work. In the actual making of fer¬ 
tilizer with the above described outfit, 
the blood is first placed in the cooking 
vat and steamed at a pressure of 25 to 
40 pounds for a half hour. -It will come 
out a jelly-like mass. After draining 
and put through the drier it comes out 
in lumps, the regular dried blood of the 
packing house. This blood is very rich 
in nitrogen compounds, containing from 
14 to 16 per cent of ammonia, so should 
be used sparingly as compared with the 
commercial product, as it has nearly 
twice the strength. The carcass and 
offal is cut or chopped into suitable 
sizes for placing in the vat and cooked 
from seven to 10 hours at a pressure of 
45 pounds or more, the more pressure 
the better. A pressure of 80 pounds 
would require about five hours only. 
After cooking, the tank liquid, techni¬ 
cally known as “stick,” should be drawn 
off and the tallow and grease separated. 
This “stick” is a fertilizer material in 
itself, being rich in nitrogen. The mate¬ 
rial is then placed on boards to drain, 
care being taken not to pile it, as in its 
heated state it would soon begin to throw 
off ammonia. When the liquid has nearly 
all left the material it is placed in the 
drying tank and dried until it contains 
about three per cent of moisture. After 
drying it is again spread out to cool, the 
bones and hoofs picked out and ground and then the 
whole mixed with a filler. The meat, blood and en¬ 
trails produce nitrogenous material mainly, the bones 
and gristle produce phosphoric acid; the hoof, how¬ 
ever, gives more nitrogen than acid. If ground by 
themselves the bones give a fertilizer containing four 
to six per cent ammonia and 20 to 30 per cent phos¬ 
phoric acid. In making fertilizer in the above described 
way, the farmer must use his own judgment in regard 
to the filler to be used on his land. For a general rule, 
a substance rich in potash would meet the require¬ 
ments of ordinary soils. The hide contains some 
material for plant food, but is usually more valuable 
as a “green skin.” The contents of the stomach con¬ 
tains very little fertilizer material. The packing houses 
pass this through the drier and then mix it with low- 
grade coal, for use in the homes of the poor. 
F. B. TAYLOR. 
The woman who wrote the following is away from 
home, and will not see The R. N.-Y. for several 
weeks: 
“I feel about as the little boy I know who disliked 
tr miss any of the conversation of his elders, and 
when sent from the room on an errand said: “Now 
don’t say anything until I get back.” That is how l 
like yout paper. mrs. t. s 
AN APLPE GROWERS’ MEETING IN NEW YORK. Fig. 426. 
MACHINE FOR SPRAYING ASPARAGUS. Fig. 427. 
