■ C»c RURAL NEW-YORKER 
791 
Soil Fertility Notes 
Burning Hay for Fertilizer 
I have a piece of ground plowed for 
cucumbers that I wish to cover about six 
inches deep with dry meadow hay and 
burn off. harrowing in the ashes immedi¬ 
ately after burning. Will it pay, and 
wliat will be the value of the hay thus 
burned to the land? ir. i.. M. 
Perry, Me. 
This is a new plan, which we have 
never seen tried, and we do not tliink it 
would pay. You do not say how large 
this piece of ground is. One ton of .such 
hay as you speak of will contain about 
2.J pounds of nitrogen, seven pounds of 
phosphoric acid, and about .35 pounds of 
])otash. By burning the h'ay you will lose 
all the nitrogen, which will mean at least 
$5 to the ton at present prices. The ton 
of hay would also furnish a considerable 
amount of humus or organic matter, 
greatly needed in most soils. While the 
potash would be more available in the 
form of ashes, it would not be a profitable 
plan to lo.s6 all the nitrogen and the or¬ 
ganic matter in order to make the potash 
more available. It would be better to 
work the entire body of hay into the 
ground. If you had a fodder cutter, you 
could run the hay through it, and then 
spread it over the ground. Put it on at 
once so that it will become thoroughly 
wet from the rain. Let it start to decay, 
if possible, and just before planting the 
cucumbers spade or plow it all under. 
You will obtain better results by handling 
the hay in this way than you will by 
burning it, for we can hardly conceive of 
any situation where it will pay to burn 
organic matter on our Eastern farm.s. 
Still another way would be to .spread the 
hay on top of the ground after planting 
and leave it there as a mulch or cover. 
the products may be broadcast separately 
and harrowed in. This may seem like 
rather a liberal fertilizer application for 
corn, but the.se wool-waste products have 
a somewhat low availability as compared 
with the average mixed commercial fer¬ 
tilizers. If the product is to be used for 
potatoes, I would suggest that 1,200 lbs. 
of the wool waste be broadcast and 
worked into the soil with a harrow, and 
that the other SOO lbs. be mixed with 
200 lbs. of nitrate of .soda and 900 lbs. 
of IG per cent acid phosphate, this mix¬ 
ture to be used in the drill at the time of 
planting. If the potatoes are planted by 
hand the fertilizer should not be thrown 
in handfuls in the drill, but should be 
scattered so as to cover a space four to 
six inches wide in the drill, and lightly 
mixed with the soil before the seed is 
planted. If the planting is done by a 
potato planter having an attachment for 
the distribution of fertilizer, such a ma¬ 
chine will probably take care of the 
proper distribution of the fertilizer. 
Many of these wool products are liable 
to contain large quantities of noxious 
weed seeds, so in purchasing the wool 
wastes it is well to look the substances 
over carefully for these seeds, which 
might prove somewhat of a nuisance. 
ii. n. iiA.srax.s. 
-The Phosphate Rock Situation 
Before the war this country was send¬ 
ing nearly 1,500,000 tons of phosphate 
rock to Europe. In 1917 this export 
trade fell to 100,00.3 tons. In spite of 
this falling off in foreign trade produc¬ 
tion or moving of this phosphate has kept 
up. The figures for 1917 are; 
State. 
Quantity. 
Value. 
Florida . 
Lon a ton a. 
2,022,599 
$5,404,493 
South Caroliua. 
3.3,4,35 
138,482 
Tennessee, includ- 
ing several 
thousand . tons 
from Kentucky 
513,107 
2,120,353 
I d a h o, Utah, 
Wyoming ... 
15,090 
41.750 
T'-' 
2,5S4,287 
7,771,084 
A notable feature of the year was the 
increase in production in the Western 
States, where there are now four pro¬ 
ducers instead of only one or two, and the 
output was considerably greater than in 
any previous year. It is expected that 
the output from the Rocky Mountaiu 
phosphate fields will continue to grow, 
for the rock is of high grade and abund¬ 
ant, and the demand for it should in¬ 
crease as the country on the Pacific slope 
is developed. 
Mushrooms in the Garden 
I have read the two articles on mu.sh- 
rooms in recent issues. We have no cel¬ 
lar to use, but I would like to get some 
started in the pasture or yard, but did 
not know whether the spawn advertised in 
catalogues would grow there or not. What 
time should the spawn he planted, and 
how deep, and should the ground be 
loosened up around, or just raised enough 
to insert the spawn? Will there be as 
large a crop outside as in a cellar, or 
should more spawn be used? 
Sauk, Wash. mks. b. e. jr. 
Mushrooms can be grown by in.serting 
pieces of the spawn into the .sod about 
.Tune 15 in the latitude of New Ymi-k. 
There is nothing dependable upon it, al¬ 
though a fine crop is often had if the 
weather happens to be favorable. Select 
sod in a pasture, lawn or meadow which 
furnishes conditions similar to those 
where the wild mu.shrooms grow. With 
the aid of a .sharp si)ade make T or L- 
shaped cuts about two inches deep. Into 
these insert pieces of the spawn about the 
size of hens’ eggs and carefully press the 
sod biick into its place. The insertions 
are usually made about three feet apart 
each way. 
Sometimes the spawn is bedded in 
much the same way between the rows of 
vegetables in the home garden with .splen¬ 
did results. A favorite place is between 
the rows of beans or other vegetables 
which furnish considerable shade, at least 
until the crop is expected to be ready iii 
late Summer. Florists frequently bed 
spawn between their rows of cool-loving 
greenhouse crops, such as carnations. 
Any of these methods furnish possibilities 
which require no other expense than the 
cost of the spawn, and the returns are 
frequently very good. r. w. n. 
“Do YOU understand the cause of the 
girls’ quarrel?’’ “Well, I’m told it was 
six feet tall, with broad shoulders and a 
khaki suit.’’—Boston Tramscript. 
' How to Use House Slops 
What use can be made of house slop.? 
or urine which u.sed to be thrown around 
an old, large apple tree, which killed the 
tree? Will you tell me whether this 
liquid can be utilized as a fertilizer in 
any way. and if so, the proper mixture? 
New Y'ork. n, b. s. 
As a rule these slops are too strong in 
ammonia for direct application. Diluted 
half and half with water they can be 
sprinkled over the lawn with good' re¬ 
sults. In some ca.ses they ai*e kept in a 
closed barrel, mixed with water and 
.sprinkled over the grass at night. A 
better way is to make a compost heai) in 
some secluded place and pour the slops 
over it. Such a heap ma.v be made of 
any wa.s-te, such as old sods, black soil, 
weeds or anything that will absorb 
li(iuids. The slops are poured on this 
heap. It absorbs the liquid and holds 
the plant food. In some cases the i)ile 
of coal ashes is used for this purpose and 
it serves well. The pile is made up wdth 
a dishing or saucer-like top and the 
slops are poured into this depres.sion. The I 
coal ashes absorb the liquid and when 
needed on the field or garden the ashes 
are spread like any fertilizer. They 
carry the ammonia and potash contained 
in the slops and are not offensive to 
handle. All liquid manures are richer in 
nitrogen and potash than in phosphoric 
acid, and when u.sed on the garden or 
farm acid phosphate or bone should be 
used with them. 
Wool Waste as Fertilizer 
I am able to buy a quantity of wool 
dust which I want to use as a fertilizer 
for corn or potatoes. IIow should I han¬ 
dle it and what mix with it? j, s, 
I assume that by wool dust you mean 
the ordinary wool waste containing more 
or less sheep manure. The following 
average represents 2.3 samples: 
Moisture. 7.-14% 
Nitrogen . 2.10“ 
Phosphoric acid .03 
1‘hoosphoric acid .03 “ 
Insoluble earthy matter. 49.72“ 
Products of this .sort are somewhat 
better suited to the growth of corn and 
seeding to grass than for the usual veg¬ 
etable crops, such as potatoes. For corn 
I wotild recommend the use of one ton 
of this wool waste per acre and about 
500 lbs. of 10 per cent acid phosphate. 
The acid phosphate may be mixed with 
the material and the whole broadcast and 
Imrrowed in just previous to planting, or 
UNHAM 
TRADE MARK REO. 
Note where the Culti-Packer has passed over, that all lumps are crushed, all air spaces are firmed out and the surface^is 
stirred and loosened just as a cultivator would do it. 
Culti-Pack Your Wheat 
Without an hour of extra labor you can get the finest 
.seed bed of firm, moist soil that wheat was ever drill¬ 
ed in. 
The Dunham Culti-Packer does not add an extra op¬ 
eration—it helps your harrows and other tools to fit 
the seed bed quicker and better. 
Use the Culti-Packer before and after seeding and it 
will give you quick sprouting, and a close, even stand 
of vigorous rooted plants to stand the winter. In the 
spring it will settle down any frost heaved plants, tuck 
For Sale by John 
THE DUNHAM CO., 
the soil around the roots and prevent all loss from 
winterkilling. 
> ^ 
There is no guess work about what the Culti-l*cickci 
will do for wheat. - It gives remarkable increases in 
yield, certified to by leading authorities on farming. 
We have printed the facts in a 48-page book “Soil 
Sense”, illustrated with 100 field photographs showing 
the Culti-Packer’s work on wheat and every other crop. 
Ask your dealer for “Soil Sense” or if he hasn’t it write 
us direct. It will mean more wheat from every acre, 
Deere Dealers 
CLEVELAND, OHIO 
Factories at Berea, Ohio 
