The RURAL. NEW.YORKER 
Various Horticultural Notes 
Notes from a Maryland Garden 
I fully agree with the editor in the mat¬ 
ter of making the ground limestone fine 
as meal. In an address I made a few 
years ago at the meeting of the National 
Lime Manufacturers at the Hotel Astor 
in New York, I told them of a field in 
Northern Maryland where the white lime¬ 
stone of that section protruded over a 
field. This limestone weathers on expos¬ 
ure till the outer part shivers into crys¬ 
tals the size of a boy’s marbles and 
smaller. This field had these limestone 
crystals scattered all over it. and yet it 
got so acid that clover would not thrive 
and it was called “clover sick.” But 
when some of that same rock was burned 
and harrowed-in on that field after slak¬ 
ing, it grew the finest clover in the neigh¬ 
borhood. If the limestone is pulverized 
like meal it becomes simply a matter of 
cost. It will take twice as much of the 
ground rock to have the same effect as 
the burned lime. Therefore, if a farmer is 
so situated he can buy, freight, haul, 
and spread two tons of the ground rock 
as cheaply as he can buy, freight, haul and 
spread one ton of burnt lime, after slak¬ 
ing or hydrating at home. When I was 
engaged in extensive farming I bought 
freshly burned lime in bulk in carloads 
and then slaked it to a powder with 
water. I did not buy the so-called agri¬ 
cultural lime, the air-slaked refuse of the 
kiln, hence did not pay freight on the 
water. The lime doubled in bulk in slak¬ 
ing, and I could use it at less cost than 
the ground limestone. 
More than 100 years ago there was the 
same fad in England for the raw ground 
rock, and “chalking” the soil was all the 
go, but it died out and the burnt lime 
came back. Bob Seeds, the well-known 
institute speaker in Pennsylvania, tells in 
a lecture of his called “How God Made 
the Land Rich.” of the old Pennsylvania 
farmer and his son soon after they got to 
liming. The old man and the boy were 
leaning up against the fence and wonder¬ 
ing what they would ever do with the 
great crops the lime was bringing. Years 
after the old man had gone to his fathers 
and the son was leaning against the 
fence and wondering what was the mat¬ 
ter with the land. Like many others who 
found great results from the use of lime 
the first time, he had jumped to the con¬ 
clusion that if lime gave such good results, 
all the land needed then was more lime. 
But they discovered, used in auy such 
way, the lime was depleting the fertility of 
the soil, and that lime is not a fertilizer, 
but a reagent, and when the work of a 
reagent is done there -will be no need for 
it till the old conditions try to return. 
Lime will only make conditions more fa¬ 
vorable to the use of manure and addi¬ 
tional humus material. 
When I was a college student in the 
Cumberland Valley in 1S5G, the farmers 
were using 200 bu. of lime an acre. Now 
I hardly think that auy of them apply 
more than 25 bu. at once, and today the 
ground rock enthusiasts talk about tons 
on tons, four or five or more tons an acre, 
and, as the late Dr. Hopkins said.it does 
not need to be all fine, as the coarse lumps 
will last long. They certainly will, and 
last till they have no effect on the 6oil at 
all. The advocates of the use of only 
the raw rock remind me of an old Irish¬ 
man who formerly worked for me. Ned 
had caught cold, and I got him a little 
bottle of a cough syrup. That night Ned 
was desperately sick, and came to the 
conclusion he was about to die. I went 
to see him and askerl what he had done 
for the cold. He said : “If that stuff was 
good for anything, a big dose must be bet¬ 
ter than a little one, and so I took the 
whole of the little bottle,” and the ipecac 
in it had pretty well cleaned out every¬ 
thing he carried inside, including the 
cold, but he was a very sick man. They 
think that if one ton does good, half a 
dozen tons should do better. They tell us 
the burned lime will destroy the humus. 
It will certainly hasten the nitrification 
of the organic decay in the soil, and I 
always thought that the humus was some¬ 
thing to be used and replenished, and if 
the lime hastens its use, all the better. 
We can maintain and increase the humus, 
and if the lime makes it of value to our 
crops, let the lime destroy it. We do not 
put it there merely to keep, but to use. 
Hence, if the lime eats the humus, I will 
“sic” it on, and find more for it. 
W. F. MASSEY. 
Orchard Heaters in Missouri 
(Continued from page 47S) 
hexagonal plan. Also, if not used, they 
are not in the way of spraying. I buy 
a car of fuel oil with as little a.sphaltum 
residue as possible; use a 200-gallon gal¬ 
vanized tank to haul from the car, and 
fill heater from a faucet in rear of tank. 
I get in touch with the Weather Bureau, 
which notifies when danger of a killing 
frost. I use a Government-tested ther¬ 
mometer at the house, and have three or 
four tin tested thermometers at different 
altitudes in the orchard. When there is 
danger of frost my men are notified to 
be on hand not later than 9 a. m. If a 
493 
freeze is threatened with wind and per¬ 
haps snow, the thermometers are visited 
every half hour, and when down to 34 
degrees F., and temperature going down, 
we get busy. Seven men will light 100 
acres of orchard in one hour. Each man 
is supplied with a gallon kerosene can 
filled with gasoline ; also a wire two feet 
long, on one end a large corncob, which 
he soaks in gasoline, later dips it in the 
fuel oil to keep it going. He flips the 
lid off the heater, pours a tablespoonful 
of gas on top of oil, applies the torch and 
goes to the next, almost as fast as he 
can -walk. If the wind is blowing hard 
enough to put out the heaters in exposed 
places we relight them. One of these 
heaters will burn two or more hours to 
the gallon of oil. 
I have never tried nor had occasion to 
refill heaters on the same night. In case 
of frost it is not so difficult, as you sel¬ 
dom need the heaters until 2:30 or 3 
a. m.. and all you do is to light them and 
go to bed. I lost three crops in five years, 
and took a trip to the Northwest, but 
found they were in the same boat. I 
installed heaters, and saved the next three 
crops. One should not get excited and 
light the heaters unless absolutely neces¬ 
sary. I have had the thermometer drop 
to 32 degrees F. and go no lower, and 
no loss from freezing. From April 25 to 
May 4 is our danger point. It is neces¬ 
sary to have a heater to each tree. I have 
held the temperature six degrees above 
outside temperature and saved the crop. 
Smudging is a nuisance, as smoke does 
but little good. I find the danger point to 
be when the shucks or calyx tubes are 
falling; then 30 degrees will kill the 
apple. Also do not extinguish your heater 
before sunrise, as the cold is then most 
severe. 
“Now Tommy,” said a Sunday School 
teacher to a member of the juvenile class, 
“which would you rather be, the wheat or 
the tares?” “The tares,” said Tommy. 
“Why?” asked the teacher in some sur¬ 
prise. “How can you say that when you 
know the wheat represents the good and 
the tares the bad?” “Oh, that’s all 
right,” replied Tommy, “the wheat gets 
thrashed and the tares don’t.”—London 
Farm and Home. 
4 TOP DRESSING TALKS, No. 7 
fl'i'TM Ammonia Makes Fruit Buds 
Orchards in a somewhat rundown or devitalized condition will 
be greatly benefited by an application of Arcadian Sulphate 
or '$ ■ ^ mmonia. 
ilwmif Nitrogen (usually termed ammonia) is the most important 
jBjriai fertilizer element in fruit production. It is ammonia that pro- 
fr motes the vigorous wood growth so necessary for the formation 
W of fruit spurs and fruit buds. 
Arcadian Sulphate of Ammonia applied about a week before blossom 
time (100 to 150 pounds to the acre) will invigorate the fruit buds and 
increase the amount of fruit set. 
The failure of fruit to set and the early falling of fruit is often due 
entirely to nitrogen starvation. In some sections an early application of 
quickly-available nitrogen has increased the yields of fruit from four 
to ten times. 
Arcadian Sulphate of Ammonia contains 2534% of ammonia guar¬ 
anteed (one-third more nitrogen than is contained in any other top¬ 
dressing fertilizer). The ammonia is all soluble, quickly available and 
in a non-leaching form. The crystals are fine and dry and easily applied 
by hand or machine. 
Order now from your nearest dealer and write for our free bulletin, 
“Fertilizing the Apple Orchard,” No. 85. 
ARCADIAN IS FOR SALE BY 
CONNECTICUT: Bridgeport; The Berkshire 
Fertilizer Co. 
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For information 
as to applica¬ 
tion, write 
The 
Company 
AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT 
New York 
Medina, O. 
i 
