The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1849 
or a failure. In other words, the farm lands of the 
State are bankrupt in humus or plant food, and un¬ 
less some such plants as Sweet clover. Soy beans, 
etc., are regularly used in rotation, or specially 
grown for soil improvement, the land is going to drop 
still further back, and ultimately into disuse for 
agricultura 1 purposes. 
It is .calculated that a regular crop of Sweet 
clover plowed under is equivalent to from 20 to MO 
tons of manure to the acre. Any farmer would 
expect some showing from one such treatment of any 
piece of land on his farm, and personally I would 
figure it would take at least five such treatments in 
the course of 10 years on a two-year crop rotation 
to make the ground show any semblance to fertility. 
They can quibble and haggle about the problem all 
they please, but ultimately a consistent program of 
“giving back" something to the depleted, starved and 
hungry land from which they expect to produce a 
living, will have to be followed. 
One of the State Advisers argued that if the 
growing of Sweet clover meant liming and a special 
conditioning of the soil, farmers would prefer to 
grow Alfalfa. It is true experience has shown that 
Sweet clover does appreciate lime, yet I have had 
some remarkable growths on ground which has had 
but very little lime in many years. During the past 
Spring, when seeding Sweet clover across the wheat, 
the experiment was made in drilling in 200 lbs. of 
lime to the acre with the Sweet clover seed. A very 
good stand was obtained, with every promise of a 
remarkable seed crop the coming year. This refers 
to the biennial white. But Alfalfa, specially for soil 
improvement, would hardly compare with any of the 
Sweet clovers and its use to capacity for hay would 
only postpone the “giving back" date for “regular 
soil improvement.” It is also true there is some 
benefit in raising any of the legumes provided the 
seed lias been properly inoculated with nitrogen-col¬ 
lecting bacteria, but relying on this alone without 
giving back some great stock of vegetation such as 
provided in tv record crop of Sweet clover for humus, 
would make soil improvement a much slower process. 
Xow for something in regard to the new annual 
white Sweet clover shown in the photographs sub¬ 
mitted. The plant to the left in the picture. Fig. 
619. is between 7 and S ft. high, with a round spread 
of 5 ft. On October 24. when the picture was taken, 
the plant was in beautiful green foliage, with every¬ 
thing from blossoms to mature seed. My start with 
this crop came from its discoverer. Prof. II. D. 
Hughes of the Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station, 
whose article entitled “A New Plant Hired Man” 
appeared in your issue of March 18. The small 
quantity of seed received was planted.in a specially 
prepared strip of ground in the kitchen garden 
about May 15. During the first week in July the 
plants. 6 or S in. high, were reset UP. ft. apart in 
rows 4 ft. apart. Expectations were more than real¬ 
ised. as all available space was utilized and a won¬ 
derful seed crop secured. Encouraged by the past 
year's experience with this new wonder crop, you can 
count on me for 50 acres of the annual white, in 
addition to my regular acreage of the biennials, 
white and yellow, the coming season, a. m. iiaxxa. 
Somerset Co.. N. .T. 
A Family Affair 
I enclose a picture. Fig. 620. of mother holding my 
crop of annual' white Sweet clover that the Iowa 
Agricultural Experiment Station sent me last Spring. 
This was about half of my crop, a row about 12 ft. 
long. The seed was sown June 8, in a row in the 
garden with a few radish seed mixed in to mark 
the row. I inoculated with soil from an Alfalfa field. 
It started rather slowly, but when it got a start grew 
very fast. This picture was taken October 16. when 
1 pulled this half of the row up. as it looked like a 
heavy frost that night. Most of the seed looked 
pretty green, but I was afraid to leave it any longer: 
however. I'll have enough seed well ripened to sow 
several rows next year, and I hope to get it. in 
earlier. Raymond eckhart. 
Morris Co.. N. .1. 
The Largest Plants Vet 
From Prof. Hughes I received a free sample of 
seed. There were exactly 110 seeds, all of which 
were planted, the seed bed being a space 8x16 ft., 
spaded up from sod on front lawn. The bed was 
spaded three times and about 4 qts. of hydrated lime 
put on at time of planting the seed. The seeds were 
put in two rows is in. apart and 4 ft. apart in the 
row. Exactly 24 plants came up, and for a week or 
T HE great scareift* of sulphuric acid during the 
war found*one reflection in the increased price 
of acid phosphate. This has become the standard 
and favorite chemical for supplying available phos¬ 
phorus as a fertilizer. It gives prompt results and 
is generally regarded as the standard source of 
phosphoric acid. The extremely high price has sent 
both farmers and scientific men hunting for new 
sources of artificial phosphorus or new methods of 
Heating phosphate rock from which acid phosphate 
is made. Most of these new methods consider the 
use of sulphur in some form. 
The proposed new process of Dr. Lipman covers 
the use of “inoculated sulphur” mixed with soil and 
ground rock. This develops bacteria which attack 
the ground rock and make if available. We believe 
tliis method is practical and will be found very use¬ 
ful when fully developed. The introduction of “Bari¬ 
um-phosphate" represented a plan for making use 
of a mechanical mixture of barium sulphide and 
ground rock. The theory is that the sulphur in this 
mixture will act upon the ground rock and that the 
barium will stimulate the action of bacteria. Then 
there are plans for mixing sulphur directly with the 
ground rock. In many experiments now being made 
to compare acid phosphate with raw ground rock, 
sulphur is mixed with the latter so as to give about 
the amount which would be found in the acid phos¬ 
phate. Then comes a new plan for mixing gypsum 
or sulphate of lime with the ground rock, on the the¬ 
ory that the gypsum. like the barium sulphide, may 
show an action upon the rock. In the meantime 
the rock itself is being ground finer than formerly. 
Last of all come, the Agricultural Department with 
a proposed new process. This consists in making a 
mixture of ground phosphate rock, sand and coke, 
and heating it to nearly 8,000° F. At this tempera¬ 
ture the mixture is melted and the phosphoric acid 
escapes in the form of fumes, which are collected in 
a liquid or solid form, as desired. In this way the 
chemists report that they are able to recover a fer¬ 
tilizer containing 64 per cent of phosphoric acid. Tt 
can be mixed with ammonia to form an ammonium 
phosphate, or mixed with ground rock to make a 
phosphate containing 50 per cent phosphoric acid. 
It is thought that this process may be developed so 
as to make if as cheap or cheaper than the use of 
sulphuric acid. 
All this shows how the scientists and manufactur¬ 
ers are working to handle this problem of cheaper 
or more effective phosphorus. There is also a grow¬ 
ing belief that sulphur plays a more important part 
as a fertilizer than chemists have been willing to 
admit. Many crops contain as much, or more, of 
sulphur as of phosphorus, while most soils naturally 
contain but a small quantity of the first-named sub¬ 
stance. In Oregon great results were obtained, par¬ 
ticularly on clover or Alfalfa, from the use of sul¬ 
phur fertilizers. Acid phosphate gave good results, 
and these results were evidently not all due to the 
phosphorus in the phosphate. Practically as good 
results were obtained from the use of gypsum or 
sulphate of lime. These results were better than 
those obtained with lime alone, thus indicating the 
value of sulphur on that kind of soil. Experiments 
in Kentucky also show the value of sulphur as a fer¬ 
tilizer. Usually the use of gypsum or acid phos¬ 
phate give better results than ground sulphur—from 
which the experimenters conclude that a sulphate is 
the best form for application. 
These experiments certainly show that on these 
particular soils sulphur lias paid as a fertilizer. 
They do not prove that all soils are equally in need 
of this substance, but they do show the need of full 
investigation. This has never yet been made. It is 
time the work was done on a scale to be compared 
with the famous lime experiments conducted by 
Prof. Wheeler some years ago. There is no question 
but that the use of gypsum or sulphate of lime is 
sensible. Many of us can remember the time, years 
ago. when this “land plaster” or gypsum was the 
principal fertilizer for New York farms. It was gen¬ 
erally used on the clover and for years it gave sur¬ 
prising results. No one knew just what its action 
was. for that was in tin* early days of agricultural 
science. If was thought that the plaster supplied 
lime and worked out a chemical combination in the 
soil which set potash free. With the development of 
chemical fertilizers plaster passed out of use. Now 
it seems to be coming back on the assumption that it 
supplies lime, gives a chemical action in the soil and 
supplies sulphur, an element essential to the full de¬ 
velopment of such crops as clover and Alfalfa. 
A Jersegman's Annual Sicect Clover 
We think farmers are now to learn new uses and 
values for gypsum, or plain sulphur, not only as 
direct plant food, but for a chemical action on 
ground rocks containing phosphorus and potash. 
Our experiment stations should go at this problem 
at once. 
Annual Sweet Clover in New Jersey 
1 AM enclosing photographs of the new annual 
Sweet clover taken on my farm in Somerset 
County. New Jersey is certainly one State which 
needs placing on the Sweet clover map. and it is my 
intention to do all I can to keep it there. Having 
worked with the biennial varieties of Sweet clover 
for the past four years, and having as much Sweet 
clover on my own farm now as there was in the en¬ 
tire State in 1917, you can imagine with what en¬ 
thusiasm I hail the new annual, and glory in its 
prospects of revolutionizing fanning in an agricul¬ 
turally poor or worn-out State. This seems a little 
harsh, yet we all know that unless every piece of 
tillable land is staked in advance to the “makings” 
of a crop to be grown, it is a non-profitable venture 
.1 Family Affair in Siccii Clover. Fig. 620 
The New Uses for Fertilizer Sulphur 
