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TOLEDO, OHIO 
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HALL, HARTWELL & CO., Troy, N. Y. 
Makers of HALLMARK SHIRTS an<l HALLMARK ATHLETIC UNDERWEAR 
UNION 
SUITS 
GLASTEN 
SIXTY-FIVE YEARS A LEADER 
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EVERY GARMENT 
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A Prices 
{ $1.75 
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Regular Sizes 
Fine Winter, medium 
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Eight grades. 
For Sale by Leading Dealers 
Write for booklet—sample cuttings 
Yours for the Asking. Dept. 33 
GLASTONBURY KNITTING CO. 
GLASTONBURY, CONN. 
Inoculated Sulphur 
Its Value and Uses for Agricultural Purposes 
Part 1 
Botanists and soil investigators have 
definitely established the fact that no 
plant growth is possible without the ele¬ 
ment sulphur. This element is, therefore, 
one of the so-called essential or indispen¬ 
sable ingredients of plant food. If this 
ingredient is not found in the soil in 
quantities large enough to produce a nor¬ 
mal crop, the yields are bound to be un¬ 
satisfactory. Information on this point 
may bo had by comparing the amounts of 
sulphur present in cultivated soils, the 
amounts required by crops, the amounts 
brought down in rain and snow from the 
afr and the amounts lost from the soil by 
drainage. 
Ordinary ground or flowers of sulphur 
very apt to he inert in the soil. 
In passing it will be important to bear 
in mind that sulphur in the ordinary 
commercial ground form, in a great many 
instances when applied to the soil for any 
purpose, is very slowly available. For 
many years investigators working on the 
agricultural uses of sulphur reported con¬ 
flicting results, which undoubtedly was 
due to the fact that certain specific agen¬ 
cies which make the sulphur available 
were absent in some instances and pres¬ 
ent to some degree at least in others. 
The recent investigations at the New 
Jersey Experiment Station have served 
to clarify the situation. It was found 
that specific organisms, called sulfofying 
bacteria, oxidize the sulphur and make it 
available for various uses. When the soil 
is sterilized and the specific organisms are 
absent the sulphur remains practically in¬ 
ert in the soil. On the other hand, the 
addition of cultures of sulfofying bac¬ 
teria almost invariably makes the sulphur 
more effective. 
It is obvious, then, that when using sul¬ 
phur for agricultural purposes one should 
ascertain whether his particular soil has 
an abundance of these organisms, or use 
only sulphur which has been properly 
treated or inoculated with these specific 
bacteria. With but a slight difference in 
the cost of the inoculated and uninoculat¬ 
ed sulphur, one is justified in using the 
inoculated material, if nothing more than 
by way of insurance against the probable 
or possible absence of the necessary bac¬ 
teria. More will be said later about the 
nature of inoculated sulphur. 
Why sulphur is necessary for plant 
growth. 
| The following table, taken from one of 
the bulletins of the Wisconsin station, 
shows the amounts of sulphur present in 
some of the staple crops: 
Table I. 
Sulphur in Crops 
Per Cent 
Corn stover . 0.126 
Wheat straw . 0.110 
Timothy hay . 0.100 
Corn, grain . 0.130 
Wheat, grain . 0.170 
, Clover hav . 0.164 
Alfalfa hay . 0.287 
Beans, green . 0.232 
Soy beans, green . 0.311 
Potatoes . 0.137 
Turnips . 0.740 
Cabbage . 0.819 
Rape . 0.08S 
Rutabagas . 0.817 
Onions . 0.56S 
A glance at the table will show that 
crops like corn, wheat, oats, barley, etc., 
do not require as much sulphur as the 
legumes like Soy beans, clover and Al¬ 
falfa. The greatest demand for sulphur 
is evidently made by crops belonging to 
the plant family of Crueifene, like cab¬ 
bage. turnips, rape, cauliflower, etc. Also 
onions require considerable quantities of 
j sulphur. The same relations are brought 
out in a more definite way in Table II. 
showing the quantities of sulphur and 
phosphorus in pounds per acre actually 
removed by some of the more important 
staple crops: 
Table II. 
Pounds of Sulphur and Phosphorus 
Removed Per Acre 
Pounds Pounds Pounds 
Dry 
Sul- 
Phos- 
Weight 
phur 
phorus 
Wheat— 
Grain, 30 bu.. 
. 1.530 
2.6 
6.2 
-Straw . 
. 2.053 
3.7 
3.0 
Total crop.. 
. 4,183 
0.3 
0.0 
Corn— 
Grain. 30 bu... 
. 1.500 
2 6 
4.4 
Stalks . 
. 1.877 
2.2 
3.5 
Total crop.. 
. 3,377 
4.8 
7.0 
Beans— 
Grain. 30 bu. 
. 1.613 
3.8 
10.0 
Straw . 
. 1.838 
2.0 
28 
Total crop.. 
. 3,461 
5 8 
12.8 
Turnips— 
Roots . 
23.1 
0.8 
Tops . 
. 1,531 
13.8 
4.7 
Total crop.. 
. 4.567 
36.0 
14.5 
Potatoes . 
4.6 
0.4 
Alfalfa hay . • • • 
26.0 
17.4 
Cabbage . 
. 4,800 
39.2 
2G.6 
Also this table shows that the quanti¬ 
ties of sulphur removed by the staple 
cereals are relatively small, amounting to 
5 to 10 lbs. per acre, depending on the 
size of the crop grown. For instance, a 
30-bu. crop of corn will contain 2.6 lbs. 
of sulphur in the grain and 2.2 lbs. of 
sulphur in the stalks, or a total of 4.8 
lbs. If a 90-bu. crop of corn is grown, 
as may he done under intensive condi¬ 
tions. the sulphur requirements would 
lie about 1.7.5 lbs. per acre. In that case 
the natural .supply under some conditions 
may not be adequate. In the case of 
turnips the yield given would require 
nearly 37 lbs. of sulphur per acre. It 
appears, therefore, that heavy crops of 
clover. Alfalfa. Soy beans, cabbage, rape, 
turnips and onions may not find a suffi¬ 
cient supply of sulphur in the soil, and 
crop yields would, therefore, be limited 
except in so far as sulphur in some form 
is supplied to supplement the quantity de¬ 
rived from the soil itself. It may also be 
noted in passing that in the case of the 
cereals the amounts of phosphorus re¬ 
quired by the crop are larger than the 
corresponding amounts of sulphur. On 
the other hand, in the case of Alfalfa, 
cabbage, turnips and other Crucifer®, the 
amount of sulphur required by the crop 
is larger than the amount of phosphorus 
required, under the same conditions. 
J. G. UPMAN, 
Weevils in Grain 
Is there any way to get rid of weevils? 
It is a little black insect, something like 
oats lice. I bought a farm about two 
months ago, and find these insects in last 
year’s rye. There are so many I am 
afraid they will eat the rye, as they eat 
the points off and then the flour out of 
it. Is there any danger that they will 
get into the oats? What is the best way 
to get rid of them? j. M. 
Kintnersville, Pa. 
Although no specimens of the small 
black insects mentioned by the corre¬ 
spondent wore sent with the letter, we 
may be reasonably sure that they are the 
small black beetles commonly known as 
grain weevils. There are two kinds— 
the rice weevil and the granary weevil— 
that work in stored grains, but they are 
so nearly alike in size, color, shape and 
manner of injury that only an expert can 
tell them apart. Moreover, the method 
of control is the same for each. 
The fears of J. M. that the weevils will 
completely destroy the rye are well 
founded, for if the insects are left alone 
to continue their work they will event¬ 
ually reduce the rye to a fine powder-like 
waste material. I doubt if they will at¬ 
tack the oats seriously, although if the 
weevils find no other grain for food they 
may go to the oats. As a rule the weevils 
are more partial to wheat, rice, rye and 
corn than to oats. 
The standard method of dealing with 
these insects is to fumigate the infested 
grain with carbon bisulphide. If the 
quantity of rye is not too great it would 
be best to put it in boxes or barrels and 
use about one-fourth of a teacupful of 
the liquid to each bushel of grain, but the 
receptacles should he tight and should be 
covered over tightly with old blankets, 
wet newspapers or similar articles. If 
the boxes were tight enough even less 
than a fourth of a teaspoonful to a bushel 
would do. If the grain is fumigated in 
the bin care must be taken to have it 
tight and to cover it tightly. The fumi¬ 
gation should be allowed to go for two or 
three days, when the receptacles may be 
opened and the grain fed to stock without 
fear of causing any injury. 
The carbon bisulphide may be poured 
directly over the grain or put iu shallow 
dishes and set on top of the grain. The 
material is inflammable and explosive, 
and great care should be exercised in not 
going near it or near the treated grain 
with fire of any kind—lighted match, 
lantern, cigar, pipe or other form of fire. 
GLENN W. HERRICK. 
Controlling Coltsfoot 
There is a weed on our farm called 
coltsfoot, and it is running everything 
else out. Can you tell me what would 
kill it? G. W.L. 
New York. 
Coltsfoot, botanically Tussilago Far- 
fara, is a perennial weed that propagates 
by seeds and rootstocks. Other popular 
names for it are cough wort, ginger root, 
day weed, dovedock and liorsehoof. It is 
an introduced weed, now spreading from 
Nova Scotia to Ohio, and northward to 
Minnesota. Seeding should be prevented 
by cutting flower scapes while in bloom. 
The plant likes moist clay soil, and 
drainage, manuring, liming and good cul¬ 
tivation will enable other and better 
plants to drive it out. The horizontal 
rootstocks are near the surface, so that 
cultivation tears them out, when they 
may be raked away. There is a native 
weed known as sweet coltsfoot. Petasites 
palmatus, that is quite troublesome on 
recently cleared ground, wet meadows and 
swamps. This, like the Tussilago, is con¬ 
trolled by drainage and cultivation. 
