1283 
The  RURAL.  NEW-YORKER 
growing  this  crop  for  over  50  years,  lias  had  op¬ 
portunity  to  learn  and  unlearn  a  number  of  things 
in  regard  to  it. 
Experience  has  proved  that  after  the  bean  cut¬ 
ter  or  puller  has  done  its  work,  the  beans  should 
be  forked  into  bunches  of  about  one  good  forkful. 
After  these  bunches  have  been  dried  out  by  sun 
and  wind  for  a  day  or  two,  they  are  ready  to  be 
cocked  up  like  hay.  The  first  bunch  is  turned  bot¬ 
tom  up  on  a  new  dry  spot,  and  then  bundles  are 
'built  in  on  this  by  setting  them  out  without  invert¬ 
ing  them.  The  reason  for  this  is  that  these  smaller 
bunches  have  become  matted  and  dried  together  in 
a  sort  of  umbrella  fashion,  and  when  placed  in  that 
way  there  is  much  less  danger  of  rain  getting  down 
through  the  large  bunch  than  if  these  smaller 
bunches  were  turned  bottom  up.  If  the  last  bunch 
is  placed  carefully  on  the  top  there  is  little  danger 
of  rain  getting  down  through  and 
damaging  the  beans. 
When  the  bunches  are  all  turned 
bottom  up,  they  are  all  loosened,  and 
there  is  an  invitation  cffei’ed  for  the 
rain  to  get  down  through,  as  in  this 
way  the  top  is  left  flat  and  loosely 
open.  We  always  think  that  beans 
properly  cocked,  after  cutting,  are 
pretty  well  insured  against  rain  dam¬ 
age.  By  the  way,  this  work  should  be 
done  during  the  heat  of  the  day  as 
this  makes  a  great  difference  in  the 
curing  process.  If  the  crop  when 
harvested  as  left  in  small  bunches  the 
heavy  dews  and  often  showers  that 
occur  at  that  season  wet  the  bunch 
clear  through  to  the  bottom,  and  there¬ 
by  make  slow  work  of  the  cui’ing. 
h.  e.  cox. 
cooked  or  steamed  and  then  crushed  fine.  There 
are  several  grades  of  bonemeal.  The  better  bones 
are  crushed  and  used  for  feeding  purposes.  These 
generally  contain  a  small  quantity  of  dried  meat. 
This  is  different  from  fertilizing  bonemeal,  the 
latter  being  generally  taken  from  tougher  and 
harder  bones  and  often  treated  with  sulphuric  acid. 
A  pure  bonemeal  will  contain  about  3  per  cent  of 
nitrogen  and  25  per  cent  of  phosphoric  acid. 
Acid  phosphate  is  an  entirely  different  thing. 
This  is  made  from  what  is  called  phosphate  rock. 
This  substance  is  really  a  petrified  bone  or  mineral. 
This  is  dug  out  of  the  ground  in  the  form  of  a  rock 
and  crushed  to  a  fine  powder.  This  powder  is  mixed 
with  sulphuric  acid  and  thoi’ouglily  stirred  up.  The 
result  is  that  the  acid  works  upon  the  rock  and 
makes  the  phosphoric  acid  available;  that  is, 
promptly  soluble  in  water.  The  ground  bone  is 
R 
Chicken  Manure  &  Phosphate 
I  was  interested  in  a  short  article  in  Tnose  stone  w 
your  issue  on  page  1143,  on  “Chicken  The  land  was 
Manure  for  Strawberries.”  I  have  been 
using  poultry  manure  for  gardening,  also 
some  rotted  horse  manure.  I  want  some¬ 
thing  to  help  the  soil,  particularly  to  get 
better  berries,  (strawberries,  raspberries 
and  blackberries)  and  asparagus.  I  am 
therefore  interested  in  what  you  say  in 
regard  to  adding  bonemeal  or  acid  phos¬ 
phate  to  the  manure.  Are  these  two  the 
same  commercially?  Which  of  these  two 
is  the  cheaper?  If  bonemeal  is  as  cheap 
as  the  acid  phosphate,  are  there  two 
kinds  of  bonemeal,  one  for  feeding  and 
another  for  fertilizer?  I  notice  in  the 
price  list  of  a  meat  scrap  factory  that 
they  advertise  bonemeal.  This  firm 
makes  good  clean  feed.  It  occurs  to  me 
that  such  bonemeal  (for  chick  mashes, 
etc.)  might  be  of  a  better  grade,  i.e., 
purer  and  sweeter  than  necessary  for 
fertilizing  purposes,  also  it  might  be 
ground  too  coarse.  Is  there  not  such  a 
thing  as  bone  dust  for  fertilizing  pur¬ 
poses?  Is  it  sufficient  simply  to  throw 
either  the  acid  phosphate  or  bonemeal 
on  the  ground  around  the  berry  plants  or 
bushes  without  turning  it  under?  How 
much  of  such  fertilizer  would  y-  u  rhrow 
on  the  ground  per  100-ft.  row  of  straw¬ 
berries?  In  the  Fall,  Spring,  or  Sum- 
mei  ?  B. 
New  York. 
WHAT  we  have  tried  to  make 
clear  is  the  fact  that  chicken 
manure  is  a  poorly  balanced  fertilizer. 
It  contains  considerable  nitrogen  and 
quite  a  little  potash,  but  is  lacking  in 
phosphorus.  In  order  to  get  best  returns  from  it, 
therefore  it  is  better  to  add  the  phosphorus  in 
some  form.  That  makes  a  better  fertilizer  for  all 
crops.  Our  general  advice  has  been  to  use  about 
700  lbs.  of  dried  and  fine  chicken  manure  and  300 
lbs.  of  acid  phosphate.  That  gives  a  very  fair 
mixture  for  most  crops,  especially  on  the  heavy  clay 
soils.  On  light  soils  or  where  potatoes  or  root 
crops  are  to  be  grown  it  would  probably  be  well  to 
add  100  lbs.  of  muriate  of  potash.  For  very  quick 
growing  crops  like  celery  or  garden  crops  50-  lbs. 
of  nitrate  of  soda  added  to  the  mixture  would  help. 
As  a  simple  mixture,  however,  for  most  crops 
the  chicken  manure  and  acid  phosphate  will  an¬ 
swer.  The  difference  between  bonemeal  and  acid 
phosphate  is  easily  understood.  The  bonemeal  is 
simply  a  form  of  bone  crushed  or  ground  as  fine 
as  possible.  The  bones  are  first  steamed  under 
high  pressure.  This  takes  out  the  fat  and  to  some 
extent  softens  the  bones.  They  are  crushed  in  a 
stamp-mill  and  run  through  a  powerful  grinder 
which  cracks  and  crushes  them  to  various  degrees 
of  fineness.  The  finer  the  crushing  the  more  avail¬ 
able  the  bone.  In  some  cases  the  bones  are  treated 
or  cut  with  sulphuric  acid.  This,  of  course,  makes 
them  more  available,  but  generally  when  bonemeal 
is  mentioned,  we  refer  to  the  bones  that  have  been 
alls  are  not  all  in  New  England.  Here  is  one  in  Western  New  York, 
cleared,  the  stones  picked  up  and  put  into  dry  walls — with  concrete 
block  posts  for  braces.  It  makes  a  good  enclosure. 
Overhead  Irriga  tion  System.  Fig.  566.  .  See  next  page. 
really  an  organic  substance,  while  the  acid  phos¬ 
phate  is  a  mineral.  The  very  fine  bonemeal  is  quite 
readily  available.  The  acid  phosphate  is  generally 
cheaper.  That  is,  a  pound  of  phosphoric  acid  in  this 
phosphate  will  usually  cost  less  than  a  pound  in 
the  ground  bone.  Bone  dust  is  simply  a  bonemeal 
ground  very  fine  indeed.  It  is  better  to  work  these 
fertilizers  into  the  soil  with  cultivator,  rake  or  hoe. 
A  fertilizer  like  nitrate  of  soda  might  be  left  on  the 
ground  to  dissolve  and  work  into  the  soil,  but  a 
fertilizer  like  bonemeal  is  better  when  worked  into 
the  ground  and  thoroughly  covered.  It  will  be  bet¬ 
ter  on  the  whole  to  mix  these  fertilizers  before 
using.  Make  the  chicken  manure  as  dry  and  fine 
as  possible  and  then  mix  the  bonemeal  or  the  acid 
phosphate  thoroughly  with  it. 
As  for  the  amount  of  fertilizer  to  use  for  each 
100  ft.  of  rows,  you  could  make  a  rough  estimate 
as  follows :  There  are  43,560  sq.  ft.  in  an  acre.  If 
your  strawberry  rows  are  put  4  ft.  apart  that  will 
make  practically  11,000  ft.  of  rows.  You  should 
use  about  800  lbs.  of  acid  phosphate  to  the  acre  in 
order  to  make  a  good  application.  That  means  12,- 
800  ounces,  or  a  little  more  than  one  ounce  to  each 
foot  of  row.  You  can  figure  it  out  in  that  manner 
for  any  width  of  row  or  any  amount  of  fertilizer 
to  be  used  on  a  full  acre. 
Peat  Fuel  in  New  England 
EPORTS  from  New  England  show  that  new  ef¬ 
forts  will  be  made  to  develop  the  deposits  of 
peat  which  are  found  in  that  section  as  fuel.  Some 
years  ago  the  Vermont  Experiment  Station  at  Bur¬ 
lington,  issued  a  very  good  bulletin  discussing  these 
peat  deposits,  which  covered  the  subject  thoroughly. 
During  the  war  considerable  effort  was  made  to  dis¬ 
cover  methods  for  burning  peat  as  a  partial  sub¬ 
stitute  for  coal.  Opinion  was  divided  as  to  the  out¬ 
come  of  these  experiments,  but  most  of  the  manu¬ 
facturers  concluded  that  this  new  form  of  fuel  was 
not  practical,  and  we  think  most  of  the  efforts  were 
abandoned.  Now  comes  this  new  movement  which, 
we  understand,  is  to  have  reasonable  financial  back¬ 
ing.  In  theory,  it  would  seem  as  if  peat  might  help 
solve  the  New  England  coal  problem.  A  deposit  of 
peat  is  really  vegetation  on  the  way  to 
coal.  If  left  long  enough  it  will  de¬ 
velop  into  a  form  of  coal,  but  that 
would  require  thousands  of  years,  and 
New  England  needs  an  immediate  sup¬ 
ply  of  fuel.  In  Ireland  and  various 
other  countries,  dried  peat  has  long 
been  used  as  a  partial  substitute  for 
wood.  Certain  kinds  of  peat,  when 
fully  dried,  give  a  slow  fire  which 
throws  off  considerable  heat,  and 
when  mixed  with  other  fuel  it  has 
been  quite  successful.  As  we  under¬ 
stand  the  New  England  situation,  the 
peat  is  to  be  dug  and  dried,  thoroughly 
broken  up,  and  probably  mixed  with 
some  inflammable  substance  like  oil, 
then  pressed  into  bricks  to  be  used 
mixed  with  wood  or  coal.  The  theory 
of  the  plan  sounds  well,  but  thus  far 
it  may  be  said  that  experiments  in  de¬ 
veloping  peat  fuel  have  not  been  suc¬ 
cessful.  It  is  possible  that  new  forms 
of  handling  the  peat  may  be  found, 
and  that  it  may  prove  in  part  a  solu¬ 
tion  of  the  New  England  fuel  problem. 
The  plan  is  well  worth  trying.  In 
fact,  almost  any  reasonable  experi¬ 
ment  should  be  taken  up  seriously,  for 
the  New  England  problem  is  a  hard 
one.  While  it  is  necessary  for  that 
section  to  import  the  greater  part  of 
its  fuel  and  most  of  its  food,  the  manu¬ 
facturing  industries  are  at  a  great  dis¬ 
advantage.  We  have  long  felt  that 
New  England  should  make  a  strong 
effort  to  increase  the  home-grown  sup- 
lilies  of  bread  and  meat.  We  are  con¬ 
fident  that  this  can  be  done.  The  fuel 
problem  is  harder,  as  there  are  no  de¬ 
posits  of  oil  or  coal  in  that  section. 
There  are  unlimited  supplies  of  peat, 
however,  and  if  ways  can  be  found  of 
handling  it  so  as  to  make  New  Eng¬ 
land  a  little  more  independent  in  the 
fuel  line,  it  will  prove  a  great  blessing 
for  that  section.  The  chemistry  of  na¬ 
ture  requires  many  years  to  turn  peat 
into  coal.  Perhaps  the  chemistry  ap¬ 
plied  by  man  may  shorten  the  period 
For  many  generations  peat  has  pro¬ 
vided  warmth  and  comfort  in  districts 
unprovided  with  other  fuel  supplies. 
It  must  be  handled  on  its  own  merits,  with  careful 
study  of  its  possibilities.  I-  its  raw  state  it  would 
not  seem  adapted  to  our  type  of  stoves  and  fur¬ 
naces. 
Sawdust  for  Mulching  Apple  Trees 
We  have  an  apple  orchard  from  three  to  seven  years 
of  age  in  sod  ground  on  rather  dry  land.  Last  Spring 
we  gave  several  rows  a  mulch  of  meadow  hay,  from  the 
tree  out  about  6  ft.  This  season  has  been  unusuallv 
dry,  and  all  but  the  mulched  trees  have  looked  bad  and 
grew  very  little.  We  cannot  procure  meadow  hay 
now,  but  can  get  sawdust.  The  idea  is  to  get  large 
loads  of  fresh  sawdust  in  the  Winter,  and  put  them 
in  piles  at  each  tree,  to  be  spread  out  in  the  Spring. 
I  would  put  it  about  two  inches  thick,  not  quite  thick 
enough  to  kill  out  the  grass,  and  give  it  a  good  dressing 
of  lime.  The  idea  of  this  plan  is  that  the  sawdust 
mulch  will  conserve  the  moisture  supply  now,  and  in 
a  few  years  when  the  trees  are  larger,  the  decayed 
sawdust  will  furnish  some  humus.  c.  L.  s. 
Massachusetts. 
AN  you  not  cut  weeds  or  coarse  grass  in  some 
low  place?  We  have  used  weeds  with  good 
success.  We  should  not  use  the  fresh  sawdust  alone. 
Such  sawdust  is  quite  acid,  and  while  the  apple 
tree  seems  to  prefer  a  slightly  acid  soil,  too  much 
acid  will  harm  it.  Well-rotted  sawdust  is  good  for 
such  purpose,  but  we  should  use  lime  with  it.  Most 
lik  »ly  a  good  coat  of  limestone  put  on  the  soil 
