Litchfield enquirer., 1874-05-07
Fertilizers.

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 We have received from the. Board of Agriculture an article prepared for the pres by Prof. Atwater of Wesleyan Ja:S verslty entitled .sHow to get Good Fer tiiizers" in which he suggests the estab- ment of state agricultural experiment stations after the Prussian fashion.
 Prof. Atwater says that analyses in Massachusetts, Vermont, and Connecti- cut, show very large number of worth less commercial fertilizers One 'sdouble refined poudrette'' analysed by Prof. Johnson, of Yale. showed just half sand and powdered brick. Another ''pou drette" had even g larger proportion of worthless material What the farmer principally wants is nitrogen and phos- phoric acid. In Germany, fertilizers are sold at prices based upon their chemical l composition and this Is determined by l analyses at government labratories. By means of these scientific investigations, agricultural schools and experiment sta tiOns. knowledge is diffused among the farmers and the teachings of science and practical experience are combined in such a manner as to make them of the highest service to the community. The ''experi- l ment stations" have been the most eff cient of these agencies. There are now seventy of these in different parts of Flu rope, supported to large extent by the farmers, who find that it pays to support them. These stations consist of 1abrato- ries, gardens. greenhouses, fields, stables, Sc. One of the chief branches of their usefulness consist in their analyses of fer tilizers, and the consequence of their la not cheated in the purchase of fertilizers as American farmer are cheated. Prof Atwater instances the experiment station at Halle which costs about $4 900 annual ly and which has saved S2O. 900 to the farmers of the province from their analy- ses of fertilizers
 It is easy to see why the experiment stations are so enthusiastically supported by the German farmers. And yet when you go among them and talk with them. you find that the money saved by the fer tilizer control is counted by them as a very small part of the good that comes from the labor of the stations. Their higher and larger value Is found in the light they throw upon the dark places in our knowledge of agriculture, and still more in the stimulus they give to the use of the intellect in the tilling of the soil.
 Although no direct appeal is made we infer that the Professor wishes to see sim liar stations established here by our State legislature. We are inclined to think with Secretary Gold that ''the spirit of the times is not favorable for an appro- priation from the State treasury" Amer ican scientists" do not work so cheaply, we imagine as Germans. The expense of the analysis of fertilizer is about $50, we see it stated, so that practically that test is out of the reach of the individual farmer. Can the state undertake the business? Perhaps stringent statute against frauds in fertilizers might pass one of our General Assemblies-hardly more is likely to be done.
 On Tuesday morning of last week, a bold burglary was committed in Collins vile, and, luckily one of the burglars has been caught and will undoubtedly be con- victed. The thieves first entered Collins < Go. s stables, and took horse, buggy and harness. They then got chisels. sledges, &c., from a blacksmith shop; broke into the Post-ofice and stole about $20; and then attempted the safe of the Savings Bank, but failed to open it. They then started off in southwesterly direction and were seen. says the Winsted Herald, three in number, going through Baker vile at o'clock, Tuesday morning. Two of them drove from thence to the Litch- field Station, while the third walked to Wolcottville and took the cars for Bridge port. There he was arrested, brought to Collinsville and identified as a man who had been staying two or three days in that place. What ensures his conviction is small bit of steel picked up in the Savings Bank proved to fit exactly on the broken point of the jimmy found up the rogue's sleeves, in Bridgeport. In his va lise were found full set of burglars tool and local maps.
 The Winsted Press publishes some in- terestipg particulars regarding acci- dents from the bursting of grindstones in that vicinity. The first victim in Winsted was Le Grand Hubbel, killed there about 40 years since; the next. Royal Simmons, killed in 1887; then Henry Hart, killed in 1S43; Thomas Powers, killed about 1867; Michael McNary, killed about four years ago; and Frank B. Mitchell. killed last week. In Riverton two men have been killed by the bursting stones; Geo. Hodg- es in 1867; Walter Kerwood in 1870. A man named Shell was killed in New Hart ford in 1869. Nine lives in all have been lost in that manner in the villages men, tioned. .Grindstones weigh about three tons each, are seven feet in diameter, and make four or five revolutions to the sec- ond. The least flaw is dangerous and even the great caution will not preserve the grinder from accidents. The readers of Charles Reade's '.Put yourself in His Place" will be reminded of his vivid de- scription of the risks the grinder runs at his hazardous work.
 OLD AND NEW for May contains: Old and New; The Way we Live Now, (con- tinued) by Anthony Trollope; Tine Church and it's Pretentions, by James Martineau, l.. l.. D. ; The Fatalist, by Ivan Turgu- chief; The Lifting of the Kline; To and Through Norway; Sling Stones; A Silent Poet; Our Sketching Club; Moonshine; Scrope; or, The Lost Library, (continued)