The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1879-03-06
Homc.Mads Fertilizers.

DR.. ]. R. Nichols he editor of the
Journal of Chemistry, recently had field
meeting, on his farm, of sbout one hun
dred working farmers, and delivered to
them in the barn an address on chemical
fertilizers and their manufacture, from
which we take the follot;ing extract,
which we copy from the report of the
.lassachusetts PIougkman,:
DR.. N. alluded to the meeting IS "a
farmers barn meeting, or for the time Dc;
ing, we will call it Our Agricultural
College," and promised to graduate all
his hearers in about an hour without
diplomas. He added that probably
never before in the history of agriculture
in our country, has meeting like this of
farmers been held in such place for
such an object" fie
GAS the sight is the readiest avenue to
the mind, he said that at the close of the
lecture, Mr.. Davis, the efficient superin-
tendent of this farm, will call you into
the barn-yard contiguous, and then with
apparatus and implements, such as are
used on the farm, will proceed to pre-
pare, not simply an ounce or pound
but fre kuaared pounds ofsuperphosphate
of lime, the most important of all forms
of plant food. he will also show you
.other combinations of fertilizers, a
knowledge of which it is important to
possess. You have seen the room or
laboratory below, simple, plain, and
without machinery, in which the fertil-
izers for the farm are prepared. In that
room, Mr.. Davis, during the past winter,
made about twelve tons of superphos-
phate of high grade, anslyzing sixteen
per cent. of soluble phosphoric acid, and
also several tons Of other compounds
used in the various crops on the farm.
He will use three hundred and eighty
pounds uf. bone charcoal, and carboy OF
oil of yitriol, one hundred and sixty-five
pounds, in making tho superphosphate,
and you must observe all the proceed
ings, observe how he handles the csrboy
SO as to avoid spilling or stopping, how
he mixes the bone with the acid and
water, how he manipulates the mass with
his wooden hoe. The box in which he
will make the mixture is of wood, four
feet square and one foot deep, and it is
lined with thick sheet lead the lead in
one piece, soldered at the corners strong
ly with lead solder. A tin solder will
not do, as the acid will act upon it.
This box is the result of much expert
ment, and is the best and cheapest vessel
that can be devised. Its capacity is just
right for making one-tourth of ton Of
superphosphate alta time, and it requires
n whole carboy of vitriol, so that no frac-
tional parts of acid are left to cause trou-
BILE. He will use in the manufacture:
14carboy oil oflvitriol.. ....165 pounds
Fine bone charcoal. ..........--SS0 pounds
Water. ........................"..1 10 gallons
The wateris first placed in the trough,
and the acid is added to it, then the bone
is gradually added, causing great boil
ing with evolution of heat and steam as
you will see. You observed in the labo-
ratory that there were roof windows that
could be eopened for letting out the steam
these are necessary. 1t takes about an
hour for the reaction to become COM
plete, and then it will soon dry and be
free from moisture. It needs no grind
ing-it is ready for the field as soon as
COOL. Specimens of each lot as made,
here, are taken to the analytical labora-
tory and analyzed to ascertain how per-
feet has been the reaction. You have
visited the laboratory, up stairs at the
end of the building. This is necessary
for the chemist, as it is there that all his
results are worked out, but it is not need
ed by you. You will need cheap room
with good ventilation for the manufac-
ture, and the simple implements you see
here are all that are necessary.
In order that you may understand the
nature of the materials and compounds
we prepare, / will now proceed to state
the chemical constitution of bones, and
what changes bone structures undergo
when subjected to chemical treatment.
The bony framework of men and animals
is essentially alike, and the i-.olecules Of
which they are composed come from the
foods consumed. The bones which hold
up the muscles and integuments Of our
animals, come from hay, grain and green
forage, &c. It is necessary for COWS to
procure g much larger amount OF bone
material than they need for the repair Of
osseous waste in their bodies, for the
composition of milk calls for a large
amount of the phosphates. When you |
learn that in about every 80 gallons of
milk there is one pound of tribasic phos-
phate of lime, or bone material, you will
have some idea ofthe Importance Of this
substance in the food of cows. The
bones of the infant, fed on milk, come
from this principle, and hence we learn
the medium through which human or
animal structures are built up. Permit
me to remark in passing, that it must be
obvious to you that an animal in milk
like COW, cannot yield excrement of
high value. Most of the rich material
obtained from the pasture, or from any
form of food, goes to the milk, and hence
little is left of value to return to the soil.
We often hear farmers say they keep
COWS and sell milk so as to maintain the
fertility of the farm. This is absurd, on
the principle that you cannot eat your
pudding and have it too. |
A COW in milk requires about so TBS.
of bone material year, and consequent
ly herd of 25 COWS will carry off from
our pastures and the barn ton of bone
materials each year. 1t is apparent that
this process of exhaustion cannot con-
tinue for very long period without rem
Gering our fields sterile. We must re-
turn to them the bone material they have
lost,-we must, in other words, feed our
hungry plants upon the soluble phos-
phate of lime, and thus give to them re-
newed vigor; and they in turn will yield
the same back to our animals, and from
them our own bodies will be nourished.
Plants cannot assimilate bone in its ordi-
nary condition; it must be rendered sol
uble in water before it can enter plant
structure, and how this is accomplished
it is important to understand. Phos-
phoric acid, the element in bone which
plants require and which, therefore, be-
comes what we call q fertilizer, is not the
only kind needed to render our fields
nroductive tt is one of the three great