Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1881-04-13
The Importance Of the "How?"

We have been farmer a great many
years, and have made manuring study all
the time, yet we have now no perfectly salts
factory knowledge in regard to what is best,
or how best to apply it to secure perfect re-
suits every time, even on our own farm.
Any farmer who expects to settle the whole
matter with one experiment, or in one sea
son, will surely be disappointed. 1t is a
study for a life time.
We have been trying to give our readers
the results of experiments with artificial
fertilizers, pursued for fourteen years, with
the view of learning which are the best and
cheapest, regarding the last as being quite
as important as the first. We have put
down nothing in our articles ON Cheaper
Fertilizers that has not been gained by
much, and costly, experience. If they are
worth anything they are at least worth care.
full reading, with some thought and study.
A reader cannot transfer to himself all our
experience by hastily glancing over those
articles.
We write thus, instigated by letter
which says: ave have read in yours, and
also in other papers, good deal about burnt
bone-dust as fertilizer. Last spring we
made quite quantity, which we applied to
corn, heaping spoonful in hill. We put
the bone on two rows and then skipped two
oil aorooo tho piooc. Tho whole piooo woo
panurad with hon m nonura Va bad n srla,
did piece of corn, but could not see the least
difference where the bone was applied Now
what was the trouble? Phosphate on a
piece adjoining, treaeed in the same way,
showed itself plainly
We have had the curiosity to. weigh a
"heaping spoonful "a large spoon) of pow
dered burnt bone, and find it to be three
fourths of an ounce, or, counting six thousand
hills to the acre, two hundred and eighty
pounds to the acre. If that quantity of bone
ashwere finely ground, AS fine as four,-and
applied with suitable proportion of potash
and nitrogen fertilizers, we should expect
that rows where the bone-ash was omitted
would show difference, provided dung
enough had not also been applied to make 6
splendid crop" We have never recon
mended boneash alone as fertilizer for any
crop. When used in connection with potash
and nitrogenous manure, if not made fnel
than it can be made by ordinary pounding
at least six hundred pounds to the acre will
be needed to get satisfactory results on crop!
the first year, and then these results may b'
greatly affected by a drouth which woult
prevent sufficient water to dissolve the bon'
from entering the soil. Bone alone, in sucl
small quantity, where hay manure was uset
in the hill sufficient to make splendid croI
by itself, would not, under any circum
stances, make difference that could b.
'seen," or otherwise ascertained, withou
careful weighing; while if the soil, or th'
dung, contained sufficient available phos
poric acid for the crop, it would not max
any difference whatever. If you give you
COWS all the good feed they can eat, tn
presence of more food in the bay or tn,
granary will not increase their yield.
would be Just SO with the corn, under the
circumstances given.
In the other field, leaving out the phos
phate did make visible difference. Th
commercial phosphates, as now manufac
tured, are not simple phosphates, but con
tain nitrogenous material always, and usu
ally potash salts, thus making them com
plete manure. Adding this to the hay ma
nure in the hill was therefore Just the sam
as putting in large shovelful, of course
would be likely to make difference. An,
one who had carefully read and remembers
the articles to which our inquiring frien
refers would know beforehand that the rt
suits must, in all probability, have been JUS
what they were.
Bones prepared by burning and pounding
contain no needed fertilizing material excep
phosphoric acid. Even the phosphoric aci
is not yielded up readily enough to tn
plants, when the bone is mostly in coars
powder, to supply their wants unless larg
quantity, say six hundred pounds or MOI
| W eho oSic, 10 apPiicu' iHis HoWoNcr WI
show its good effects for many years, ben
gradually prepared for plant food by the al
tion of the soil water upon it. If bone-as
is made as fine as -four, and evenly dstril
uted through and mixed with the soil b
careful sowing and narrowing, three hui
dred pounds to the acre would be enough fC
any ordinary farm crop, and would continu
to do good for at least three years. But III
der neither OF these circumstances would
do any good at all unless there was alf
enough available potash and nitrogen in I'll
soil to make crop. All three are neede'
and the entire absence of one Of them make
the application of the other two, no matte
in how large quantity, entirely useless.
When we make our fertilizers we bui
and pound our bones, mix them with goo
hardwood unleached ashes in the proportio
of three or more bushels of ashes to OF
bushel OF bone, SOW them broadcast on IL
furrow, and harrow them in. Then we a
ply Qor hoed crops) one hundred pounds