St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1886-01-14
eIbnuf hr farm and garden.
Which Breed is Best!


This question and attempted answers
to it stare the reader in the face il
every agricultural publication which
comes in his way. Somebody will ash
it with confiding trust in human hon
esty which is as touching as it is rare
4 Then some philanthrOpic individual
with disinterested purpose-and an
& axe to grind-will answer the inquirer
with a simple candOr which would car
ry conviction right along with it, if il
didn't happen in nearly every case
that the stock thus knOaUn to be the
best is something which the writer is
breeding and has for sale. Then anOth-
er disinterested writer chips in, and,
broadly intimating that the first one is
fraud, trOts his speciality to the front.
By the time two or three more have
had hand in thus doing out infOrma-
ton to Anxious Truth Seeker, the sit
uatiOn becomes interesting, and A. Il.
S. drops his trusting credulity and
shows an inclination to the belief that
what David said in his haste FPS. cxvi ::
ll) he might have said after mature
deliberatiOn.
In fact there is no square and I'M
qualifiedly correct answer to this ques-
stion. Everything depends upon the
Standpoint from which it is viewed. 1t
is rarely that two men can be found
q who, be they ever so honest, would
answer it in just the same way-ex-
cept they be breeders of the same
stock. 1t is not strange, then, that ed
itOrial answers to such questions are
given charity and with a good deal of
reserve-fOr such answers would be
only opinions, after all. Queries of
this nature are frequently offered, and
as frequently fail to receive attention.
And now the reader will understand
why.-[StOckman.
Relative Value of Ashes a Fertilizer.
The October report of the Massachu-
sets agricultural experiment station
gives an analysis of muriate of potash
showing 5I5 per cent. of potash, at Il
value of $43 90 per ton, current rates
equal to % cents a pound for the
potash. The composition of wood
ashes is not sufficiently uniform to
make perfectly accurate comparison
n between the muriate and wood ashes !;
but, taking five per cent. as the aver
age of potash in hard wood ashes, this
would make the value of the potash in
bushel of such ashes about seven
cents. But when we add the cost of
freight on the muriate (say $40 per
ton in VermOnt), and remember that
wood ashes contain about pound of
phOsphoric acid in a bushel, worth
eight cents, besides other valuable fer
tilizing matter, the relative values will
stand differently. The freight will
bring up the cost of the potash in the
muriate (Which is its only valuable in
gredient to about four cents, which
will, at an equal rate, make the potash
of a bushel of good ashes worth 10
cents. Now add the pound of phos
phOric acid, and the value of the ashes
regulated by the cost of the potash
salt) would be Is cents, without any
allowance for anything but the potash
and phosphOric acid in it. 1t may be
that the ashes has an additional value
from recently having formed part of a
plant, and being on that account more
soluble and assimilable but however
that is, no money is lost in paying so
cents barrel for good ashes on farms
where potash is needed as Il fertilizer.
i Waterman.