The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1892-01-15
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Fl n: !. GRRpEN
FERTILIZERS.


How and When to Use Ground Bone
suiphate Of Ammonia rs Piant Food.
The New Jersey stations valuation
Of the year 1891 for the nitrogen and
fhosphoric acid in ground bone of the
different grades of tineness is about IL
per cent. lower than in 1890, Ground
bone is in good repute among farmers,
and many when buying complete fertil.
izers reject those brands in the prepare
ton of which bone has not been the chief
material used, The reasons for this are
ascribed to a lack of familiarity with the
phosphates from other sources, tho de
velopment and use of which have been
comparatively recent, and also to more
permanent effect observed from the use
of bone. An important consideration in
the use of manures, especially on poor
lands, is permanent enrichment. Bone
is suited to attain this object, and other
materials cannot be well substituted for
it, although they may be called by the
same name and be quite as Valuable from
a commercial standpoint,
When farmer is satisfied that ground
bone is useful fertilizer for his condi.
lions of soil and methods of practice, 1t
Is believed at the station that it is more
economical and satisfactory for him ID
buy it as such rather than in tl2eSform
OF a complete fertilizer of which it forms
the base; first, because the same kind
and quality of fertilizing ingredients are
much cheaper, and, second, because OF d
reasonable certainty that what is bought
Is really bone. AS regards dissolved
bone and superphosphates with potash,
the samples examined at the New Jersey
station this year We're of good quality
and with few exceptions fully up to
their guarantee, which in connection
with their selling price would seem to
make them valuable substitutes for COM
p'ete manures. So, in many cases (of
which wheat is given as one), according
to the station bulletin, the cheaper super
phosphates with potash may be quite as
effective for certain crops as Il complete
manure containing low percentage of
nitrogen.
Sulphate Of sn,mcnia is of special in
terest to the agriculturist, as, with the
exception of Peruvian guano, it is the
only commercial source of ammonia
within the farmers reach. 1t is prepared
from the aIlmoniacal water, which is
III the manufacture of gas from
coal. The sulphate, not being COM
plete manure, is seldom if ever applied
alone, not even when in course of rots-
ton it follows phosphate manure. 1t
Is very useful when employed as an ad-
]unct to the slow acting manures, it in
creases the vigor of the plants and enables
them to take up more of the other kinds
Of food in given time than they would
Or could otherwise do.
Sulphate of ammonia may be applied
either as top dressing or it may be
worked in the soil just previous to the
seeding of crop 1t is usually applied
at the rate of 100 to 1875 pounds per acre.
Many farmers mix the sulphate with
three or four times its bulk of loan in
order to insure more even distribution.
oulphate Of ammonia is most largely
'E'OJpo oh grain Cfpi'S. bFUSfGSS-
We farmers also ,ise light dressings of
he su1phate with fine effect on their
grass lands, not only after the growth is
we'll started in the spring, but again after
Some farmers claim that it
pays to top dress inangolds and similar
,rops with sulphate. Messrs. Laiies and
Gilbert, in their famous field expert
nents proved the efficiency of sulphate
II ammonia as an adjunct of slow acting
nanures and in inviting plants to utilize
quickly and more fully the manures
within their reach. Their most note
worthy results were gained when the
ulphate was applied to land that had
been previously enriched for several
'ears by the accumulation of mineral
md other manuring. Their largest crops
we're obtained when mineral and nitro
manures were employed to-
,ether,