The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1898-06-25
FertiliIinx Materials.

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Acid phosphate Is the basis Of the
phosphoric acid ii practically all fac
tory mixed fertilizers. It Is a fossil
bone, found in South Carolina, Florida
/ and Tennessee, which is ground to q
fine powder and mixed with sulphuric
acid in order to make Its phosphoric
acid more easily soluble. The northern
markets are supplied chiefly from Bal
Etimore, where it may be bought at
prices ranging from $1,000 per ton for
single sack lots down to $3.50 per ton
in carloads in bulk, for grade analy-
ling IA per cent soluble phosphoric
acid. In the experiments made at the
Ohio experiment station, a pound OF
available phosphoric acid in acid phos-
plate has apparently been as effective
as pound Of phosphoric acid in
bone. q ...5G.:. 1 y s.srs5: s$s
Z >Tankage is made at all the great
slaughterhouses It contains both
phosphoric acid and ammonia, and IS
variable in quality. Different grades
are classed at and IS, and 30, ami
20, 9 and 20, etc, meaning that they
contain 6 per cent ammonia and IS pei
cent bone phosphate, or Z per cent am
monia and 80 per cent bone phosphate,
etc, the term bone phosphate meaning
that combination of phosphoric acid
and lime which is found in bone, and
of which about 46 per cent is phcs-
phoric acid. The lower grades shade
off below into raw bone, which might
be called a S and SO tankage and above
into dried blood, which contains 10 TO
IA per cent ammonia, with 2 or per
cent or only a trace. of phospheric
acid.
A and 80 tankage has been sold IN
Cleveland for several years at the uni
form price of SIT per ton, in single
sacks or carloads. The latest quota
lions in Chicago range from $3.50 per
ton for and IS tankage up to $3.50
for and 20 tankage, this being the
standard grade.
Muriate of potash is product of the
Stassfurt mines in Germany, and it's
sale is controlled by German syndi-
cate. 1t may be bought in New York
or Cleveland at about 2 to IN cents
per pound. Both acid phosphate and
tankage are fine, dry meals, in perfect
condition to be used in the fertilizer
drill, and mixing them does not alte:
their condition. Muriate Of potash re-
sembles common salt in appearance,
except that it is usually somewhat yell
lowish in color. In it's commercial con-
dition it is about half actual potash.
No Necessary Exhaustion.-We hear
great deal about the exhaustion Of
the fertility of the soil. We are told
that men settled in such or such a
state, and in the course Of gener-
the people had to seek new lands that
would give harvests such as they used
to reap. This exhaustion is now known
to be entirely unnecessary. Ignorance,
and that alone, was the cause. II i
were true that the land is necessarily
Impoverished BY tillage, then the
world would look forward to time
when all Of the fertility would have
been burned up by chemical processes
or withdrawn from the soil and cast
into the sea or dissipated into the air.
The world would then be approaching
famine without possibility of relief,
and the whole globe must in time be-
come a desert without life. But this
is not the fact. Nature has builded
her domain so wisely that the fertility
will remain forever, if man but learns
how to treat his heritage.
Shape of Trees.-The shape of trees
is of considerable Importance to the
orchardist, and must be looked after
when the orchard is first set and till
it has obtained it's growth. While the
head of the tree should be open enough
for the sunlight to get in, yet there is
no necessity for great 'sprawling
branches that are almost impossible
! of management when It comes to har-
vest time Too low heading is objec-
tionable on account of the sometimes
necessity of driving horse under the
branches, but head need not be sc
high that a ladder will hardly be
sufficient to enable the fruit picker tc
1reach the farthest shoots. We have
seen branches so high that only by u.s.
ing long poles could the fruit be gath
cred. This means great deal Of loss Of
| good time.
Commercial Fertilizers Improved
Fertilizers, during the year just end.
ed, have been lower in price than ever
before, and the indications are thai
they will be even cheaper during the
year to come. The result Of the cheap
ening of the chemical constituents has
been to rails e the quality OF the mixed
fertilizers somewhat above the mini
mum guarantee, and consequently
there are very few samples showing
deficits in their compositions. Out O.
44S separate guarantees, only twenty
Eeight failed to either exceed the re-
auirements or come within the limits
Of error IN sampling and analyzing.-
N. H. Experiment Station Bulletin.
i :, First Southern Creameries. - AL
though the South does not rank as /
dairy region, it has made marked pro
gress along this line in recent years