Middletown transcript., 1908-02-01
FARM NEWS AND VIEWS.

Il
4 man never knows the kind of soil be
has until he digs into 1t and watches its
action with different crops.
| To drive nails into hardwood dip the
points in lard or tallow and they will &c
straight and not double down under the
hammer
All animals which chew the cnd are
cloven footed. Those that drink by
suction are herbivorous; the carnivor-
GUS animals lap when they drink.
To make Excelsior AXLE grease take tai
low. poundsi palm oil, 10 pounds; plum
bago, pound Heat and mix well.
A cord OF manure, l2S solid feet, is
carried in three loads by cart eight feet
long, three and one-half wide and IL in
ches high. In general, three big loads,
or four modern loads, are cord.
A three-penny nail measures one inch
in length and contains 557 to the pound.
A six penny nail measures two inches in
length, and contains 177 to the pound.
II is scientifically estimated that in q
ton of ordinary turnyard manure there is
seldom more than 10 to IL pounds of
nitrogen. Nitrate OF soda contains nearly
l6 per cent. of nitrogen. 1t would re-
quire one and half tons of barnyard
manure to secure the same amount of
nitrogen that is found in 100 pounds
ofnitrate OF soda.
1t is characteristic Of nitrate of soda to
rapidly and freely permeate the soil, and
plants thus treated suffer less from.
drought than those securing nitrogen from
other sources,
A handful OF nitrate distributed over
space Of ground eight square yards
(which would be at the rate of 150 pounds
to the acre is moderate application
and in many cases it would be advantag-
eous to increase it. In order to facilitate
in the distribution, the nitrate is generally
mixed with its bulk, or even twice the
amount, OF dry earth.
A number OF years ago much was said
and published about the good returns se-
cured By the use of salt on grass and grain
crops. It is very seldom that anything
is written on the subject nowadays. Pro-
batly the reason for this is that the pot
ash salts, such as kainit and muriate.
which contain considerable amount of
salt, are more generally used; and as they
at the same time supply potash, their use
is considered more economical than that
of salt.
II is known that all soils that are able
to produce crops contain all the soda and
chlorine that ordinary plants need,
which would prove that salt is not di-
rect fertilizer. But on the other hand,
it belongs to that family OF substances
that beneftcrops BY the work they do
in the soil rather than by supplying
plant food.
On very rich soil grain crops often
''iodge, or fall down, aud this can be
prevented by the use Of salt, as it makes
the stem shorter and harder, and delays
the ripeniug for time.
At first it was thought that salt set free
certain minerals in the soil, such as pot-
ash and silica, giving sitter and harder
straw. This, no doubt, is SO to certain
extent, but the main effect is 70 retsrd
or check the nutrification process. When
grown on rich soil, 1t is the tendency
Of plants to make a rapid and tender
growth.
A rich soil is one containing large
quantity of soluble nitrogen. It is well
known that salt not only delays the for
nation OF this soluble form of nitrogen,
SO that the plant will make a slower but
more uniform aud solid growth, but it al.
so retards the creation of starch, aud
thus has bad influence on the flavor Of
fruits. Salt attracts and absorbs nieis-
tnre. For the reason that salt retards
the formation Of starch il is apt to make
watery potatoes. Some plants as. for in
stance, asparagus, can use far more salt
than others.
The TR4EscR1pr, sl.0 per year.