The peculiar situation respecting animal bone has come about through a

form of deceit. The demand for bone existed, and there was no legal

restraint in the matter of branding phosphatic rock as "bone,"

"bone-phosphate," etc. In the past, nearly all forms of rock-phosphates

have carried the word "bone" on the bag to quiet the apprehension of

those who entertained a prejudice against anything other than animal

bone. Nearly all the phosphoric acid has come from rock, and its use

has been necessary and profitable, but the misrepresentation fostered

the old-time prejudice. Within recent years some manufacturers have

tired of the seeming deceit that served no purpose with many customers,

and have placed acid phosphate and mixed goods upon the market without

the intimation that the phosphoric acid was derived from animal bone.

The demand for bone makes prices high for the very limited amount upon

the market, when availability is taken into account, and the advice

that such goods be used would be valueless if it had any general

acceptance. Prices would go higher, and the amount in the world would

remain wholly inadequate.

Raw Bone.--Stable manure lasts several years in the soil because decay

is slow. Raw bone has appealed to many because its action is likewise

necessarily slow. The fat in it prevents fine grinding and protects the

coarse particles from decay. It is known as bone-meal or coarse

ground-bone. A good quality of raw bone may contain 4 per cent of

nitrogen, while the phosphoric-acid content is 20 to 25 per cent. The

bones of old animals is less rich in nitrogen. The age of the animals,

and the sorting for manufactures of various kinds, cause variation in

quality, and the purchase of raw bone should be made on guaranteed

analysis just as surely as the purchase of bone that has been treated

in any way for removal of various substances in it.

Steamed Bone.--When animal bone is boiled or steamed under pressure for

removal of the fat and the cartilage, the content of nitrogen is

reduced, and the percentage of phosphoric acid is increased by this

removal of fat and nitrogenous substance. The nitrogen in steamed bone

may run as low as 1 per cent, and the phosphoric acid may go up to 30

per cent. The composition of steamed bone is so widely variable that

the name means little, and purchase should be made only on guaranteed

analysis. Some grades run very low both in nitrogen and phosphoric

acid, due probably to adulteration.

The boiling or steaming of bone makes fine grinding possible, and the

fineness and absence of fat permit quick decay in the soil. Steamed

bone is an excellent source of phosphoric acid. The availability is

less immediate than that of acid phosphate, but much greater than that

of raw bone.

Rock-phosphate.--While the greater part of our soils contain relatively

scant stores of phosphoric acid, the deposits of this plant constituent

in combination with lime are immense. The rock now chiefly used in this

country is found in South Carolina, Tennessee, and Florida. It varies

greatly in content of phosphoric acid. When pulverized for direct use

on land, without treatment with sulphuric acid to make the plant-food

available, a grade running 28 per cent phosphoric acid, or less,

usually is selected, the higher grades being reserved for treatment

with acid or for export. This untreated rock, pulverized exceedingly

fine, often is known as floats.

The value of a pound of phosphoric acid in floats, as compared with

that of a pound in the treated rock, known as acid phosphate, is a

matter upon which scientists differ widely. Only a small percentage of

the plant-food is immediately available, and the question of wise use

hinges upon the degree of availability gained later, and the time

required. The large amount of experimental work that has been done

affords data that causes the following opinion to be stated here:

Rock-phosphate, known as floats, is not a profitable source of

plant-food for soils deficient in organic matter, when compared with

acid phosphate. It is more nearly profitable in an acid soil than in

one that has no lime deficiency. It gives more satisfactory results

when mixed intimately with stable manure than when used upon land that

remains deficient in organic matter. Applications should be in large

amount per acre--500 to 1000 pounds--in order that the amount of

readily available phosphoric acid may meet the immediate need of

plants. Dependence should be placed upon the readily available acid

phosphate in all instances until experiment on the farm shows that the

rock-phosphate is a cheaper source of plant-food than the acid

phosphate.

Acid Phosphate.--When animal bone is treated with sulphuric acid, the

result is an acid phosphate, but treated animal bone is so rare on the

market that it may be ignored. The acid phosphate on the market is

rock-phosphate treated with sulphuric acid to render its plant-food

available. The content of phosphoric acid varies because the original

rock-phosphate varies, but the most common grade on the market is

guaranteed to contain 14 per cent available phosphoric acid, and 1 to 2

per cent insoluble. Some acid phosphate is guaranteed to contain 16 per

cent available phosphoric acid, and some runs down to 10 per cent

available.

An acid phosphate contains quickly available plant-food. A prejudice

exists against it on account of its source, and it has been a common

practice to label the bags "bone-phosphate," or "dissolved bone," or

such other designation as would imply an organic source, but the acid

phosphate is made out of rock-phosphate, regardless of the name given.

The prejudice against the rock as a source of plant-food is giving way.

It is our chief and cheapest source of supply. The combination of

sulphuric acid with rock-phosphate in the production of acid phosphate

produces sulphate of lime, known as gypsum or land-plaster. The amount

of gypsum in a ton of acid phosphate varies, but may be roughly

estimated by the buyer as two thirds of the total weight of the acid

phosphate.

The tendency of gypsum is, in the long run, to make a soil acid, and

its use necessarily hastens rather than retards the day when a lime

deficiency will occur. The influence in this direction is not great

enough to be a very material factor in deciding upon a carrier of

phosphoric acid. If a soil has little lime in it, a state of acidity

soon will come anyway, and the increase in amount of required lime will

be small. The cheapness of acid phosphate, as compared with animal

bone, is the decisive factor.

The ill-effects usually attributed to acid phosphate are not due in any

great degree directly to the sulphuric acid used in its making, but to

the bad farming methods that so often attend its use. When the need of

commercial fertilizers is first recognized, acid phosphate seems to

meet the need. The soil's store of available phosphoric acid gives out

first, and this fertilizer brings a new supply. If the available potash

is in scant amount, the acid phosphate helps in this direction by

freeing some potash. The phosphoric acid has peculiar ability in giving

impetus to the growth of a young plant, and that enables it to send its

roots out and obtain more nitrogen than it otherwise would do. The

farmer thus may come to regard it as a means of securing a crop, and

there is neglect of manure and clover. If a field is thin and fails to

make a sod, there is no immediate compulsion to use manure or to grow a

catch crop to get organic matter, but the field is cropped again with

grain. Soon the supply of humus is exhausted, the soil lies lifeless,

and the stores of available nitrogen and potash are in a worse depleted

state than formerly.

The fault lies with the method. The phosphoric acid in the acid

phosphate was needed. Profit from its use was legitimate, but the

necessity of supplying organic matter became even greater than it would

have been otherwise. Tens of thousands of our most successful farmers

use heavy applications of acid phosphate, but they keep their soils in

good physical condition by the use of manure or clover, and they apply

potash and nitrogen when needed. The clover is assured by using lime

wherever it is in too limited supply, and that is the case in most

instances, regardless of the use of any kind of commercial fertilizer.

Basic Slag.--When iron ores contain much phosphorus, its extraction by

use of lime gives a by-product in the making of steel that has

agricultural value. The ores of the United States usually do not give a

slag sufficiently rich in phosphorus to be valuable. Nearly all the

basic slag used as a fertilizer is imported from Germany, and usually

contains 17 to 18 per cent of phosphoric acid. The availability of the

plant-food in this fertilizer has been the subject of much discussion.

The chemist's test which is fair for acid phosphate is admittedly not

fair when used for basic slag. Field tests, at experiment stations and

on farms, are our best sources of knowledge. When the soil is slightly

acid, each 1 per cent of phosphoric acid in the slag appears to be

about as valuable as each 1 per cent of the available phosphoric acid

in an acid phosphate. Some of the effectiveness may be due to the lime,

although very little of it is in forms regarded as valuable for the

correction of soil acidity. There is evidence that basic slag favors

clover. It has not been found feasible to ship this material many

hundreds of miles inland from the seaboard to compete with acid

phosphate, but it is an excellent source of phosphoric acid for soils

that are not rich in lime.

Muriate of Potash.--The mines of Stassfurt, Germany, contain an

inexhaustible supply of potash in various compounds. Muriate of potash

is prepared from the crude salts, and the commercial product on our

markets has the appearance of a coarse and discolored salt. It is

handled in large bags, and inclines to become moist by absorption of

water from the air. It contains some common salt. The content of actual

potash is about 50 per cent. The potash is readily available, but the

loss from leaching out of the soil is very small. Muriate of potash is

our cheapest source of potash, and should be used for all staple crops

except tobacco, sugar beets, and, possibly, the potato. Tests even on

heavy soils fail to show any injury to the quality of the potato, and

on light soil the muriate may always be used.

Sulphate of Potash.--Some sulphate of potash is imported into this

country. Its content of potash may vary 1 or 2 per cent below or above

50. Its physical condition favors mixing more than does the muriate. It

usually costs several dollars a ton more than the muriate, and the fact

that it is known to favor quality in tobacco, and is popularly supposed

to do so in the potato, creates demand at the higher price. It is

soluble in water, and quickly available. As a rule, it has no higher

agricultural value than the muriate.

Kainit.--Unlike muriate and sulphate of potash, kainit is a crude

product of the German mines, having received no treatment to remove

impurities. It contains 12 to 13 per cent of potash, and is rated as a

sulphate, but one third of it is common salt, and in effect upon

quality it should be classed with muriate and not sulphate. Its low

content of plant-food should confine its use to regions relatively near

the seaboard. When shipped far inland, the price becomes too high to

give a reasonably cheap pound of potash.

Wood-ashes.--Wood-ashes contain lime and potash, with a small

percentage of phosphoric acid. The market price is above agricultural

value, and any needed potash should be obtained from the German potash

salts.

Other Fertilizers.--Manufacturers of commercial fertilizer make use of

other materials, some of which, like manufactured nitrogen, are

excellent, and others are low in quality and slow in action. The

sources of plant-food that have been described form the great bulk of

all fertilizers on the market, and from them may be selected all the

materials a farmer needs to use on his land, either singly or

home-mixed. In most instances the selection will embrace only four or

five of these fertilizing materials.

Salt.--Salt is not a direct fertilizer, and its use is not to be

advised unless it can be secured at a very low price per ton. Some

soils have been made more productive by the application of 200 to 300

pounds per acre, and chiefly in case the salt was mixed well with the

soil when the seed-bed was made. The practice of using salt as a

top-dressing on wheat in the spring gives less effectiveness it is

believed. Salt frees potash in the soil, and may have some practical

effect upon soil moisture. As a soil amendment, salt has had more

reputation than its performance justifies. If land is infertile, it is

better, as a rule, to apply actual plant-food.

Coal-ashes.--There is no plant-food of value in coal-ashes. The

physical condition of heavy soils is improved by an application, and

their use may be quite profitable in this way if cost of application is

small. When used as a mulch, ashes conserve moisture.

Muck.--The use of muck pays in stables, as it is a good absorbent and

contains some nitrogen which gains in availability by mixture with

manure. Its direct application to land as a fertilizer does not pay the

labor bill under ordinary circumstances.

Sawdust.--As a fertilizer, sawdust does not have much value, but serves

as an excellent absorbent in stables. Its presence in manure need not

cause fear of injury to the soil. When fresh sawdust is applied in

large quantity to a sandy soil, the effect upon physical condition is

bad, increasing drouthiness.

CHAPTER XVIII

PURCHASING PLANT-FOOD

Necessity of Purchase.--The necessity of buying plant-food in the form

of commercial fertilizers is a mooted question in any naturally fertile

agricultural region just so long as crop yields do not drop to a

serious extent. The natural strength of the land and the skill that

enters into the farming are important factors in determining the

profitableness of recourse to purchased plant-food. The free use of

organic matter to maintain the supply of humus defers the time when

commercial fertilizers should be used. Good tillage frees the potential

plant-food of the soil, and delays the day of necessary purchase. The

farm so situated that it can have all its products fed upon it is

longer independent of outside help. The profitable use of

feeding-stuffs from other farms is a safe way of escaping the direct

purchase of fertilizers, although it is a transfer of fertility to the

farm as surely as the employment of fertilizers, and is not a method

that may have general adoption.

[Illustration: In the Lebanon Valley, Pennsylvania.]

The organic sources of fertility, such as slaughter-house refuse, are

containers of plant-food as surely as is stable manure. The inorganic

sources, such as acid phosphate and muriate of potash, are containers

of plant-food as surely as is animal bone or blood. There is no line

that may be drawn to debar any substance that supplies plant-food

profitably and contains no compound harmful to the soil.

The purchase of plant-food should begin whenever profit is offered by

it, and in connection with its use there should be good tillage,

organic matter, and healthful plant conditions in every respect. The

use of a fertilizer pays best when the conditions are such that the

plants can avail themselves of it in the fullest degree. Good farming

and the heavy use of commercial fertilizers go consistently

hand-in-hand.

Fertilizer Control.--The dreams of the patent-medicine vender never

pictured more favoring conditions for his activity than were found by

fertilizer manufacturers and agents before state laws provided for

inspection and control. Men who wanted to do a legitimate business

welcomed protection from the unscrupulous competition that dishonest

men employed. The memory of some of the frauds perpetrated lingers, and

causes a questioning to-day that is unnecessary. All fertilizer-control

laws afford a good degree of legal protection to the buyer, although in

most states they do not demand a clearness and fullness in statements

of analyses that would be helpful to many, and they fail to require

that sources of plant-food be given. Some fertilizers are sold for more

than they are worth, and some are bought for soils and crops that need

other kinds of plant-food, but this is due to lack of knowledge on the

part of the buyer that he can acquire. The law does its part in the

work of protection better than many buyers do their part. It has driven

fraudulent brands off the market, compelled carefulness in

factory-mixing, and given to the intelligent buyer a knowledge of the

kinds and amounts of plant-food in the bag or ton. The sampling is done

by disinterested men, and the analyses are made by competent chemists.

There need be little distrust of the analysis as printed on the bag,

unless a failure of the manufacturer to keep his goods up to the

standard has been made public in the state's fertilizer bulletin.

Brand Names.--Notwithstanding all that has been done by the state to

acquaint the buying public with the composition of fertilizers, many

purchasers are guided in selection by the brand name, and that usually

is fanciful in character, no matter whether it be "Farmers' Friend" or

"Jones' Potato Fertilizer." In either case it may be far from friendly

to soil or pocket-book, and widely at variance with the needs of the

soil for which it is purchased. The pretense of making a fertilizer

peculiarly adapted to the potato, or to wheat, or to corn would not

attract a single buyer if the public would compare the analyses of

these special crop fertilizers offered by manufacturers and note their

dissimilarity of composition. Any kind of a mixture may be given any

kind of a name. It is the composition that counts. The farmer is in the

market for nitrogen and phosphoric acid and potash, singly or combined,

for a certain soil, and all he wants is to know the number of pounds he

is getting, its availability, and its price per pound. Any added detail

not required by law is an impertinence.

Statement of Analysis.--It would be well if the law refused to the

manufacturer the privilege of printing unnecessary detail in the

statement of analysis that must be placed upon the fertilizer bag. It

is added to confuse the buyer and mislead him regarding actual value.

The following statement is an example of this practice:

ANALYSIS

Per Cent

Nitrogen 0.82 to 1.00

Equal to ammonia 1.00 to 2.00

Soluble phosphoric acid 6.00 to 7.00

Reverted 2.00 to 3.00

Available 8.00 to 10.00

Insoluble 1.00 to 2.00

Total 9.00 to 12.00

Potash (actual) 1.00 to 2.00

Equal to sulphate of potash 2.00 to 3.00

As the row of larger figures is not guaranteed percentages, it has no

value.

The buyer is not concerned regarding the amount of ammonia to which the

nitrogen is equal, and so the second line is a needless repetition.

The fifth line gives the sum of the third and fourth, the available

being the total of the soluble and reverted. Therefore the third and

fourth lines may be ignored.

The sixth line gives the percentage of unavailable phosphoric acid in

the rock, and should be ignored by the purchaser who wants available

plant-food.

The seventh gives the sum of the available and insoluble, and should be

ignored.

The ninth is a restatement of the eighth line.

There then remains the following guaranty:

Per Cent

Nitrogen 0.82

Available phosphoric acid 8.00

Potash 1.00

This is a low-grade fertilizer whose cheap character becomes apparent

when the unnecessary statements and restatements are erased. A ton of

it contains only 16 pounds of nitrogen, 160 pounds of phosphoric acid,

and 20 pounds of potash.

Valuation of Fertilizers.--The manufacturer of a mixed fertilizer must

make use of the unmixed materials he finds upon the market. The prices

of the various plant constituents in the different unmixed materials

can be determined by averaging quotations in leading markets for a

given length of time. The fair retail price is obtained by adding about

20 per cent to the wholesale cash price. The retail cash price per

pound of the plant constituents in leading markets is thus determined

for their various forms and carriers. A pound of nitrogen in dried

blood may have its valuation fixed at a figure 50 per cent higher than

that of a pound of nitrogen in nitrate of soda simply because the dried

blood sells at a price per ton that makes that difference. It is true

commercial value that is sought, and that may be very different from

agricultural value.

The mixed fertilizer of the manufacturer has its content of plant-food

known by analysis. Its number of pounds of the various constituents in

a ton is known, and the retail price per pound of these substances has

been fixed. The commercial value per ton can then be determined,

provided proper allowance is made for cost of mixing and bagging. The

individual must pay in addition the freight, and usually a considerable

sum for unnecessarily costly methods of distribution and collection.

A Bit of Arithmetic.--This paragraph is intended to serve the man who

is willing to be reasonably near right if he cannot be wholly so: A ton

is 2000 pounds, and one per cent is 20 pounds. In dealing with

fertilizers it is the practice to call 20 pounds, or one per cent of a

ton, a unit, and to base the price of the nitrogen, and phosphoric

acid, and potash, on the unit. This is done for convenience. If five

cents is a fair price for a pound of available phosphoric acid in one's

locality, as it would be if a ton of 14 per cent acid phosphate cost

$14, a unit of 20 pounds is worth $1. Each one per cent guaranteed is

thus worth a dollar, and the phosphoric acid in the fertilizer is

easily valued. If a pound of potash in a ton of muriate is worth five

cents in one's locality, as it would be if a ton of muriate cost $50,

the muriate being one half actual potash, a unit of 20 pounds of potash

is worth $1. Each one per cent of guaranteed potash is thus worth one

dollar, and the entire content of potash is easily valued. If a pound

of nitrogen in nitrate of soda is worth seventeen and one half cents a

pound in one's locality, as it would be if a ton of nitrate of soda

cost $54, a unit, or one per cent, is worth $3.50, and the content of

nitrogen is easily valued.

The prices named would seem high to good cash buyers near the seaboard,

and they are too low for some other regions where freights are very

high. They are only illustrative. The consumer can get his own basis

for an estimate by obtaining the best possible cash quotations from

city dealers. Some interested critic may point out that nitrate of soda

should not be the sole source of nitrogen in a fertilizer on account of

its immediate availability. Manufacturers use some sulphate of ammonia,

and a pound of nitrogen in it has had practically the same market price

as that in nitrate of soda. Tankage may be used in part, and in it the

nitrogen costs very little more per pound.

It may be said that the potash in the fertilizer is in form of

sulphate. Usually that profits the user nothing, and often the claim is

baseless, but if it is a sulphate, the cost of the potash should have

only 20 per cent added to the valuation of the potash, which usually

will not add one dollar to the total cost of the ton of mixed

fertilizer. Basing the valuations of the pounds of plant-food in the

mixed fertilizer on the value per pound in unmixed materials delivered

to one's own locality, there must be taken into account the added

expense of mixing.

High-grade Fertilizers.--A high-grade fertilizer is not necessarily a

high-priced one. What we want in a fertilizer is a high content of the

plant-food needed, together with desirable availability. If only

phosphoric acid is wanted, a 14 per cent, or 16 per cent, acid

phosphate is high-grade because it contains as many pounds of available

phosphoric acid in a ton as the public can buy in a large way. A 10 per

cent acid phosphate is low-grade. The effort is to escape paying

freight, and other cost of handling, on waste material as far as

possible. Generally speaking, the higher the percentages of plant-food

in a fertilizer, the cheaper per pound is the plant-food. A low-grade

fertilizer rarely fails to be an expensive one because the expense of

handling adds unduly to the price per pound of the small content of

plant-food.

CHAPTER XIX

HOME-MIXING OF FERTILIZERS

The Practice of Home-mixing.--The business of compounding fertilizers

has been involved in a great deal of unnecessary mystery. Many of our

best station scientists have labored to show that the home-mixing of

fertilizers is a simple and profitable piece of work, and the heaviest

users of fertilizers in the east now buy unmixed materials, but a

majority of farmers use the factory-mixed. Manufacturers are right in

their contention that many people do not know what materials are best

for their own fields, or what proportions are best, but the purchase of

mixed materials does not solve their problem and it does not help them

to a solution as quickly as home-mixing. The source of the plant-food

in the factory-mixed goods is not known, while it is known in the

home-mixed.

Effectiveness of Home-mixing.--Van Slyke says ("Fertilizers and Crops,"

p. 477): "Manufacturers of fertilizers and their agents have

persistently sought to discourage the practice of home-mixing, but

their statements cannot be accepted as the evidence of disinterested

parties. It has been represented to farmers that peculiar and

mysterious virtues are imparted to the plant-food constituents by

proper mixing, and that really proper mixing can be accomplished only

by means not at the command of farmers. Such statements are

misrepresentations, based either upon the ignorance of the person who

makes them or upon his determination to sell commercial mixed goods."

Criticisms of Home-mixing.--The manufacturer's advocate formerly laid

much stress upon the danger attending the treatment of bones and rock

with sulphuric acid. That is a business of itself, and the home-mixer

has nothing to do with it. He buys on the market the acidulated bone or

rock, just as a manufacturer makes his purchase.

It is claimed that the manufacturer renders a great public service by

using supplies of plant-food that the home-mixer would not use, and

thus conserves the world's total supply. Let us see the measure of

truth in the statement. The manufacturer gets his supply of phosphoric

acid from rock, bone, or tankage exactly as does the home-mixer. His

potash he buys from the syndicate owning the German beds, and the

farmer does the same. These sources must contribute all the phosphoric

acid and potash used on land, if we except trifling supplies of ashes,

marl, etc., and the only difference in the transaction is that in one

case the manufacturer buys the materials and mixes them, and in the

other case the farmer buys them direct and mixes them. The remaining

constituent is the nitrogen. If the manufacturer uses nitrate of soda,

sulphate of ammonia, bones, tankage, or manufactured nitrogen, he does

what the home-mixer may do. Most nitrogen must come from these sources.

If all came from these sources, the increased demand would not affect

the price. The beds of nitrate of soda will last for hundreds of years,

the present waste in ammonia from coal is immense, and the supply of

manufactured nitrogen can be without limit. The saving in use of inert

and low-grade forms of nitrogen is more profitable to the manufacturer

than to the farmer who buys and pays freight on low-grade materials.

The rather remarkable argument is advanced that fertilizer

manufacturers do not make a large per cent on their investment, despite

the perfection of their equipment, and therefore the farmer cannot find

it profitable to mix his materials at home. By the same reasoning,

assuming for the moment that the profit in manufacturing does not pay a

heavy dividend on all the stock issued, if a great hotel does not find

its dining-room a source of profit, as many hotels do not, no private

home should hope to prepare meals for its own members in competition

with hotels.

As has been stated, every user of commercial fertilizer should learn

what a pound of plant-food in unmixed material would cost him,

selecting the common materials that are the only chief sources. If he

can buy a pound of nitrogen in nitrate of soda or sulphate of ammonia,

a pound of phosphoric acid in acid phosphate or steamed bone, and a

pound of potash in muriate or sulphate of potash for less than they

would cost in the factory-mixed goods offered him, allowing to himself

a dollar or so a ton for the labor of mixing, it is only good business

to buy the unmixed materials. The saving usually is from five to ten

dollars a ton, excepting only interest on money, as he would pay cash

for the unmixed material.

The cost of bags always is mentioned. That is not to be considered by

the farmer, as he uses the bags in which the unmixed materials come to

him.

The Filler.--There has been much misleading use of the word "filler,"

as applied to fertilizers. We have seen that a pure grade of dried

blood contains about 13 per cent of nitrogen. The buyer of a ton of

dried blood thus gets about 260 pounds of plant-food. The remaining

1740 pounds constitute what may be called nature's "filler." The blood

is a good fertilizer. We do not buy nitrogen in a pure state. We buy a

ton of material to get the needed 260 pounds of nitrogen. Thus it is

with nitrate of soda, sulphate of ammonia, acid phosphate, muriate and

sulphate of potash, and all other fertilizer materials. As freight must

be paid upon the entire ton, it usually pays best to select materials

that run high in percentage of plant-food. It is possible to get very

low-grade fertilizers that have not had any foreign material added by

the manufacturer. An acid phosphate may be poor in phosphoric acid

because low-grade rock was used in its manufacture. Kainit is a

low-grade potash because the impurities have not been taken out. Filler

may be used, however, for two reasons, and one is legitimate. When

limestone or similar material is used merely to add weight, reducing

the value per ton, the practice is reprehensible. The extent of this

practice is less than many suppose, preference being given to the use

of low-grade materials in making very low-priced fertilizers.

A legitimate use of filler is to give good physical condition to a

fertilizer. Some materials, such as nitrate of soda and muriate of

potash, take up moisture and then become hard. The addition of peat or

limestone or other absorbent is necessary to keep the mass in condition

for drilling. The use of some steamed animal bone or high-grade tankage

in the mixture helps to prevent caking. The home-mixer can use a drier

without loss, as he does not pay freight upon it. Dry road dust will

serve his purpose. His need of a drier may be greater than that of the

manufacturer, as he probably will use only high-grade unmixed

materials. If the use of the home-mixture is immediate, no drier to

prevent caking is needed, but its presence facilitates drilling.

Storage of unmixed materials in a dry place is an aid in maintaining

good condition.

Ingredients in the Mixture.--The matters of interest to the farmer are

the determination of the amounts of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and

potash that he should apply to a particular field, their availability,

and their cost. Let us assume that he has found 300 pounds of a

fertilizer containing 3 per cent nitrogen, 10 per cent phosphoric acid,

and 6 per cent potash to be an excellent application for wheat on a

thin soil that is to be seeded to clover and timothy. This fertilizer

contains 3 pounds of nitrogen to each 100 pounds. He applies 300 pounds

of the fertilizer per acre, or 9 pounds of nitrogen. The fertilizer

contains 10 pounds of phosphoric acid to the 100 pounds. He thus

applies 30 pounds of phosphoric acid per acre. The fertilizer contains

6 pounds of potash per 100 pounds, and he therefore applies 18 pounds

per acre. What he has really learned, then, is that an acre of this

land, when seeded to wheat, needs 9 pounds of nitrogen, 30 pounds of

phosphoric acid, and 18 pounds of potash. It is in these terms he

should do his thinking, and the matter of fertilization becomes simple.

In the general farming of the Pennsylvania experiment station, it is

the practice to depend upon nitrate of soda as the source of a

fertilizer for wheat. Manufacturers claim that sulphate of ammonia and

tankage would be better. The farmer soon will learn what he prefers for

his soil, provided he practices home-mixing.

Let us assume that he uses nitrate of soda, which never varies much

from 15 per cent in its content of nitrogen. If 100 pounds of nitrate

contain 15 pounds of nitrogen, the 9 pounds wanted for an acre will be

found in 9/15 of 100 pounds or 60 pounds.

Thirty pounds of phosphoric acid are wanted for an acre. If the acid

phosphate contains 14 per cent of phosphoric acid, or 14 pounds to the

100, the required amount will be 30/14 of 100, or 214 pounds.

Eighteen pounds of potash are wanted for an acre. The muriate of potash

on our markets never varies much from 50 per cent in its content of

potash. If 100 pounds of muriate contain 50 pounds of potash to the

100, the required amount wanted will be 18/50 of 100, or 36 pounds.

Adding the 60, 214, and 36 pounds, we have 310 pounds for the acre of

land. If the field contains 20 acres, the order will call for 20 times

the 60 pounds of nitrate of soda, 20 times the 214 pounds of acid

phosphate, and 20 times the 36 pounds of potash.

If the farmer prefers to use sulphate of ammonia, which varies little

from 20 per cent of nitrogen, or 20 pounds in the 100, he will get his

9 pounds of nitrogen for an acre by buying 9/20 of 100 pounds, or 45

pounds, and the substitution of the 45 pounds of sulphate of ammonia

for the 60 pounds of nitrate of soda will reduce the total application

of fertilizer per acre from 310 pounds to 295 pounds. The important

fact is that in either case there is the required amount of nitrogen.

Let us assume that the field contains enough nitrogen, but other needs

remain the same. In such case, the nitrogen is dropped out, and the

application becomes 250 pounds per acre.

The home-mixer may substitute tankage of guaranteed analysis for part

of the nitrogen and phosphoric acid. Let us assume that the tankage

runs 9 per cent nitrogen and 20 per cent phosphoric acid. If half the

required nitrogen per acre, or 4-1/2 pounds, is wanted in tankage, 50

pounds of the tankage will supply it. At the same time the 50 pounds of

tankage supplies 10 pounds of phosphoric acid, replacing one third of

the 214 pounds of acid phosphate. We thus have for the acre 30 pounds

of nitrate of soda, 50 pounds of tankage, 143 pounds of acid phosphate,

and 36 pounds of potash, or 259 pounds. The content of plant-food

remains the same, but one half of the nitrogen is only slowly

available. The farmer who buys unmixed materials will incline to use

only a few kinds, and at first he will confine himself chiefly to

materials whose composition varies little. In this way he quickly sees

in a ton of the material, not the whole bulk, but the definite number

of pounds of nitrogen and other constituents of plant-food contained in

it, and the calculations in home-mixing become simple.

Materials that should not be Combined.--The advocate of factory-mixed

goods warns the farmer against the danger of making combinations of

materials that will cause loss by chemical action. The danger is wholly

imaginary if no form of lime, wood-ashes, or basic slag is used in the

home-mixtures. As has been said, some materials will harden, if

permitted to absorb moisture, and if the mixture must stand, a few

hundred pounds of muck or dry road dust should be added to each ton as

a drier, and a correspondingly larger amount per acre should be

applied.

Making a Good Mixture.--The process of mixing is simple, and careful

station tests have shown that it is fully as effective as

factory-mixing. The unmixed materials should be kept in a dry place

until the mixing is done. If there are any coarse lumps, a wooden

tamper can crush them on the barn floor, and the material should be

passed through a sand-screen. The material of largest bulk should be

spread on the floor, and the other materials should be put on in

layers. Three careful turnings with a shovel will secure good mixing.

Scales should be used to secure accuracy in desired amounts of the

materials.

Buying Unmixed Materials.--Acid phosphate, animal bone, and tankage can

be bought of any fertilizer agent, but when one pays cash, he does well

to get quotations from various leading manufacturers. The names of

dealers in nitrate of soda can be secured from the New York agency

which keeps its address before the public in agricultural papers. This

is likewise true in the case of the syndicate controlling all the

potash. When the addresses of leading distributors of all needed

materials have been secured, quotations should be obtained on a cash

basis. The best terms are obtained by groups of men combining their

orders.

CHAPTER XX

MIXTURES FOR CROPS

Composition of Plant not a Guide.--It has been pointed out that a

chemical analysis of a soil is not a dependable guide in the selection

of a fertilizer. Years ago the theory was advanced that the analysis of

the crops desired should be a guide, but it has proved nearly

worthless. This theory does not take into account the soil's supply of

plant-food. Moreover, a certain crop may demand a large supply of an

element at a time of the year when the soil's supply is inactive. The

need of nitrogen for grass in the early spring, before nitrification in

the soil is active, is an illustration. Let the causes be what they

may, the fertilizer formulas that call for plant-food in a fertilizer

in the same proportions that it is found in plants are disappointing in

their results. The analysis of the plant is not a dependable index.

The Multiplication of Formulas.--Fertilizer manufacturers have made all

possible combinations of fertilizer materials, using them in various

quantities. Each manufacturer has given a mixture a brand of his own,

and confusion reigns. There is no formula for a soil or crop that will

remain absolutely the best, even for one particular field. It

represents one's judgment of the present need, and is employed subject

to change, just as is the prescription of a physician. It is usually

only an approach toward the most profitable amount and kind of

plant-food that may be supplied. The one important consideration is

that no manufacturer can know the need nearly so well as the

intelligent farmer who knows the history of his field and constantly

tests its ability.

[Illustration: On the productive farm of Dr. W. I. Chamberlain, in

Northern Ohio.]

A Few Combinations are Safest.--It is the best judgment of scientists

to-day that greater results would be obtained from the use of

commercial fertilizers if the number of formulas could be reduced to

ten, or even a less number. The satisfactory fertilizers fall into

three classes:

1. The phosphatic fertilizer, carrying phosphoric acid to land that

gets its nitrogen from clover or stable manure, and that continues

to supply its own potash. Such a fertilizer should have a high

content of phosphoric acid in order that the freight charge, per

pound of plant-food, may be as low as possible. Acid phosphate,

basic slag, and bone are chief in this group.

2. The combination of phosphoric acid and potash that is needed by

soils obtaining all required nitrogen from clover or manure. In

most instances the phosphoric acid should run higher than the

potash, but the percentage of potash should never run lower than 4.

A lower percentage of potash is not as profitable as a higher one,

provided any potash is needed. The potash content should be greater

than that of the phosphoric acid in case of some sandy soils and of

some crops of heavy leaf growth, including various garden crops.

3. The so-called "complete" fertilizer that supplies some nitrogen

with the two other plant-constituents. Such fertilizer should

furnish, with few exceptions, 3 per cent of nitrogen, if no more.

Amount of Application.--In common practice fertilizers are not applied

freely enough when they are used at all. The exception to this rule may

be found in the case of small applications to cold and inert soils to

force growth in the first few weeks of a plant's life. It is difficult

to see how 80 or 100 pounds of fertilizer can affect an acre of land

one way or the other, but experience teaches that such an amount can do

so in respect to young plants. Phosphoric acid has peculiar power in

forcing some development of roots in a small plant, and a small

application in the drill or row may help the plants to gain ability to

forage for themselves.

In early spring a small application of nitrate of soda has marked

effect, tiding the plants over a period of need until the soil is ready

to give up a part of its store.

If a soil is not fertile, and fertilizers are needed as an important

source of plant-food throughout the season, the application should be

liberal. If it is necessary to plant a field that is deficient in

fertility, expending labor and money for tillage and seed, the only

rational course is to furnish all needed plant-food for a good yield.

There may be little net profit from the one crop, but there will be

more than could be obtained without the liberal fertilization, and the

soil will be better equipped for another crop. This applies, in a

notable degree, to fertilization of a wheat crop with which timothy and

clover will be seeded. The difference in cost of 350 pounds of a

high-grade fertilizer and 150 pounds of a low-grade one, when applied

to a poor soil under these circumstances, may be recovered in the grain

crop, and at the same time a good sod will be made possible for the

permanent improvement of the land. It is a safe business rule that land

should be left uncultivated unless enough plant-food can be provided in

some way for a good yield. The man who cannot incur a heavy fertilizer

bill, when necessary, should restrict acreage for his own sake.

Similarity of Requirements.--Many of our staple crops are very similar

in their fertilizer requirements, and this simplifies fertilization.

Setting aside the impression gained from the dissimilarity in the

so-called corn, potato, wheat, and grass fertilizers on the market, the

farmer knows that the soil which is in a good state of fertility is

best for any of them, and if the soil is hard-run, it should have its

plant-food supply supplemented. The hard-run soil usually is lacking in

available supplies of all three plant-food constituents. If a

fertilizer containing 3 per cent of nitrogen, 10 per cent of phosphoric

acid, and 6 per cent of potash serves the wheat well, it will serve the

timothy that starts in the wheat. Likewise it will serve the corn,

although a heavier application will be needed because corn is a heavy

feeder. Experience has taught that it will serve the potato similarly,

and that the potato will repay the cost of free use of fertilizer. If

the soil is sandy and deficient in potash, the percentage of phosphoric

acid may be cut to 8, and the percentage of potash raised to 10, and

all these crops will profit thereby. If the nitrogen content in the

soil is high, none of these crops may need nitrogen in the fertilizer.

This is a general principle, and safe for guidance, though the best

profit will demand some modification that readily occurs to the farmer

as he studies his crops and their rotation. To illustrate: The corn is

given the clover sod or the manure partly because it requires more

plant-food than the wheat. It gets the best of the nitrogen, and may

need only a rock-and-potash fertilizer, while the wheat that follows

may need some available nitrogen to force growth in the fall. There is

no fixed formula for any field or crop, and the point to be made here

only is that the requirements of many standard crops do not have the

dissimilarity usually supposed, except in respect to quantity. A marked

exception is found in the oat crop, which does not bear the application

of much nitrogen, and often fares well on the remains of the manure

that fed the corn, if some phosphoric acid is added.

Maintaining Fertility.--A heavy clover sod gives assurance that a good

crop of corn or potatoes can be grown. If the amount of plant-food in

the sod is not excessive, a heavy crop of wheat can be produced. The

condition of the soil favors many crops. The clover has placed it upon

a productive basis for the time being.

The object that should be kept in view, when a scheme of soil

fertilization is worked out, is the maintenance of such a state of

fertility that the land can be depended upon for whatever crop comes

round in the rotation. When a 3-10-6 fertilizer, or a 3-8-10

fertilizer, is used, the effect upon a thin soil is to restore it

temporarily to this good-cropping power, the size of the application

varying with the crop. A richer soil may want the phosphoric acid and

potash without the nitrogen. A manured soil may need only the

phosphoric acid. The purpose of the fertilizer in any case is

maintenance or increase of fertility, and when this object has been

secured, the crop may be whatever the rotation calls for. It is this

rational scheme that gives success to the Pennsylvania station's

methods on some of its test plats. A given amount of plant-food is put

upon the land, which is under a four-years' rotation. One half of it is

applied every second year. The corn gets one half because it can use it

to advantage. The oat crop that follows finds enough fertility because

the soil is good. Next in the rotation is the wheat, and the wheat and

timothy and clover plants can use fertilizer with profit. There is no

change in its character because it is the soil that is getting the

assistance, and not primarily just one crop in a rotation. The land in

this experiment that is well fertilized is more productive than it was

thirty years ago, although no manure has been applied, and it is the

general productive condition that assures good yields, and not chiefly

any one application of fertilizer.

Fertilizer for Grass.--A fertile soil will make a good sod. A thinner

soil should have a liberal dressing of complete fertilizer at seeding

time, and the formula that has been suggested is excellent for this

purpose. If a succession of timothy hay crops is desired, the problem

of maintaining fertility is wholly changed. The nitrogen supplied by

the clover is soon exhausted, and the timothy sod must be kept thick

and heavy until broken, or the soil will not have its supply of organic

matter maintained. Nitrogen must be supplied freely, and phosphoric

acid and potash must likewise be given the soil. The draft upon the

soil is heavy, and at the same time the effort should be to have a sod

to be broken for corn that will produce a big crop without the use of

any fertilizer. The grass is the natural crop to receive the plant-food

because its roots fill the ground, and the corn should get its food

from the rotting sod, when broken. Station tests have shown that a sod

can be caused to increase in productiveness for several years by means

of annual applications of the right combinations of plant-food in the

early spring. A mixture of 150 pounds of nitrate of soda, 150 pounds of

acid phosphate, and 50 pounds of muriate of potash is excellent. This

gives nearly the same quantity each of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and

potash, and is near a 7-7-7 fertilizer. The only material change in

relative amounts of plant-food constituents, when compared with a

3-10-6 and 3-8-10 fertilizer, is in the increase of nitrogen, due to

the heavy drafts made by continuous mowings of timothy. This fertilizer

should be used as soon as any green appears in the grass field in the

spring after the year of clover harvest. The large amount of nitrogen

makes this an unprofitable fertilizer for clover, and its use is not

advised until the spring of the year in which timothy will be

harvested.

All the Nitrogen from Clover.--The Pennsylvania station has shown in a

test of thirty years that when good clover is grown in a four-years'

rotation of corn, oats, wheat, and clover, the fertility of the

naturally good clay loam soil may be maintained, and even slightly

increased, without the use of any manure or purchased nitrogen.

Phosphoric acid and potash have been applied, and the clover hay crop

has been taken off the land. This result has been possible only by

means of good clover sods. If there had been no applications of

phosphoric acid and potash, the clover would have failed to maintain

fertility, as is proved by other plats in this experiment. No one

should continue to depend upon such a scheme of keeping land fertile

whenever he finds that the clover is not thriving.

Method of applying Fertilizers.--If a fertilizer is used in small

amount with the purpose of merely giving the plants a start, it should

be near the seed. If the application is heavy, and the roots of the

plants spread upon all sides, the fertilizer, as a rule, should be

applied to all the ground, and should be mixed with the surface soil.

This puts the plant-food where needed, and saves from danger of injury

to the seed through contact. A seeming exception may be found in the

case of the potato, but usually some close tillage confines its roots

to the row for a time. Experience indicates that when a potato

fertilizer does not exceed 500 pounds per acre, it may well be put into

the row, but a heavier application should be divided, one half being

broadcasted or drilled into the surface, and the other half of the

application being made in the row.

An Excess of Nitrogen.--Too much nitrogen, due to heavy manuring or

other cause, produces an excessive growth of stalk or straw, at the

expense of grain production, in the case of corn, wheat, and other

cereals. It produces a rank growth of potato vines and partial failure

of the crop of tubers. It produces a tender growth of straw or vine

that invites injury from fungous diseases. It is the rule that soils

have a deficiency in nitrogen, but when there is an excess, the best

cure comes through use of such crops as timothy, cabbage, and ensilage

corn. Heavy applications of rock-and-potash fertilizers assist in

recovery of right conditions, but are not wholly effective until

exhaustive crops have removed some of the nitrogen.

CHAPTER XXI

TILLAGE

Desirable Physical Condition of the Soil.--Successful cropping of land

is dependent upon favoring soil conditions. The plants to be grown must

have ease in root extension, so that their food may be found. There

must be moisture to hold the food in solution. There must be air. There

must be destruction of plants that would be competitors of the ones

desired. A soil rarely is in prime condition for the planting and

growth of any crop without some change in its structure by means of

tillage, and it does not remain in the best condition for any long

period of time. If the number of plants required per acre for a crop is

relatively small, tillage of the soil is continued after planting. If

the necessary number makes tillage impossible, there is some loss in

conditions most favorable to the plant. The particles of soil settle

together, and there is loss of water at the surface. Most plants want a

mellow soil, and tillage is in large part an effort to make and to keep

the condition of the soil friendly to plant life in this respect. The

wide variation in methods of tillage are due to the great differences

in the texture and structure of soils, and to the habits of plants, and

skill in selection of methods is a measure of the intelligence used in

farming.

The Breaking-plow.--Land containing enough clay to give it an excellent

soil inclines to become firm. During the growth of a crop, when plant

roots fill the soil and prevent deep stirring, the particles pack

closely together, limiting the power of the land to make fertility

available. The presence of organic matter counteracts, in part, this

packing tendency, but there are few soils that remain permanently

mellow. The breaking-plow is used to loosen the soil, and to undo the

firming that has been taking place while plant roots prevented deep

tillage. At the same time the plow may be used to bury organic matter

below the surface, affording a clean seed-bed. In some soils it has

value in bringing inert soil to the surface, and in mixing the soil

constituents.

Types of Plows.--The kind and condition of the soil, and the character

of the crop, determine the type of plow to be used. A plow with a short

and quite straight moldboard does not bury manure and turf in the

bottom of the furrow so completely as is the case with a long, curved

moldboard. The organic matter should be distributed throughout all the

soil. On the other hand, it is essential to some plants that they have

a fine seed-bed, and one whose surface is free from tufts of grass. The

long moldboard is preferred in breaking a sod for corn. Its use in

plowing for all crops is more general than it should be, the gain in

pulverization of the furrow-slice, due to the curve, and the neatness

in appearance of the plowed land, inducing its use.

The disk plow has been used chiefly in soils not requiring deep

plowing. It pulverizes better than a moldboard plow, and buries trash

more easily.

[Illustration: Deep tillage.]

The device for using two disks to turn a single furrow-slice rests upon

a sound principle. This plow may be set to run deeper than moldboard

plows go, and it mixes well all the soil that it turns. The disks are

so hung that the mixing of all the soil to a depth of twelve or fifteen

inches is admirable. The deep-tilling plow does not bury the organic

matter in the bottom of the furrow, and thereby permits the deepening

of the soil without bringing an undue amount of subsoil to the surface.

Subsoiling.--The theory of subsoiling always has been captivating. Most

soils are too shallow, inviting injury from drouth. Enthusiasm

regarding subsoiling comes to large numbers of farmers at some time in

their experience, and a great number of subsoil plows have been bought.

The check to enthusiasm is the fact that few men ever have seen such a

plow worn out. Some reasons are as follow:

(_a_) The subsoil at time of spring-plowing rarely is dry enough

for good results, and there is danger of puddling; (_b_) the

subsoil often is too dry and hard in late summer, when rains permit

easy breaking of the top soil for fall grain; (_c_) the work

doubles the labor and time of plowing, and (_d_) the subsoil soon

settles together because it contains little organic matter.

Subsoiling is generally approved and little practiced. Land at

plow-depth becomes packed by the tramping of horses upon it and the

pressure of the plow, when the plowing is done at the same depth

year after year, and in some soils subsoiling has been found

distinctly valuable.

Time of Plowing.--In great measure the time of plowing is determined by

the effect upon soil moisture, and is discussed in the next chapter.

Method of Plowing.--The depth of plowing should be fixed largely by the

amount of organic matter in the soil. It is essential that a good

percentage of this material should be mixed throughout the soil, and

when it is in scant supply, the depth of plowing usually should not be

great. Fertile soils should be plowed deep for their own good, and thin

soils should be deepened gradually, as sods and manures afford a supply

of humus-making material. Even when manure is used liberally in a

single application on a poor soil, a large amount of inert subsoil

should not be thrown upon the surface. The manure goes out of reach of

the greatest need, which is in the surface soil where plant-life

starts. A gradual process of deepening the soil is to be preferred, but

such deepening should not be neglected. The subsoil is a store of inert

fertility that should not remain dormant.

It may not do to say that the success of the best farmers is due to

thoroughness in plowing, but it is true that the more successful ones

are insistent that the plowing be absolutely thorough. Every inch of

the soil should be stirred to a certain depth, and that requires a plow

so set that it does not turn a furrow-slice much wider than the point

can cut. Evenness in depth and width of furrow is seen in good plowing.

The Disk Harrow.--The purpose of the plow is to break up the soil so

that it will be crumbly and mellow. The frequency with which land

should be thoroughly stirred to full plow-depth depends upon the

condition of the soil and the character of the crops. Oftentimes a disk

or cutaway harrow may replace the plow. Its action is the same as that

of the plow, loosening and turning the soil over. When land has had a

good plowing within the year, and has not become compact, stirring to a

depth of four inches may give a better seed-bed for some crops than

could be made by use of a plow. This is true of land that has produced

a cultivated crop and is being prepared for a fall-seeding. The gain in

time of preparing ground for oats in the spring makes the use of the

disk or cutaway harrow profitable on mellow corn-stubble land.

There is temptation to carry the substitution of the disk harrow for

the breaking-plow too far. Its use alone would have the same effect as

poor plowing, reducing the depth of the soil. The surface soil, down to

plow-depth, is the chief feeding-ground for plants because it is kept

in good tilth by organic matter and tillage. The depth of this soil

affects the amount of available plant-food and water. The duration of

time between deep plowings depends upon the soil and the crops.

Experience shows that when land has been broken for corn or potatoes or

beans or similar crop, the one plowing may be sufficient for a

succeeding crop. If grass is not seeded with the succeeding crop, it is

best to give another thorough plowing before seeding to grass in August

if the soil is heavy, but in naturally loose soils a disk harrow makes

a better seed-bed.

Two influences favor such undue dependence upon a disk harrow that a

soil may become shallow: the cost of preparing the seed-bed is reduced,

and the saving in moisture may give a better stand of plants when the

harrow takes the place of the plow. The immediate productiveness of a

crop is not an assurance that the method is right: consideration for

the good of the land must be shown. Depth of soil is a requirement of a

good agriculture, and deep plowing is a means to that end. The

looseness of the soil and the character of the season may make

substitution right in one instance and wrong in another. Deep soils,

well filled with organic matter, will bear shallow preparation of a

seed-bed more frequently than thin soils, and yet it is the latter that

may profit most by having its best part kept near the surface at the

time a new sod must be made. The disk harrow has some place as a

substitute for a plow, but when its use results in making a soil more

shallow, the harm is a most serious one.

Cultivation of Plants.--If a soil would remain mellow throughout the

season, there usually would be no reason to disturb the roots of plants

by any deep stirring, and all tillage would be only deep enough to make

a mulch of earth for the retention of moisture and to destroy all

weeds. Soils containing enough clay to make them retentive of moisture

become too compact when rains beat upon the ground, as usually happens

after the planting of spring crops. A deep and close cultivation of

corn and potato plants after they appear in the row helps to restore

the condition created by the plow and harrow, and often is the best

practice. There is some sacrifice of roots, but the gain far exceeds

the loss. It may be necessary to give a second such cultivation when a

clay soil is deficient in organic matter, but the root-pruning is a

handicap.

Controlling Root-growth.--The exception to the rule that plant-roots

should not be pruned by deep cultivation is found in the case of a

close soil in a wet season. The plants extend their roots only in the

soil at the surface because the ground is soaked with water nearly all

the time. They cannot form far enough below the surface to withstand a

drouth that may follow the wet weather. Good tillage in such a case

demands the pruning of the roots and the airing of the soil when the

ground is dry enough to permit such stirring, and the plants then

extend their roots in the lower soil where they rightly belong.

Judgment is required to decide when such tillage is desirable, but

judgment is needed all the time in farming. When a continued period of

wet weather affects the position of the plant-roots, it rarely is

advisable not to risk deeper tillage than is given in a normal season.

Underdrainage helps to prevent such ill-effect of continued rains in

the early part of a plant's life-time.

Elimination of Competition.--Weeds pump the water out of the soil, use

up available plant-food, and compete for the sunlight. Tillage is given

for several reasons, and one is the destruction of weeds. A weeder

which stirs the soil only an inch or two deep is an excellent destroyer

of weeds when they are starting, but after the weeds are well-rooted,

the weeder acts only as a cultivator for the plants that should be

destroyed. Modern cultivators have fine teeth that let the surface

remain nearly level, and they do their best work when the weeds are

small. The use of "sweeps" should be more general. The blades are so

placed that they slip under the surface, letting the soil fall back so

that a mulch is formed.

Length of Cultivation.--Most tilled crops grow rapidly until they shade

and mulch the soil. Tillage should continue, if possible, until this

occurs. The exception is in the case of orchard trees and other plants

that should not have their period of growth extended late in the fall.

Good tillage tends to increase the lateness of a crop by encouraging

growth. The new wood of trees may not become hardy enough to withstand

the frost of winter if tillage is continued. Early maturity is hastened

by exhaustion of soil moisture and plant-food.

CHAPTER XXII

CONTROL OF SOIL MOISTURE

Value of Water in the Soil.--The amount of water in the soil each day

of the growing season determines in large measure the possibility of

securing a profitable crop from land. Observant farmers have noticed

oftentimes that the differences in yields on the farms of a region are

less in a wholly favorable season than in one of deficient rainfall.

The skill of the farmer in conserving the moisture supply in a wet

season is less well repaid because it is less needed. The poverty of a

worn soil is less marked in a favorable season. The land is accounted

poor because the supply of plant-food is inadequate for a drouthy year

in which a considerable percentage of the time produces little growth,

but most agricultural land has enough plant-food for a fairly good crop

when water is present all the time to carry daily supplies into the

roots. It is the amount of moisture in the soil that is the limiting

factor in the case of most land that is not in a high state of

productiveness.

The Soil a Reservoir.--The rains of the summer rarely are adequate to

the needs of growing plants. Some water runs off the surface, some

passes down through crevices beyond the effect of capillary attraction,

and much quickly evaporates. The part that becomes available is only a

supplement to the store of water made by the rains of the fall, winter,

and early spring.

If the soil were viewed as a medium for the holding of water to meet

the daily needs of plants, and were given rational treatment on this

basis, a long step toward higher productiveness would have been taken.

As has been stated, rotted organic matter gives a soil more capacity

for holding water. It is an absorbent in itself, and it puts clays and

sands into better physical condition for the storage of moisture. An

unproductive soil may need organic matter for this one reason alone

more than it may need actual plant-food.

Fall-plowing for a spring crop enables land to withstand summer's

drouth if it gains in physical condition by full exposure to the

winter's frost. It is in condition to take up more water from spring

rains than would be the case if it lay compact, and it does not lose

water by the airing in the spring that plowing gives.

Early spring-plowing leaves land less subject to drouth than does later

plowing. As the air becomes heated, the open spaces left by the plowing

serve to hasten the escape of moisture. If a cover crop is plowed down

late in the spring, the material in the bottom of the furrow makes the

land less resistant to drouth because the union of the top soil with

the subsoil is less perfect, and capillary attraction is retarded. It

is usually good practice to sacrifice some of the growth of a cover

crop, even when organic matter is badly needed, and to plow fairly

early in the spring in order that the moisture supply may be conserved.

The Land-roller.--The breaking-plow is a robber of soil water when used

in warm weather. The air carries the water away rapidly. The air-spaces

are large. The corrective of this condition is the land-roller. It

presses the soil together, driving out the excess of air. Large crumbs

are pressed down into the mass, and are kept from drying into hard

clods. The roller never should be used on land when fresh-plowed in a

moist condition, and it is not needed after fall-plowing, or early

spring-plowing in most instances, but land broken when the season is

advanced should be rolled before much water evaporates.

[Illustration: Making an earth mulch in a New York orchard.]

The Plank-drag.--An excellent implement on a farm is the plank-drag. It

is usually made of over-lapping heavy planks, and when floated over the

surface, it both pulverizes and packs the soil. The effectiveness is

controlled by the weight placed upon it, and oftentimes the drag is to

be preferred to the roller.

The Mulch.--In conserving the supply of water in the soil the mulch

plays an important work. The dry air is constantly taking up the water

from the surface of land, and when the surface is drier than the soil

below, the moisture moves upward if there is no break in the structure

of the surface soil. The mulch is a covering of material that does not

readily permit the escape of water.

The only available material for a mulch in most instances is the soil

itself. Experience has taught that when the top layer of soil, to a

depth of two or three inches, is made fine and loose, the water beneath

it cannot escape readily. It is partly for this reason that the

smoothing-harrow should follow the roller after land has been plowed.

The plow is used to break up the soil into crumbs that will permit air

to enter. The loosening is excessive when the planting must follow

soon, permitting rapid escape of water. The roller or plank-drag is

employed to compress the soil, and to crush crumbs of soil that are too

large for good soil conditions. The harrow follows to make a mulch of

fine, loose soil at the surface to assist in prevention of evaporation.

A sandy soil will retain its mulch in effective condition for a longer

time than a fine clay, if no rain falls. When the air is laden with

moisture, clay particles absorb enough water to pack together and form

an avenue for the rise of water to the surface, where the dry air has

access to it.

Mulches of Foreign Material.--The truth that moisture is a leading

factor in soil productiveness is evidenced by the value of straw and

similar material as a mulch. A covering of straw around trees in an

orchard, or bush fruits, or such plants as the potato, may give better

results than an application of fertilizer when no effort is made to

prevent the escape of water. People so situated that little attention

can well be given to the fruit and vegetable garden obtain good results

by replacing tillage with a substantial mulch that keeps the soil

mellow, prevents weed growth, and retains an abundant supply of water.

In grain-producing districts where all the straw is not needed as an

absorbent in the stables its use as a mulch on thin grass lands, or

wheat-fields seeded to grass, is more profitable than conversion into

manure by rotting in a barnyard. The straw affords protection from the

sun, and aids in the conservation of soil water, when scattered evenly

in no larger amount than two tons per acre, and a less amount per acre

has value. The sod is helped, and as the straw rots, its plant-food

goes into the soil.

Plowing Straw Down.--The practice of plowing straw under as a manure is

unsafe, when used in any large quantity per acre. It rots slowly, and

while lying in the bottom of the furrow it cuts off the rise of water

from the subsoil which is a reservoir of moisture for use during

drouth.

The Summer-fallow.--Bare land loses in total plant-food, but may make a

temporary gain in available fertility. The practice of leaving a field

uncropped for an entire season has been abandoned in good farming

regions. Where moisture is in scant supply, and a soil is thin, there

continue instances of the summer-fallow. In a crop-rotation containing

corn and wheat, the corn-stubble land is left unbroken until May or

June, and then plowed. In August it is plowed again, and fitted for

seeding to wheat. The practice favors the killing of weeds, and the

soil at seeding time may contain more water than would have been the

case if a crop had been produced, because its mellow condition enables

the farmer to hold within it nearly all the moisture that a shower may

furnish after the second plowing.

The Modern Fallow.--The modern method of making a grass seeding in

August partakes of the nature of the old-fashioned summer-fallow. The

desire is to eradicate weeds, secure availability in plant-food, and

fit the soil to profit by even a light rainfall. Thin soils lend

themselves well to this treatment, which is described in Chapter VIII,

and there is no better method for fertile land. The benefit of the

fallow is obtained without serious loss of time.

CHAPTER XXIII

DRAINAGE

Underdrainage.--There are great swamps, and small ones, whose water

should be carried off by open ditches. Our present interest is in the

wet fields of the farm,--the cold, wet soil of an entire field, the

swale lying between areas of well-drained land, the side of a field

kept wet by seepage from higher land,--and here the right solution of

the troubling problem lies in underdrainage. An excess of water in the

soil robs the land-owner of chance of profit. It excludes the air,

sealing up the plant-food so that crops cannot be secured. It keeps the

ground cold. It destroys the good physical condition of the soil that

may have been secured by much tillage, causing the soil particles to

pack together. It compels plant-roots to form at the surface of the

ground. It delays seeding and cultivation. An excess of water is more

disheartening than absolute soil poverty. The remedy is only in its

removal. The level of dead water in the soil must be below the

surface--three feet, two and one half feet, four feet,--some reasonable

distance that will make possible a friable, aerated, warm, friendly

feeding-ground for plant-roots. Only under drainage can do this.

Counting the Cost.--Thorough underdrainage is costly, but it is less so

than the farming of fields whose productiveness is seriously limited by

an excess of water. The work means an added investment. Estimates of

cost can be made with fair accuracy, and estimates of resulting profit

can be made without any assurance of accuracy. The farmer with some wet

land does well to gain experimental knowledge, and base future work

upon such experience. He knows that he cannot afford to cultivate wet

land, and the problem before him is to leave it to produce what grass

it can produce, sell it, or find profit in drainage. He has the

experience of others that investment in drainage is more satisfactory

than most other investments, if land has any natural fertility. He has

assurance that debt incurred for drainage is the safest kind of debt an

owner of wet land can incur. He has a right to expect profit from the

undertaking, and he can begin the work in a small way, if an outlet is

at hand, and learn what return may be expected from further investment.

Almost without fail will he become an earnest advocate of

underdrainage.

[Illustration: Drain tile.]

Where Returns are Largest.--The total area of land needing drainage is

immense. Swamps form only a small part of this area. Yields of much old

farm land are limited by the excess of water during portions of the

year. As land becomes older, the area needing drainage increases.

The owner of wet land does well to gain his first experience in a field

where a swale or other wet strip not only fails to produce a full crop,

but limits the yield of the remainder of the field by delaying planting

and cultivation. This double profit often is sufficient to repay cost

in a single year.

Material for the Drains.--Doubtless there are places and times when

stone, or boards, or brush should be used in construction of

underdrains, but they are relatively few in number. Such underdrains

lack permanency, as a rule, though some stone drains are effective for

a long time. If drain tile can be obtained at a reasonable price, it

should be used even in fields that have an abundance of stone. Its use

requires less labor than that of stone, and when properly laid on a

good bottom, it continues effective. There is no known limit to the

durability of a drain made of good tile.

The Outlet.--The value of any drainage system is dependent upon the

outlet. Its location is the first thing to be determined. If the land

is nearly flat, a telescope level should be used to determine

elevations of all low points in the land to be drained. The outlet

should permit a proper fall throughout the length of the system, and it

should not require attention after the work is completed. If it is in

the bank of a stream or ditch, it should be above the normal level of

the water in the stream. In times of heavy rainfall water may back up

into the main with no injury other than temporary failure to perform

its work, but continuous submersion will lead to deposits of silt that

may close the tile.

Locating Main and Branches.--There are various systems of drainage.

Wherever a branch or lateral joins the main, the means of drainage is

duplicated within the area that the main can drain, and the system

should call for the least possible waste of this sort. It usually is

best that the main take the center line of the low land, laterals being

used to bring the water to the main from both sides, but there is less

duplication of work when the main can be at one side of the wet land.

Branches of the main may be needed to reach remote parts of the area.

The Laterals.--Small lines of tile are used to bring the water to the

main when the wet land extends beyond the influence of the main. The

distance between these laterals depends upon their depth and the nature

of the land. A tight clay soil will not let water pass laterally more

than a rod or 20 feet, compelling the placing of the drains not over 40

feet apart, while an open soil may permit a distance of 60 or more feet

between laterals.

Size of Tile.--The size of the main depends upon the area that

eventually may be drained, the amount of overflow from higher land, the

nature of the soil, and the grade of the drain. It is a common mistake

to make the main too small because the drainage immediately

contemplated is less than that which will be desired when its value is

known. In the determination of the size the judgment of an expert is

needed, and if this cannot be had, the error should be on the side of

safety. If the main will not be required to carry overflow from other

land, and has a fall of 3 inches to 100 feet, one may assume that a

6-inch main will carry the surplus water from 12 to 20 acres of land,

and an 8-inch main will carry the water of twice that area. Some

drainage experts figure larger areas for such mains, but there is

danger of loss of crop when the rainfall is very heavy.

The laterals need not be larger than 3 inches in diameter when laid on

a good bottom.

Kind of Tile.--When clay tile is used, it should be well burned. Some

manufacturers offer soft tile for sale, as the loss from warping and

cracking is less in case of insufficient burning. The claim may be made

that the efficiency of soft tile is greater than that of the hard tile

whose porosity has been destroyed. This is an error, as the water

enters the drain at the joints, and not through the walls of the tile.

Underdrainage should be permanent in its character, and it is essential

that every piece of tile be sound and well-burned.

Vitrified clay tile is good for drainage, but no better than common

clay hard-burned.

Round or octagonal tile is the most desirable because it can be turned

in laying to secure the best joints. Collars are not needed in ordinary

drainage.

Cement tile is coming into general use in regions having no good clay.

Its durability has not been tested, but there is no apparent reason

that it should not be a good substitute for clay.

The Grade.--The outlet may fix the grade. If it does not, the main,

branches, and laterals should have a fall of 3 inches, or more, to the

100 feet. This grade insures against deposits of silt and gives good

capacity to the drains. If the outlet demands less fall in the system,

the main may be laid on a grade of only a half inch to the 100 feet

with satisfactory results. Such a small fall should be accepted only

when a lower outlet cannot be secured, and great care should be used in

grading the trench and laying the tile.

Establishing a Grade.--If the grades are light, they should be

established by use of a telescope level. Most of the cheap levels are a

delusion. A stake driven flush with the surface of the ground at the

outlet becomes the starting point, and by its side should be driven a

witness stake. Every 100 feet along the line of the proposed drain and

laterals similar stakes should be driven. Their levels should then be

taken, and when the fall from the head of the system to the outlet is

known, the required cut at each 100-feet station is easily determined.

It may be necessary to reduce or increase the grade at some point to

get proper depth in a depression or to save cutting when passing

through a ridge.

Cutting the Trenches.--There are ditching-machines that do efficient

work. The best are costly. Most of the work on farms will continue to

be done with ditching-spades. The ground should be moved when wet, so

that labor can be saved.

A line should be used to secure a straight side to the trench. The

grade should be obtained by means of a system of strings. If two light

poles be pushed into the ground at each 100-feet station, one on either

side of the proposed trench, and a string be drawn across at a point

5-1/2 feet above the bottom of the proposed trench, these strings will

be in line on a grade 5-1/2 feet above the grade the drain will have.

As the cut at the station is known, the height of the string above the

top of the stake is easily determined. These strings will reveal any

inaccuracy in the survey. The workman can test every part of the bottom

of the trench by use of a rod 5-1/2 feet high, the top end being

exactly in line with the strings when the lower end is placed on the

correct grade of the trench. This device is better than running water

where grades are slight.

A drain scoop should be used in bottom of the trench to make a resting

place for the tile that will prevent any displacement by the soil when

the trench is filled.

Depth of Trenches.--Underdrains may be placed too deep in close soils

for best results. In an early day it was advised that the drains be put

down 4 feet deep. We now know that a tight clay soil may give best

results from a drain only 28 inches deep, or even a little less. In a

looser soil 3 feet is a better depth, and in porous swamp lands the

drain may well go 4 feet deep, thus permitting increase in distance

between drains.

Connections.--The laterals should enter the branches and mains near the

top, so that the water will be drawn out rapidly. The tile should be

laid with close joints at the top, so that the water may enter more

freely from the sides than the top. No covering other than moist soil

is needed unless there is very fine sand, when paper over the joints

will serve a good purpose. After some moist soil from the sides of the

trench has been tramped upon the tile, the trench may be filled by use

of a breaking-plow or winged scraper.

Permanency Desired.--The expense of underdrainage demands care in every

detail of the work. The grade of the trenches should be carefully

tested. Every piece of tile should be examined. The outlet should be

guarded against displacement or entrance by animals. A good plan is to

lay the last few pieces of tile in a close-fitting wooden box, and to

protect the end with iron rods placed 2 inches apart.

If the drain is on a true grade, so that no silt will collect, there

need be no fear concerning its continued efficiency, provided water

does not run in it all the time. If it carries the water from springs

continuously, plant-roots may fill it, and tree roots are quite sure to

do so when opportunity offers. This is notably true in case of elms and

willows, but protection is afforded in such an instance by closing the

joints with cement.

[Illustration: The lure of the country.]

_The following pages contain advertisements

of books on kindred subjects_

NEW FARM AND GARDEN BOOKS

Injurious Insects: How to Recognize and Control Them

By W. C. O'KANE

Entomologist of the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station, and

Professor of Economic Entomology in New Hampshire College

_Illustrated. Cloth, 12mo. $2.00 net._

Complete information on the characteristics, life histories and means

of control of the more common injurious insects, including those

infesting field crops, vegetables, fruits, the principal pests of

domestic animals, stored products and the household, is contained in

this book. A distinctive feature of the work is the illustrations with

which the text throughout is accompanied. These have been made

especially for Dr. O'Kane. With each insect treated he shows in an

original photograph the characteristic injurious stage or the typical

work of the insect where that is characteristic. By this means the

author hopes that the layman will be able to recognize an insect that

threatens by the picture aside from any description in the text.

Principles of Fruit Growing

By Professor L. H. BAILEY

_New edition. Cloth, 12mo. $1.50 net._

Since the original publication of this book, in 1897, it has gone

through many editions. The progress of fruit growing in the meantime

has been very marked and it has been necessary to completely rewrite

the work. The present issue of it brings the accounts of the new

practices and discoveries as they relate to fruit growing up to date.

All of the text and practically all of the illustrations are new.

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

PUBLISHERS 64-66 Fifth Avenue NEW YORK

NEW FARM AND GARDEN BOOKS

Sheep Farming

By JOHN A. CRAIG and F. R. MARSHALL

_Illustrated. Cloth, 12mo. $1.50 net._

This book deals with sheep husbandry as a phase of intensive farming.

Recognizing that it is likely to be used by persons unfamiliar with

sheep, the authors have worked from the standpoint of the producer of

market stock, rather than from the standpoint of the professional

breeder. The various breeds are discussed in such a way as to enable

the reader to select the kind that is most likely to do well under his

conditions and to acquaint him with the care it is accustomed to and

needs. The management of the flock in the fall, winter, spring and

summer seasons, the formation of the flock, the selection of foundation

stock, and the means of maintaining a high standard of flock

efficiency, are all discussed in subsequent chapters.

Forage Crops for the South

By S. M. TRACY

_Illustrated. Cloth, 12mo. Preparing._

Professor Tracy has had long experience in Southern agriculture, both

in application and in teaching. He was formerly Professor of

Agriculture in the Mississippi Agricultural College, and now conducts a

branch station or farm for the United States Department of Agriculture.

He is a botanist of note and has traveled extensively in the South as a

collector. His book is not only authentic, but practical. In it is

contained a discussion of all kinds of plants and crops adapted to the

Southern States for fodder, soiling, pasturing and hay. The text is

abundantly illustrated.

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

PUBLISHERS 64-66 Fifth Avenue NEW YORK

THE RURAL MANUALS

Edited by L. H. BAILEY

Manual of Farm Animals

A Practical Guide to the Choosing, Breeding and Keep of Horses, Cattle,

Sheep and Swine.

By MERRITT W. HARPER

Assistant Professor of Animal Husbandry in the New York State College

of Agriculture at Cornell University

_Illustrated, decorated cloth, 12mo, 545 pages, index, $2.00 net; by

mail, $2.18_

"The work is invaluable as a practical guide in raising farm

animals."--_Morning Telegram._

"A book deserving of close study as well as being handy for reference,

and should be in the possession of every farmer interested in

stock."--_Rural World._

Manual of Gardening

A Practical Guide to the Making of Home Grounds and the Growing of

Flowers, Fruits and Vegetables for Home Use.

By L. H. BAILEY

_Illustrated, cloth, 12mo, 544 pages, $2.00 net; by mail, $2.17_

This new work is a combination and revision of the main parts of two

other books by the same author, "Garden Making" and "Practical Garden

Book," together with much new material and the result of the experience

of ten added years. Among the persons who collaborated in the

preparation of the other two books, and whose contributions have been

freely used in this one, are C. E. Hunn, a gardener of long experience;

Professor Ernest Walker, reared as a commercial florist; Professor L.

R. Taft, and Professor F. A. Waugh, well known for their studies and

writings on horticultural subjects.

A STANDARD WORK REVISED AND ENLARGED

The Farm and Garden Rule Book

By LIBERTY H. BAILEY

_Illustrated, cloth, 12mo, $2.00 net_

When Professor Bailey's "Horticulturist's Rule Book" was published

nearly twenty-five years ago, the volume became a standard agricultural

work running through sixteen editions. Taking this book as a basis the

author has now made a wholly new book, extending it to cover the field

of general farming, stock-raising, dairying, poultry-rearing,

horticulture, gardening, forestry, and the like. It is essentially a

small cyclopedia Of ready rules and references packed full from coyer

to cover of condensed, meaty information and precepts on almost every

leading subject connected with country life.

IN PREPARATION

Manual of Home-Making. Manual of Cultivated Plants

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

PUBLISHERS 64-66 Fifth Avenue NEW YORK

THE RURAL OUTLOOK SET

By Professor L. H. BAILEY

Director of the New York State College of Agriculture at Cornell

University

_Four Volumes. Each, cloth, 12mo. Uniform binding, attractively boxed.

$5.00 net per set; carriage extra. Each volume also sold separately._

In this set are included three of Professor Bailey's most popular books

as well as a hitherto unpublished one,--"The Country-Life Movement."

The long and persistent demand for a uniform edition of these little

classics is answered with the publication of this attractive series.

The Country-Life Movement

_Cloth, 12mo, 220 pages, $1.25 net; by mail, $1.34_

This hitherto unpublished volume deals with the present movement for

the redirection of rural civilization, discussing the real country-life

problem as distinguished from the city problem, known as the

back-to-the-land movement.

The Outlook to Nature (New and Revised Edition)

_Cloth, 12mo, 195 pages, $1.25 net; by mail, $1.34_

In this alive and bracing book, full of suggestion and encouragement,

Professor Bailey argues the importance of contact with nature, a

sympathetic attitude toward which "means greater efficiency,

hopefulness, and repose."

The State and the Farmer (New Edition)

_Cloth, 12mo, $1.25 net; by mail, $1.34_

It is the relation of the farmer to the government that Professor

Bailey here discusses in its varying aspects. He deals specifically

with the change in agricultural methods, in the shifting of the

geographical centers of farming in the United States, and in the growth

of agricultural institutions.

The Nature Study Idea (New Edition)

_Cloth, 12mo, $1.25 net; by mail, $1.34_

"It would be well," the critic of _The Tribune Farmer_ once wrote,

"if 'The Nature Study Idea' were in the hands of every person who

favors nature study in the public schools, of every one who is opposed

to it, and, most important, of every one who teaches it or thinks he

does." It has been Professor Bailey's purpose to interpret the new

school movement to put the young into relation and sympathy with

nature,--a purpose which he has admirably accomplished.

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

PUBLISHERS 64-66 Fifth Avenue NEW YORK

How to Keep Hens for Profit

By C. S. VALENTINE

_Cloth, illustrated, 12mo, $1,50 net; postpaid, $1.63_

"The Plymouth Rock, Java, Dominique, Wyandotte, Rhode Island Red, and

Buckeye breeds are discussed in the first few chapters. Considerable

attention is given to other breeds later on. Eighteen beautiful

half-tone engravings adorn the book. From the standpoint of the

practical farmer and poultry-grower, we consider this book as one of

the very best of its kind. The author is evidently an experienced

poultry-man. It is a book that should be of special help to beginners

in poultry, while at the same time it contains much information for the

expert."

--_Farmers' Tribune._

The Beginner in Poultry

By C. S. VALENTINE

_Decorated Cloth, profusely illustrated, 12mo, $1.50 net; postpaid,

$1.68_

It has been estimated that of the five million people who are raising

poultry in this country today half have gone at it blindly. And it is

just as impossible to make a success of the poultry business without

preparation as it is impossible to succeed in any other business

without an acquaintance with the fundamentals. The difficulty which

the novice has experienced in going at the raising of chickens

systematically in the past has been that he could find no book in which

the essentials--only the essentials and all of them--of poultry-raising

are given. To write such a book has been Mr. Valentine's purpose In

"The Beginner in Poultry" he discusses the different breeds of fowls,

the types of houses, feeding and the kinds of food, raising chickens

for the market and for their eggs, diseases and their cures and

everything else which will be of value for the one who is starting

out--and much for the seasoned poultry-raiser as well.

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

PUBLISHERS 64-66 Fifth Avenue NEW YORK

RURAL SCIENCE SERIES

Edited by L. H. BAILEY

On Selection of Land, etc.

Isaac P. Roberts' The Farmstead $1 50

On Tillage, etc.

F. H. King's The Soil 1 50

Isaac P. Roberts' The Fertility of the Land 1 50

F. H. King's Irrigation and Drainage 1 50

Edward B. Voorhees' Fertilizers 1 25

Edward B. Voorhees' Forage Crops 1 50

J. A. Widtsoe's Dry Farming 1 50

L. H. Bailey's Principles of Agriculture 1 25

On Plant Diseases, etc.

E. C. Lodeman's The Spraying of Plants 1 25

On Garden-Making

L. H. Bailey's Garden-Making 1 50

L. H. Bailey's Vegetable-Gardening 1 50

L. H. Bailey's Forcing Book 1 25

On Fruit-Growing, etc.

L. H. Bailey's Nursery Book 1 50

L. H. Bailey's Fruit-Growing 1 50

L. H. Bailey's The Pruning Book 1 50

F. W. Card's Bush Fruits 1 50

On the Care of Live-stock

Nelson S. Mayo's The Diseases of Animals 1 50

W. H. Jordan's The Feeding of Animals 1 50

I. P. Roberts' The Horse 1 25

M. W. Harper's Breaking and Training of Horses 1 50

George C. Watson's Farm Poultry 1 25

On Dairy Work, Farm Chemistry, etc.

Henry H. Wing's Milk and Its Products 1 50

J. G. Lipman's Bacteria and Country Life 1 50

On Economics and Organization

I. P. Roberts' The Farmer's Business Handbook 1 25

George T. Fairchild's Rural Wealth and Welfare 1 25

H. N. Ogden's Rural Hygiene 1 50

J. Green's Law for the American Farmer 1 50

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

PUBLISHERS 64-66 Fifth Avenue NEW YORK

Cyclopedia of American Agriculture

Edited by L. H. BAILEY

Director of the College of Agriculture and Professor of Rural Economy,

Cornell University.

_With 100 full-page plates and more than 2,000 illustrations in the

text; four volumes; the set, $20.00 net; half morocco, $32.00 net;

carriage extra_

Volume I--Farms

Volume II--Crops

Volume III--Animals

Volume IV--The Farm and the Community

"Indispensable to public and reference libraries ... readily

comprehensible to any person of average education."--_The Nation._

"The completest existing thesaurus of up-to-date facts and opinions on

modern agricultural methods. It is safe to say that many years must

pass before it can be surpassed in comprehensiveness, accuracy,

practical value, and mechanical excellence. It ought to be in every

library in the country."--_Record-Herald, Chicago._

Cyclopedia of American Horticulture

Edited by L. H. BAILEY

_With over 2,800 original engravings; four volumes; the set, $20.00

net; half morocco, $32.00 net; carriage extra_

"This really monumental performance will take rank as a standard in its

class. Illustrations and text are admirable.... Our own conviction is

that while the future may bring forth amplified editions of the work,

it will probably never be superseded. Recognizing its importance, the

publishers have given it faultless form. The typography leaves nothing

to be desired, the paper is calculated to stand wear and tear, and the

work is at once handsomely and attractively bound."--_New York Daily

Tribune._

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

PUBLISHERS 64-66 Fifth Avenue NEW YORK