Jasper County Democrat, Volume 14, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 May 1911 — Farm and Garden [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Farm and Garden

NEW FACTS; OLD MANURES. Values of the Various Borts of Fertifizor Bot Forth Briefly. Horse manure from city stables usually contains 70 to 75 per cent of water in the form in which each manure reaches the farmer. The solid portion of such manure contains of nitrogen Irom 0.5 to 0.8 per cent, phosphoric acid 0.3 to 0.5 per cent, potash 0.5 to 0.7 per cent lime 0.5 to 0.8 per cent with traces of magnesia. The drier the manure the larger the quantity of actual plant food elements In the ton. Cotaputing the above named quantities of nitrogen therein as worth 20 cents per pound, phosphoric acid and potash each 4 cents a pound, the valuation of horse manure of the above range of composition works out from $2.64 to $4.16 per ton. Sheep manure from stockyards and slaughter bouses is sometimes sold in the market either under its own name or as so called “natural guano.” Analysis of three such samples sold In Connecticut showed them to contain about as much nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash as conld be bought in the form of fertilizer chemicals for sll or sl2. The sheep manure sold at from $25 to $33 a ton. Bat, as the station report says, it must also be remembered that 60 per cent of sbeep manure consists of fine vegetable matter, which forms humus in the soil and has distinct value in feeding the soil bacteria and In regulating the water content of the solL

A curious fertilizing material comes in small quantities from silk mills. It is called “cocoon dust” and consists of the dead bodies of silkworms. The Connecticut station found it to be extraordinarily rich in nitrogen, containing nearly 10 per cent of this substance; also small quantities of phosphoric acid and potash. Sewage waste may be profitable as a fertilizer. The sludge which accumulates on the sand beds used for the purification of sewage at Rockville was found by the Connecticut station to contain of water 68 per cent, of nitrogen 1.34 per cent, with traces of phosphoric acid and potash. This material has almost three times as mnch nitrogen as stable manure, but it is probably much less available to crops because the more soluble and valuable part of the nitrogen has been removed by water and microbe action. Nevertheless if it can be got for the hauling it might pay for a short haul to plow under.—American Agriculturist.

DON’T CUT SOD WITH SPADE. Make For Yourself This Ingenious Little Sledge and Halve Your Labor. The construction of the sod cutter is dearly shown in the sketch. It may be well to add, says Farm Progress, that the knife blade dips downward about three-eighths of an inch in its

width of two and one-half inches. The knife can be adjusted to cut the sod at the proper thickness. Two men and a boy, with a team, recently cut enough sod to load a slat wagon holding one and one-quarter cubic yards, rolled the sod and loaded the wagon in a trifle more than an hour. The cutter is easily and cheaply made and is a great improvement over the spade. Puckerless Persimmons. Yes, it has been done Do not laugh, you who have been handed persimmons and have bitten to the-delight of uproarious spectators. Our department of agriculture has earned additional fame by taking the pucker out We owe the discovery to the Japanese. For five years an expert has been ttt work, for the government devising means to remove the pucker from the persimmon. Like all things, it is simple when yon know how. The fruit is put into tanks into which carbon dioxide has been forced and left there three days. Taken out it is sweeter than a Bartlett pear and will keep three times as long.

What part will you take in the campaign for better farming? Much will be required at your hands. Have you determined to do your part?

A Modern Solomon. “Do yon think I am really your affinity?” asked Solomon’s nine hundred and eighty-fifth wife coquettishly. "My dear,” said the wisest guy, “you are one In a thousand.” He got away with it too.—Toledo Blade.

CHEAP AND HANDY SOD CUTTER.