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Exeter Advocate, 1915-5-6, Page 2What the Land Needs now to Use Farmyard Manure and the Artificial Fertilizers "To hold what we have" that is rsshy the British Empire and Can- ada is et war with Germany. Pro- gressive farmers will follow a sem- eine of action in- regard to the fertility of their soils, Loss of fer- tility cannot be prevented, but by a proper rotation and the use of farmyard manure and artifuc-iai fertilizers the fertility of the soil can be maintained at that level that will give the maximum profit front the crops that are produced. Some of our agricultural advisers i seen. to think- that the farmer •• chetah' spend a lot. of money in in- creasing the petentiai supply of pant food in his .soil for the benefit i of future generations. Regarding this one is very apt to ask. like the -Irishmen when he was told to think' of posterity. ..What, has posterity done for the Thi is a very na.- tura° feeling, but .there is no doubt that on the majority of farms it will be profitable for the prese.mt oticn- ere. to ..not only replace, but even inereaee the fertility thatis taken out of the s,zil by the crops, No Eleni and Fast Rule. It is impossible to lay down herd. and fast rules as to how one (should fertilize .+ne's soil. So Much de - Fends on the Fertility of the ecel,, its *naive', co:edition, the climate, the nearness of markets, and nut merons other factors, .As rule, eiewever. the higher priced the Rend the better it will paz to use artifi- cial fertilizers. • Thus it prubahly s� eeld not pay to use fertihzers out NI est on and that is only worth Eileen deft . -s ^ ren. acre, but it wou",d very likely pay very well tell use them on land in Eastern Can- oda that is Korth seventy-five or one 1z:indeed dollars an acre, even if th,. ?atter were more fertile. In idea ng with fertilizers one has to: Consider the kind of crop that it is (desired to grow: Thus wheat, which is a deep-rooted crop and • zu fist +often sown in the fall, is able to get front the soil the mineral ecostituentseethe phosphoric acid lino pita, .h it requires; but tiro lee.. the land has been well =our - ed for the previous crop, it is bene- fited by a top dressing of nitrogen. f tuts and barley, on the other hand, are .shallow -rooted crops, and can- not make sueh geed use of the `min- oral matter in the soil, and they are specially benefited by an applica- tion of -one mineral fertilizer. Roots and corn are gross feeders, and d„ best when lots of farmyard manure is used. Corn and turnips ulsr' respond well to a liberal ai,p- plieatinn of some phosphatic ma- nure, such as basic slag or acid mfrs, -plate. Mangels, on the other hard, require hots of nitrogen and pot ash. and therefore farmyard manure and wood ashes or some other meow of potash, should form the .chief manure here. The soil has also to be considered, and still modify anti alter our tue,h,ot?e of fertilizing. Tints clay soil- are rich in potash, but often ,.'fitment in phosphoric acid. Sup- ped zw•e are going to grow a crop of mangels on a soil of this type. Max gels, as has been said, require a liberal supplyof nitrogen and pita -alt. Lots of farmyard manure oil! be required tosupple-the°nitro- g en,, but u potash zo willbe required, as the soil already has an abundance of this constituent. If we were growing mangels on some sandy soils, which are often deficient in both potash and phos- phoric acid, an extra amount of potash s •ould have to be used, and some phosphatic fertilizer as well, though, as a rule, phosphatic fer- tilizers are not required on man - gel, Thus the kind of crop grown and the nature of the soil have to be taken into eon:sideration before we can use fertilizers to the best ad- vantage. As an example of how the type of soil and the original state of its fer- tility modifies the method of treat- ing the soil, it was found that in the Stats of New Jersey, when corn was grown on good, loamy soil, that. phosphoric acid and potash were of much more importance than nitro- gen. On the sandy soils, however, nitrogen and potash were of rela- tively more importance than phos- phoric acid. • Corn, as has been said, is a crop that, as a rule, requires nitrogen and phosphoric acid more than potash. The peculiarities of the different farm crops as regard's fertilizer re - qui i'mente and the eITements of fer- tility that ,are most likely to be de- ficient inthe various types of soils have been dealt with in recent is- sues of The Countryman. The dif- ferent fertilizers have also been de- scribed and their properties and ef- fect discussed. It but remains now to consider how these fertilizers can be most profitably used in ordi- noisy farm practice. In dealing with the application of fertilizers to crops, no conclusions can be drawn as to the proper methods of manuring unless the place the crop occupies in the rota- tion is taken into account and also the dtaracteTr o -f the land and the style offarming oonsedered. On. wens of the rich soils of the prairie provinces; where the wheat crop takes about thirty-five pounds of nitrogen per acre from the soil .en-' neatly, .nitrogen is being lost through cultivation at the rate of seventy pounds a year. These soils at present are very fertile, and fertilizers would be thrown away on them; but in a few years' time they will become so depleted that manure will have to be used if anything like a profitable crop is going to be grown. But just now land in these sections is so cheap that it pays better to grow wheat after wheat without adding any kind of manure a=t all, and then, when the soil reaches a• certain stage of exhaustion, to move oft to new land. But in ordinary farm practice we have to consider not only the particular requirements of the crop and soil with which we are dealing, but also, as has been said, its place in the rotation. For example, if we are dealing with ztiheet we have to take into eon- sideration what crop it is grown after, as this will affect the ferti- lizer which would be appropriate for it.. Coming after oats,. the fer- tilizer required would not be the same as if it followed clover, Furthermore, one man may have good land in high condition and be farming high for big crops ; while another man, who is perhaps an equally good farmer may base poorer land where it may be more aeon -conical to be content with lower yields and less expenditure. The manuring must be considered as a whole, As a. system to be shaped as much lay tine widely -varying condi- tions of cost of production, mar- kets, and condition of soil as by the requirements of the crop itself, Fertehzers, as a rule, do not pay as well on land that is in a poor state of preparation as on laud that is in nice, fine condition. The amount of labor available, then, is an important consideration in the question as to how far it is profit- able to use fertilizers. Systems of Fertilization. Various systems of fertilization have been recommended—most of them with some useful points. One system is to add a large excess of the mineral elements of fertility—. phosphoric acid, potash and lime— and add nitrogen in small doses as it is required by the crop. As we pay in commercial fertilizers about three times as much for nitrogen as for the mineral substances, it is claimed that this system will be very economical, as by applying i the nitrogen as top dressing Just at the time the plant can make most use of it a. great saving in the fertilizer bill will be effected. Be- sides, as the covers and legumi- nous crops are especially depen- dent on the mineral elements, large erupt, of these will be obtained, and this will result in the further en- richment of the soil, in the nitro- gen obtained from the air. This system could be used to good advantage where phosphates and potash can be obtained cheaply, firs in some parts of the States, but with prices as they are in Canada at the present time it is very doubt- ful if it could be worked profitably. Another system that has been ad- vocated is to apply fertilizer .heavi- ly to the chief money crop—such as potatoes or wheat. The other crops i n therotation testi on a re dependent p 4n the residues left in the soil after the chief crop has been taken off. A system that is too often follow- ed is to use an Irishisni—no sys- tem at all. Fertilizers are applied haphazard without any regard as to the nature of the crop or the condi- tion of the soil at the time they are applied. Ville of France was one of the first to put forth any ideas concern- ing systems of fertilization, and his teachings are the basis of all suc- cessful use of fertilizers at the pre- sent day. His idea was that for all plants there was a certain element of fertility that was more necessary than the others for the successful growth of the plant. This he called the dominant ingredient. Thus nitrogen is the dominant in- gredient for wheat, oats, barley, rye, mangels and meadow land. Phosphoric acid is the dominant in- gredient for turnips and corn . Pot- ash is the dominant ingredient for clover, potatoes and flax. This idea of dominant ingredients is a per- fectly sound one, and is found to work out in practice pretty well. Importance of Legumes. In the older parts of Can'ad a farming cannot be carried on suc- cessfully without a proper system of rotations. .Clover ,or -some other leguminous crop has to be used somewhere in the cycle, and usually the poorer the land as the: oftener a leguminous ,crop will 'b e introduced. At Rothalnlsted .ion Englandwhere experiments with fertilizers used in rotation of wheat, roots, barley and ,;lover have been going on for. the last sixty years, it hazes been shown that a yield of . foo ty-omre bushels of wheat and thirty bushels of barley can be maintained where the mineral elements are supplied and where the roots are fed on the land. Where no -Clover was grown but a, bare fellow used instead the yield of wheat dropped to, thirty- two bzi:5ehel,s and that of. 'barley to ,seventeen bushels. Thee allows, the effect of clover on the yields of the other erops, and the effect would have been still more striking if i instead of the bare fallow a non -leguminous , orop ,had been grown. A two -ton crop of clover hay will add fifty poen& of nitrogen per acre to the soil. In. commercial fertilizers this nitrogen would cost about ten dollars. Growinig clover is. a cheap way to enrich the soil •anat get an increase in the yields of the other crops. The eastern part of Canada is chiefly a stock country. It is very seldom that one crop is grown year after year, as is done in the prairie provinces with wheat, and in the corn belt of the Mates with earn. In the older provinces a ro- tationis followed more or less sys- tematically and live stock are kept to a. greater or less extent. Amount of Fertility Removed, In considering e system of ferti- lieatiou for aur farm it is well to see how much fertility is removed by the cups. On a, farm following a four -course rotation of wheat, roots, oats and clover where these crops yield thirty bushels of wheat, fifteen tons of roots, forty bushels of oats and two tons of clover hay, and whore only the grain is sold off the farm, the annual loss of fer- tility would be about 30 pounds of nitrogen, 10 pounds of phosphoric acid and 6 pounds of potash. Fifty I pounds of nitrogen per acre would. be added to the soil by the two tons of clover hay. This is somewhat more than is removed from the soil by the crops, but there are other ways in which nitrogen is lost, such as by bac- terial action and oxidation, so that it is rather difficult to say with certainty just how much nitrogen is really lost. From ,Rotlnawansted results we may •conclude that in such a, system as this—where only the grain is fed off the farm and a leguminous crop is included in the rotation—that the soil would just about be maintained at tee same level of fertility as regards nitro - fen. If three hundred pounds of acid phosphate or basic slug per acre were used somewhere in the rotation, preferably on the root crop; all the losses of phosphoric acid would be made good, and with soils containing a. fair amount of clay, the weathering of the soil aatd the consequent liberation of potash may be relied upon to make up any loss in potash. Thirty bushels of wheat and forty bushels of oats to the acre is not a, very high average to aim for. As has been said, we may expect too maintain an average of thirty bushes of. wheat and forty bushels of oats to the acre by feeding everything produced on the farm, except the grain, where clover is included in the rotation, and once every four years three hundred pounds of acid phosphate is . an. plied. But this is not a very high average to aim, at,. It is the man that does an ordinary day's work "and then some" that gets on in this world, and it is the man that grows an average crop "and then some" that is making money on the farm. It is the "and then some" part of the crop that usually pro- duces the profit. Fertilizers in Ordinary Practice. The following system of fertiliza- tion is adapted for soils in fair con- dition, and where the condition's of markets and labor are such as are found in Eastern Canada to -day. It is taken for granted that live stock is kept on the farm and that a. fair amount of farmyard manure is produced. For purposes of illustration it is assumed that a y fif •e - v ear rotation of corn or roots, oats or barley, wheat„ hay and pasture is follow- ed. When the wheat is seeded down it is presumed that at least half of the grass mixture will con- sist of the clover, Corn is a, gross feeder and there- fore can use a lot of nitrogen to advantage. It also requires a fair amount of phosphoric acid. After pasture when the 'sod is plowed up in the fall and the action of the frost allowed to act on it all win- ter, the land will be in very good shape for the corn crop. Part of. the farmyard manure should have. been applied in the fail or hauled out during the winter. In the spring all the fertilizer that will be required to give a good crop will be 200 pounds to the acre of ao.d phosphate, or basic slag. When turnips folliew pasturage a good dressing of manure should be applied, as before indicated, and 250 pounds of some phosphatic fer- tilizer applied. Mange]es require abundance of nitrogen and a good supply of potash, so that a liberal application of farmyard manure should be, made as before, and 200 or 300 pounds of wood ashes ap- plied in the spring as soon as pos- sible to supply the potaeh. A top dressing of 150. pounds of equal parts of nitrate of soda and salt will be useful afterwards as a top dressing, more especially if the farmyard manure is not plentiful, Fertilizers For Grain Crops. In the second year when oats or barley are grown the land will be in good shape from the residues of'. the roaarerat applied to the roots or corn and from the cultivation these crops received. These crops are specially dependent on phos-'- phorie acid, however, so a light application of 150 pounds of some phosphatic manure should be ap- plied, For barley no nitrogerwus manure should be used, as it will very likely spoil the quality of the grain, but for the oats fifty pounds of ammonium sulphate per acre ap- plied with the phosphatic manure will increase the yield, The third year, when wheat is grown, the soil hats become some- what depleted by the former crops and the remainder of the farmyard manure should be applied after the land has been s plowed. In the spring, if the wheat does not seem to be coming along well, a, 'mixture of equal parts of ammonium sul- phate and nitrate of soda should be applied at the rate of 100 pounds. too the acre. Immediately the wheat isher- vested 100 pounds per acre of some phosphatic manure and some pot:- essie manure that will supply' 30 pounds of potash per acre should be applied. The clovers are able to get their nitrogen from the air and are more especially in need of the mineral substances. 13y understanding the special ma- nurial requirements of the different crops and taking into considera- tion the kind and condition of the soil on which those crops are grown and the position of the Drop in the rotation farmyardmanure and artificial fertilizers can be used with profit, By applying them as indicated above and knowing the requirements of the different crops the crop yield may be increased anywhere from 15 to 50 per cent. -- Dan McKee, B.S.A., in Canadian Countryman. --.-.d+ Telephone as hospital Aid.. Those of you who regard the tele- phone merely as an. instrument for conversation will be surprised at a recent article in the British Medical Journal by Sir James Davisson. It describes the method of locating 'bullets ley telephone, which is su- perseding X-rays. To one end of -the telephone wire is attached a small piece of platin- um placed upon any part of the pa- tient's skin, which is moistened with salt water; the other end of the telephone wire, in the form of a dis- infected thread of silver, is attach- ed be the surgeon's instruments, such as knife, probe, needle or for- ceps. Thea e' n then rg o t n attaches the telephone receiver to his ear and begins .to use the instruments upon the patient's tissues. He will hear with great distinctness the charac- teristic microphonic rattle the in - gent the instrument touches any metal imbedded in the patient's tis- sue. Similarity, "Bragson makes me think of a river." "Where's the similarity 4" "When -a river's head ie swollen youare, made aware of the fact by its month." Selected Recipes., This is a good recipe for cheese puffs : In a saucepan of boiling water melt two tablespoonfuls of butter. When the water :and but- ter are boiling, stir into them four tablespoonfuls of flour, wet with oald water, and -four tablespoonfuls ofgrated cheese. Cook for three minutes, stirring all the time. Re- move from the fire, and when the mixture is cold add two eggs and beat hard for 15 minutes. Line a baking dish with greased paper and Trap the mixture upon it, a spoon- ful at a' time, leaving ample space between each puff for the swelling caused by baking. When puffed. up and brown they are done and must, be eaten at once. When, making toast it improves it both in taste and digestibility if the slices of bread are laid in the oven for a little zs-bile before toasting them. They will toast better and more evenly for the advance treat-, mea.. To make cldeken croquettes 'take seine cold chicken•, which should be cut front the bone and mimed fine, then season with salt, pepper tend juice -of a lemon. Lee this stand one hour, thenmake a hatter; of two eggs to a pint of milk, a little salt, and flour enough to snake a batter AO too stiff. Stir the chickenin this and drop it by spoonfuls in boiling fat. Fry brown, drain and serve. These toasted cheese wafers are very nice for the afternoon tea ta- ble Get the round soda crackers; with a thin knifesplit them in halt and put them for a moment in cold water; remove from the water and place in a. buttered pan. Dot with bits of butter and put in hot oven until a golden brownn. Then sprin- kle grated cheese over each wafer, and replace ie the oven until the cheese is slightly melted. Serve while 'lnot. Sweet potatoes stuffed and glazed form atempting dish. Cut baked sweet potatoes and leash ; return to the shells ; boil one-fourth cupful of molasses and one level table- spoonful o.f blabber together for three minutes. Brush the tops of'. the potatoes with this syrup, and put there back into a quick oven to brown. If properly done there should be a. rich golden glaze over the top. Mock terrapin, a tasty luncheon dish, may be made from cold calves' liver or from roast beef. Make a roux of two teaspoonfuls of butter and two teaspoonfuls of flour, and then acid two cupfuls of gravy or two cupfuls of soup ;stock. Let the mixture boil up once and then add four cupfuls of cold sheet, cut in cubes, and simmer slowly for half. an hour. Season highly, adding a little cider or sherry, if one wish- es. Pour on a hot platter and garnish with four :hard-boiled eggs sliced, The real Scotch scone is • made with buttermilk ars follows: Put a pound of flour into a basin and make a hole in the middle of' it; put in a teaspooful of soda, and half a teaspoonful of cream of tartar, then pour in a pint of buttermilk, or ,enough to mix to the constitu- ency of common dough; roll out to the thicknessof an inch; cut the scones out with a tumbler; place on a, buttered and warmed griddle, and bake and turn until nicely browned on both sides.. Clear soup is a• stimulant rather than nutriment, and should be served either with a substantial dinner or 'have added to it such nronrisrherted,food a(s a poached egg. The egg May be poached in some of the soap, put on toast in the bottom of the ,soup plate and the clear soup poured about it. The first essential in soup -making from meat is to draw out the juices of the meat and retain the flavor. The former is accomplished by put - The Bicycle is Playing a Big Part in the War. Arcanning , • German bicycle squad ca'r in •-!their wheels over a ( l y g n embankment in Poland. The bicycle ,corps of the German germy has proved to' be most of emut. The scouts can move aboutto quickly and almost ,as mach equipment ,be,�. r, ie from place to plac® can ca lied as •on a horse. MADE I GAN)‘ ting the meet—tut in small pieces and the bonees sawed or broken ---to cook in cold water, A good fla- vor is obtained by slow cooking. Never boil but simmer for several hours, -the length of time depending upon the meat to be cooked. The meat should cook to pieces and be- come colorless. The vegetables may be cooked with the meat and stock if enough time is given them so that they do not boil during cooking. Gelatin things ,are always good when made right. Here is a good dessert recipe Milk,:- one quart; gelatin, one ounce; flavoring, two heaping tablespoonfuls; white su- gar, three-quarters of a •cupful. One quart of milk, one ounce at gelatin, a tablespoonful of almond flavoring, with a. tablespoonful of rose water, three-fourths of a• cup of white sugar; 'heat the milk to boiling, turn in the gelatin, which should have been previously seek - ed for an hour hi ,a cup of the milk ; add the flavoring and stir all toge- ther 10 minutes before putting in the sugar. As noon as the gelatin hale dissolved, remove from the fire, strain through a thin muelin bag, Leet a, mold with cold water, pour the blanc mange into and set in a cold place till solid, t'seful flints. Grass stains on any material can be removed if moistened with a so- lution of chlorate of tin, and then washed immediately in plenty of cold water. It is wise always -to keep a bottle of this solution. If the stained article cannot be wash- ed, then alcohol must be used. Flowers wither quickly in the heat, but 4 small piece of camlrpor in the water will keep them fresh much longer. Freckles, if objected to, can be removed by taking a quarter of a drachm of powdered borax, half ac drachm of sugar, and one canoe of lemon -juice, mixing thoroughly, and letting the mixture stand for two or three days in a bottle to elear. Dab on the face three times daily, and the freckles will go. Cakes get very dry in warm wea- ther, but if placed in a tin box with an 'apple,they will keep moiait. Renew the apple when withered. The cake will. not "taste." Rain (spots on cloth need not be regarded hopelessly. Wipe off the way of the nap with a. silk handker- chief or very -soft brush. If this be done quickly, no marke will remain. Soup quickly goes sour in the warm days, but it will keep sweet if a pinch of carbonate of soda is added o every t quart. Sunburn is not becoming, but it can be removed by washing the face in warm water in which a lemon has been ,squeezed and a. pinch of borax added. Fruit stains are -very "slaringish." To remove them from white mater- ial, o boil milk and hold the stained part in it for a minute. On linen apprly powdered starch at once, and leave for a few hours. Hot and stuffy rooms can be made cool and fresh by suspending a sheet wrung out in cold water over the open doorway. - If a visitor comes it can be removed in two se- conds, and your friend will surely remark how deliciously cool your room is. Perspiration — excessive — is a -keel to many. Extreme cleanli- ness, and dusting with pow -tiered boracic acid mixed with' fine starch is the best preventive. Face feeling is another warm- weather arm-weat er trouble. To prevent this beginning, lightly rub the face be - foes going out with a little fresh cream.. At night rub in a .little good cold cream. Untidy hair is, of course, . more noticeable in sunny, h•atlees days than in winter. The following will realty.keep y'aur hair in curl:,, You could make 'if yourself, but if you hand the recipe to a chemise he will. do it quite cheaply. Carb, • of pot- ash, one drachm; pond, cochineal, half a drachm.; liquid of -ammonia, one drachm; essence of rose, one drachm glycerine, a quarter of am ounce; rect. spirit, one and ,a half ounces; distilled water, eighteen ounces. Mix wel:1, leave for ,a week, fregmerttly ear; and then fil- ter through fine muslin, slim, : ',Moisten, the ,hair with it .while dressing. Sunstroke. - Cold -water ` raggt. should be applied to the head, which. should he Dept well, raised. Clothing should 'be removed from the neck and chest. No stimulants must be given. . For hank messengers and others who carry large sures of money .a,. the ut-rests an. i.nve�.nt.ou has design ed a special handbag, in. the handle' of which a revolver is' concealed