^'A<>'6\3-/50 _ ^ ^^^-^ IBHAJRY. QOF' 2. THE GoMGcticit Apiciltiral Exprineiit Statioi. NEW HAVEN, CONN. IBTJLLEJTinV TVo. ISO APRIL, 1895 Analyses of Fertilizers. Trade Tallies of Fertilizer Ingredients for 1895. Poultry Foods. CONTENTS. Notice as to Bulletins and Reports, ----.. 2 Notice regarding the Fertilizer Law, - . ... 2 Trade Values for Valuation of Mixed Fertilizers, - - - - 3 Nitrate of Soda, ........ 4. Dry Fish, ......... 4 Dried Blood, ........ 5 Cotton Seed Meal, -.-.....5 Dissolved Rock Phosphate, ...... g Odorless Mineral Guano, --..... 9 Muriate of Potash, ....... 9 Canada "Wood Ashes, - - . . - . - 10 Cotton Hull Ashes, - - - - - - - 11 Poultry Foods, ........ 14 H-3 ho, 1^0 2 CONNECnCUT AGRICULTURAL STATION, BULL. 120. Notice as to Bulletins. The Bulletins of this Station are mailed free to citizens of Connecticut who apply for them, and to others, as far as the limited editions permit. Applications should be renewed annually before January 1st. The matter of all the Bulletins of this Station, in so far as it is new and of permanent value, will be made j^art of the Annual Report. B^^AU Bulletins earlier than No. 71 and alsoNos. 83, 93, 100, 101, 102, 106, 111 and 118, are exhausted and cannot be supplied. Notice as to Supplt of Station Reports. The Annual Report of this Station, printed at State expense, is by law limited to an edition of 12,000 copies, of which 5,000 copies are bound with the Annual Report of the Connecticut State Board of Agriculture, and distributed by the Secretary of the Board, T. S. Gold, West Cornwall, Conn. After exchanging with other Experiment Stations and Agricul- tural Journals, the RejDorts remaining at the disposal of the Sta- tion will be sent to citizens of Connecticut who shall seasonably apply for them, and to others as long as the supply lasts. I^^The Station has no supply of its Annual Rejaorts for the years 1877, 1878, 1879, 1880, 1881, 1883, 1887, 1891, and 1893, but some of them may be obtained from Secretary T. S. Gold. Notice Regarding the Fertilizer Law. Persons who mix fertilizers, whether on a farm or in a factory, and sell these mixtures within the State of Connecticut, must, under the terms of the Fertilizer Law, pay analysis fees on such mixtures and meet the other legal requirements. Purchasers may club together to buy fertilizers, making one per- son their agent for the purpose, or may pay one person for mixing and bagging goods which they severally own, without limitation by the law, but the sale of either fertilizer-chemicals, factory- mixed or home-mixed fertilizers within this State, subjects the sel- ler to the requirements and penalties of the law. FERTILIZEES. TRADE-VALUES OF FERTILIZER INGREDIENTS IN RAW MATERIALS AND CHEMICALS, FOR 1895. The following schedule for the valuation of fertilizers in 1895 has been adopted by the Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jer- sey and Connecticut Stations. CIS. per lb. Nitrogen in ammonia salts (ammonic nitr.ogen) 18-^ nitrates ( nitric nitrogen) 15 Organic nitrogen of dry and fine ground fisl], meat and blood IQi of cotton seed meal 12 of fine bone and tankage 16 of fine-medium bone and tankage 14 of medium bone and tankage II of coarse bone and tankage 5 of hair, horn shavings and coarse fish scrap 5 Phosphoric acid, water-soluble Gi citrate-soluble*- - 6 of dry fine ground fish, bone and tankage 5^ of fine-medium bone aud tankage 4-i- of medium bone and tankage 3 of coarse bone and tankage 2 of cotton seed meal, and wood' ashes 5 of mixed fertilizers, insoluble in both water and ammonium citrate.. 2 Potash as high-grade sulphate and in forms free from muriate (or chlorides) 5J as muriate _ 4^ In Mixed Fertilizers, organic nitrogen is reckoned at 16^ cents per pound, the price of nitrogen in raw materials of the best quality; insoluble phosphoric aeidis reckoned at 2 cents: 2^otash is, rated at 4^ cents, if sufficient chlorine be present in the fertilizer to combine with it to make muriate; if there is more potash present than will combine with the chlorine, then this excess of potash is reckoned at 5^ cents per pound, * Dissolved from 2 grams of the unground phosphate previously extracted with pure water, by 100 c. c. neutral solution of ammonium citrate, sp. gr. 1.09, in 30 minutes, at 65° C, with agitation once in five minutes. Commonly called " re- verted" or "backgone" Phosphoric Acid. CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL STATION, BULL. 120. ANALYSES OF FERTILIZERS. Reported by E, H. Jenkins. On the following pages will be found analyses of most of the fertilizers which have been examined at this station since making up the Annual Report for 1894. These fertilizers are raw materials, such as are used by manu- facturers or for home-mixing, or are applied to land unmixed. All the analyses here given were made by Messrs. Winton and Ogden, chemists of the Station. Nitrate of Soda. 4:489. Sold by National Fertilizer Co. Bridgeport. Sent by T, J. Stroud, Shaker Station. 4:511. Sold by National Fertilizer Co. Bridgeport. Sent by S. E. Curtiss, Stratford. These samples contain 16.24 and 10.37 per cent, of nitrogen respectively. The regular retail price was $50.00 per ton. At this price the nitrogen cost 15.4 and 15.2 cents per pound respectively, which is a little less than the average cost in this State, because the two samples contained more nitrogen than is usually found in this article. Dry Fish. 4548. Sold by L. Sanderson, New Haven. From a lot bought by the Station for experiment. 4514. Sold by G. W. Miles, Milford. Sent by W. L. and S. T. Merwin, Milford. Analysis. 4548 4514 Nitrogen as ammonia .16 .80 organic. 9.35 6.83 Soluble phosphoric acid .51 .88 Reverted " " 5.70 8.35 Insoluble " " 1.08 1.82 Costper ton... $33.00 30.00 Valuation per ton $38.75 33.1T Nitrogen costs cents per pound 13.5 14.6 FERTILIZERS. 5 The per cent, of nitrogen in the sample of fish from L, Sander- son, 4548^ is exceptionally high. Eight per cent, is the average amount. With 8 per cent, of nitrogen the cost per pound of nitrogen would have been about 16 cents. Dried Blood. 454-4. Sold by L. Sanderson. Sample from lot sold to this Station for experiment. It contained 13.40 per cent, of nitrogen and 1.54 of phosphoric acid. Allowing 5 cents per pound for phosphoric acid the nitro- gen costs 14.4 cents per pound. CoTTOK Seed Meal. On the next page are given the analyses of Cotton Seed Meal recently made at this Station. For "valuation" of cotton seed meal the pound of nitrogen is reckoned at 12 cents, of phosphoric acid at 5 cents and of potash at 5^ cents. Since phosphoric acid and potash are present in small proportion it is not needful to determine their exact amount in every sample, but the valuation is made sufficiently exact by using the average quantities in which they occur. The retail cost of organic nitrogen in 12 lots of meal has ranged from 9.9 cents to 13.4 cents per pound or on the average 11.9 cents. The price of cotton seed meal is this year lower than ever, and there is nothing which supplies available organic nitrogen for fer- tilizers so cheaply. This material has long been used on tobacco with success and is now employed extensively as a fertilizer for other crops. There is in some quarters a belief that the nitrogen of cotton seed meal is not as readily available as that from animal matter, fish, tankage, bone, etc. Our knowledge regarding the relative availability of the various forms of organic nitrogen is scanty, but there are facts which indicate that cotton seed meal, castor pomace, linseed meal and the like, are equal if not superior to many forms of animal matter as sources of nitrogen for crops. Thus cotton seed meal or castor pomace is used exclusively by many of the most successful tobacco growers as a nitrogen supply for tobacco, a crop which makes large demands on the soil-nitro- gen and, occupying the land less than three months, requires plant CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL STATION, BULL. 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Were the nitrogen of cotton seed meal not quickly available it could hardly meet the needs of this crop. The fact, however, that tobacco growers use quanti- ties of meal presumably much in excess of the crop requirements, somewhat weakens the argument. In the Eighteenth Report of this Station, pp. 99, 100, are given the results of three years' exact experiments made by Wagner on small plots of soil, in which he tested the relative value of various forms of organic nitrogen on a rotation consisting of sum- mer rye, flax, summer Avheat and carrots. Castor pomace was thus compared with nitrate of soda, dried blood, fish, steamed bone and other materials. If the availability of the nitrogen of nitrate of soda is called 100 then in the first year the relative availability of the nitrogen of blood was 67, of castor pomace 62, while that of fish and ' bone meal was 51 and 42 respectively. The average of two years tests on the same soil was 67 and 65 for blood and castor pomace, 59 and 53 for fish and bone meal. The average of three years tests on the same soil was 69 and 67 for blood aud castor pomace, 64 and 61 for fish and bone. Experiments in pots gave results not essentially difl^erent from these. Experiments of the same kind made at this Station in 1894, 18th Report, p. 96, in which corn was grown in pots with the dif- ferent fertilizers showed " that under the conditions of this experi- ment, of the organic forms of nitrogen, castor pomace B was the most available, 85 per cent., wben nitrate of soda equals 100 per cent. Somewhat less available was the nitrogen of linseed meal, 80, and of blood, 77 per cent. Next came cotton seed meal, 76, castor pomace A, 74, and horn and hoof 72 per cent. Last came dry fish, 70, and tankage 68 per cent." These exact experiments indicate that the nitrogen of vegeta- ble matters like those named, is as readily available to crops as that of most forms of animal matter. Even if the vegetable nitro- gen were somewhat inferior, the lower price might still make it the more economical to use. Farmers should specify in ordering, bright^ hulled or decorti- cated meal, with not less than 6.6 per cent, of nitrogen. The low- priced, dark, unhulled meal which contains between three and four per cent, of nitrogen is uneconomical to use at current mar- ket rates. The nitrogen of the hulls (cortex) is comparatively worthless. 8 CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL STATION, BULL. 120. Castor pomace should be mentioned among the sources of organic nitrogen. No samples have yet been analyzed during the present season. It is bought chiefly in the tobacco growing dis- tricts and its use will probably not extend to other sections while the prices of nitrogenous matters hold as they are now. Dissolved Rock Phosphate. 4490. Sold by National Fertilizer Co., Bridgeport. Sent by T. J. Stroud, Shaker Station. 4493. Sold by Liebig Mfg. Co., Cartaret, N. J. Sent by J. H. Webb, Hamden. 4507. Sold by Liebig Mfg. Co., Carteret, N. J. Sent by S. D. Woodruff & Sons, Orange. 4613. Sold by National Fertilizer Co., Bridgeport. Sent by S. E. Curtiss, Stratford. Analyses. 4490 4493 4507 4513 Soluble Phosphoric Acid 12.83 13.00 8.58 8.35 Reverted " " 2.93 2.92 6.34 6.85 Insoluble " " 1.15 .15 1.47 2.01 Cost per ton $18.00 18.00* Available Phosphoric Acid costs 5.5 5.6 The sales of 4493 and 4507 were in car lots for spot cash and the price paid made the cost of available phosphoric acid less than three cents per pound. Available phosphoric acid can be bought in dissolved rock phosphate very considerably cheaper than in dissolved bone black, which has hitherto been almost the only source of soluble phos- phoric acid for those who mix their own fertilizers. Dissolved rock phosphate has been chiefly U'sed hitherto by manufacturers of mixed fertilizers, and two objections have been urged against its use for home-mixtures. It has been claimed, in the first place, that the phosphoric acid of dissolved rock is not as available to crops as that of the more expensive dissolved bone black. This claim is absolutely without foundation. G-round rock phosphate is usually extremely slow in its action on crops. The same is true of waste bone black, as it is of bone ash. But when phosphoric acid has been brought into * Regular retail rate. FERTILIZEES. 9 solution in water, this soluble phosphoric acid is, in general, of the same value whatever the source from which it came. In the second place, dissolved rock phosphate is likely to cake or set when stored for some time and hence to require screening or milling before it can be used. If it is mixed with a large pro- portion of muriate or sulphate of potash or nitrate of soda, it will sometimes cake together even harder than when unmixed. If, however, enough animal or vegetable matter is present no such inconvenience need be feared. To illustrate : Mr. J. N. Barnes, of Yalesville, made two mix- tures in the spring of 1894. One contained 1200 pounds of tank- age, 300 of dissolved rock phosphate, 350 of nitrate of soda, and 150 of muriate of potash. The other consisted of 100 pounds of fine bone, 600 of nitrate of soda, 325 of muriate of potash and 975 of dissolved rock phosphate. A portion of each lay in bags in the barn till Octo- ber. At that time the mixtures were in excellent condition. There were no lumps which did not fall apart on emptying the bags. Odorless Mineral Guano. This material, — wholly distinct from " Odorless Phosphate," which is a basic slag pi-oduced in the manufacture of steel — is ofiered by The Forest City Wood Ash Co., of Boston. It is the soft phosphate of Florida and claimed to be the " best fertilizer on the market." A sample 4499 received from T. J. Stroud, of Shaker Station, contained 20.52 per cent, of phosphoric acid, of which 1.'79 per cent, was soluble in ammonium citrate and in that sense " avail- able." At reasonable prices this material may be profitably used on soils which are known to be specially deficient in available phos- phates and hence likely to be benefited by a heavy application of some phosphate which will furnish phosphoric acid to the crop year after year. Muriate of Potash. This is at present the cheapest source of available potash in our market. It is quite constant in composition and is sold under guarantee of 50 per cent, actual potash, though some lots contain one per cent, less than this. 10 CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL STATION, BULL. 120. The retail price is at present from $42.50 to $45.00 per ton, making the cost of actual potash from 4.2 to 4.45 cents per pound. 4506. Was bought in N. Y. City by S. D. Woodrufi & Sons, of Orange. 4512. Was bought by S. E. Curtiss, of Stratford. The samples contained respectively 49.77 and 50.73 percent, of potash. Both parties bought for cash^ for -141.60 and $41 per ton, delivered in lots of several tons, but less than car lots, at their freight station. The cost of actual potash was therefore 4.2 cents and 4.0 cents per pound respectively. CajStada Wood Ashes. 4465. Bought of J. F. Ell wood, Greens Farms, by D. W. Clark, Westville. 4475. Bought of Allison, Stroup & Frost, New York City, by J. E. Larmer, Norwalk. 4485. Bought of Monroe, Lalor & Co., Oswego, N. Y., by J. N. Barnes, Yalesville. 4515. Bought of Forest City Wood Ash Co., by T. J. Stroud, Shaker Station, 4523. Bought of A. L. Hartness, Detroit, Mich., by A. E. Plant & Co., Branford. 4588. Bought of Clinton Phelps, East Granby, by Edward Austin, Suffield. Analyses. 4465 4475 4485 4515 4523 4538 Phosphoric Acid 1.78 1.80 1.43 1.68 2.28 1.84 Potash soluble in water 4.45 5.59 3.40 3.95 7.40 4.27 Cost per ton... ..$11.50 10.50 11.50 10.50 10.00 11.00 The analyses show the usual variations. 4523 has about the composition of domestic hard-wood ashes. 4485 and 4515 are of very poor quality. 4515. Was bought on guarantee of five per cent, of potash soluble in water, and the purchaser secured a rebate on the amount paid for them. The potash in these samples of wood ashes costs from 5.2 to 14.8 cents per pound, and on the average 9.8 cents, if we assume that their value consists wholly in the potash and phosphoric FEETILIZERS. 11 acid which they contain, and reckon the latter at 5 cents per pound. The value of ashes, however, does not consist wholly in these two ingredients. There are soils on \yhich the carbonate of lime of which the ashes should contain sixty to seventy per cent., is worth more than the potash itself. Lime is not abundant in most of our Connecticut soils, and the continued use of saline fertilizers, like potash salts, depletes the soil supply of it. But a moderate quantity of carbonate of lime in the soil is necessary in order to get the full effect of nitro- genous fertilizers. Instead of using "unleached" hard-wood ashes, which do not contain more than St]- to 4 per cent, of soluble potash, it will pay to use air-slacked lime with muriate of potash or cotton hull ashes. For Instance : Pliosphoric Potash. Acid. Lime. One ton of No. 4515, Canada lbs. lbs. lbs. CostiDg-. ashes, contains 79 34 672 $10.50-$I].5 322 lbs of Cotton hull Ashes, 4509, and 950 lbs. (23 bushels) of oyster shell lime, contain . . 80 38 682 $ 9.26 160 lbs. muriate of Potash, 225 lbs. dissolved bone black and 950 lbs oyster shell lime, con- tain - - 80 36 670 $ 9.09 Cotton Hull Ashes. In the table on page 12, the valuation is made by reckoning potash, soluble, reverted and insoluble phosphoric acid at 5^, 6, 5|-, and 2 cents per pound respectively. The cost of water- soluble potash is calculated by subtracting the valuation of the phosphoric acid from the cost price and dividing the remainder •by the number of pounds of potash contained in a ton. All of the samples thus far examined this year, with one excep- tion, have been of good quality. The cost per pound of potash has ranged from 4.5 to 6.6 cents j)er pound, and has averaged 5.4 cents. There is no better form of potash known for the tobacco crop. It is the general opinion of the best growers that the high grade sulphate of potash is not well adapted for tobacco, the 12 CONNECTICUT AGRICULTUflAL STATION, BULL. 120. o H O t. p.'d c 2 •pnnod .lad lO !>. \r\ lO CO Ov 1 Tj- m t>. >o 8:>SO0 ttSB}0 ai 1~ 00 oo' -a^BJiIO •piov oi.ioqdsoiid' aiqnios o ITS ■^ t- CO to I o a; as J^- o -j8;Bj\i. 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