Annual report of the North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station

              ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
NORTH CAROLINA
Agricultural Experiment Station
IFOIR 1880,
PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
RALEIGH:
P. M. HALE, State Printer and Binder.
1887.
Office of the North Carolina
Agricultural Experiment Station,
Raleigh, N. C., March 15, 1887.
To Governor A. M. Scales,
Chairman of the Board of Agriculture:
Sir:—I have the honor to submit herewith the Annual
Report of the North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station
for the year 1886. I trust it will prove satisfactory to your
Excellency and the Board of Agriculture.
Respectfully yours,
CHAS. W. DABNEY, Jr.,
Director.
NORTH CAROLINA
STATE BOARD OF AGRICUTURE
18 86.
Governor ALFKED M. SCALES, (ex officio) Chairman.
W. G. Ufchurch, Esq President of the State Agricultural Society.
Kemp P. Battle, LL. D President of the State University.
W. R. Williams, Esq Master State Grange Patrons of Husbandry.
Col. R. W. Wharton First Congressional District.
Dr. A. G. Brooks Second Congressional District.
Dr. Matt. Moore Third Congressional District.
Col. W. F. Green Fourth Congressional District.
Azariah Graves, Esq Fifth Congressional District.
John Robinson, Esq Sixth Congressional District.
A. Leazar, Esq Seventh Congressional District.
Burwell Blanton, Esq Eighth Congressional District.
Dr. C. D. Smith Ninth Congressional District.
18 87.
Governor ALFRED M. SCALES, (ex officio) Chairman.
W. R. Williams, Esq Master State Grange Patrons of Husbandry.
Col. R. W. Wharton First Congressional District.
Dr. A. G. Brooks Second Congressional District.
H. L. Grant, Esq Third Congressional District.
Col. W. F. Green Fourth Congressional District.
J. H. Murrow, Esq Fifth Congressional District.
John Robinson, Esq Sixth Congressional District.
A. Leazar, Esq Seventh Congressional District.
Burwell Blanton, Esq Eighth Congressional District.
Dr. C. D. Smith Ninth Congressional District.
OFFICERS :
Montford McGehee Commissioner.
Peter M. Wilson Secretary to December, 1886.
T. K. Bruner Acting Secretary 1887.
Charles W. Dabney, Jr Chemist and Director Experiment Station.
J. T. Patrick General Asrent Immigration.
THE NORTH CAROLINA
AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT AND FERTILIZER CONTROL STATION.
Established by the General Assembly op 1877, fob the Promotion of
North Carolina Agriculture.
1. Offices and laboratory in the Agricultural Department Building, corner
of Edenton and Halifax Streets, Raleigh. The chemical work of the Station
will include:
The analysis of all Fertilizers legally on sale in the State;
The analysis of Agricultural Chemicals, of Composts and Home-made Fer-tilizers,
and of all materials from which they can be made;
The analysis of Soils, Marls and Mucks;
The analysis of Feeding Stuffs;
The analysis of Drinking Waters and Articles of Food.
The Station has facilities for doing the following botanical and other work :
The examination of Seeds with reference to their purity, and capacity to
germinate
;
The testing of varieties of Cultivated Plants;
The examination of Grasses and Weeds
;
The study of Insects injurious to Vegetation.
2. The Experiment Farm and Plant House of the Station was estab-lished
during 1886 adjacent to the Fair Grounds of the State Agricultural So-ciety,
one and a half miles west of Raleigh There experiments will be carried
on, in the language of The Code, "on the nutrition and growth of plants with
a view to ascertain what fertilizers are best suited to the various crops of this
State, and whether other crops may not be advantageously grown on its soils."
The General Assembly of 1887 established the North Caralina College of Ag-riculture
and Mechanic Arts, near the City of Raleigh, and connected this Ex-periment
Station with it. It also directed that the whole of the funds appro-priated
to this State by the Congress of the United States by the bill known
as the "Hatch Bill" should be devoted to this Experiment Station. The
work of the Station will be greatly enlarged under this act.
3. A Weather Observing and Signal Station was established at the Experi-ment
Farm during 1886, by the aid of the United States Signal Office. This
will be the central office of the State Weather Service, an organization of vol-untary
observers and displaymen, for collecting climatic statistics and study-ing
the meteorology of this State, and for publishing frost and other weather
warnings.
The Station is a bureau of information for farmers, and every person inter-ested
in developing our agricultural industries is invited to apply to the Sta-tion
for any information connected with farming.
Many publications upon the subjects mentioned are mailed, free of charge,
to citizens of North Carolina applying for them. '
Correspondence is invited upon subjects pertaining to scientific agriculture.
Farmers are especially invited to visit the Laboratory, the Experimental
Grounds, and the Weather Station.
Address: Dr. CHARLES W. DABNEY, Jr., Director,
Raleigh, N. C.
NORTH CAROLINA
Agricultural Experiment and Fertilizer Control Station.
OFFICERS.
CHARLES W. DABNEY, Jr., Ph. D.,
Director.
MILTON WHITNEY,
Superintendent Farm since April 1, 1886.
ASSISTANTS.
BALDUIN von HERFF, Ph. D.
HERBERT B. BATTLE, B. S.
FRANK B. DANCY, A. B.
W. A. WITHERS, A. M.
W. O. BAILEY, Signal Corps, U. S. A.,
Weather Observer, and Assistant for State Weather Service.
Laboratory and Offices, Corner of Edenton and Halifax Streets,
Raleigh; Farm, Plant House, and Weather Station, 1J miles west
on the Hillsborough Road.
VISITORS ALWAYS WELCOME.
PUBLIOATIOITS
OF THE
NORTH CAROLINA EXPERIMENT STATION,
1878 to 1886.
This list includes reports, special publications and contributions to The Bul-letin
of the Department of Agriculture, but excludes all circulars, directions
and forms. Unless marked otherwise, they are unbound.
The following were issued under the Directorship of Dr. Albert R. Ledoux:
Directions for making Vinegar, 1878, 4 pages;
Analyses and Valuations of Fertilizers, 1877-'78, 30 pages;
Ville's formulae for composting, and others furnished by Dr. Ledoux, 1878,
16 pages
;
The Sugar Beet in North Carolina, 1878, 50 pages;
Silica vs. Ammonia, results of comparative soil-tests of Popplein's Silicated
Phosphate, with a number of ammoniated guanos, 1878, 24 pages;
Analyses and.Valuations of Fertilizers for 1877 and 1878, republished, 1879,
16 pages;
Report of the Director to the Legislature, January, 1879, Document No. 8,
16 pages;
Analyses and Valuations of Fertilizers for 1879, 8 pages;
Formulae for Composting, 1879, 16 pages;
Report of the Station for 1879 (bound), 193 pages ;
Report of the Station for 1880, including Analyses of Fertilizers for that
year (bound), 148 pages.
The following were issued by Dr. Charles W. Dabney, Jr.:
Report to the Legislature, January, 1881, 16 pages ;
Analyses of Drinking Waters, Bulletin for January, 1881 ;
Value of Active Ingredients of Fertilizers, Bulletin for February, 1881;
The Use of Agricultural Chemicals, Bulletin for March, 1881
;
Analyses and Valuations of Fertilizers and Chemicals, 1881, 16 pages;
Adulterated Chemicals, Bulletin for July, 1881
;
Analyses and Valuations of Fertilizers, 2d edition, 1881, 12 pages ;
Report of the Station for 1881 (bound), 172 pages;
Trade in Fertilizers—Extension in Cotton Culture, Bulletin for Jan., 1882 ;
Home-made Manures—High-manuring on Cotton, Bulletin for February,
1882;
Does Cotton Exhaust? Cotton Seed and its Uses, Bulletin for March, 1882 ;
Stable Manure Saved and Composted—Rice products as a Feeding-stuff,
Bulletin for April, 1882;
PUBLICATIONS. /
Analyses of Fertilizers, 1882, 8 pa^es
;
Analyses of Fertilizers, 2d edition, 1882, 12 pages;
Experience with Home-made Manures, Bulletin for June, 1882;
Report of Work done for the State Board of Health, 1881, 8 pages;
Treatment of Cotton Lands—Station at State Fair, Bulletin for October, 1882;
Report of the Station, 1882 (bound), 152 pages;
Horn, Leather and Wool-Waste, and the Fertilizers made from them, 1882,
10 pages;
Finely-ground Phosphates or " Floats," 1882, 10 pages;
On Kainite, 1882, 28 pages;
Rice and its Products—Food and Fodder Plants, Bulletin, May, 1882;
The Soja Bean—Waste Products of Tobacco Factories, Bulletin, May, 1883;
Analyses of Fertilizers, 1883, 16 pages ;
Analyses of Fertilizers, 2d Edition, 1883, 16 pages;
Cotton Seed and its Products, Bulletin, June, 1883;
N. C. Resources for Commercial Fertilizers,
I. Ammoniates;
II. Potash Sources, Bulletin, December, 1883;
III. Phosphates, Bulletin, January, 1884;
The Trade in Fertilizers during 1883, 12 pages;
Cost of the Ingredients of Fertilizers, Bulletin, February, 1884;
The Phosphate Investigation, Bulletin, March, 1884
;
Analyses of Fertilizers, season of 1884, 16 pages;
Composition of North Carolina Phosphates, Bulletin, April, 1884;
North Carolina Phosphates, report on, 26 pages;
Report of Station, 1883 (bound), 104 pages;
Analyses of Fertilizers, season of 1885, 16 pages;
Analyses of Fertilizers, 2d edition
;
Report of Station, 1884 (bound), 104 pages
;
Analyses of Fertilizers, additional, Fall 1885, a circular, 2 pages;
Analyses of Composts, etc., a bulletin, 2 pages;
Injurious Insects and Diseases of Stock, a bulletin, 2 pages;
Report of Station, 1885 (bound), 112 pp., 3 charts;
Instructions for Voluntary Observers and Displaymen, 24 pages.
CONTENTS.
Page.
Board of Agriculture and Officers, 1886 and 1887, . . 3
Announcement of Station, 4
Officers of Station, 5
Publications of the Station, 1878 to 1887, .... 6
Report of the Director, 9
Fertilizer Control and Trade during 1886, .... 15
Analyses of Fertilizers during 1886, . . . . 26-35
Home-made Fertilizers, 36
How to prepare farm manures, . . . . ; . . 41
How to compost manures, ......... 43
Formulas and Analyses of farm manures, . . . . . 45
Marls—Analyses of, 49
Phosphates—Analyses of, 53
The Weather Station and State Weather Service, . . 54
Laboratory and Equipment, 60
Experiment Farm, Buildings, &c, . . . . . . 62
Field Experiments—On pasture and hay grasses, . . . . 72
On varieties of cotton, 74
On some new forage crops, ....... 76
On the improvement of worn-out soils by peas, ... 77
Physical Properties of the Soil—General considerations on soil
temperatures, 92
On the moisture in the soil, . . . . . . . 99
On the temperature of the soil, 106
Sunshine Record, 113
Development of the Plant—Root washing, .... 117
Temperature of the Air and Soil, 122-128
REPORT OK THE DIRECTOR
OF THE
AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION.
The year 1886 was one of great development in the work
of our Experiment Station. An Experiment Earm and a
Weather Station were added to its agencies during the year.
By the establishment- of the Experiment Farm this Agricul-tural
Experiment Station was made the complete institution con-*
templated by the law organizing it. According to The Code,
this institution was to have two arms or agencies—first it is to
be a bureau to control fertilizers ; and, secondly, it is to be an
Agricultural Experiment Station of the broadest type. It is
worth while to quote this section as a whole :
Sec. 2196. Establishment op an Agricultural Experiment and Fertil-izer
Control Station ; Duties op the Chemist.
" The Department of Agriculture shall establish an Agricultural Experiment
and Fertilizer Control Station, and shall employ an analyst, skilled in agricultural
chemistry. It shall be the duty of said chemist to anlyze such fertilizers and pro-ducts
as may be required by the Department of Agriculture, and to aid so far as
practicable in suppressing fraud in the sale of commercial fertilizers. He shall also,
under the direction of said Department, carry on experiments on the nutrition
and growth of plants, with a view to ascertain what fertilizers are best suited to
the various crops of this State ; and whether other crops may not be advantage-ously
grown on its soils, and shall carry on such other investigations as the said
Department may direct. He shall make regular reports to the said Department
of all analyses and experiments made, which shall be furnished, when deemed
useful, to such newspapers as will publish the same. His salary shall be paid out
of the funds of the Department of Agriculture."
In respect to the law establishing it, this is the broadest insti-tution
of this kind in the country.
10 ANNUAL REPORT N. C. EXPERIMENT STATION.
In each biennial report to the Board since 1880 the Director
has quoted this law, and has urged the immediate establishment
of the Experiment Farm in order to put it into effect.
It is plain that this agency or bureau, which was to be estab-lished,
was to have two general purposes. It was to be a place
where scientific experiments, having a direct, practical bearing
upon agriculture, were to be made. This purpose is more fnlly
elaborated in the sentence : " He shall also, under the direction
of said Department, carry on experiments on the nutrition and
growth of plants," &c.
The other purpose of the Station, the control of the trade in
fertilizers, is further defined by the words, " It shall be the duty
of the said Chemist to analyze such fertilizers and products as
may be required by the Department of Agriculture, and to aid
as far as practicable in suppressing fraud in the sale of commer-k
cial fertilizers."
The second purpose has been accomplished from the beginning
of the Station's existence. The first one, the Department con-sidered
itself unprepared to accomplish until the past year. For
this purpose, land, buildings and a more extensive equipment
were required than the Board of Agriculture thought they had
the means to provide before. Other matters, some of them
required by law, and some suggested by the needs of the hour,
such as the exhibitions at the great international expositions; pre-miums
for our home agricultural fairs ; the examination and sur-veys
of deposits of useful minerals, as of coal and phosphates ;
the propagation and the introduction of new species of fish
;
publishing great numbers of books and maps illustrative of the
State, etc., absorbed all the available funds of the Department.
So it was that the first purpose of the Station had to remain
unaccomplished for eight years. But now, this purpose, neces-sarily
slow of accomplishment even when started, bids fair to be
attained before the first ten years of the existence of the Station
are fully spent.
Mr. Milton Whitney was appointed Superintendent, and the
work of preparing the farm commenced on April the first.
ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF STATION. 11
The Experiment Farm is located northwest of Raleigh one
and a half miles, adjoining the State Fair Grounds. The State
Agricultural Society gave the use of about twenty-five acres of
land, and the Board of Agriculture purchased ten acres addi-tional.
The soil is in many respects well adapted to the purposes of
experiment. During the year 1886 a modest start has been
made. The experimental ground has been carefully examined,
laid off and drained, and roads and walks made. The most
necessary buildings have been erected on the land which
the Board owns. The year has been chiefly taken up with
this work of preparation. By the aid of the Penitentiary
authorities we were able to obtain a force of convicts for a short
time, and the preliminary work of grading and grubbing was
done rapidly and effectually. The Board of Agriculture has
expressed its gratitude to the Penitentiary Board for this very
valuable assistance.
This is to be a strictly scientific station, not a " model farm."
No more land will be cultivated than is necessary for obtaining
accurate results, and not a dollar will be spent for mere orna-ment
or show. It is to be simply a field laboratory. The sta-tion
will have thus a chemical laboratory indoors, at the Agri-cultural
Department Building, and a laboratory in the plant
house and in the field at the Experiment Farm. In the chemi-cal
laboratory analyses of fertilizers, soils, marls, composts, feed-ing-
stuffs, etc., will be made as heretofore. In the field and plant
house laboratory experiments will be made, in the language of
The Code, " on the nutrition and growth of plants, with a view
to ascertain what fertilizers are best suited to the various crops
of the State," on " new agricultural industries adapted to the
various climates and soils of this State," on "the subject of
drainage and irrigation," on "the diseases of cattle and other
domestic animals," " relating to the ravages of insects, and the
methods of their abatement," and " such other investigations as
the said department may direct." (See The Code, Sections 2189
and 2195).
12 ANNUAL REPORT N. C. EXPERIMENT STATION.
A somewhat detailed account of the improvements upon the
Farm are given in a later part of this report.
The Experiment Farm will, by the next spring, be reasona-bly
well equipped, and ready for real work. North Carolina
farmers will rejoice at this step of progress, and it is to be hoped
that the station, in its complete form, will receive their renewed
support and encouragement. •
THE WEATHER SERVICE.
Among the earliest plans proposed for work at the Experiment
Farm was a series of observations upon soil temperatures at
different depths, in connection with the usual observations of air
temperatures, rain-fall, etc. A few months' study of this sub-ject
increased our interest in it, and established our purpose to
prosecute the observations for a series of years.
This suggested to us the desirability of having a man who
could devote his time to this and similar work, and application
to the Chief Signal Officer was accordingly made by the Board
of Agriculture, by resolution at its July meeting, asking for the
establishment of a weather station at the Farm.
General W. B. Hazen, the Chief Signal Officer, gave a prompt
and favorable reply to the petition of the Board and promised
them the assistance of an experienced weather observer, the equip-ment
of one full signal station, wTith a sufficient supply of blanks^
forms, &c, upon condition that we would undertake the work
of distributing weather warnings throughout the State, in addi-tion
to that of an observing station. After studying the plans
of a State Weather Service, as these organizations are called, we
decided to undertake this work.
It was in this way that the State Weather Service became con-nected
with this Experiment Station.
Mr. W. O. Bailey, an experienced observer of the U. S. Sig-nal
Corps, was stationed here, and the weather station started
operations at the Experiment Farm on the first of December.
The meteorological work conducted at the Farm before that
date included studies of the air and soil temperatures, the mois-
WORK OF STATION DURING THE YEAR. 13
ture in the soil and a record of sunshine. To this has now been
added the regular work of a full signal station. Full details of
the work of this weather service will be given further on.
COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS.
The work at the laboratory lias gone on uninterruptedly
during the past year and has taken the usual range, with the
exception of some soils and farm products analyzed for the
Experiment Farm.
The analyses of commercial fertilizers, of marls, phosphates,
composts, and materials for using in them, has occupied the
larger part of the time of the Station's analytical force. The
number of brands of fertilizers licensed to be sold in the State
during 1886 was 90.
Of these fertilizers we made 223 analyses on official and far-mers
7 samples. These fertilizers were entered as having been
manufactured in the following States: Massachusetts 1, Connec-ticut
1, New York 3, New Jersey 3, Delaware 4, Maryland 35,
Pennsylvania 1, Virginia 21, North Carolina 10, South Caro-lina
11—total 90.
It is gratifying to note that North Carolina has at least made
a beginning; at the business of manufacturing; her own fer-tilizers.
GENERAL WORK.
The following list shows the details of general analytical work
done during the year:
Articles Analyzed. 1886.
Fertilizers, ......... 223
Composts, , 6
Marls, .... , 37
Phosphates, . 12
Soils, .... . 147
Potash salts, . 8
Cotton seed products, .. 7
Dissolved bone and bone meal, . 1
Ammoniates, animal, . 6
Ammoniates, chemical, , 1
14 ANNUAL REPORT N. C. EXPERIMENT STATION.
Articles Analyzed. 1886.
Muck, .......... 1
Insects, ..... 1
Grasses, . . . . : ... 1
Food-stuffs and health analyses, a
Feeding-stuffs, .... 4
Minerals identified, 23
Gas-lime and ashes, 4
Miscellaneous chemicals, 6
Gold ores, iron ores, gypsum, graphite, &c, 16
Waters, health, .... 23
Waters, mineral, .... 25
Coals, ...... 1
556-
PUBLICATIONS.
The Bulletin of the Department of Agriculture has been pub-lished
regularly every month during the past year, and the
Experiment Station has published regular reports of progress,
analyses of fertilizers, etc., in it.
The editions of this Bulletin have gradually increased from
15,000 to 20,000 copies per month. It is sent to North Caro-lina
farmers who send their names and addresses, free of cost.
Of the Report for 1885, 6,000 copies were published, and
nearlv all of them have been distributed. Of "Instructions for
voluntary observers and displaymen of the Weather Service,""
500 were published.
THE FERTILIZER CONTROL AND THE TRADE
DURING 1886.
A chemical control of the trade in commercial fertilizers in
this State is made by the law the second leading purpose of this
Station. The analysis of fertilizers, which was, constituted its
earliest work, has during the past year continued to occupy the
largest portion of onr time, although it is no longer the only
work.
The law on this subject is found in Sections 2190 to 2196 of
The Code. It was a wise provision of the law which gave the
farmer this protection at the time it did. The fertilizer trade
was just being established in the State, and, while there were
many excellent articles, there were many worthless ones which,
through ignorance more than fraud, were offered the farmers
of the State, who had no means whatever of selecting the good.
This was remedied by the system of careful inspection and analy-sis
which the Legislature of 1877 gave the State and which is
still in force. The condition of the trade in fertilizers has stead-ily
improved, year by year, since that time. If this control had
not been established, it is safe to say that not one-half the fertil-izer
now sold would find consumption among us.
This system of fertilizer control is based upon two simple
principles: first, the license of the manufacturer to sell a brand
or article of a guaranteed composition and grade; second, the
inspection and analysis of all fertilizers, when licensed, to see
that this guarantee is sustained. The first requirement involves
a formal announcement and an exact statement by the manufac-turer
of what he proposes to sell. No particular grade of com-position
is named in the law, but the Commissioner of Agricul-ture
is authorized to admit to competition in the trade of the
State every description or grade of article which can be reason-ably
supposed to meet the wants of any crop or farm.
16 ANNUAL REPORT N. C. EXPERIMENT STATION.
From the nature of a fertilizer its purchaser cannot judge of
its character or richness, as the purchaser of sugar or salt can of
the quality of those articles. The farmer must call in the help
of the chemist to dissect the sample, weigh its valuable ingredi-ents
and estimate its worth. It is just this that the State has
provided shall be done once for all of its agriculturists through
the Experiment Station.
REGULATIONS OF THE FERTILIZER CONTROL.
Manufacturers are required to take out annually a license, for
which they pay $500, and file with the Commissioner of Agri-culture
their stamp or brand, which the law requires shall
include the guaranteed analysis of the article, and must be uni-form
upon all packages, and which cannot be changed during
the year for which the license is taken. The license is required
upon each different " brand or quality/' Every such brand has
then the freedom of the whole State. Experience has proved
that this plan is the fairest and best for all concerned. It is
simple, can be easily carried out, and causes the manufacturer,
the dealer and the farmer alike the least trouble.
The following ruling of the Board of Agriculture further
defines the classes of articles which are taxable :
" At a meeting of the Board of Agriculture, October 15th, 1879, it was resolved
that the following articles shall be admitted free of tax, with such additions or
changes as may afterwards be made by the Executive Committee, upon consul-tation
with the chemist, viz.: ground bone, bone ash, ground bone black, ground
phosphate rock, or other mineral phosphate, nitrogenous organic matter commer-cially
free from phosphoric acid and potash, nitrate of soda, nitrate of potash
(saltpetre), sulphate of ammonia, muriate of ammonia, kainite, sulphate of mag-nesia,
sulphate of potash, sulphate of soda, muriate of potash, lime, plaster,
ground cracklings, ground tankage, salt and oil of vitriol."
Upon the following articles the license tax will be exacted :
"Any of the above articles, or others, sold for fertilizing material under any
trade-mark or proprietary brand ; upon dissolved bone, dissolved bone black, dis-solved
mineral phosphates (all acid phosphates or superphosphates), and upon
any two or more of the articles mentioned in the iirst list, if combined either
chemically or mechanically."
(date)
. per cent.
REGULATIONS OF THE FERTILIZER CONTROL. 17
To make plain the requirements of the law in the matter and
to secure uniformity, the following scheme is recommended for
the brand :
(Weight of bag),
(Name of brand),
(Trade-mark), .
(Manufacturer's address),
Analysis, .
Available phosphoric acid,
Nitrogen (or ammonia, if claimed),
Potash (if claimed),
North Carolina privilege tax paid.
The phosporic acid should not be expressed as bone phosphate
alone. By available phosphoric acid is meant the sum of the
soluble and the so-called " reverted."
The methods of the Association of Official Agricultural Chem-ists
are used. Total nitrogen will be determined and credit
given for all available forms. Owing to the difficulty in dis-criminating
between the different sources whence nitrogen is ob-tained
in compound superphosphates, it is not attempted to give
a different valuation to each different nitrogenous material in
these articles. But leather scrap, horn scrap, wool-waste and
similar materials are considered as fraudulently present in such
goods, unless special mention is made on the bags. Special
steps will always be taken to detect their presence, and when
found in any sufficient amount to affect the value of the goods,
mention will be made of the fact. Nitrogen may be expressed
as such or as ammonia. The potash referred to is that soluble in
water. It should be expressed simply as potash (K 2 0). The
percentages may be given within reasonable limits. These limits
should not be greater than two per cent, on the available phos-phoric
acid, \ per cent, on the nitrogen, and \ per cent, on the
potash.
Samples of fertilizers are drawn under the supervision and
immediate direction of the Commissioner of Agriculture. Great
care is taken to get the fairest possible sample of the brand
offered for sale. Every possible precaution, fairly within the
18 ANNUAL REPORT N. 0. EXPERIMENT STATION.
powers of an inspector, is taken to attain this end. The analyses
of official samples are published.
The Chemist of the Agricultural Experiment Station receives
the samples with a number only. He does not know the name
of the brand until his report of analysis is put on file in the
Commissioner's office. When this has been done, the actual
returns of the analysis are compared with the composition guar-anteed
or branded on the bag. The manufacturer and the dealer
or agent selling the same then receive copies of the analysis.
If the article is shown by the analysis to be deficient at any
point, the manufacturer or agent has an opportunity to correct
the mistake. The matter having been fully decided, the analy-sis
is published in the papers of the State. In all cases where
the law is not satisfied promptly, its penalties are =exacted.
Our certified and sealed duplicates of official analyses of fer-tilizers
licensed in this State will be furnished gratis to the manu-facturers
and their agents.
The fertilizer control, as organized in the State, has supplied
just what is needed for the protection of the farmer in the intel-ligent
use of fertilizers, without giving rise to any artificial or
unnecessary restrictions on trade. It is believed that the law of
this State is superior to every other fertilizer law in these respects.
It creates no artificial or arbitrary limits to the composition of
fertilizers. It insures perfectly good faith between manufac-turer,
agent and consumer. It is simple and requires a mini-mum
of machinery, of expenditure and of espionage, a thing dis-tinctively
disagreeable to all American citizens. Its history
will show that its execution involves the fewest difficulties or
embarrassments for all concerned.
farmers' fertilizer analyses.
As a further check upon the trade and in order to educate our
farmers on this subject, the Experiment Station will make analy-ses
of samples of fertilizers, chemicals, composts, &c, for actual
North Carolina farmers, free of charge, provided the samples
are taken and forwarded according to our directions, as follows
:
REGULATIONS OF THE FERTILIZER CONTROL. 19
N. C. Experiment Station.
DIRECTIONS FOR SAMPLING FERTILIZERS.
The Station makes analyses for North Carolina farmers, with-out
charge, provided the samples are taken according to these
directions, and the proper form is completely filled up and cer-tified
to.
Samples when accepted will be entered upon our register in
the order of their coming, and analyzed in turn.
The results of each analysis will be promptly communicated
to the person sending the sample.
Fertilizers are sampled by the regular inspector, for official
analysis and publication.
The valuation of a high-priced fertilizer requires the amounts
or per cent, of its principal fertilizing elements to be known.
Chemical analysis of a small sample, so taken as to fairly repre-sent
a large lot, will show the composition of the lot.
The subjoined directions, if faithfully followed, will insure a
fair sample. Especial care should be observed that the sample
neither gains nor loses moisture during the sampling or sending,
as may easily happen in the extremes of weather, or even from
a short exposure to sun and wind, or from keeping in a poorly
closed vessel.
1. Provide a tea cup, some large papers, and for each sam-ple
a glass fruit jar, or tin can or box, holding about one quart,
that can be tightly closed—all to be clean and dry.
2. Weigh separately at least three (3) average packages (bar-rels
or bags) of the fertilizer, and enter these actual weights in
the " form for sending fertilizer samples."
3. Open the packages that have been weighed, and mix well
together the contents of each, down to one-half its depth, emp-tying
out upon a clean floor, if necessary, and crushing any soft,
moist lumps, in order to facilitate mixture, but leaving hard,
dry lumps unbroken, so that the sample shall exhibit the texture
and mechanical condition of the fertilizer.
4. Take out five equal cupfuls from different parts of the
mixed portions of each package. Pour them (fifteen in all)
20 ANNUAL REPORT N. C. EXPERIMENT STATION.
one over another, upon a paper, intermix again thoroughly but
quickly, to avoid loss or gain of moisture, fill a can or jar from
this mixture, close tightly, label plainly, and send, charges pre-paid,
to the
"N. C. Agricultural Experiment Station,
RALEIGH, N. C."
The following form should be filled up and sent at the same
time by mail : (Blanks supplied on application).
N. C. Experiment Station.
FORM FOR SENDING FERTILIZER SAMPLES.
This form must be filled up completely.
Never send a sample given you by a manufacturer or dealer.
Station No
Date of taking samples, 188 .
.
The North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Statio?i, Raleigh, N. C.
:
Sir :—I send you to-day, marked , contained in a ,
a fair sample drawn according to directions, of the following fertilizer :
Weight branded on each bag or package pounds. Actual weight of one
bag or package pounds.
Name of fertilizer
Manufactured by , at
Purchased of, or received from , at
Selling price per ton, or hundred, bag or barrel, $
Give the amounts of the following ingredients as branded on the bags :
Available (or soluble and reverted phosphoric acid)
Nitrogen (or ammonia), if claimed
Potash, if claimed
I hereby certify that the above is a correct statement.
Name
Post-office
FERTILIZERS DURING 1886.
>
Under this control the trade in fertilizers has continued in a
healthy state during the past two years. The following table
shows the number and description of fertilizers licensed to be
sold in North Carolina during the years 1881 to 1886, inclu-sive
: '
FERTILIZER SALES AND MANUFACTURES. 21
1881. 1882. 1883. 1884. 1885. 1886.
"Acid phosphates," or simple super-phosphates,
8 10 11 7 9 11
Superphosphates with potash, 9 15 15 10 10 9
Ammoniated superphosphates, . 40 55 61 59 63 66
Natural guanos, 1 3 2 3 2 3
Agricultural lime, .... 1 1 2 1 1 1
2 1 • •• ••
59 86 92 80 85 90
Where did these fertilizers come from ? In compiling the
next table, we have ascertained, as far as possible, where each
brand sold in the State in each of the years from 1880 to
1886, inclusive, was manufactured, and have credited it to that
State.
WHERE THE FERTILIZERS ARE MANUFACTURED.
1880. 1881. 1882. 1883. 1884. 1885. 1886.
Massachusetts, 2 3 2 2 3 1
Connecticut, .
• . 1 2 2 4 3 3 1
New York, . 3 6 5 3 2 4 3
New Jersey, 3 3 1 1 1 2 3
Delaware, . 2 2 2 2 2 4 4
Maryland, . , 21 25 45 42 30 31 35
Pennsylvania, . 1 1 1
Virginia, 7 9 15 17 20 18 21
North Carolina, 3 3 6 6 8 9 10
South Carolina, 5 6 9 14 12 11 11
Totals, 47 59 86 92 80 85 90
It is gratifying to note that North Carolina has at least
made a beginning at the business of manufacturing her own
manures.
The average composition of the ammoniated superphosphates
with potash (so-called complete fertilizers), for each year, was as
follows
:
AMMONIATED SUPERPHOSPHATES, WITH POTASH.
Average in
1880. 1882. 1883. 1884.
Available phosphoric acid, . . . 7.40 8.91 8.59 8.15
Ammonia, 2.70 2.60 2.33 2.67
Potash, . . . . . . . 1.30 1.82 2.18 2.13
Valuation on the 1886 basis,
1885. 1886.
9.13 8.69
2/65 2.53
2.34 2.30
$21.04 $23.51 $22.53 $22.90 $24.52 $23.44
22 ANNUAL REPORT N. C. EXPERIMENT STATION.
Iii calculating the valuations, the same figures have been
applied to the average analysis of each year for the purpose of
comparing them. These figures prove forcibly that there has
been a gradual but steady improvement in the quality of this
kind of fertilizer from 1880 to 1886. By the same analyses the
average per cent, of available phosphoric acid has increased from
7.40 in. 1880 to 9.13 in 1885, and 8.69 in 1886; the average
per cent, of potash has increased from 1.30 in 1880 to 2.30 in
1886, while the per cent, of ammonia remains remarkably near
one figure for all the years except 1883, when ammoniates were
unusually scarce. Thus the valuation of the average fertilizer,
using the prices of 1886 for all analyses alike, has, with a few
fluctuations, steadily climbed up from $21.04 per ton in 1880, to
$24.52 per ton in 1885, and $23.44 in 1886. The most re-markable
thing is that during this period, 1880 to 1886, the
actual cash prices paid by North Carolina farmers for these ferti-lizars
has decreased 25 per cent., while the quality or grade has
improved 14 per cent. This means that North Carolina farmers
could get in 1886 for three millions of dollars what they had to
pay four millions for in 1880—yes, and get an article one-seventh
better than the 1880 article was.
ANALYSES OF FERTILIZERS FOR 1886.
The relative valuations merely furnish a convenient method of
summing up the results of the analyses and of comparing them.
They are not intended, of course, to fix the price at which the
articles ought to be sold all over the State. Difference in freights
to different points renders this impossible. Neither do they
represent the agricultural value of the articles. This is a very
different thing indeed from the commercial or market value of
an article. The actual agricultural value of a manure, applied
to a particular soil or crop, depends upon a great number of con-ditions,
the properties of the soil, the cultivation, variations in
the weather, &c, as well as the properties of the manure. The
agricultural value and the commercial value have no fixed rela-tion
in fact ; although in using fertilizers we always hope and
FERTILIZER VALUES AND PRICES. 23
expect that the value to us in the field will exceed their cost
enough to give us a profit.
A conference of the State chemists of Virginia, North Caro-lina,
South Carolina, Georgia arid Alabama, in September, 1885,
agreed upon a new plan for estimating these values, which will
be uniform for all these States.
The values we give in connection with the analyses of fertili-zers
in 1886 represent the relative commercial cash values on our
seaboard, that is, at Wilmington, Beaufort, Newbern, Washing-ton,
Edenton or Elizabeth City. They apply as well to points
like Portsmouth (Norfolk) and West Point. To ascertain the
cash value for interior points, it will be necessary to add the
freight from the port of entry to that point. In case of fertili-zers
manufactured in the interior of the State, it will be neces-sary
to add to the value, which we report, the amount of freight
for one ton from Wilmington, Portsmouth or the usual port for
that place. For example, to ascertain the commercial cash value
of a ton of fertilizer at Raleigh, add to our value at the seaboard
the amount of freight for one ton from Wilmington or Ports-mouth,
as the case may be. At Charlotte, add to the reported
value the freight from Charleston, Wilmington or West Point
and so for every other point.
This plan differs materially from the plan previously pursued,
and wre ask especial attention to this. The plan followed by the
Station in 1885, and all previous years, in common with most
of the bureaus of the same kind, was to ascertain the average
cash value of fertilizers at the chief interior centres of the
trade, such as Raleigh and Charlotte, and to base the estimates
upon this. This plan, always very unsatisfactory, became
entirely impracticable when the competition of different fertili-zer-
manufacturing centres cut down the prices to the lowest mar-gin
of profits. The figures agreed upon by all these States for
use during 1866 were:
AT THE SEABOARD :
"Available" phosphoric acid 7| cents per pound.
Ammonia 16 " " "
Potash 5 " " «
24 ANNUAL REPORT N. C. EXPERIMENT STATION.
To illustrate the significance and application of the new plan
and figures : suppose an acid phosphate on sale at Wilmington
contains 12J per cent, of soluble and reverted phosphoric acid
(which together are called " available "). 12J pounds in 100 is
250 pounds in a ton. Multiply 250 by 7J cents, the figure for
one pound " available/' and you get $18.75 as the cash value
of the article at retail. Now this signifies that the man who
pays cash can get that article at Wilmington at that price, the
way the market stands at present. Or, supposing the freight to
Charlotte is $2.50, the man who pays cash in Charlotte can get
that article at $21.25, which is the Wilmington cash value with
freight added.
This must not be understood as applicable to any but cash
purchasers.
On the one hand, the man who buys largely, or offers other
inducements, will get his fertilizer cheaper. On the other, the
farmer who promises to pay in a fluctuating staple next Novem-ber,
must expect to pay considerable money in addition for the
time and risk.
The Station made 223 analyses of samples of commercial fer-tilizers
during 1886. Some of these were farmers' samples.
This is nearly 2J analyses of each brand sold in the State that
year. This does not include the analyses of phosphates, agri-cultural
chemicals, or other ingredients of fertilizers.
The analyses in the following tables were all made on sam-ples
drawn according to law by the special agents of the Depart-ment
of Agriculture from new lots of goods received in the
State after the beginning of the new year. On the even pages
will be found a list of fertilizers licensed to be sold in the State
during the year, with the addresses of the manufacturers or gen-eral
agents. On the page opposite the name is the analysis and
relative valuation of the fertilizer.
In many instances, several analyses are given for one brand.
In most cases the analyses agree fairly well, and thus reflect
credit upon their makers. In other cases, resulting probably
from carelessness in mixing, or some mistake in bagging or ship-
FERTILIZER VALUES AND PRICES. 25
ping, the samples differed somewhat in character, and as it was
impossible to ascertain which one of them correctly represented
the true character, of the goods of this name on sale in the State,
the varying analyses are all published.
The water given is that lost by continual heating at the tem-perature
of boiling water. The insoluble phosphoric acid is
that contained in phosphates which fail to dissolve in neutral
ammonium citrate solution (sp. gr. 1.09) by the method of the
Association Official Agricultural Chemists.
The soluble phosphoric acid is that free or in form of phos-phates
(generally the one-lime phosphate or acid phosphate of
lime), soluble in pure cold water. The " reverted " is that insol-uble
in water, but dissolving in neutral standard ammonium
citrate solution. This is all that the term reverted signifies here,
and it is used simply to stand for the phrase, " insoluble in pure
water, but soluble in standard ammonium citrate solution under
the standard conditions." It is generally agreed that it is within
the power of plants to take up directly the phosphates so dis-solving,
or in other words, that these phosphates are " avail-able."
The total "available phosphoric" acid is simply the sum of
the soluble and " reverted." The nitrogen is given as such,
and calculated to its equivalent, ammonia. The potash is
given as simple, uncombined potash (K 2 O).
The number of the analysis on the Station books is given in
the first column at the left, and the place where this particular
sample was drawn, in the column at the right of the first page.
26 ANNUAL REPORT N. C. EXPERIMENT STATION.
o
c
o
+3
50
3674 )
3758 J
36361
4198 j
4169
3677}
3714]
3726
3630)
3735 J
3746)
3785 J
3852
3745)
3851V
3885)
3816
3824
3676
3790
3646 )
4188 j
3681
3728)
3759(
3721)
3817)
3699
3700
3751)
3776/
3625)
3740/
NAME.
Acid Phosphate.
Acme Fertilizer.
Allison & Addison Acid Phos-phate,
Americas brand Ammonia-ted
Bone Superphosphate
Ammoniated Bone
Ammoniated DissolvedBone..
Ammoniated Soluble Navas-sa
Guano.
Anchor Brand
Anchor Brand for Tobacco,..
Arlington Ammoniated So-luble
Phosphate
Ashepoo Acid Phosphate
Atlantic Acid Phosphate
Baker's Dissolved Bone
Phosphate
Baker's Standard Guano
Baltimore Soluble Bone
Bone and Peruvian Guano....
"Bos" Ammoniated Super-phosphate
Bradley's Patent Superphos-phate
of Lime
British Mixture
Chesapeake Guano
Diamond Soluble Bone
ADDRESS OF MANUFACTURER OR
GENERAL AGENT.
Rasin Fertilizer Co., P. O. Box Lilesville.
715, Baltimore, Md., Toisnot.
Acme Manufacturing Co., Wil-mington,
Allison & Addison, Richmond,
Va.,
Williams, Clark & Co., 112 Pearl
street, N. Y.,
Maryland Fertilizer and Manu-facturing
Co., Baltimore,
John Merryman & Co., 24 Second
street, Baltimord, Md.,
Navassa Guano Co., Wilmington,
N. C,
Southern Fertilizing Co., 1321 Cary
street, Richmond, Va.,
Southern Fertilizing Co., 1321 Cary
street, Richmond, Va.,
Dambmann Bros. & Co., Balti-more,
Md.,
Ashepoo Phosphate Co., Robert-son,
Taylor & Co., Ag'ts, Charles-ton,
S. C,
Atlantic Phosphate Co., Charles-ton,
S. C,
Chemical Co. of Canton, 32 and 34
S. Charles St., Baltimore,
Chemical Co. of Canton, 32 and 34
S. Charles St., Baltimore,
Baltimore Guano Co., 32 and 34 S
Charles st., Baltimore,
Upshur Guano Co., Norfolk, Va.,
Wilmington
Lexington....
Wadesboro
Selma
Liberty.
Shelby..
Wilmington
Wilmington.
Warsaw
New Bern....
Selma.
Warsaw
.
Raleigh
Macon...
Henderson
Charlotte ...
Wadesboro.
Wilson
Fair Bluff..
Salisbury..
Wm. Davison & Co., Box 227,
Baltimore, Md.,
Bradley Fertilizing Co., Lewis F.
Detrick, General Agent, 108 S.
Charles st., Baltimore, Md.,
E. B. Whitman, 104 S. Charles st.,
Baltimore, Md.,
Chesapeake Guano Co., 21 P. O.
Avenue, Baltimore, Md.,
Walton, Whann & Co., Wilming-ton,
Del.,
Monroe.
Winston.
Toisnot..
Durham
Henderson ..
Winton
Henderson.
Fremont ..
Statesville.
Wilmington,
Wilmington)
9
10
11
12
. 13
, 14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
ANALYSES OF COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS. 27
O
P-,
O
GO o
£<
o
on
a
i—
o
CO
>
1 14.50 1.24 6.88 6.18
13.63 1.14 6.98 5.62
2 14.38 0.64 5.69 1.54
15.78 0.27 6.60 0.73
3 13.57 3.67 6.26 3.12
4 16.53 0.41 7.68 2.67
11.38 0.41 6.75 2.61
5 13.38 2.43 7.01 1.84
6 10.92 3.24 7.04 2.26
10.02 3.04 7.32 1.93
7 14.12 3.07 3.01 6.44
13.55 2.33 3.42 6.67
8 11.44 6.52 4.94 1.76
9 12.38 6.98 5.14 1.56
11.45 4.61 6.14 1.90
11.05 4.63 6.43 2.07
10 13.46 1.34 8.66 1.41
11 14.76 2.55 7.74 2.43
12 14.84 2.17 9.07 1.78
13 14.75 3.13 10.09 1.75
14 14.48 4.18 4.96 2.95
14.90 3.81 7.11 1.45
15 15.50 2.99 9.34 2.69
16 16.62 2.15 7.70 1.70
15.57 2.29 7.62 1.71
17 11.76 2.23 6.77 1.90
10.87 1.98 6.83 2.09
18 1.37 7.48 2.47
19 14.18 0.99 7.87 1.91
20 13.20 3.45 4.87 3.62
12.98 3.15 4.99 3.07
21 11.43 3.16 6.70 5.65
14.97 0.56 11.97 2.09
TOTAL AVAILABLE
PHOS ACID.
Found. Guart'd
13.06
12.60
7.23
7.33
9.38
10.35
9.36
8.85
9.30
9.25
9.45
10.09
6.70
6.70
8.04
8.50
10.07
10.17
10.85
11.84
7.91
8.56
12.03
9.40
9.33
8.67
8.92
9.95
9.78
8.49
8.06
12.35
14.06
12.7t
8.00
9 toll
9.00
9.00
9.00
9.00
8.00
8.00
.00
9.50
10.00
10.00
12 to 14
8 toll
12.00
10 to 12
S.5tol0.5
9.45
8 to 10
8 to 10
13.00
2.69
2.43
1.94
2.05
2.03
1.88
1.85
2.20
2.09
1.95
2.62
2.88
2.58
2.47
1.68
1.81
1.93
1.85
2.33
2.21
2.18
2.18
1.70
1.65
EQUIVALENT TO
AMMONIA.
Found. Guart'd
3.27
2.95
2.36
2.49
2.46
2.28
2.25
2.67
2.54
2.37
3.18
3.50
3.13
3.00
2.04
2.20
2.34
2.25
2.83
2.68
2.65
2.65
2.06
2.00
3.00
2.40
2.50
2.25
2.25
2.75
2.00
3.00
2.5 to 3
2 to 3
2%to3%
2.5 to 3
2.40
2 to 3
2 to 2.5
POTASH.
Found. Guartd
3.30
3.31
1.37
2.29
2.43
2.21
2.16
2.22
1.49
1.44
1.85
1.47
1.56
1.71
3.18
1.15
1.54
2.31
2.63
1.79
1.74
3.31
3.23
1.30
2.58
1.34
1.73
2.50
l^tol^
1.50
co
O Sh CO
Q-,—
lis
$19.59
18.90
24.61
23.74
15.44
1.50
1.25
1.25
1.00
1.50
1.5
2.5 to 3
1.00
1.00
2 tc3
\y2to2y2
2.5 to 3
1.00
2 to 3
1 to 2
25.37
24.44
23.36
23.41
23.30
24.21
24.71
19.48
21.70
24.82
24.47
27.89
16.41
17.82
17.76
20.71
22.51
18.05
23.38
22.94
25.38
25.19
24.71
25.73
20.67
20.22
18.53
21.09
28 ANNUAL EEPORT N. C. EXPERIMENT STATION.
6
03
NAME.
ADDRESS OF MANUFACTURER OR
GENERAL AGENT. SAMPLED AT
3892
Diamond State Superphos-phate,
Dissolved Bone Phosphate of
Lime, Pacific,
Durham Bull Fertilizer
Eddystone Soluble Guano
Edisto Acid Phosphate
Lord & Polk, Odessa, Del.,
John S. Reese & Co., 10 South st,,
Baltimore, Md.,
Durham Fertilizer Co., Durham,
N. C,
Clark's Cove Guano Co., New Bed-ford,
Mass., John M. Green,
Manager, Atlanta, Ga.,
Edisto Phosphate Co., Charleston,
S. C,
Rasin Fertilizer Co., P. O. Box
715, Baltimore, Md.,
Etiwan Phosphate Co., Charles-ton,
S. C,
Etiwan Phosphate Co., Charleston
Atlantic & Va. Fertilizing Co.,
P. O. box 72, Richmond, Va.,
Enterprise Fertil'g Co., Tarboro...
Read & Co., 88 Wall st., N. Y
Baltimore Guano Co., 32 S. Charles
street, Baltimore,
Rasin Fertilizer Co., P. O. Box
715, Baltimore, Md.,
E. J. Powers, Wilmington, N. C, •
The R, J. Ruth Co., 6 S. street,
Baltimore, Md.,
George L. Arps, Norfolk, Va.,
Boykin, Carmer & Co , 11 and 13
Liberty st., Baltimore, Md.,
Lorentz & Rittler, 70 South st.,
Baltimore, Md.,
Lorentz & Rittler, 70 South st.,
Baltimore, Md.,
Lazaretto Chem.and Fert. Works,
G. W. Grafflin, Prop., 14 S. Holli-day
st., Baltimore, Md.,
Lister's Agricultural Chemical
Works, Newark, N. J.,
Oxford ?,?,
3725
3668)
3670 j
3853
Shoe Heel
Shoe Heel
Selma
23
24
2ft
3738 Wilmington
Lumberton ,
Concord
?ft
3651)
4197/
3682
Empire Guano ?,r
Etiwan Dissolved Bone Monroe 28:
3779 Etiwan Guano Tarboro 29*
3883 Eureka Ammoniated Bone
Superphosphate
Raleigh 30-
Tarboro. ...........
Fair Bluff
3778
3644 )
3690/
3705
Farmers' Bone Fertilizer
Farmers' Friend Fertilizer...
Game Guano
31
3ft
Oxford
Edenton 33
3675 Giant Guano Lilesville 34
3626
)
3791/
3657 1
3876 |
3748)
3638 y
3807 j
Gibbs & Co.'s High Grade
Ammoniated Phosphate,,
Good Luck Guano
Wilson
3ft
Whiteville
Fremont
Wilmington
Wilson
3ft
High Grade Prem. Guano.,
Home Fertilizer, Slingluff'
s
Pure Dissolved Bone for...
L. & R. Acid Phosphate
37
3672) Gibson 38.
3783
J-
3901
J
Oxford
3739 W
3760)
Lazaretto Acid Phosphate ,
Lister's Ammoniated Dis-solved
Bone Phosphate,
+0
3623 y Faison's
3850 j Raleigh
3683 ,
3599 )
3601 1
Beaver Dam....
Raleigh '
11
12:
Toisnot
3610
f
4175 J Greensboro
ANALYSES OF COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS. 29
GO o m
CO
O
Xi
£§
5
a,
£<
o
oo
a
i—
O
-C .
P-.T5
CD O
Z<
ow
P-.
org
?<
>
CD a
TOTAL AVAILABLE
PHOS. ACID. a
CD
p
2
EQUIVALENT TO
AMMONIA. POTASH.
ative
C
alue
pei
000
lbs.)
Found. Guart'd Found. Guart'd Found. Guart'd
— >-> N
PS
22 12.88 2.56 5.91 3.03 8.94 8%al0^ 2.18 2.. 65 2^to3K 3.48 3 to 4 $25.37
c
>?> 13.38
10.46
10.41
5.08
2.29
2.29
9.33
5.22
4.71
2.25
2.02
2.68
11.58
7.24
7.39
lOto 12 17.37
24 2.25
2.44
2.73
2.96
2.43
2.46
22.03
7% to 8 2.75 to 3 2.75 to 3 23.02
25 18.18 3.93 5.46 2.14 7.60 9 to 10 1.77 2.15 2 to 2% 1.49 ltol^ 19.77
26 14.80
16.58
1.56
3.54
8.81
3.99
1.96
3.37
10.77
7.36
10 to 12
8 to 10
1.85
1.49
1.5 to 2
1.50
18.00
27 1.90 2.31 2.50 to 3 19.92
11.62
15.68
14.53
3.83
3.77
2.29
4.49
8.16
7.94
3.64
2.81
1.64
8.13
' 10.97
9.5S
12.00
8
1.86 2.26 1.16 l^tol% .20.59
28 16.46
29 2.50 3.04 3 2.02 1 26.12
30 11.43 2.92 8.23 1.53 9.76 8 1.58 1.92 2 0.30 21.08
31 13.75 0.55 8.87 1.70 10.57 8 to 11 2.40 2.91 2.5 to 3 3.50 2 to 2.5 28.67
32 15.35
15.42
1.09
1.48
8.00
7.70
1.94
2.01
9.94
9.71
1.90
2.20
2.31
2.67
1.67
1.77
23.97
9 to 11 2.50a3.50 1.50 to 2 24.88
33 16.33 3.48 6.88 1.52 8.40 8 to 11 1.83 2.22 2 to 3 2.63 2 to 3 22.33
34 16.56 3.33 4.38 2.77 7.15 8 to 10 1.80 2.19 2.50 to 3 1.71 1.50 19.45
35 14.10 2.41 6.36 1.85 8.21 8 to 10 2.40 2.91 2 to 3 1.60 1 to 2 23.23
13.61
21.77
2.25
3.01
6.61
5.14
1.87
1.61
8.48
6.75
2.47
1.51
3.00
1.83
1.60
1.03
1.00
0.5 to 3
23.92
36 8 to 12 2 to 4 17.02
14.10
19.67
19.33
2.24
1.55
1.36
6.79
6.38
6.03
1.77
2.39
3.19
8.56
8.77
9.22
9.00 2.01
1.60
1.54
2.44
1.94
1.87
2.5
2
1.33
1.36
1.25
21.98
37 20 73
8 1 21.0(5
19.27
13.62
13.86
1.46
1.46
1.57
2.02
6.01
10.17
10.98
10.45
2.60
2.86
1.62
2 47
8.61
13.03
12.60
12.92
1.95
1.73
1.40
2 08
2.37
2.10
1.70
2 53
1.51 22.01
38 16.26 2.62 26.27
24.34
27 48
39 14.55
13.45
13.70
4.27
4.67
3.62
8.26
7.82
6.51
1.25
1.13
1.92
9.51
8.95
8.43
10 to 12
8 to 10
1.98
1.41
1.83
2 to 2.5 16.24
40 1.83
1.54
2.22
1.87
21.94
2 to 2.5 1.5 to 2 20.46
15.03 4.54 7.64 0.91 8.55 1 77 2 15 1.65 21 36
41 12.46 3.02 8.42 3.69 12.11 13.75 18.17
42 15.80
14.60
1.75
0.88
7.69
7.57
1.63
1.72
9.32
9.29
2.03
1.84
2.46
2.23
2 to 2.5
2 to 3
2.02
1.94
23.87
8 to 10 1.5 to 2 23.02
14.08
13.98
1.32
0.82
6.65
9.27
2.33
1.79
8.98
11.06
1.88
2.05
2.28
2.49
2 to 2.5 1.88
1.88
22.65
26.44
30 ANNUAL REPORT N. C. EXPERIMENT STATION.
c
25
3814
3713
3693)
3777 y
3895 j
3673 )
3603 J
NAME.
3808
3604
3607 \
3708/
3788)
3813 f
3780
3711)
3880{
3637
3694)
3710f
3722
3692
3613
3618
3819 )
3896 j
3609)
3687 }
3704 J
3620
3671)
3709/
Lister's Tobacco Fertilizer...
Long's Prepared Chemicals..
National Tobacco Fertilizer..
Navassa Acid Phosphate
New Era Champion Guano...
Norfolk Fertilizer and In-secticide,
Orchil la Guano
Owl Brand Guano
ADDRESS OF MANUFACTURER OR
GENERAL AGENT.
Owl Brand Tobacco Guano...
Patapsco Ammoniated Solu-ble
Phosphate,
Patapsco Guano
Patapsco Tobacco Fertilizer..
Peruvian Guano, No. 1, Lobos
Peruvian Mixture
Piedmont Special Fertilizer,
Piedmont Guano for Tobacco
Pine Island Ammoniated
Phosphate,
Plain Dissolved Bone
Pocomoke Guano
Pocomoke Superphosphate,..
Prolific Cotton Grower....
Raleigh Standard Guano.
Lister's Agricultural Chemical
Works, Newark, N. J.,
Long & Dugdale, 37 S. Gay street,
Baltimore, Md.,
S. W. Travers & Co., Richmond,
Navassa Guano Co., Wilmington,
Upshur Guano Co., Norfolk, Va.,
Nottingham, Wrenn & Styron,
Norfolk, Va.,
S. W. Travers & Co., Richmond,Va.
Davie & Whittle, Petersburg, Va.,
Davie & Whittle, Petersburg, Va..
Patapsco Guano Co., 14 South
Holliday st, Baltimore, Md.,
Patapsco Guano Co., 14 South
Holliday st., Baltimore, Md.,
Patapsco Guano Co., 14 South
Holliday st., Baltimore, Md.,
Smith & Gilchrist,Wilm'gton, ;N. C.
Americau Fertilizing Co., Norfolk,
Va.,
Piedmont Guano and Mfg Co.,
49 South st., Baltimore, Md.,
Piedmont Guano and Mfg Co.,
49 South st., Baltimore, Md.,
Quinnipiac Fertilizer Co., New
London, Conn.,
Lister's Agricultural Chemical
Works, Newark, N. J.,
Freeman, Loyd, Mason & Dryden,
Norfolk, Va..
Freeman, Loyd, Mason & Dryden,
Norfolk, Va.,
SAMPLED AT
Warrenton
Smithfield..
Oxford
Asheville ,
Warren Plains
Wadesboro.
Toisnot
Wilson.
Tarboro...
Gaston ia.
Jonesboro ..
Warrenton.
Tarboro
Raleigh
Goldsboro.
Wilmington..
Goldsboro Oil Mills, Goldsboro,
Raleigh Oil Mills and Fertilizer
Co., Raleigh N. C,
Oxford .
Raleigh
Shelby
Henderson
New Bern ..
New Bern...
Warrenton.
Oxford
Washington .
Franklinton.
Winton
Goldsboro.
Laurinburg.
Raleigh
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
ANALYSES OF COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS. 31
xh
O A
Ph .
<DT3 3o
"o
03
a
>—<
o
to O
7.55
03
o
si
>
TOTAL AVAILABLE
PHOS. ACID. a
p
EQUIVALENT TO
AMMONIA. POTASH.
ative
Com.
alue
per
ton
000
lbs.)
Found. Guart'd Found. Guart'd Found. Guart'd
43 11.66 0.20 0.62 8.17 8 to 10 3.81 4.63 4.5 to 5 4.74 4 to 5 S 31.82
44 12.67
10.95
9.27
10.66
14.07
13.63
2.65
3.65
3.61
2.37
3.04
3.10
8.28
4.66
4.96
7.57
7.13
5.97
3.03
3.23
2.79
2.66
3.53
4.61
11.31
7.89
7.75
10.23
10.66
10.58
12 2.22
2.9G
2.95
3.15
1.20
1.27
1.80 19 19
45 1.90
1.88
1.93
2.31
2.28
2.34
22 22
8y2al0% 2 to 2.5 3 to 4 21.88
25 99
46 10 1 17 19
17.14
47
48 See p.
See p.
43.
42.
1.62
1.95
49
50 14.75
19.62
2.39
1.66
7.56
7.28
1.61
1.77
,9.17
9.05
1.97
2.37 2 to 2.5
1.83
1.71
21 89
8 to 10 1.75 22.87
51 11.59
10.06
12.31
2.03
2.55
3.36
8.24
7.66
7.59
1.29
1.62
2.51
9.53
9.28
10.10
9 to 11 2.28
2.15
1.73
2.77
2.61
2.10
2.75a3.25 2.62
2.31
1.84
1.75 a 2.5 25.78
24.58
52 8 to 12 2 to 3 1.5 to 2 23.71
53 12.19
11.42
4.12
3.34
6.40
7.13
2.18
L.63
8.58
8.76
8 to 12 1.88
2.28
2.28
2.77
2 to 3 1.72
1.88
1.5 to 2 21.89
23.88
54
55 17.86 3.59 7.85 3.53 11.38 13 8.02 9.74 9.5 3.73 2 51.97
56 15.13
14.94
13.16
1.69
1.60
1.79
6.79
6.93
5.78
2.34
2.50
2.96
9.13
9.43
8.74
9 to 10 2.40
2.41
1.70
2.91
2.93
2.06
2 to 2.5
2 to 3
2 to 2.5
1.79
1.61
1.67
1 to 2 24.80
25.14
57 8 to 10 1 tol% 21.37
58 16.86 1.66 6.05 2.33 8.38 8 to 10 2.60 3.16 2.5 to 3.5 3.48 2.5 to 3.5 26.16
59 16.66 1.22 6.70 2.57 9.27 8 2.13 2.59 2 1.54 1 23.74
60 14.18
13.10
12.48
0.28
4.26
4.75
13.24
3.19
2.47
0.90
3.01
3.87
14.14
6.20
6.34
15 to 18 21.21
61 1.88
2.05
2.28
2.49
-
4.58
4.34
21.18
8 to 10 2 to 3 3%to4^ 21.82
62 15.49
19.45
18.50
3.22
2.02
2.47
4.09
5.14
4.43
2.46
2.17
2.48
6.55
7.31
6.91
8 to 10 1.68
1.72
1.99
2.04
2.09
2.42
2 to 3 4.30
3.24
3.98
3.5 to 5 20.66
20.90
8 to 10 2 to 3 3.5 to 5 22.09
63 11.56 2.03 5.80 2.95 8.75 9%al0^ 2.12 2.57 2% to 3 2.48 2 to 2% 23.83
64 13.53
12.96
0.74
0.70
7.93
7.62
1.68
1.53
9.61
9.15
2.18
2.39
2.65
2.90
1.85
2.32 2 to 2.5
24.75
9 to 11 3 to 3.5 25.33
32 ANNUAL REPORT N. C. EXPERIMENT STATION.
o
NAME.
ADDRESS OF MANUFACTURER OR
GENERAL AGENT.
SAMPLED AT
3652
3712
3734)
4167 f
3884)
3815 J
3647
3627
3645)
4194 f
3686
3707)
3736/
3688
3756
3716)
3689 j
3606
3617
3685)
3719|
3628 )
4195 f
3823
3643
3667
3877
3893
Raw Bone Superphosphate
Plow Brand,
Red Navassa Guano, Ammo-niated,
Reliance Ammoniated Super-phosphate,
Roanoke XX Ammoniated
Superphosphate,
Royster's High Grade Acid
Phosphate,
Sea Fowl Guano
Walton, Whann & Co., Wilming-ton,
Del.,
Navassa Guano Co., Wilmington,
N. C,
Walton, Whann & Co., Wilming-ton,
Del.,
Wm. A. James & Reed, Richmond,
Va.,
Roster & Strudwick, Norfolk, Va..
Lumberton.
Smithfield...
Soluble Pacific Guano.
Soluble Pacific Guano for To-bacco,
Special Cotton Compound
Spec. Compound for Tobacco
Star Brand Guano
Star Brand Special Tobacco
Manure,
Stono Acid Phosphate....
Stono Soluble Guano
Tibsley's Tobacco Fertilizer,
Walker's Ammoniated Phos-phate,
Wando Acid Phosphate.
Wando Soluble Guano...
Wilcox, Gibbs & Co.'s Manip-ulated
Guano,
Wilcox, Gibbs & Co.'s Super-phosphate,
Yellow Leaf Brand for fine
Tobacco,
Bradley Fertilizing Co., Lewis F.
Detrick, General Agent, 108 S.
Charles St., Baltimore, Md.,
John S. Reese & Co., Gen'l Agents
Pacific Guano Co., 10 S. st., Bal-timore,
Md.,
John S. Reese & Co., Gen'l Agents
Pacific Guano Co., 10 S. street,
Baltimore, Md.,
G. Ober & Sons' Co., 85 Exchange
Place, Baltimore, Md.,
G. Ober & Sons' Co., 85 Exchange
Place, Baltimore, Md.,
Allison & Addison, 1322 Cary st.,
Richmond, Va.,
Allison & Addison, 1322 Cary st.,
Richmond, Va.,
Stono Phosphate Co., Charleston,
S. C,
Stono Phosphate Co., Charleston,
S. C,
Wilmington
Siler City
Macon
Ridgeway.
Fair Bluff....
Wilmington.
Fair Bluff.
Salisbury.
Henderson
Grover
Wilmington ,
Franklinton.
Toisnot
Greensboro.
Henderson .
Jas. G. Tinsley &Co., 1326 Cary st..
Richmond, Va.,
Joshua Walker, 13 German st.,
Baltimore, Md.,
Wando Phosoh. Co., Charleston,
S. C,
Wando Phosph. Co., Charleston,
S. C,
Wilcox & Gibbs Guano Co., 78 E.
Bay st., Charleston, S. C,
Wilcox & Gibbs Guano Co., 78 E.
Bay st., Charleston, S. C,
J. G. Miller & Co., Danville, Va.,
Tarboro.
Tarboro.
Henderson.
Durham ....
Wilmington.
Salisbury
Concord
Fair Bluff....
Hasty's
Wilmington
Oxford
.. 65
.. 66
,.67
.. 68
,. 69
..70
71
. 72
. 73
.74
. 75
. 76
. 77
. 78
. 79
. 80
. 81
82
83
84
85
ANALYSES OF COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS. 33
hos-id.
a>!H
on .
43
OS
So o&
a
c
r^ C
Q3 ft
TOTAL AVAILABLE
PHOS. ACID.
p
EQUIVALENT TO
AMMONIA. POTASH.
ative
Co
alue
pei
,000
lbs.
Found. Guart'd Found. Guart'd Found. Guart'd
03P.>—
-
65 14.28 1.47 7.39 2.50 9.89 10 2.51 3.05 2.75 2.37 2.25 $ 26.97
66 14.19 2.55 5.09 5.17 10.26 9 1.53 1.86 1.5 1.34 1.25 22.68
67 12.17 2.42 5.16 3.10 8.26 9 1.48 1.80 2 2.13 2 20.28
13.28
14.01
2.20
1.15
4.91
7.96
3.55
2.35
8.46
10.31
L47
2.47
1.78
3.00
2.35
2.38
20.74
G8 10 to 12 3 to 3% 2%to3% 27.45
16.11
14.47
16.39
2.10
3.36
1.85
8.1]
9.22
7.23
1.16
2.57
2.52
9.27
11.79
9.75
2.43 2.95 2.41 25.76
09 11 to 13
9.45
17.69
70 2.14 2.60 2.40 1.42 1 24.37
71
14.99 2.56 5.99 3.05 9.04 8 to 10 2.15 2.61 2 to 2.5 1.66 1 to 1.25 23.57
13.09 2.93 7.14 2.70 9.84 2.45 2.97 2.83 27.09
72
17.08 2.44 6.98 2.23 9.21 8 to 10 2.36 2.87 3 to 3.75 3.36 3.5 to 4.5 26.36
73
11.87
12.04
1.88
1.45
7.33
7.45
0.99
1.54
8.32
8.99
2.13
2.15
2.59
2.61
2.37
2.60
23.14
8 to 10 2 to 3 1.5 to 2 24.43
74 16.03 2.55 7.23 1.34 8.57 8.5 to 11 2.70 3.28 2.5 to 3.5 3.25 1.5 to 2.5 26.61
75 14.80 2.06 6.31 2.30 8.61 7 to 8 1.45 1.76 l%to2 1.81 l^al^ 20.36
76 12.97 2.51 6.92 2.28 9.20 8 to 10 2.50 3.04 2.5 to 3 2.12 1.25 a 1.5 25.65
16.84
12.76
12.18
2.28
2.88
2.89
6.84
7.37
5.97
2.30
3.16
1.58
9.14
10.53
7.55
10
8
2.23 £71 1.71
1.78
1.92
24.09
77 1
1
17.58
78 2.92 3.54 2.5 24.58
79 20.97
13.40
1.16
0.56
3.86
6.41
2.13
1.65
5.99
8.06
3.45
3.30
4.19
4.01
5.83
4.12 4 to 5
28.23
7 to 9 4 to 5 29.04
80 15.10 3.75 4.03 3.63 7.66 8 to 10 1.75 2.12 2.5 to 3 1.32 1 19.59
11.56 3.56 3.68 4.39 8.07 1 80 2.19 1.37 ma 1% 20.49
81
12.03
12.49
3.24
2.34
8.93
8.56
2.35
2.28
11.28
10.84
10
8
16.92
82 2.15 2.61 2 1.83 1 26.44
83 12.83 1.62 5.35 1.95 7.30 8 2.34 2.84 2.5 3.08 2 23.12
84 14.26
13.01
1.30
1.15
6.96
7.16
1.96
1.37
8.92
8.53
9
8.10
3.18
6.24
2
4 to 5
16.56
85 2.55 3.10 3 to 3% 28.96
34 ANNUAL REPORT N. C. EXPERIMENT STATION.
o
ft
s
_o
03
QQ
3635)
3786/
3820
3818")
3833^
3891)
NAME. ADDRESS OF MANUFACTURER OR
GENERAL AGENT.
Zell's Ammoniated Bone Su-perphosphate,
Zell's Cotton Acid Phosphate.
Zell's Tobacco Fertilizer
Zell Guano Co., 30 S. st., Baltimore,
Md.,
Zell Guano Co., 30 S. st., Baltimore,
Md.,
Zell Guano Co., 30 S. st., Baltimore,
Md.,
SAMPLED AT
Wilmington
Jonesboro...
Raleigh
Warrenton..
Durham
Oxford
86
87
3604. Orchilla Guano sold by S. W. Travers & Co., Richmond, Va. Sample
taken by the Inspector of Fertilizers at Wilson gave the following analysis:
Moisture at 212°F 12.22 per cent.
Total phosphoric acid 15.25 " "
Carbonate of lime 38.96 "
Matter insoluble in acid 1.04 " "
ANALYSES OF COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS. 35
u
CD Insoluble
Phos-phoric
Acid.
co_;
o
3 O as
CO- .
-e c
CD ft
TOTAL AVAILABLE
PHOS. ACID. a
CD
bO
O
2
EQUIVALENT TO
AMMONIA. POTASH.
ative
Com.
alue
per
ton
,000
lbs.)
Found. Guart'd Found. Guart'd Found. Guart'd
— ^ CM
03
86 14.06
14.00
13.49
11.34
13.70
10.79
3.29
3.17
1.52
3.77
2.25
3.81
6.26
6.58
9.08
6.17
6.92
6.19
1.93
1.61
2.76
1.50
1.64
1.85
8.19
8.19
11.84
7.67
8.56
8.04
8 to 10 1.85
1.81
2.25
2.20
2 to 2.5 1.64
1.47
1.26
4.62
5.09
4.65
lto2 $21.13
20.76
87 12 to 15 1 to 2 19.02
8S 2.10
2.00
2.11
2.55
2.43
2.56
24.29
8 to 10 2%to3% 2 to 3 25.71
24.90
3808. Norfolk Fertilizer and Insecticide, sold by Nottingham, Wrenn &
Styron, Norfolk, Va. Sampled at Enfield. Contains:
Moisture at 212°F 11.22 per cent.
Matter insoluble in acids 6.07
Carbonate of lime ; , 33.75
Lime as hydrate 19.77
Phosphate of lime '. 3.41
Sulphate of potash , 2.66
Sulphate of magnesia 3.72
Combined water, volatile and organic matter, &c, unde-termined
19.40 "
HOME-MADE FERTILIZERS
The great number of requests which the Station receives for
information on this subject shows that these practices are increas-ing
rapidly throughout the State. The Station is always glad
to give information about farm materials and the methods of
producing manures, and no one should pay anybody for formu-las
when they can get from us, free of charge, any number of
them for utilizing to best advantage in fertilizing all kinds of
refuse material.
Do not patronize the peddlers who travel through the country
selling farm rights to make manures by their formulas. They
are usually very ignorant men, and their formulas are either
entirely worthless or possess no novelty at all to entitle them to
be sold. The fact that the formula has been patented at Wash-ington,
is no guarantee at all that it is worth anything. We
have seen the most ridiculous and worthless things which had
been patented. Last year we investigated a case and found, on
inquiry at Washington, that the government had given a man a
.patent on a method of making a "complete fertilizer," the whole
of which was to cover a large heap of pine-needles partly with
earth, and then set fire to the pine-needles and burn them, as
charcoal is burned. When they had burned all they would,
you were told to mix the earth and charred mass together, which
was your fertilizer. It cost you $5 to learn this. A few of the
formulas produce good mixtures or composts, but there is no
need for anybody to pay for what is well known and can be had
for nothing by applying to us.
One leading object of the Station's work is to discover and
bring to the attention of the farmers every material in the State
which can be profitably utilized for improving our soils. This
MISCELLANEOUS FERTILIZERS. 37
was the object of our phosphate and marl explorations, and the
reason we analyze all kinds of farm refuse, etc.
WHAT HAVE YOU AT HOME?
Let your aim be to save all the natural manure and compost,
or mix all the fertilizer you possibly can at home. Look after
your stable, hog-pen, chicken-house, and *every other source of
animal manure zealously. For this end use an abundance of
litter, or of absorbents of some kind. Save all the ashes, old
lime and everything of that kind. Look about you to discover
on your farm material that may help you in fertilizing. Have
you any pond-mud, muck, or woods-mould? At spare times
you can dig and haul these. Have you any marl or lime rock ?
If this is anywhere within your reach, you will be sure to find a
good place somewhere to use it. Save, and do not buy, except
to supplement, or add to your savings and make them better.
To make your manure, muck or mould, or whatever you have,
act best and go farthest, it will frequently pay you to add some
lime, phosphate, potash #or other chemical to them.
INGREDIENTS FOR FERTILIZERS AND COMPOSTS.
The Station makes analyses for actual farmers of all kinds of
ingredients, of fertilizers and composts. During the past year
we have made the following analyses of such things, and the
average composition of the ingredients now upon our markets
may be judged from them. Analyses of simple superphosphates
or acid phosphates will be found in the preceding table.
BONE MEAL.
3598. Bone Meal ground by Baugh & Sons, Baltimore, and sample sent by
Capt. James F. Johnston, Charlotte.
3822. Bone Meal, ground by Baugh & Sons, and sampled by the Inspector
of Fertilizers.
38 ANNUAL REPORT N. C. EXPERIMENT STATION.
6
,c o
WT3 •*.3
ri © o
I s
eS S
o
o
Eh
15.34:
s H
3598 Bone Meal sent by Capt. James F. Johnston, Charlotte, 3.25 3.95
3822 " " Commissioner of Agriculture 14.72 2.97 3.61
DISSOLVED BONE.
4249. Dissolved Animal Bone, from F. S. Royster, Tarboro, N. C.
3583. Dissolved Bone Black, from Royster & Nash, Tarboro, N. C.
4249
3583
Dissolved Bone F. S. Royster, Tarboro
Dissolved Bone Black, Royster & Nash, Tarboro.
3A +©3 .73X
*OS °u8 OcS ,
50 -tJ
acid
in
c
ation
CO
O a
be
o
hos ble sol OS
o
Eh
•r-i
Pi Eh
15.13 16.18 2.27
14.50 14.67
•I-l
2.75
POTASH SALTS.
3590. Sulphate of Potash, sent by the Potash Committee of the Association
of Official Agricultural Chemists, Dr. W. J. Gascoyne, Chairman, Richmond,
Va., marked chemically pure.
4132. Muriate of Potash, sent by William Dunn, of New Bern, sold to
him under a guarantee to contain 50 per cent, potash.
3591. Kainite, sent by Dr. W. J. Gascoyne, Chairman, Richmond, Va.
3632. Kainite, sent by Wyatt & Home, Wadesboro.
3784. Kainite, sampled by the Inspector of Fertilizers, for Col. R. W.
Wharton, Washington.
3863. Kainite, sent by Royster & Nash, Tarboro.
ANALYSES.
No.
3590
4132
3591
3632
3784
3863
KIND.
Sulphate.
Muriate...
Kainite. .
SENDER S NAME AND ADDRESS. POTASH.
Dr. W. J. Gascoyne, Richmond, Va.
William Dunn, New Bern, N. C. .....
Dr. W. J. Gascoyne, Richmond, Va..
Wyatt &Horne, Wadesboro
Col. R. W. Wharton, Washington....
Royster & Nash, Tarboro
54.08
56.41
13.66
16.63
13.40
12.08
© 0S.3.
3 S P 5<02 Ph
100.03
25.27
30.76
24.79
22.35
MISCELLANEOUS FERTILIZERS. 39
COTTON SEED HULL ASHES.
This is an important source of potash for the South. The
hulls are separated from the seed at the oil mills, and are usually
burned for fuel, supplying all of the power required for the
machinery. As was to be supposed, being a part of the seed,
these hulls have a rich ash. The cotton seed of the ordinary
season is divided into two equal parts at the mills. The ker-nels,
forming one-half, are crushed and produce cake and oil.
The hulls yield from %Z\ to 2J per cent, of crude ash when
burned. An experiment made in 1885 gave, after removal
from the seed of 22 lbs. more of lint,
Hulls 49.9 per cent, of the seed.
Ash, crude 2.53 " " ofthese hulls.
Or, we may count each ton of cotton seed as containing 25 lbs.
of crude ash. As burned under the boilers, this ash is ordina-rily
mixed with more or less char, earth, lime, &c, from the
brick work, but may be obtained almost perfectly free from these
things, if properly managed.
This ash is just beginning to receive the attention it so richly
merits. The commercial ash varies much in potash, according
to the care taken in preparing it. But it has never to our knowl-edge
brought the price which it would seem to be entitled to in
proportion to muriate of potash. With its 3J per cent, of
phosphoric acid, good ash, like the above, ought to be worth
fully as much as muriate.
ANALYSES OF COTTON SEED HULL ASHES.
3579. Burned at the mill of the Oliver Oil Company, Charlotte, and sent
by Raleigh Oil Mill and Fertilizer Co., Raleigh, N. C.
3678. Burned at the Oil Mill in Charleston, S. C, and sample sent by
Raleigh Oil Mill and Fertilizer Co.
3855. Burned at New Bern Oil Mill, and sample sent by T. T. Oliver,
Pine Level, N. C.
4227. Burned at mill of Oliver Oil Co., at Charlotte, N. C, and
sample sent by them.
40 ANNUAL KEPOKT N. C. EXPERIMENT STATION.
No. Mill Located at sender's name and address. POTASH.
PHOSPH.
ACID.
3579 Raleigh Oil Mill and Fertilizer Co., Raleigh, N. C.
a <i " (< « (c a
T. T. Oliver, Pine Level, N. C
20.20
35.70
5.60
22.30
3678
Charlotte
3855 4.17
4227 Oliver Oil Co., Charlotte, N. C 8.37
NITROGENOUS INGREDIENTS.
3932. Porpoise Scrap, sent by John Wainwright, Hatteras. Sample was
sun-dried, and said to retain about the natural proportion of meat and bone.
3578. Ground Fish Scrap, sent by Durham Fertilizer Co., Durham.
3585. Dry Fish Scrap, Royster & Nash, Tarboro.
4247. Ground Fish Scrap, F. S. Royster, Tarboro.
3577. Ground Tankage, Durham Fertilizer Co., Durham, N. C.
3581. Mixture of Blood and Meat, prepared by P. White & Sons, New-
York, and sample sent by C. W. Mitchell, Winton.
4228. Dried Blood, sent by F. S. Royster, Tarboro.
No.
3932
3578
3585
4247
3577
3581
4228
NAME. SENDER.
Porpoise Scrap.
Fish Scrap
U («
cc u
Tankage
Blood and Meat
Dried Blood
John Wainwright, Hatteras
Durham Fert. Co., Durham..
Royster & Nash, Tarboro..,..
F. S. Royster, Tarboro
Durham Fert. Co., Durham.
C. W. Mitchell, Winton
F. S. Royster, Tarboro
o
£1 .
On 73
s< o
10.41
7.47
4.57
9.03
16.07
6.79
a
03
60
o
6.10
8.15
9.30
7.08
6.30
10.08
10.85
60 s
a ° S s
7.41
9.89
11.29
8.59
7.65
12.24
13.17
0.38
0.75
COTTON SEED MEAL.
3586. Cotton Seed Meal, sent by Royster & Nash, Tarboro.
3838. Cotton Seed Meal, ground by Raleigh Oil Mill and Fertilizer Co.
3873. Cotton Seed Meal, sent by Nitrogen Committee of the Association of
Official Agricultural Chemists.
4206. Cotton Seed Meal, ground by Raleigh Oil Mill and Fertilizer Co.
HOW TO PREPARE FARM MANURES. 41
• NO. NAME. SENDER.
p
o
o'S
£ o
•gs
3586 Cotton Seed Meal..
(t << it
a a u
u it u
7.30
7.35
7.45
7.49
8.86
3838 Raleigh Oil Mill and Fertilizer Co 8.92
3873 C. W. Dabney, Jr 9.04
4206 Raleigh Oil Mill and Fertilizer Co 9.09
Note.—4150. A sample of peat, sent by Mr. John Y. Stinson, Raleigh, contained 0.64 per
cent, of nitrogen, equivalent to 0.78 per cent, of ammonia.
HOW TO PREPARE FARM MANURES.
In making up the manure for a crop, the farmer should be
guided chiefly by two considerations. He must ascertain wherein
the soil, upon which the crop is to be grown, is deficient, and he
must know the requirements of the plant which is to live upon
it. These matters are best ascertained by experiment, as will be
explained further on. We will suppose that the farmer has
determined what he is going to use, and how much per acre,
and will endeavor to explain how different fertilizing materials
are to be combined and prepared.
There are two distinct cases. In the one case, the plant food
of the materials to be used is already in sufficiently available
form, and the different ingredients need only to be well mixed in
the proper proportions. In the other case, some of the materials
need to be changed before they are put in the soil, and must be
composted, or rotted. We will illustrate the method which will
have to be used in each case by an example :
First We will suppose that the materials do not need to be
composted, but only mixed. Let us illustrate with the case of a
cotton manure. We will suppose that it is a piece of poor, sandy
land, upon which pine was the original growth, that it is desired
to manure. The planter has ascertained by actual trials upon
this land that he must supply a little of all the chief elements of
plant food in order to make a paying crop. His experience teaches
3
42 ANNUAL REPORT N. C. EXPERIMENT STATION.
him that the most economical application is a manure that will
enable him to apply conveniently 25 pounds of phosphoric acid,
5 pounds of ammonia and 6 pounds of potash per acre, and that
it is an advantage to have a part of his ammonia in a form
quickly available for the first demands of the plants, with a part
more slowly available. He must take care, therefore, to mix
the ingredients in these proportions.
Now to get the materials. The farmer looks around him o
see where he can get them to best advantage. He has at h/ ne
some mixed wood ashes, which have been exposed in part. He
can get a lot of damaged cotton seed meal, and he sends to
a distance and gets some dissolved phosphate rock, sulphate of
ammonia and kainite. We will regard the ashes as containing
four per cent, of potash and six per cent, of phosphoric acid,
and will suppose the damaged cotton seed meal contains six
per cent, of ammonia. The dissolved phosphate rock will give
twelve per cent, of available phosphoric acid, the sulphate of
ammonia twenty-five per cent, of potash. To get the desired
amounts of phosphoric acid, ammonia and potash per acre, he
must use the following amounts of each material
:
Pounds of Pounds of Pounds of
Pounds per acre. Phosphoric Acid. Ammonia. Potash.
100 Ashes contain 6. 4.
150 Dissolved phosphate contain 18.
40 Cotton seed meal contain 1.5 2.4
10 Sulphate of ammonia contain 2.5
20 Kaiuite contain 2.4
320 pounds contain 25.5 4.9 6.4
The ingredients are now to be mixed in these proportions. A
thorough mixing is something not as easily accomplished as
one may think. This is all-important in order that each indi-vidual
little rootlet may find within its reach all of the different
agents whose good effects depend partly upon their simultaneous
presence.
As a rule, chemical manures must be kept in a dry place. We
will select a smooth place under a shed as our mixing floor, and,
HOW TO COMPOST MANURES. 43
having crushed all lumps, will sprinkle clown in this case, first
a layer of ashes, then a layer of cotton seed meal with a little
sulphate of ammonia and kainite, in the proportions decided
upon, a layer of ashes, &c, until the materials are exhausted.
The mass is then to be shoveled together, first into numerous
little heaps, then into larger ones, until finally it is all brought
together into one large pile. It would be very well now to let
this heap lie a few weeks. If the materials are at all moist the
soluble salts will be diffused through the insoluble materials and
a more thorough mixing thus accomplished. When the mate-rials
are very dry it will be necessary to sprinkle the layers, as
put down, with enough water to moisten them without causing
the heap to drip. When the manure is taken up, it should be
passed through a sieve and all lumps crushed. It is then ready
to be put upon the land.
HOW TO COMPOST MANURES.
Second. Some materials must be composted to render their
constituents more readily available to plants. The seeds of
grasses, weeds, &c, in the litter must be killed. The manner
of managing the compost differs so much with the different
materials which enter into it that it is almost impossible to give
any general directions on the subject.
We will have to take an example here, also, and suppose that
it is desired to compost cotton seed with stable manure, and to
combine with them enough bone and muriate of potash to make
a manure for corn.
Rotted stable manure contains more soluble plant food and
less water and insoluble mineral and vegetable matter than fresh.
The best conditions for the rotting of stable manure are mois-ture
and exclusion of air. On the one hand the heap should
not be leached by the rain, and on the other it ought not to
get dry or be open to the too free circulation of air. •
We prefer a cement floor, or a tightly laid wooden floor, slop-ing
from all sides to the centre, upon which to build the heap.
This may well be under a roof, and there may be a covered
44 ANNUAL REPORT N. C. EXPERIMENT STATION.
trough to drain the pile into a tight box or barrel. A basin,
scooped out in the ground down to the clay, will answer every
purpose, and if the liquids do not soak or drain away, there is
no objection to its being exposed to moderate rain. . We will
suppose that the materials are to be combined in the proportions,
22 bushels of cotton seed, or about 600 lbs., 600 pounds of sta-ble
manure, 700 pounds of bone meal and 100 pounds muri-ate
of potash to the ton of 2,000 pounds. If the cotton seed
are used first as an absorbent in the stalls along with the litter, a
layer of bone meal should be sprinkled over each layer of
manure that is taken from the stalls. In the other case, we will
soak the cotton seed in water in which the muriate of potash has
been dissolved, and putting down a layer of stable manure over
it, follow it by a layer of bone. Every few layers that are put
down the mass ought to be trampled or rammed down and well
wetted with water or solution of the muriate of potash. The
heap is built up in a conical form and covered over with earth,
leaving an opening in the top in which water can be poured.
The pile will soon begin to ferment and get warm, and liquid
will drain from it into the barrel. This should be thrown back
upon it and more water added, if it appears to get at all dry.
The heap should lie at least eight weeks. When broken, it should
be cut down through the layers and thoroughly chopped up.
How might we expect a sample of compost made from these
materials in these proportions to analyze ? We calculate from
the ingredients used what amount of plant food there would be
in a thousand pounds of the mixture, air-dried, as follows
:
Pounds of Pounds of Pounds of
Phosphoric Acid. Ammonia. Potash.
350 lbs. Bone meal contain about SO. 12. ....
300 " Cotton seed contain about 4.5 9. 6.
300 " Stable manure contain about 1.5 1.5 1.5
50 " Muriate of potash contain about 25.0
1000 lbs. contain about 86.0 22.5 32.5
The spreading of chemical manures also requires careful
attention. If they are broadcasted by hand, they should be
FORMULAS FOR FARM MANURES. 45
sown just as carefully as grain or grass seed. In case the whole
surface is to be covered, the wheat drill may be used to spread the
fine manures. The best way, unquestionably, to spread a com-post
is to use one of the excellent machines now made for the
purpose.
FORMULAS FOR FARM MANURES.
The Station receives so many requests for formulas for
mixtures and composts that we will give a few simply as sug-gestions
and illustrations, using different farm, materials and
cheap chemicals.
We give a variety of formulas, each to make about one ton of
fertilizer, so as to meet the requirements of the different sections
of the State, and using, as far as possible, whole packages of the
articles, so as to save' weighing or measuring. In preparing
these, we have had the corn and cotton crops more especially in
mind, but the formulas will be found generally useful.
I. DRY MIXTURES.
1. Tankage, ground 600 lbs.
Acid phosphate 600 "
Kainite ... 300 "
Sulphate of ammonia 80 "
Woods- mould or fine rich earth , 420 "
Or use bone meal or ground fish in place of the tankage.
2. N.C. Phosphate 1000 lbs.
Kainite 400 "
Dissolved bone or tankage 500 "
Sulphate of ammonia 60 and nitrate of soda 40... 100 "
Or 100 pounds sulphate of ammonia.
3. Acid phosphate 800 lbs.
Muriate potash 100 "
Sulphate of ammonia 60 "
Finely pulverized manure from hen-house, horse or cow stables... 1040 "
These may all be used after the manner of commercial fertilizers.
II. COMPOSTS.
A. N.C. Phosphate, containing carbonate of lime and phosphate... 800 lbs.
Kainite 200 "
Stable manure, cotton seed, muck, mould, or some vegetable matter,! 000 "
Compost these together, putting down in layers and letting it lie six or eight
weeks.
46 ANNUAL REPORT N. C. EXPERIMENT STATION.
B. From acid phosphate entirely.
Acid phosphate 600 lbs.
Kainite 200 "
20 bushels cotton seed 600 "
Stable manure or any rich earth or mould 600 "
One ton of .. 2000 "
Or use 800 pounds of acid phosphate and 400 lbs. of kainite.
Put down, best under shelter, or so that the heap will not be leached, a layer
of manure or earth, a layer of cotton seed well soaked in a solution of kainite,
a layer of acid phosphate, manure or earth again, &c. The heap should be
thoroughly moist, but not drip. Cover over with earth. Watch it that it does
not heat too much, and pour more water in the top of it if it does. Let the
heap lie six or eight weeks. Then cut down across the layers and chop
together. Can use, according to desire, 500 to 2,000 pounds per acre.
The other composts above are to be treated in a similar manner.
FOR TOBACCO.
1. Mixtures.—A. For a high grade fertilizer, mix :
Acid phosphate 900 lbs.
Ground tankage or fish scrap 800 "
Sulphate of ammonia 60 "
Nitrate of soda 40 "
"Pure sulphate of potash" 200 "
Or use bone meal, in which case, however, as this does not contain as much
ammonia as tankage and fish scrap, you must use eighty pounds more of sul-phate
of ammonia.
On the farm it will probably be better to mix the above with an equal
amount of woods-mould or fine rich earth.
B. Using cotton seed meal :
Cotton seed meal 400 lbs.
Sulphate of ammonia 60 "
Acid phosphate or dissolved bone 600 "
Kainite 400 "
North Carolina Phosphate ... 540 "
In B it will be better, to insure bright tobacco, to use, instead of the kainite
150 pounds " pure sulphate of potash" or " high grade" sulphate of potash.
2. Composts.—Prepare as for cotton :
(1). Fine horse or cow manure, rich mould or similar material, 900 lbs.
Acid phosphate or dissolved bone 600 "
High grade sulphate potash 150 "
Bone meal, fish scrap or tankage 350 "
Sprinkle each layer with water and let lie for a month.
ANALYSES OF FARM MANURES. 47
(2). A cheap compost:
Acid phosphate 200 lbs.
North Carolina Phosphate . 600 "
Kainite 200 "
Cotton seed, stable manure or mould 1000 "
ANALYSES OF FARM MANURES.
As an encouragement and aid to farmers in preparing their
own manures at home, the Station will determine the per cent-ages
of the chief valuable ingredients in samples of farm com-posts
and mixtures, if the samples are taken according to direc-tions,
which will be sent.
During the past year the following analyses of such samples
have been made
:
35S9. From N. W. Crawford, Elizabeth City. Mr. Crawford gives the for-mula
approximately from memory, he says, as follows :
1 Cost with
Freight added.
100 lbs. A. A. nitrogen $ 2 08
50 " Sulphate ammonia 1 75
200 " Pure dissolved raw bone. 3 15
400 " Acid phosphate : 3 50
140 " Kainite 85
160 " Land plaster 70
SO " Cottonseed hull ashes 45
170 " Hen-house manure
150 " Cotton seed meal ". 1 88
50 " Hard-wood ashes 12
Mr. Crawford estimates the cost himself $15 48
" Us->l it on early truck, 300 lbs. per acre, with good results."
3659. Potato Fertilizer, from Dunn & Willett, New Bern, "supposed to con-tain
2<j p-i cent, ammonia, 5J per cent, phosphoric acid, 3J per cent, potash.''
3660. Cabbage Fertilizer, from same, "supposed to contain 4} percent,
ammonia, 4] per cent, phosphoric acid, and 6 per cent, potash." They could
not remember the formulas, but they were somewhat like those given above.
3860. W. R. Mann, Gold Rock. Said to be made of:
f f
Earth or muck 600 lbs.
Lime 100 "
Cottonseed 600 "
Salt ,„ 100 "
Stable manure 600 "
" Used on a gray, sandy soil and did well."
48 ANNUAL REPORT N. C. EXPERIMENT STATION.
3889. R. J. Conyers, Youngsville.
3903. W. P. Baugham, Washington. Made from 200 lbs. kainite, 200 lbs.
acid phosphate, and 400 lbs. cotton seed meal, well mixed.
4130. Compost for cotton, sent by Ashley Wilkins, for E. Dromgoole,
South Gaston :
Per ton.
Acid phosphate 1200 lbs.
Kainite 300 "
A. A. nitrogen 350 "
Sulphate ammonia 50 "
Nitrate of soda 50 "
Nitrate of potash 50 "
2000
Mr. Dromgoole writes : " It was mixed by Baugh & Sons, the formula pre-scribed
by me. It was applied to cotton at 300 lbs. to the acre, and yielded
results about equal to Soluble Pacific Guano."
ANALYSES OF FARM MANURES.
NO.
3589
3659
3660
3860
3889
3903
4130
N. W. Crawford, Elizabeth City.
Dunn& Willett, New Bern
Dunn & Willett, New Bern
W. R. Mann, Gold Rock
R. J. Conyers, Youngsville ,
W. P. Baugham, Washington....
E. Dromgoole, South Gaston
23.25
11.10
9.00
T5 e«
68.61
34.87
4.98
d eS
OS
ao a.
*
S
a: OS
O j3 o
,C <X>
-+2
G, &0 o >
oS 5-.
o <y
E-> £
9.40 2.05 2.49
6.82 1.65 '2.00
3.02 3.71 4.50
.44 0.97 1.18
5.00 2.25 2.73
5.63 2.70 3.28
10.18 1.55 1.88
2.95
3.91
6.89
0.56
1.68
4.10
3.56
MARLS.
The Station has received and analyzed the following samples
of marls during the year :
3587. W. E. Philips, Battleboro. No. 1.
3608. C. M. Hawkins, Raleigh, a supposed greensand marl.
3658. Dr. H. O. Hyatt, Kinston. Shell marl with nodules. From a bed
one to two feet thick, and one to one and a quarter miles in extent. The bed is
south of Kinston and twelve miles from the region explored by the survey
under General Lewis.
3696. T. H. Debnam, Winton, who writes that "the bed is one hundred
yards from Winton, in Hertford county, on the lands of J. L. Anderson, one
hundred yards from Chowan river. Bed is about eight feet below the surface,
and is supposed to be very thick."
3742. Dr. J. S. Devane, Brinkland. From "the west bank of the Cape Fear
river, forming part of the river bank. It forms a continuous bed from Wil-mington
to White Hall, a distance of sixty or more miles. It crops out at
Waccamaw Lake (14 miles), and at Brinkland lias been cut through in dig-ging
a well. The darker marl is from three to five feet, resting on the main
bed, and is softer than the marl under it. Applied it several years ago to a
piece of land very poor and destitute of vegetable matter. The crop (corn)
grew off well, but when the weather got warm in June, it all turned yel-low
and died. This was corrected by the addition of vegetable matter. It
contains, also, coprolites (No. 3943). In digging marl at Indian Wells, the
surface is painted in streaks after each stroke of the pick, from broken cop-rolites.
On clay soil one application of 600 to 1,000 pounds to the acre has
never failed to increase the product from 300 to 500 fold !" &c.
3742. N. W. Powers, South Washington. Marl from Pender county, one
mile from Wilmington & Weldon Railroad. Rock is exposed along a branch
for about one hundred feet, and where exposed the bed is about two feet thick.
3763. E. T. Branch, Enfield. From " Creek Farm," in Halifax county,
one mile east of Enfield, where it is found in inexhaustible quantities.
3764. John S. Gregory, Halifax. From his farm on Roanoke river, adjoin-ing
town of Halifax. There is a long ridge, lying immediately on Roanoke
river.
3767. L. J. Moore, New Bern. From bed on farm ; in inexhaustible quan-tities.
3794. Dr. J. S. Devane, Brinkland. Upper formation.
3865. Dr. Matt. Moore, Warsaw. White marl, from a bed in Shakin
creek, Pender county.
3882. T. Ivey, Ashpole, N. C. White shell, from J. E. Ashley's farm, one
mile from Ashpole. "The bed is probably four feet thick, three feet below
50 ANNUAL REPORT N. C. EXPERIMENT STATION.
the surface, and underlies one acre. The bed lies above high-water, on the
banks of a small swamp, and has a great variety of shells and some bones.
The marl decomposes very rapidly."
3911. Sent by John Hinsnn, Chadbourn. Found on his land, two miles
north of Grists, and two and one-half miles from Chadbourn, and on the
edge of " Big Canady " branch, about half a mile from its confluence with
" Dunn" swamp. The blue marl is four feet below the surface and about two
feet thick; then comes about a three-foot strata of shell marl. Bed is about
half a mile long and fifty feet wide.
3926. Dr. T. D. Hogg, Raleigh. Blue marl from Castle Haynes.
3963. D. Bell, Avoca. Bluemarlfrom Eden House, near mouth of Chowan
river. Bed four feet thick and half-mile long. Below yellow marl (3964).
3964. From same. Same bed, except the marl is yellow and is above the
blue marl (3963).
4033. John A. Jackson, Vanceboro, who writes that the " marl is from the
land of Mrs. Sarah E. Satterthwaite, three miles from Vanceboro, and situ-ated
on Swift creek. It is from four to six feet below the surface, and has been
dug to twelve feet in depth without reaching the bottom. It is known to
extend up the creek for two miles and is supposed to extend further."
4165. W. L. Hill, Warsaw.
4181. Sent by A. E. Harper, Kingsboro, who writes that " the marl is from
the lands of Hon. W. R. Cox, known as Poke Island Farm, which is located
two hundred yards from the Tar river, on the south side of it, and half a mile
from the Rocky Mount and Tarboro road, and one and a half miles from
Kingsboro P. O. The bed is known to extend about twenty-seven to thirty
feet, is six feet thick, and four feet below the surface."
4203. H. Winstead, Toisnot. Three miles west of Toisnot, on Town Creek
swamp, near country road lea ling from Tarboro to Raleigh.
4204. Colonel J. Y. Bryce, Charlotte. From the farm of P. Fenneth,
Craven county.
4217. Joe M. Dixon, Johnson's Mills. White marl, from Jas. A. Stokes'
land.
4219. Sent by Maj. R. S. Tucker, Raleigh, from his farm at Pactolus, Pitt
county. Bed is two feet below the surface; thickness unknown. Is situated on
Grindel creek, and is under the surface on the entire north side of the creek.
Is one mile north of Pactolus Landing on Tar river. Bed is half a mile wide.
4220. Sent by same from his farm near Pactolus, Pitt county ; is two and
a half to four feet below the surface, on land known as the Robh'eld. It is
found on the Tar river, where the high and low river lands meet, and has
been found at different places, where excavations have been made, for half a
mile up and down the river.
4221. Sent by same, from the farm of R. R. Fleming, on Tranter's creek,
Pitt county, near the road leading from Pactolus to Washington, and is found
in beds similar to the above beds of Maj. Tucker.
4222. C. H. Blocker, Tarboro, from Fishing creek, Edgecombe county,
No. 1, soft, bed ten feet thick.
MARLS. 51
4223. Sent by same, from same bed, No. 2, with white shells.
4224. Sent by same, from same bed, No. 3, with lumps of bone.
4225. E. B. Hodges, Tarboro. White shell marl.
4226. Sent by same.
NO. KIND. COUNTY. SENDER AND ADDRESS.
a
"o .
a 2
a
w
©
s
o
CD
oi
a
o
c3 a
a
o
0)
03
ft,
ai
OA
Ou
3587 White W. E. Philips, Battleborough
Colin M. Hawkins, Raleigh
66.18
51.39
36.25
65.53
65.70
22.69
0.96
59.14
8.02
23.26
44.71
51.52
32.51
68.30
0.00
85.91
41.78
38.62
50.05
19.86
28.14
89.28
72.66
41.25
8.40
36:71
27.14
26.75
12.57
14.67
1.82
8.07
47.17
52.43
5.11
1.96
*3608 Greensand 1,12
3658
W'hite Shell \
conglomerate j
.Shell
Lenoir Dr. H. 0. Hyatt, Kinston
T. H. Debnam, Winton
?,.10
3696
Bladen
50
3742 Dr. J. S. Devane, Brinkland... 1 54
3747
Halifax
N. W. Powers, South Washington
E. T. Branch, Enfield
1 00
3763 White Shell
Shells
Yellow
Earthy
39.29
52.20
25.75
50.33
1.00
3764
Craven
John S. Gregory, Halifax 3.60
3767 L.J.Moore, New Bern 9.00
|3794
3865
Bladen Dr. J. S. Devane, Brinkland
Dr. Matt. Moore, Warsaw
0,50
White Duplin
3882
3911
White Shell
Blue, with fine \
white Shells/
Blue
Robeson
Columbus ,,, John Hinson, Chadbourn
51.86
54.83
44.03
68.82
63.04
8.29
17.49
49.91
84.68
55.25
35.71
62.72
65.64
69.49
85.91
84.46
47.73
42.46
77.10
2.00
3926 Dr. T. D. Hogg, Raleigh 1 00
3963 Blue Bertie D. Bell, Avoca 0.50
3964
Craven
a (I
1 00
4033 White John A. Jackson, Vanceboro
W. L. Hill, Warsaw
Gen. W. R. Cox, Raleigh
H. Winstead, Toisnot
50
4165
4181
White
Edgecombe...
Wilson
0.50
2 29
4203 With Shells
Yellow
0.50
4204 Craven Col. J. Y. Bryce, Charlotte
Joe M. Dixon, Johnson's Mills , ,
Maj. R. S. Tucker, Raleigh
U U c<
EC u a
C. H. Blocker, Tarboro
1 00
4217 White 80
4219 Shell Pitt 4 00
4220 Shell
Edgecombe...
it
u
u
((
8.00
4221 Shells ?00
4222 Earthy
White Shells
Shell conglom....
White Shell
Earthy
0.50
4223
4224
4225
ct u u
E. B. Hodges, Tarboro
0.50
1.70
3 94
4226 u a (c
1 8^
*Potash, 0.34 per cent. tLarge amount of pyrite.
52 ANNUAL REPORT N. C. EXPERIMENT STATION.
Note.—The following limestones and limes have been ana-lyzed
:
4023. Limestone, from farm of Dr. L. H. Hill, near Germantown, Stokes
county.
4215. Marble, from W. A. Lash, Walnut Cove.
3928. Gas lime, used in gas purifiers by Charlotte Gas Light Co. Sample
sent by D. E. Linton, Superintendent.
03
22 S
S
St-I
NO. KIND. COUNTY. SENDER AND ADDRESS. l-< 4J
c £
5
CO
o
0)
03
O
O
£i
t-c
o5 a
4023 Limestone Stokes
u
Dr. L. H. Hill, Germantown 86.47
4215 Marble W. A. Lash, Walnut Cove 95.07
3928 Gas Lime 2.94 33.64
PHOSPHATES.
3743. From J. S. Devane, Brinkland. Found in marl No. 3742. These
are numerous in the marl at Indian Wells landing.
3753. Supposed phosphates from French Bros., Rocky Point, Pender
county. A ledge, not a conglomerate, composed mostly of carbonate of lime
3766. Ground S. C. Rock, sent by W. D. Lathrop & Co., Elizabeth City.
3772. Dr. A. B. Nobles, Tarboro. A brown rock.
3773. Same. Grey rock.
3774. Same. White rock.
3775. N. C. Phosphate Co., Raleigh. Ground at company's works.
3795. T. Ivey, Ashpole. Ground at N. C. Phosphate Co.'s works, Ral-eigh.
3854. Dr. T. D. Hogg, Raleigh. Floats, prepared at N. C. Phosphate
Co.'s works, Raleigh.
3930. From N. C. Phosphate Co., Raleigh. From Castle Haynes. These
were loose nodules, said to come from underneath the conglomerate bed and
form several feet in thickness.
4233. Dr. J. L. Nicholson, Richlands. From Barry plantation, a few
miles east of Richlands. Bed supposed to underlie two or three hundred
acres, and from one to three feet thick
.
4234. C, M. Hawkins, Raleigh. No. 4.
4235. C. M. Hawkins, Raleigh. No. 2.
3743
3753
3766
3772
3773
3774
3775
3795
3854
3930
4233
4234
4235
Coprolite...,
Rock ,
Rock
Nodules.
LOCALITY.
Bladen county..
Pender "
South Carolina,
Edgecombe Co.
N. Hanover Co,
U U
(C u
u u
Onslow
SENDER AND ADDRESS.
J. S. Devane, Brinkland
French Bros., Rocky Point...
W. D. Lathrop & Co., E. City,
Dr. A. B. Nobles, Tarboro
N. C. Phosphate Co., Raleigh.
T. Ivey, Ashpole
Dr. T. D. Hogg, Raleigh
N. C. Phosphate Co., Raleigh
Dr. J. L. Nicholson, Richlands
C. M. Hawkins, Raleigh
a a
43.63
8.35
82.69
80.76
62.82
18.47
35.05
56.96
43.38
54.42
oS
Po
£3
cS a
30.58
large
am't.
small
am't.
0.00
0.00
1.22
56.60
38.92
0.68
6
£ T3
1 V
=*-! 03 O o
© 'l-i
-l^>
03 o
Si Si
tx a.
m 02
© o
-C S3
An fu
13.89 6.36
2.00
55.60 25.46
7.54 3.45
9.11 4.17
25.43 11.64
11.09 5.08
13.69 6.27
10.42 4.77
13.50 6.18
5.67 2.60
13.10 6.00
1.79 0.82
THE WEATHER SERVICE.
The manner in which the State Weather Service became con-nected
with the Station has been explained in the introduction
to this report.
A State weather service has a twofold duty
:
1st. The collection of accurate, detailed weather statistics for
the territory of a State; and 2d, the dissemination of practical
information, weather " indications/' and frost or cold-wave
warnings.
The profession of farming is more interested in the weather
than any other; and forecasts of the weather for twenty-four or
forty-eight hours ahead wijl determine the commonest every-day
operations on the farm.
Besides these ordinary benefits, which everybody will appre-ciate,
North Carolina has unusually large interests in crops
which frosts and freezes can destroy, and which may be saved
if only a half a day's warning of cold is given. Our tobacco,
truck and fruit interests have been frequently damaged to the
extent of from one-fourth to one-half of the whole, by . sudden
frosts or freezes, of which our farmers had no warnings.
It would seem eminently appropriate that the Agricultural
Department of the State should undertake to collect these statis-tics
and to give out this important information. Through the
agency of the Agricultural Experiment Station the Department
has undertaken this work, and intends to push it just as far as the
facilities of communication will permit.
Some of the immediate benefits of the State Weather Service
may only be briefly touched upon here.
1. It will bring the benefits of the weather "indications,"
" cold-wave" warnings, etc., of the United States Signal Office
to bear directly upon the interests and daily lives of a great
many of our people, and secure for them whatever benefits there
may be in them.
THE WEATHER SERVICE. 55
2. The weather service will be the means of securing a much
better knowledge of the meteorology of our State, which will be
valuable in more ways than can be named here.
3. It will give the people of all parts of the State reliable
standards for temperature, rain-fall, humidity, wind-velocity,
etc., which are sources of varied, useful information.
4. It will put within the reach of local agricultural clubs and
individual farmers the means of accurate observations upon the
relations of the weather to our crops. Without a weather record
in figures, our conceptions of what the weather was during any
particular season are sure to be very unreliable.
5. It will educate the people at large on the subjects in science
which have the most important bearing upon their interests,
comfort and lives.
The distribution of weather reports commenced on one rail-road
on October 8th, and was extended to all the railroads in
the State before January 1st, 1887.
The Weather Station started operations at the Experiment
Farm on the 1st of December. The meteorological work, for-merly
conducted at the farm, included studies of the air and soil
temperatures, the moisture in the soil, and a record of sunshine.
To this has now been added the regular work of a full Signal
Station.
The State Weather Service is an organization of the railroads
and of voluntary observers and signal men throughout the State
of North Carolina, co-operating with the United States Signal
Service and this Experiment Station.
WEATHER SIGNALS.
The daily weather indications and " cold-wave" warnings sent
to the central office at Raleigh from the Signal Office at Wash-ington
are distributed to all the telegraph and some telephone
stations in North Carolina. These reports are posted up on bul-letin-
boards or published by signal flags.
At present all the railroads in the .State are co-operating with
the State in the extension of this work. The managers and
56 ANNUAL REPORT N. C. EXPERIMENT STATION.
superintendents of railroads operating in North Carolina werer
without exception, prompt to appreciate the advantages which
Would follow to their lines and their patrons from the distribu-tion
and publication of the weather warnings. The railroad
lines named below receive the weather and temperature and cold-wave
warnings from our signal service, and use them on their
own account and for the benefit of their business. For their
intelligent appreciation of this matter, and for their public spirit
in co-operating with us, the State Weather Service is under great
obligations to these railroad companies.
KAILROAD COMPANIES CO-OPERATING WITH THE WEATHER SERVICE.
The Seaboard Air-Line system, comprising the Raleigh & Gaston division, Raleigh
& Augusta division and the Carolina Central division, with 44 stations and
3 private telegraph stations connecting therewith.
The Piedmont Air-Line system, comprising the Richmond & Danville division,
with 15 stations ; the North Carolina division, with 14 stations ; the Western
North Carolina division, with 25 stations ; the Charlotte & Columbia division,
with 4 stations ; the Atlanta & Charlotte Air-Line, with three stations.
The Atlantic & North Carolina Railroad, with 6 stations.
The Atlantic Coast Line and branches, with 32 stations, 1 private line station con-necting.
The Cape Fear <fc Yadkin Valley Railroad, with 16 stations.
The Norfolk Southern Railroad, with 3 stations.
The Tarboro, Greenville & Washington Telegraph Co., with 8 stations.
This is a total of 175 stations in North Carolina reached by
means of these lines.
SIGNAL STATIONS.
Stations having flags and the necessary facilities for display-ing
them are designated Signal Stations.
LIST OP SIGNAL STATIONS.
NAME OF STATION. NAME OF COUNTY. DISPLAYED BY
Asheville Buncombe Battery Park Sig. Station.
H. E. Strudwick.
Clinton Sampson W. L. Faison.
Company Shops Alamance J. «A. Turrentine.
Croniy Columbus Acme Manufacturing Co.
Davidson College Mecklenburg Prof. C. C. Norwood
Durham Durham H. N. Snow.
Fayetteville Cumberland Rose & Leak.
Gibson Richmond W. H. Morrison.
Goldsboro Wayne J. A. Bonitz.
Pitt D. J. Whichard.
THE WEATHER SERVICE. 57
LIST OF SIGNAL STATIONS—(CONTINUED).
NAME OF STATION.
Henderson
Hickory
High Point
Jonesboro
King's Mountain
Kiuston
Lenoir
Marion
Middleburg-
Monroe
New Bern
Oxford
Parkwood
Pittsboro
Raleigh ( city)
" (Shaw. University)..
.
" (Experiment Farm)..
Reidsville
Rockingham
Salisbury
Selma
Shoe Heel
Shelby
Smithfield
Statesville
Tarboro
Wake Forest
Washington „
Weldon
Winston
NAME OF COUNTY,
Vance
Catawba. .
Guilford .
Moore ....
Cleveland
Lenoir
Caldwell .
McDowell.
Vatjce
Union.
Craven. . .
Granville.
Moore.
Chatham.
.
Wake
Rockingham
Richmond. .
Rowan
Johnston
Robeson .
Cleveland. .
.
Johnston. . .
.
Iredell
Edgecombe .
Wake
Beaufort
Halifax
Forsyth
DISPLAYED BY
J. L. Curren.
0. M. Royster.
Chief of Police Hoffman.
A. A. F. Seawell, Jr.
1. W. Garrett.
R. F. Whitehurst.
J. M. Bernhardt.
W. J. Craig.
L. B. Yancey.
T. M. Brown.
A. &. N. C. R. R., William
Dunn, Agent.
W. H. White.
N. C. Mill Stone Co.
Wm. R. Hunter.
Police Department.
Dr. H. M. Tupper.
W. O. Bailey.
George R. Quincey.
W. E. Shortridge/
W. S. Frost.
H. W. Harris.
Dr. J. D. Croom.
Fullenwider Bros.
J. W. Morris.
J. L. Scales.
E. V. Zoeller.
Prof. W. G. Simmons.
Mr. Lipscomb.
H. S. S. Cooper.
Smith & Brown.
OBSERVING STATIONS.
The important work of collecting meteorological statistics is
carried on by the voluntary assistance of thirty observers scat-tered
pretty well throughout the State from east to west, with
the additional information obtained from the reports of eleven
regular signal service observers located in this and the adjacent
territory of other States.
As the State Weather Service is a purely voluntary associa-tion,
without available funds for the purchase of meteorological
instruments, we find it necessary to appeal to the generosity and
public spirit of representative citizens in each town and commu-nity
where we hope to establish a local observing station. Agree-able
to our expectations, and much to the credit of the friends
of the Service, these appeals have met with prompt and ready
4
58 ANNUAL REPORT N. C. EXPERIMENT STATION.
responses in nearly every ease, and twenty-two stations have
been fully equipped with instruments as below. Three stations
already had the equipment, and five have been only partially sup-plied.
The full set of instruments for voluntary observers con-sists
of maximum registering thermometer, minimum register-ing
thermometer, dry bulb thermometer, wet bulb thermometer,
and rain-gauge with overflow and measuring-stick. All the
new instruments are of H. J. Green's best make, and were cor-rected
at Washington.
OBSERVING STATIONS.
NAME OF STATION.
Asheville (Battery Park Sig. Station)
Companv Shops
Chapel Hill
Davidson College
Durham
Goldsboro
Greenville
Henderson
Hickory
High Point
Jonesboro
King's Mountain
Kinston
Lenoir
Marion
Monroe
Mount Pleasant
New Bern
Oxford
Parkwood
Raleigh (Experiment Farm)
Reidsville
Salisbury
Shoe Heel
Salem
Tarboro
Wake Forest
Weldon
Washington
Waynesville :
NAME OF COUNTY. NAME OF VOL. OBSERVER.
Buncombe.. .
.
Alamance. . .
.
Orange
Mecklenburg.
Durham
Wayne
Pitt
Vauce
Catawba
Guilford
Moore
Cleveland
Lenoir
Caldwell
McDowell. . .
.
Union
Cabarrus
Craven
Granville
Moore
Wake
Rockingham.
Rowan
Robeson
Forsyth
Edgecombe...
Wake
Halifax
Beaufort
Haywood
Asa S. Loomis.
J. A. Turrentine.
Prof. J. W. Gore.
Prof. C. C. Norwood.
H. N. Snow.
John R. McMachen.
D. J. Whichard.
J. L. Curren.
0. M. Royster.
S. H. Thompson.
A. A. F. Seawell, Jr.
1. W. Garrett.
R. F. Whitehurst.
J. M. Bernhardt.
W. J. Craig.
T. M. Brown.
H. T. J. Ludwick.
William Dunn.'
N. C. Mill Stone Co.
W. O. Bailey.
Prof. T. V. Norcom.
Theo. Buerbaum.
Dr. J. D. Croom.
Rev. John Clewell.
E. V. Zoeller.
Prof. W. G. Simmons.
T. A. Clark.
Mr. Lipscomb.
W. W. Stringfield.
UNITED STATES SIGNAL SERVICE OBSERVERS
Who furnish copies of their Reports.
Charlotte, N. C James A. Barry Observer.
Cape Hatteras, N. C H. W. Olmstead
Cape Henry, Va William Davis "
Kittyhawk, N. C P. H. Fitzmaurice
Fort Macon, N. C William Daly
Smithville, N. C F. P. Chaffee
Wilmington, N. C W. H. Fallon "
Knoxville, Tenn H. F. Knabe "
Chattanooga, Tenn L. M. Pindell "
Lynchburg Va T. F. Schley
Norfolk, Va James P. Sherry,
THE WEATHER SERVICE. 59
We shall also receive reports from a number of Cotton-belt
Observers in North Carolina and the adjacent States. These
observers make special observations during the growing season
of the cotton crop.
The regular observations of this Service begin January 1st,
1887. With the stations already established and equipped, we
will have 41 observers reporting to us in January next. The
meteorological reports from all the stations comprising the North
Carolina Weather Service and these corresponding stations will
be consolidated and published in the Bulletin of the Depart-ment
of Agriculture, or a special paper.
THE LABORATORY AND ITS EQUIPMENT.
As the Experiment Station has become for the first time,
during the year 1886, something like the complete institution
contemplated by the law establishing it, it will be in place here
to notice briefly its facilities for work.
The accompanying cut shows the
ground plan of the main floor of the
offices and laboratory of the Experi-ment
Station in the Agricultural De-partment
building, on the N. W.
corner of Halifax and Edenton
streets, Raleigh.
The Station has, as will be seen,
ten rooms, with furnace-room and
store-rooms in tl)e cellar underneath.
Its offices are well furnished with sub-stantial
furniture and cases. The
sample-room and store-rooms are
conveniently arranged for storing
specimens, chemicals and apparatus.
The laboratory, one large and one
small, are models of convenience, well
lit and ventilated, and supplied with
every kind of apparatus and
machinery which can save
time and work and promote
accuracy. The working
desks of oiled red-oak are
on the most approved plan,
and each one is supplied
with water, sras, steam
exhaust-air for the filters,
and compressed air for the
blast-lamps. The labora-tory
contains the usual fixed
THE LABORATORY AND ITS EQUIPMENT. 61
apparatus, such as steam-baths, drying chambers, hoods, distilled
water apparatus and hot water apparatus. One boiler pumps
our water and supplies steam for drying chambers, distilling,
heating water, &c. There are a crucible and muffle furnace,
and gas combustion and blast furnaces. The laboratory is also
supplied with a complete equipment of apparatus, such as:
three of Becker's balances, a spectroscope, polariscope, micro-scope,
SprengePs pumps, a full set of volumetric apparatus, &c.
The Station has a small library, containing some of the lead-ing
German, French, English and American agricultural and
chemical reports and journals, a collection of all kinds of
materials and chemicals used in artificial manures, and small col-lections
of minerals and seeds.
THE EXPERIMENT FARM
PRELIMINARY WORK AND BUILDINGS.*
The Experiment Farm is situated 1J miles west of Raleigh,
on the Hillsboro road, adjoining the State Agricultural Society's
Fair-gounds, and comprises ten acres. The Agricultural Soci-ety
gives, in addition, the use, free of charge, of about twenty
acres of their land. On the 1st of April, 1886, when we took
charge of the Farm, a greater part of the land was covered with
a dense growth of scrub oak and blackjack, with, in one place,
some dwarf pines. It was said the land had not been under cul-tivation
for from fifteen to eighteen years. The front of the
land facing the Hillsboro road was very much cut up by wagon
tracks, which had washed out a foot or more at places.
From this road the land rises gradually at an angle of about
two degrees towards the north. About four hundred feet dis-tant,
where the buildings have been erected, is the most elevated
part of the Farm. Back of the buildings the land slopes down
at a much greater angle, and the surface is badly washed in two
places. By the kindness of the authorities of the Penitentiary,
especially of Capt. Stamps, the President of the Board, and of
Col. Hicks, the Warden, we were given the use of a large force
of convicts about the second week in April. We were enabled
by their help to clear the land of trees and roots, grade the
front facing the Hillsboro road, and put in post-holes for the
very substantial fence which has since been put up. Some idea
can be obtained of the labor involved in clearing this small
tract of land from the fact that we are charged in Col. Hicks'
report with twelve hundred and seventy-five days' work of the
convicts. This, however, includes some work on the excavations
for the buildings, which was done later. It will be remembered
that in April, and part of May, the season was extremely cold
*Milton Whitney, Superintendent of Farm.
THE EXPERIMENT FARM. 63
and wet. This delayed us greatly. Much of the time it was
too wet even to move the trees and stumps, to say nothing of
plowing the land. These, and many other causes combined,
delayed us to a very serious extent in our work.
No one who has not had practical experience in the organiza-tion
of such an institution and in planning and arranging
such experimental work can conceive of the vast amount of
labor and responsibility attending it. Sir John Bennett
Lawes, in a letter congratulating the Director upon start-ing
this new work, suggests that we lay the land off in a
hundred plots of one-tenth acre each, or such a number
as, taking out the roads and walks between the plots, the space
will allow, and putting the whole down in permanent ex-periments.
The writer goes on to give more valuable advice,
advising not to apply manure to any of the land for one or two
years, but to plant one crop uniformly on the whole unmanured,
that we may obtain an idea of the natural fertility of the land, and
know what part of our future results are due to the diiferences
in the soil, and what to the fertilizers we may add to the land.
Theoretically, his plan of dividing the land up into certain plots
and putting them in permanent experiments on questions of
interest in this State, seems a simple, easy and valuable plan of
action ; but practically, the Farm land was in such a condition,
the surface so undulating and having so many different expos-ures,
with at least four or five different characters of soil and
subsoil, that it has been much more serious and difficult to plan
the experiments to insure the results being trustworthy and of
value, than one could believe who is unacquainted with the
requirements of the work.
We made at first a very careful examination of the soil and
subsoil on different parts of the Farm. The land seemed natu-rally
divided into certain distinct areas.
The front facing on the Hillsboro road, in which the roads, ruts
and washes had been filled up and the whole graded for a dis-tance
of about seventy feet back from the road, was evidently
not suited for comparative plot experiments with fertilizers.
64 ANNUAL REPORT N. C. EXPERIMENT STATION.
This has been laid off in plots of one-thirtieth of an acre each,
and fifteen of what are believed to be onr most valuable grasses
and clovers for hay and pastures seeded down. The list com-prises
orchard grass, timothy, red top, tall meadow oat grass,
meadow fescue, fowl meadow, English rye grass, Italian rye
grass, Kentucky blue grass, Texas blue grass, Johnson, crab and
Bermuda grasses, lucerne and red clover.
This land has been uniformly well enriched, and it is our aim
to show the grasses side by side, under the most perfect treat-ment
of manuring and cultivation.
Beyond this is a tract of about one and one-half acres of
apparently uniform fertility, on which was grown ten varieties of
tobacco in rows running the whole length of the plot, and with-out
any manure or fertilizer, that we might judge of the even
character of the yield to be expected from different portions of
the field. Owing to the lateness of the season and the difficulty
of obtaining the plants, the crop did not amount to much. Ad-joining
this land is a small plot of about three-quarters of an
acre, of apparently one uniform fertility, which, owing to the
general confusion of building, could not be put under cultiva-tion
till fall, when it was seeded down in barley, without manure,
preparatory to laying it off in experimental plots.
We have carefully watched and noted through the year
the character of the soil of these different plots, the exposure,
the character of the natural growth of trees which we found here,
and of weeds, and when we had an opportunity, the amount and
character of yield in crops. We have carefully abstained from
the use of fertilizers of any kind in those portions of the land
which it was expected would be used in comparative plot experi-ments,
and the results so far obtained not only show the wisdom
of this proceeding, but make it seem very desirable in the case
of two or more of the fields, that at least another year be spent
in this preliminary work of obtaining a check on our future
results.
From the results obtained this year on the tobacco land it
would seem very desirable, before more accurate experiments are
THE EXPERIMENT FARM. 65
carried on, that plots be laid off and a crop planted in each under
a uniform treatment, the yield from each being determined as in
actual plot experiments.
The public, however, are very impatient of any such slow
but accurate work. They do not realize that from the very com-plex,
and but slightly understood, character of the soil, and of
the various conditions of plant growth, that comparative results
in the average soil are valuable in proportion, either to the num-ber
of years they have been carried on—and we think this about
the only way they are practically valuable—or, in the proportion
to the number of times the results are duplicated. Will it, then,
be safe to draw practical inferences from results obtained on land
which has been shown this present year to be very uniformly
fertile ? Take two plots, for instance, with the same crop, under
the same treatment, let the yield of one be twice as great as that
of the other. If now we vary the treatment which each receives
next year, with all the differences of climate, with the differences
in temperature, rain-fall, sunshine, &c, will it be just to assume
that if the same treatment had been pursued on both, that the
difference in yield between the two plots would have been the
same as for the year previous, and apply such a correction to the
yield obtained under different treatment? Evidently not; and
yet such are the conditions upon which we are called to decide,
as some of our duplicate plots have yielded results three or
four times larger than others, nearly adjacent and under as
nearly as possible the same conditions of culture.
The rest of the experimental work that has been carried on
in the field has been on the land of the State Agricultural
Society and will be described under its appropriate head.
The spot selected for the buildings is the highest on the Farm,
and on the site of an old building removed years ago. On the
land was evidently at one time a garden, giving us very good
soil for the lawn, &c. On the west side the land slopes away
so rapidly that we had to run some farm terraces to prevent
washing, and this will be used as a vegetable garden in the future.
66 ANNUAL REPORT N. C. EXPERIMENT STATION.
At another place, on the other side of the stable from this, differ-ent
methods of side-hill ditching will be shown on land reserved
for forage crops for the farm stock.
THE BUILDINGS.
The contract for the erection of the two principal buildings
was awarded to Messrs. Ellington & Royster, except the excava-tions
for the basement and foundation walls, which was done by
convicts.
The buildings were so far completed at the meeting of the
Board of Agriculture, on July 22d, that the corner-stone of the
laboratory and work-rooms was laid by the Governor, assisted by
the Grand Master of Masons, with appropriate ceremonies.
The work-rooms were finished and occupied by the middle of
October, and the cottage about two months later. The work-rooms
consist of a main room, where the general laboratory work
is performed, as in the examination of soils, products of the
farm, and such other work, which from its nature cannot conven-iently
be done in the laboratory of the Station in Raleigh.
Adjoining this are the three smaller rooms. One of these can
be made perfectly dark at any time, and is to be used as a pho-tographic
room, photography being a very important aid in
keeping many of the records of our experimental work.
In this room also are kept the samples of soil, of which we
have a great number, taken both from our own farm and from
different typical sections of the State, in air-tight glass-jars, seeds
for the Farm and those sent in for examination, etc. Here are
also kept samples of some of the Farm products which have
been, or will be, analyzed.
The next room is used as an office by the weather observer,
detailed by the Chief Signal Officer to assist in the organization
and management of the State Weather Service. Some of his
instruments are kept here.
The next room is a potting-room or small laboratory, where
the different soils are prepared for experiments in pots, which are
THE EXPERIMENT FARM. 67
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carried on in the plant-house. Here, also, the solutions are made
up and kept for water culture and sand culture, in which experi-ments
are made on plants growing in pure sand or pure water
with the addition of plant food, the amount and kind of which
is entirely under our control. Overhead there is storage room
for many things.
In the basement are several rooms. One with a carpenter's
bench and tools, for making repairs, on the farm; another, to
keep the farm tools in ; another, for the root cellar, while a boiler
for the plant-house stands directly under the potting-room.
Opening out from the potting-room, on the south side of and
in front of all the buildings, is the plant-house. This was
designed by the writer especially for this work of experimenting
with plants, three years ago, with the help and advice of Prof.
S. W. Johnson of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment
Station, and after seeing and consulting with a number of experts,
and visiting the principal greenhouses of New York and Boston.
The object in constructing such a plant-house is to provide a
place where all the conditions of plant growth, including light
and heat, can be most perfectly controlled. One can then use
the house either to produce a known and artificial climate, as
it were, and observe the development of the plants under, for
instance, perfect climatic conditions, or, it may be used only in
case of storm and as a protection from the dews, winds or possible
accidents of the night and during cold weather.
The main point in the construction of a house for this pur-pose
was to have a minimum amount of shadow, as it is specially
undesirable that one plant should be in shadow at a certain
time each day while a neighboring plant will be in full sunlight.
To secure this absence of shadow the rafters are very small, only
seven-eighths by one and one-fourth inches, rabetted a quarter of
an inch to receive the glass. They are made of white pine, and are
thoroughly braced with two iron purlines on each side and with
a number of half-inch iron gas-pipes. On each side of the
ridge-pole are ventilating sashes which, when raised, give a con-tinuous
opening, except for the rafters, the entire length of the
THE EXPERIMENT FARM. 69
building. The glass is double thick, first quality French sheet,
that on the body of the roof being twenty inches wide, giving a
very light but at the same time, it is believed, a very substantial
covering for the plants.
The walls are of brick, eleven inches thick, containing an air
space of three inches. To this wall the wood work of the struc-ture
is securely bolted. The lower sashes, between the roof and
the brick wall, have eighteen by twenty-four inch glass, and are
fixed, there being no bottom ventilation.
The south end of the building has two glass doors, through
which two small railroad tracks pass, on which run four tables
on wheels. These tables are for the experimental plants in jars,
and are designed to allow of the plants being run out of the
house into the open air and being pushed back under shelter at
niofht, or in storms of wind or rain.
The plant-house is twenty-six feet long by fifteen and a half feet
inside ; and is so arranged that, if desirable in summer, the track
can be lowered and the plants run out in a trench well grassed on
either side, and kept watered to reduce the temperature. During
the winter the plant-house is heated by hot water flowing through
four-inch iron pipes, as is ordinarily done in greenhouses. The
apparatus was made by Hitchings & Co., of New York.
They also made the ventilating apparatus, which enables one or
all of the sashes on one or both sides, as we may wish, to be
raised by simply turning a crank placed beside the door.
The dwelling is situated only a few feet distant from the
work-rooms, and a little back so as not to shade the plant-house.
It was our object in planning the cottage to have a neat, com-pact
and attractive house, which any well-to-do farmer might
imitate, and large enough for a moderate-sized family.
The general arrangement of the rooms can be seen in the plan.
The house is a two-story structure, with kitchen extension, the
sides shingled down as far as the top of the second-story win-dows.
The roof was painted with a metallic paint mixed in
cotton-seed oil, which gave a very cheap, and, so far as we can
see, durable paint for outside work.
70 ANNUAL REPORT N. C. EXPERIMENT STATION.
The inside wood work was finished off in imitation of
cherry, being stained and varnished with two coats. This makes
the house brighter and seems more attractive than paint. The
walls, instead of being whitewashed, had two coats of alabastine,
in several tints.
The stable is not yet completed, but it is believed it will be
compact, and conveniently arranged for an average-sized farm.
The building is so arranged that three or four more stalls can be
put in on the main floor, or cow stalls, or sheep or hog-pens
could be put underneath, as indeed we purpose doing later. Also,
if.it is wished, the building could be made longer, and more
room be made for stalls in this way, while a tool-room, store-room
or large carriage-room, or all combined, could be added on
the side opposite the shed. The subject of plans for conven-iently
arranged barns and stables for our farmers is one which
frequently comes up. We will have a good-sized, airy loft, with
a tight floor to keep the dust from falling on the stock, and will
keep our hay and fodder up-stairs, loading in through a door in
front over the main entrance door, and will have a shoot to
deliver the stuff down-stairs into the stable. The grain will be
kept in bins, which will be placed up-stairs, if necessary, with
shoots leading down into the stable. Other details can .be seen
from the plan. The building being on a hill-side, renders it easy
to have a good, roomy basement, with large doors at the rear,
into which wagons can be backed for manure, fertilizers, com-posts,
&c.
THE EXPERIMENT FARM. 71
Stable at Farm of N. C. Agricultural Experiment Station.
FIELD EXPERIMENTS.
ON PASTURE AND HAY GRASSES.
It was not to be expected that, with land in the condition in
which the Farm was on the first of April, we should have many
valua