ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
NORTH CAROLINA
AGRICULTURAL
Experiment Station,
FOR
1882.
Bleibe bei den Thatsachen ) ~ . , . , w^
Hold to the Facts. \
Fnednch Wohler.
RALEIGH :
Ashe & Gatling, State Printers and Binders.
Presses of Edwards, Broughton & C©.
1883.
Office of the North Carolina
Agricultural Experiment Station,
Raleigh, N. C, April 4th, 1883,
To Governor THOMAS J. Jarvis,
Chairman of the Board of Agriculture:
SlR:—I have the honor to submit herewith the Annual
Report of the North Carolina Agricultural Experiment
Station for the year 1882. I trust it will prove satisfactory
to your Excellency and the Board of Agriculture.
Very respectfully,
CHAS. W, DABNEY, Jr.,
Director,
N. C. State Board of Agriculture,
1882.
Governor THOMAS J. JARVIS,
(Ex-officid), Chairman.
Col. THOMAS M. HOLT,
President of the State Agricultural Society.
Col. WILLIAM H. CHEEK,
Master of the State Grange, Patrons of Husbandry.
KEMP P. BATTLE, LL. D.,
President of the State University.
W. C. KERR, Ph. D.,
State Geologist.
Capt. JAMES R. THIGPEN, of Edgecombe.
Maj. JONATHAN EVANS, of Cumberland.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE,
Gov. THOMAS J. JARVIS,
Col. THOMAS M. HOLT,
Hon. KEMP P. BATTLE.
N. C. State Board of Agriculture,
1883.
"» 4
Governor THOMAS J. JARVIS,
{Ex-officid)y Chairman.
Col. Thomas M. Holt,
President of State Ag. Society.
Kemp P. Battle, LL. D.,
President of State University.
W. R. Williams, Esq.,
Master of State Grange, Patrons of
Husbandry.
Col. R. W. Wharton,
1st. Congressional District,
Dr. A. G. Brooks,
2d. Congressional District.
John A. Oates, Esq.,
3d. Congressional District.
Col. W. Forney Green,
4th. Congressional District.
Col. L. W. Anderson,
5th. Congressional District.
John Robinson, Esq.,
6th. Congressional District.
A. Leazar, Esq.,
7th. Congressional District.
Burwell Blanton, Esq.,
8th. Congressional District.
Dr. C. D. Smith,
gth. Congressional District.
—<--*»
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE,
Gov. THOMAS J. JARVIS,
Col. THOMAS M. HOLT,
Col. W. F. GREEN.
» »
OFFICERS.
MONTFORD McGEHEE, Commissioner.
PETER M. WILSON, Secretary.
STEPHEN G. WORTH, Snft of Fish and Fisheries.
CHARLES W. DABNEY, Jr., Chemist.
OFFICERS
OF THE
N. C. AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION.
Director :
CHARLES W. DABNEY, Jr., Ph. D., (Goettingen.)
ASSISTANTS:
William B. Phillips, Ph. B., resigned Oct., 1882.
Balduin von Herff, Ph. D., since Jan. 15, 1883.
Herbert B. Battle, B. S.
Frank B. Dancy, A. B.
Andrew D. Mickle.
Office and Laboratory in the Agricultural Department Building,
RALEIGH.
Visitors are always welcome.
N. G, AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION.
ANNOUNCEMENT.
This institution was established by Act of the General
Assembly of 1877, f° r the benefit of North Carolina agricul-ture.
The Station now occupies the large and handsome
apartments assigned it in the Agricultural Department
Building in Raleigh. The Laboratory is a complete one in
every respect.
Every North Carolina farmer, and every person, interested
in developing our agriculture or other industries, has a right
to call upon the Station for any information or assistance
which it is within the province of the Station to render ; and
the Station will do all that is within its power to comply
with these requests.
The work of the Station will include, as heretofore:
The analysis of all Fertilizers legally on sale in the State
;
The analysis of Agricultural Chemicals, of Composts and
Home-Made Fertilizers, and of all materials from which they
can be made ;
The analysis of Soils, Marls and Mucks
;
The analysis of Feeding-Stuffs ;
The examination of Seeds, with reference to their purity,
and capacity to germinate ;
The examination of Grasses and Weeds
;
The study of Insects injurious to vegetation;
The analysis of Minerals, Ores and Mineral Waters, for
the State Geologist
;
The analysis of Drinking Waters, Articles of Food, &c,
for the State Board of Health
;
Practical Experiments upon different crops, with different
manures, &c.
Numerous publications upon these and kindred subjects
are mailed free of charge. Correspondence is invited upon
subjects pertaining to scientific agriculture.
Address, Dr. CHAS. W. DABNEY, Jr.,
Raleigh, N. C.
CONTENTS
PAGE,
Laws Establishing the Station i
Laws Regulating the Fertilizer Trade. 1—7
Work of the Station in 1882 8
Publications Made 10
Collections . 12
An Experimental Farm 14
The Fertilizer Control 17
Commercial Fertilizers in 1882 20
Relative Valuations. 22
Analyses 25
List of Licensed Fertilizers ' 33
Horn, Leather and Wool-Waste 37
'
' Shoddy " Fertilizers 44
Finely Ground Phosphates or " Floats " 47
Kainite, Experience at Home and Abroad. . . 56
Kainite in North Carolina 65
1
' on Cotton 70
Home-Made Manures and Composts 79
Composts for Cotton, Corn and Wheat. 80—84
Analyses 85
By—Products of the Rice Industry 87
Structure of the Rice Grain 83
Analyses of Rice Products 90
Cotton Seed and its Products 93
Whole Seed, Analyses 94
Kernels, Analyses 96
Hulls, Analyses. 97
Cotton Seed Cake and Meal 101
Feeding Cotton Seed Meal 103
Peruvian Guano 106
Miscellaneous Fertilizers in
Refuse of Tobacco Factories 113
Nitrogenous Fertilizers 114
North Carolina Fish Scrap, Analyses 115
The Soja Bean 116
Cultivation, Composition, Uses 119—126
8 CONTENTS.
PAGE.
Some Fodder Plants _ _ 128
Cow-Pea _ 129
Amber Cane, Douhra Corn _ 130
Crab-Grass 130
Ensilage. 134
Corn Ensilage _ _ 134
Pea-Vine Ensilage 136
Mineral Waters .._ 139
Soils and Experiments _ _ 141
Analyses of Soils _ 141
Relation of Cotton to the Nitrogen Supply—Experiments 142
ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
N, C. Experiment Station.
m^fr -+— *$> $ <$!*
LAWS ESTABLISHING THE STATION AND CON-TROLLING
THE TRADE IN FERTILIZERS.
The following extracts contain the sections now in force
pertaining to this subject. The later acts modifying these
sections are appended :
Section 7 of " An act to establish a Department of Agricul-ture,
Immigration and Statistics and for the Encouragement of
Sheep Husbandry " viz.
:
" 9th. The Board of Agriculture is entrusted with the
enforcement and supervision of the laws and regulations
which are, or may be, enacted in this State for the sale of
commercial fertilizers and seeds."
"Sec. 8. That no manipulated guano, superphosphate, or
other commercial fertilizer, shall be sold, or offered for sale
in this State, until the manufacturer, or person importing
the same, shall first obtain a license therefor from the Treas-urer
of the State, for which they shall pay a privilege tax
of five hundred dollars per annum for each separate brand
or quality, (and he shall also pay a tax of fifty cents per ton
for every ton sold.*) Any person, corporation or company,
* This tax of 50 cents repealed by a Supplemental Act ratified March 7th, 1877.
2 Annual Report N. C. Experiment Station.
who shall violate the provisions of this act, or who shall
sell, or offer for sale, any such fertilizer, contrary to the pro-visions
above set forth, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor,
and upon conviction shall be fined or imprisoned at the
discretion of the court."
"Sec. 9. And every bag, barrel, or other package of such
fertilizer as above designated, offered for sale in this State,
shall have thereon a plainly printed lable or stamp,* which
shall truly set forth the name, location and trade mark of
the manufacturer, also the chemical composition of the con-tents
of such package, and the real percentage of any of the
following ingredients asserted to be present, to wit : soluble
and precipitated phosphoric acid, soluble potassa, ammonia,
or its equivalent in nitrogen, together with the date of its
analyzation, and that the privilege tax provided for in sec-tion
eight has been paid ; and any such fertilizer as shall
be ascertained by analysis not to contain the ingredients
and percentage set forth as above provided, shall be liable
to seizure and condemnation, and when condemned shall
be sold by the Board of Agriculture for the exclusive use
and benefit of the Department of Agriculture.* Any mer-chant,
trader, manufacturer, or agent, who shall sell, or offer
for sale, any commercial fertilizer without having such
labels and stamps, as hereinbefore provided, attached thereto
shall be liable to a fine of ten dollars for each separate bag
or barrel or package sold or offered for sale, to be sued for
before any justice of the peace, and to be collected by the
sheriff by distress or otherwise, one-half, less the cost, to go to
the party suing, and the remaining half to the Department
and if any such fertilizer shall be condemned, as herein
provided, it shall be the duty of the Department to have an
analysis made of the same, and cause printed tags or labels
expressingthe true chemical ingredients of the same to be put
upon each bag or barrel or package, and shall fix the com-
* See. page 7.
Laws Establishing the Station. 3
mercial value thereof at which it may be sold. .And any
person who shall sell, or offer for sale, any such fertilizer, in
violation of the provisions of this section, shall be guilty of
a misdemeanor."
"Sec. 10. The Department of Agriculture shall have power
and authority at all times to have collected samples of any
commercial fertilizers offered for sale in this State, and have
the same analyzed ; and such samples shall be taken from
at least ten per cent, of the lot from which they may be
selected."
"Sec. 11. It shall be lawful for the Department of Agri-culture
to require the officers, agents or managers of any
railroad or steamboat company, transporting fertilizers in
this State, to furnish monthly statements of the quantity of
fertilizers, with the name of the consignor or consignee, de-livered
on their respective lines, at any and all points within
this State. And said Department is hereby empowered to
compel said officers, agents or managers, to submit their
books for examination, if found expedient so to do ; and any
such agents, officers or managers failing or refusing to com-ply
shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor."
"Sec. 12. The Department of Agriculture shall establish,
in connection with the Chemical Laboratory of the Univer-sity
at Chapel Hill,* an Agricultural Experiment and Fer-tilizer
Control Station ; and (the Board of Trustees of the
University, with the approval of) the Department of Agri-culture
shall employ an analyst skilled in agricultural
chemistry.
t
" It shall be the duty of said chemist to analyze such fertil-izers
and products 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.
*By act of Assembly, 1881, the Board was instructed to remove the Station
as soon as the new building was ready for it. This was done in August, 1881.
fWords "Department of Agriculture" and "Board of Trustees of the Uni-versity
" interchanged by a later act.
4 Annual Report N. C. Experiment Station.
" 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 Sate ; and whether other crops may
not be advantageously 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 fur-nished
when deemed useful, to such newspapers as will pub-lish
the same.
"Said chemist shall be subject to the rules and regulations
of the University Laboratory, and the other rules and regu-lations
of the University, and his salary shall be paid out
of the funds of the Department of Agriculture/'
" Sec. 21. It is hereby made the duty of the said Depart-ment
of Agriculture to receive from any manufacturer or
dealer in fertilizers any specimen quantities, not less than
a fourth of a ton, contributed by such party, and have the
same sent to different sections of the State for actual exper-iment
by practical farmers ; and the person so experiment-ing
shall be required to make a careful report of the results,
which shall be registered in the office of said Department,
and a certified copy of the same shall be transmitted to the
contributor."
"Sec. 22. That all money arising from the tax or licenses,
from fines and forfeitures, fees for registration and sale of
lands, not herein otherwise provided for, shall be paid into
the State Treasury and shall be kept on a separate account
by the Treasurer, as a fund for the exclusive use and ben-efit
of the Department of Agriculture ; and until such fund
can be made available, as aforesaid, the Treasurer shall
loan to said Department, out of any moneys not otherwise
appropriated, upon the warrant of the Governor, the sum
of five thousand dollars per annum, for two years from this
date, which sum shall be refunded to the Treasury by the
Laws Establishing the Station.
first day of March, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine."
" Sec. 23. This act shall be in force from and after its rati-cation,"
&c.
Ratified in General Assembly 12th of March, 1877.
An Act to amend an Act to Establish a Department op
Agriculture, Immigration and Statistics, and foe the
Encouragement op Sheep Husbandry.
The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact
:
That the act to establish a Department of Agriculture,
Immigration and Statistics, and for the Encouragement of
Sheep Husbandry, be and the same. is hereby amended by
inserting the following clause between the word "condem-nation
" and the word "and," in the fourteenth line of sec-tion
nine, to- wit : as hereinafter prescribed.
That the said act be and the same is hereby further
amended by inserting at the end of the first sentence of said
section, which concludes with the words " Department of
Agriculture," the following clause, to-wit
:
Section 1. The proceeding to condemn the same shall be
•by civil action in the Superior Court of the county where
the fertiliser is on sale, and in the name of the Board of
Agriculture, who shall not be required to give bond for the
prosecution of said action. And at or before the summons
is issued, the said Board shall, by its agent, make affidavit
before the clerk of said court of these facts.
1st. That a license has been obtained for the sale of a fer-tilizer
of a particular brand.
2nd. That samples of the same have been analyzed* under
authority of the Board, and found to correspond with the
label attached to the same.
'3rd. That the defendant in the summons has in his pos-
6 Annual Report N. C. Experiment Station.
session, and on sale, fertilizers of the name and brand,
and bearing a label or stamp representing the analysis
made.
4th. That the fertilizers on hand and on sale are spurious,
and do not in fact contain the ingredients or in the propor-tion
represented by the stamp or label on them. Where-upon
the clerk shall issue his order to the sheriff of the
county to seize and hold all the fertilizers in possession of
the defendant, labeled or stamped as the affidavit described.
And the sheriff shall seize and hold the fertilizers so seized
until ordered to be surrendered by the judge in term time
:
unless the defendant shall give bond with justified surety,
in double the value of the fertilizers seized, to answer the
judgment of the court, in which case he shall surrender the
fertilizer to the defendant and file this bond in the office of
the clerk of the superior court, and thereafter the action
shall be prosecuted according to the course of the court.
And if it shall be established in the trial that the fertilizers
seized are deficient or inferior to the analysis represented
on the stamp or brand, then th§ plaintiff in said action shall
recover judgment on the defendant's bond for the value of
the fertilizers seized.
Sec. 2. That section eight of chapter two hundred and
seventy-four, laws of one thousand eight hundred and
seventy-six and one thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven,
be amended by striking out the word " and," between
the words " fine and imprisonment w
in the last line of said-section,
and insert the word " or," so that it shall read
" fine or imprisonment ;" and by adding to the end of said
section the following : "And all fertilizers so sold, or offered
for sale, shall be subject to seizure and condemnation in the
same manner as is provided in section one of this act for the
seizufe and condemnation of spurious fertilizers, subject?
however, to the discretion of the Board of Agriculture to re-lease
the fertilizers so seized and condemned^ upon the pay-
Laws Establishing the Station. 7
merit of the license tax, and all costs and expenses incurred
by the Department in such proceeding."
Sec. 3. That section nine of said act be amended by in-serting
after the word "stamp," in the third line of said sec-tion,
the following clause : "A copy of which shall be filed
with the Commissioner of Agriculture at or before the ship-ment
of such fertilizer into this State, and which shall be
uniformly used, and shall not be changed during the year
for which such license is issued ;" and by striking out in the
third line of said section the word " which," and inserting
the following words : " and the said label or stamp."
Sec. 4. This act shall be in force from and after its ratifi-cation.
In General Assembly read three times, and ratified this
the 4th day of March, A. D. 1881.
8 Annual Report N. C. Experiment Station.
THE WORK OF THE STATION—ITS NEEDS AND
OPPORTUNITIES.
The requirements of the law regarding the work of the
Station may be classified as follows
:
The analysis of all fertilizers legally on sale in the State.
The analysis of agricultural chemicals, of composts and
home-made fertilizers and all materials from which they
can be made.
The analysis of soils, marls and mucks.
The analysis of feeding- stuffs.
The examination of seeds with reference to their purity
and capacity to germinate.
The examination of grasses and weeds.
The study of insects injurious to vegetation.
The analysis of minerals, ores and mineral waters for the
State Geologist.
The analysis of drinking water, articles of food, &c, for
the State Board of Health.
Practical experiments upon different crops, with different
manures, upon new crops which it may be desirable to in-troduce,
and upon such other subjects as the Department
may direct.
Work was done in all of these directions during the past
year. The fact that a large part of this work was merely rou-tine
work, and that our opportunities for doing purely
scientific work were very limited is a necessary result of our
situation. The following resume of the analyses made dur-ing
the year will show, however, we hope, that there has
been still a good deal done of general and permanent in-terest
:
The Work of the Station. 9
Articles Analyzed. No. of Samples,
Commercial Fertilizers (Official 1874—private 74) 248
Soils 2
Minerals , 42
Marls. 15
Seeds 2
Chemicals for composting 23
Drinking waters 41
Mineral waters 16
Finely ground phosphates or " Floats " 10
Composts and home-made fertilizers , 6
Feeding stuffs. _ . 25
Sugars 3
Articles of food 2
Whisky I
Ashes 2
Cotton seed 2
Fish-scrap , 2
Plants identified . . . . - 2
Drugs 1
Licorice I
Florn, leather and " shoddy," 5
Tin foil . 2
Tobacco, stems and dust 2
Cotton seed 2
Ashes of cotton-seed kernels I
Ashes of cotton-seed hulls 1
Cotton-seed meal 4
Total ; 463
Our analytical work outside of the routine work for the
Fertilizer Control, the Geological Survey and the Board of
Health, has not been without method or aim. We have
been investigating, as opportunity offered, a number of ques-tions
of great importance to Southern agriculture. The
results of these investigations, as far as they have been
completed, have been published in the Bulletins of the De-partment,
or are contained in this Report. Many of these
investigations will require a number of years still to bring
10 Annual Report N. C. Experiment Station.
tlietn to something like completion. The work upon the
following subjects is more or less advanced :
The Chemistry of the Parts of the Cotton Plant, of cotton
seed and of the industry based upon it. Analyses of kernel
and hull, the two parts into which the seed is separated, and
of all the products of the oil-mills. Food-stuff and ash
analyses of these products.
Products of the Rice Mills.
Waste Products of Tobacco Factories.
Fodder Plants adapted to our climate. Cow pea, soja hes-pida
or soja bean, Douhra corn, amber cane, crab-grass, cot-ton
stalk (at suggestion of Mr. Edward Atkinson), &c. An-alyses
of home-grown plants.
On " Shoddy," Wool-waste, Horn, Leather and the inferior
" ammoniates" used in preparing fertilizers and the articles
made from them.
Finely ground phosphates, or " Floats," the products of
the Due mill.
Kainite and the German potash salts. „
Materials of Home-made Manures; bones, and the meth-ods
of reducing them ; ashes, cotton seed meal, &c, and
the manures made from them.
Practical field experiments were conducted during the
year under the direction of the Station upon some impor-tant
subjects, viz
:
Methods of improving the sand barrens of the eastern
part of the State, with special reference to producing a
profitable cotton crop.
On the best way to use Kainite on cotton. Its power of
preventing rust in cotton, &c.
Methods of reclaiming swamp lands. On the programme
:
drains, marl and potash salts, peas and phosphates.
Relations of cotton to the nitrogen supply (plan of Prof.
Atwrater).
How to prevent the rice lands from declining.
. Manuring for bright yellow tobacco, <fec.
The Work of the Station. 11
Each year our correspondents are getting better trained
for making field experiments. Some experiments reported
further on will show that interesting results are forth-com-ing
already. Our great need is an experimental field or
farm upon which to illustrate these matters to them.
PUBLICATIONS OF THE STATION.
Besides the regular contributions to the Bulletin of the
Department of Agriculture and numerous contributions to
the daily and weekly State papers and the agricultural
journals, the station has issued the following special publi-cations
during the year 1882 :
No. Published.
Reports for 1881 ./..... 8,100
Analyses of Fertilizers and Chemicals, 1st ed.... 10.000
2d ed.... 10,000
Work for State Board of Health ...... 2,000
Biennial Report to General Assemby. 1,000
Total 31,100
Besides 8,000 circulars and formulas for composting, 2,(
lists of fertilizers licensed, and numerous bulletins of cur-rent
work, &c. These publications have been eagerly
sought for. Requests are received for them daily. The
mail book of the Station has grown in two years, thus, from
1,800 names and addresses to 6,000, without any special ex-ertion
on our part, and not including any names on the
mail book of the Commissioner of Agriculture, to which we
have access through his politeness.
CORRESPONDENCE.
Letter writing is a very important part of our labor and
occupies nearly the whole time of one man. We regard
12 Annual Report N. C. Experiment Station.
this as a valuable means of disseminating information. The
correspondence is full of suggestions for us and enables us
to keep up with the wants of the public. As far as'is known,
not a letter or postal card from any North Carolinian seek-ing
information from us has remained unanswered. The
number of such replies written annually amounts to
thousands.
The interest in scientific agriculture is evidently grow-ing
rapidly. Especially is the matter of utilizing home
fertilizing materials and the production of composts grow-ing
among our planters. A few begin to take a lively in-terest
in field experiments and in feeding according to
•scientific method.
The attempt was made this year to gather and compile
information upon some subjects like the manner of using
fertilizers, the methods followed in making home manures,
the effects of kainite on different crops, &c, with very fair
results. We have been able in this way to gather a good
deal of very useful and interesting information, and have
received ourselves many excellent suggestions. We hope
that this plan will promote a closer intercourse between the
planters and the Station, and result in continued mutual
benefit.
COLLECTIONS.
We have been gradually getting together a number of
collections illustrative of scientific agriculture. These will
be put in shape and arranged for exhibit in our apartments,
as soon as the cases designed to receive them are in place.
The collections include specimens representing: the chemi-cal
elements and compounds occurring in agricultural chem-istry,
the constituents of soils, the rocks forming soils and
the chief varieties of soils; illustrating the composition of
the atmosphere, the mineral and organic constituents of
plants, the ashes of various plants, &c. Another group, in-tended
to illustrate the composition of chemical manures,
The Work of the Station 18
contains specimens of the chemical compounds entering
into fertilizers, first in their pure forms, then in their crude
forms as found in commerce, the various phosphatic mate-rials,
"ammoniates," potash salts, (fee. Another group con-tains
specimens of nearly all the important natural guanos.
Another, still, shows a large variety of artificial fertilizers
with their analyses, as made at the Station. Another collec-tion
illustrates the methods of manufacturing fertilizers,
and of mixing and compounding manures at home. We
have a collection, also, of specimens of adulterated and fraud-ulent
chemicals and fertilizers.
A collection of specimens of some of the feeding-stuffs
peculiar to our section, accompanied by analyses, is
interesting. Prominent among these are the by-products
of the rice-mills, the cotton seed oil mills, and ensilage pro-ducts.
We have quite a complete list of the most important
seeds of grasses, weeds, &c, for comparison in our seed
work. A collection of mineral specimens, for comparison
in mineral analysis.
A single group contains specimens of all of the more im-mediate
products of the cotton plant. " Cotton is King n
and dispenses his blessings with a bountiful hand. Few
people know, or, if they knew, have ever enumerated
all the valuable products derived from this plant. We have
a large number of these ; the fibre ; the seed ; the stalk, from
which a food, for stock and a valuable fibre is made; the
roots, from wThich a medicine is prepared ; the kernels of
the seed, used as food for cattle ; the cotton seed oil, used for
illuminating, in cooking instead of lard, in canning, and for
a hundred other purposes; the hulls, food for stock ; the
ashes from the hulls, a wonderfully concentrated fertilizer ;.
the soap from the refuse of the oil mills; the oil cake and
the meal and several other products of the oil-mills.
We are gradually getting together that most valuable
collection of all, a working library. The Station owns now
about fifty volumes, and the number will be added to as
rapidly as the means can be obtained.
14 Annual Report N. C. Experiment Station.
AN EXPERIMENTAL FARM.
The third clause of section twelve of "An act to establish a
Department of Agriculture," &c, reads: " He (the chemist)
shall also, under the direction of the 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 advantageously grown on its soils, and shall carry on
such other investigations as the said Department may direct."
The law thus distinctly provides for practical farm experi-ments
by the Chemist of the Experiment Station.
But how is the Station to perform this duty? At present
it has no effectual means whatever of so doing. It has no
land and no place where an}^ experiments on soils, plants
or animals, under agricultural conditions, can be carried out.
Before we left Chapel Hill we attempted, under the direc-tion
of the Board, a few such practical experiments on corn,
cotton, potatoes, amber cane, jute, &c. A severe drought,
rendered one year's effort nearly futile. Our removal ren-dered
new efforts there impossible. Since commencing here,
we have had enough to occupy us in getting the laboratory
in order and the chemical work started in good shape. It
was considered best to do one thing at a time and to post-pone
the farm experiments until opportunity and means
should be found to inaugurate them in a permanent and
systematic farm, as is evidently contemplated by the law.
We believe that the time has now arrived when this
work can and ought to be started. Our other arrange-ments
are about complete. The expenditures upon the Ag-ricultural
Building are about at an end. Our people ex-pect
progress of us. We have no right to stand back from
any work which we are thus authorized to do, and which
tends to promote the progress of agriculture in the State.
There are hundreds of questions which call for careful,
scientific investigation. These problems require special
The Work of the Station. 15
training on the part of the experimenters, and they require
time, care and money, which the ordinary farmer cannot
command. Their results are for the general benefit, and it
is the duty of the State to perform them. In the nature of
things, the ordinary farmer cannot make them for himself.
The work of the Station is now confined to those investi-gations
which can be made in a good chemical laboratory.
The investigations here possible are indeed numerous and
important, but they are not to be compared in value wTith
those which wTouid be possible for us if we had a field for
practical experiments, a plant house and arrangements for
experimenting upon feeding stock.
The analysis of the fertilizers sold in the State accom-plished
a single, though very important purpose. It enables
the planter to know the ingredients and relative commercial
value of the manure which he buys. ' To a certain extent it
enables him to select what he thinks will suit his soil.
But it is far more useful to know the agricultural value
of these fertilizers, and their particular adaptation to various
soils, crops or methods of cultivation. The law contem-plates
such experiments "with a viewT to ascertain what
fertilizers are best suited to the soils of the State." Prom-ising
new crops need to be investigated and the conditions
of their successful cultivation, determined, before we can
recommend farmers to try them.
There are two methods of carrying out such experiments.
The best method is the one which supplies all the conditions
iust as thev are found on the farm. This is the experi-mental
farm, upon which the trials can be carried out, upon
the farming scale, during a series of years. But thus con-ducted
the expense is great. This method is much lim-ited,
therefore. The other method is to make the experi-ments
on the small scale in pols or boxes. This plan has
its advantages, as well as its drawbacks. It requires small
means, space and labor, and permits of our controlling the
conditions of moisture, heat, &:., if we have a well regulated
16 . Annual Report N. C. Experiment Station.
plant house. It is free from many disturbing causes. But
many of the conditions are very different from those in the soil.
Undoubtedly, the best plan for our means would be a
combination of these two methods. We should have a small,
well-arranged plant-house and also a small experimental field
or farm. The plant-house could be attended to entirely by the
force at present at the Station, while the field would require
only one additional regular worker. The two could be man-aged
in connection, with great success and at moderate ex-pense.
The plant-house we need very much already, for test-ing
seeds. A warm, moist atmosphere of uniform tempera-ture,
is needed for this important work. The absence of
these conditions has prevented, in great part, our doing the
work we should, in this direction.
As evidence of the advantage to be derived from such ex-periments,
I hardly need to call attention to the achievements
of some of the Experimental Farms. Lawes and Gilbert
have been at work in England for twenty-five years or more.
They have brought every discovery of science to bear upon
agriculture, and the teachings of their experiments prom-ise
to solve the difficult problem of farming in a country
where it has become a serious question whether the value
of land has not risen far above the figure upon which it is
possible for farming to pay the interest. Their wheat ex-periments,
conducted, I believe, on the same soil for thirteen
years, command the attention of the whole world now, as
the first scientific determination of the fundamental condi-tions
of bread-making for the nations.
We in North Carolina have our own peculiar prob-lems
connected with our own special crops. There are ques-tions
of the greatest importance connected with cotton,
tobacco, and corn, which demand our attention, and it is
not probable that anybody can or will solve them for us.
For these reasons we desire so much to add these facilities
to our present means of doing good, and to unite thus both
theory and practice in one harmonious effort for the ad-vancement
of our agriculture.
The Fertilizer Control. 17
THE FERTILIZER CONTROL.
The regulations under which the trade in commercial fer-tilizers
is conducted in the State requires explanation. Spe-cial
attention is called to sections § and 9 of the act of 1877,
and to the act of 1881, amending these sections.
The principles upon which the Control is based are
:
1st. The requirement of a guarantee of the composition
and grade of the article, and
2d. The examination of all goods, to see that this guaran-tee
is sustained. For this purpose manufacturers are re-quired
to take out annually a license and file their stamp
or brand, which the law requires shall include the guaran-teed
analysis of the article and must be uniform upon all
packages, and which cannot be changed during the year
for which the license is taken. This license is required up-on
each different " brand or quality." The following ruling
of the Board of Agriculture further defines the classes of ar-ticles
which are taxable
:
" At a meeting of the Board of Agriculture, October 15th, 1879, it was re-solved
that the following articles shall be admitted free of tax, with such addi-tions
or changes as may afterwards be made by the Executive Committee, upon
consultation with the chemist, viz : Ground Bone, Bone Ash, Ground Bone
Black, Ground Phosphate Rock, or other mineral Phosphate, Nitrogenous or-ganic
matter commercially free from Phosphoric Acid and Potash, Nitrate of
Soda, Nitrate of Potash (Saltpetre), Sulphate of Ammonia, Muriate of Ammo-nia,
Kainite, Sulphate of Magnesia, 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 01 proprietary brand : upon Dissolved Bone, Dissolved Bone Black,
Dissolved Mineral Phosphates—(all Acid Phosphates or Superphosphates) and
upon any two or more of the articles mentioned in the first list, if combined
either chemically or mechanically,"
To make plain the requirements of the law in the matter
and to secure uniformity, the following scheme is recom-mended
for the brand
:
2
18 Annual Report N. C. Experiment Station.
(Weight of bag) . ^__. . ,*_„.,
(Name or Brand)
(Trade mark) „
(Manufacturer's Address) __
Analysis _ (date)
Available Phosphoric Acid _. .__ pr. ct.
Nitrogen (or Ammonia, if claimed). " "
Potash, (if claimed) " "
North Carolina privilege tax paid.
The phosphoric acid should not be expressed -as bone phos-phate
alone. By available phosphoric acid is meant both
the soluble and the so called " reverted." In the determi-nation
of the reverted what is known to Chemists as the
" Washington method," or citrate of ammonia method, is
used. Nitrogen must, of course, be in available forms. Ow-ing
to the difficulty in discriminating between the different
sources whence nitrogen is obtained in compound super-phosphates,
it is not attempted to give a different valuation
to each different nitrogenous material in these articles. But
leather scrap, horn, wool-waste and similar materials are
considered as fraudulently present in such goods, unless spe-cial
mention is made on the bags. Special steps will always
be taken to detect their presence, and when found in any suf-ficient
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 not be expressed as sulphate of potash,
but simply as potash (K 2 0). Uniformity is very desirable
in these matters in order that farmers may understand ex-actly
what is meant, and, as a majority of manufacturers
have adopted the plan of stating simply the potash, K 2 0,
and the phosphoric acid P2O5 , it is recommended that all
adopt these forms. In case it is desirable to state that the
potash exists as the sulphate in the article, the expression
"actual potash in form of sulphate " might be used. The
per centages may be given within reasonable limits. These
limits should not be greater than two per cent, on the avail-able
phosphoric acid, J per cent, on the nitrogen, and \ per
cent, on the potash.
The Fertilizer Control. 19
Samples of fertilizers are drawn under the supervision
and immediate direction of the Commissioner of Agricul-ture.
Great care is taken to get the fairest possible sample
of the brand offered for sale. Experience shows that this
is the most common source of dissatisfaction about analyses
of fertilizers. In the first place it is indispensable that man-ufacturers
shall thoroughly mix the various ingredients of
the fertilizers. If this is not well done, it is difficult to get
a sample under any method which shall fairly represent the
whole. As will be seen from the following directions every
possible precaution, fairly within the powers of an inspector,
is taken to attain this end. The analyses of official samples
only are published in these reports. No samples are re-ceived
from the manufacturers; but all must be drawn in-side
the State after they are beyond the power of their mak-ers
to change in any way and when they are as nearly as
possible in that condition in which they are to be applied
to our lands.
Instruction to Agents for Collecting Fertilizer
Samples.
" Let the person having the fertilizer in charge be present,
and after showing him }^our authority for taking samples,
proceed in the following manner :
1st. Take your sampler, thrust it in the end of the pack-age
at its full length until the chamber is well filled. Pour
all the samples thus taken (from at least 10 per cent, of the
number of packages in the lot) together and mix them
thoroughly. From this lot so mixed, fill a can and place in
the can, then and there, one of the lead checks, noting at
the time very particularly the number stamped on the check.
2. Take your registry and record an exact copy, in dupli-cate,
of the stamp or label on the packages thus sampled
fill out the other blanks as follows:
Where sample drawn.., when .«
Number bags, barrels or packages in lot
Number sampled
20 Annual Report N. C. Experiment Station.
Cash price per ton, Cotton price,,
Sealed number ,
I certify that I took a lawful and fair sample of the above
named fertilizer at the time and place above named
I certify that the sample taken by ,
of the above named fertilizer is a fair sample of the same,
and that the above written transcript is a correct one.
3. Take the can and, in the presence of the person in
charge, have the cap sealed on by solder. Send by Express
to Dr. C. W. Dabney, at Raleigh.
4. Transmit to the office of the Commissioner at once by
mail, a duplicate of each copy taken. The copy retained by
you should be carefully preserved to be deposited in this
office when required."
The Chemist of the Agricultural Experiment Station re-ceives
the sample with the number mentioned in the above
directions. He does not know the name of the brand until
his report of analysis is put on file in the Commissioners^
office. When this has been done, the actual returns of the
analysis are compared with the composition guaranteed or
branded on the bag. The manufacturer and the dealer or
agent selling the same then receive a copy 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 cor-rect
the mistake. The matter having been finally decided,
the analysis is published in the papers of the State. In all
cases where the law is not satisfied promptly, its penalties
are exacted.
COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS IN 1882.
Eighty-six different articles paid the license, were in-spected,
analyzed and admitted to sale in North Carolina
during the year 1882.
Commercial Fertilizers. 21
These fertilizers can be classified as follows
:
' • Acid phosphates" or simple superphosphates, 10
Superphosphates with potash alone, _ 15
Ammoniated superphosphates, 55
Natural guanos, __ _ ._ 3
Prepared lime, I
Specialties, .__ 2
86
The reports of the transportation companies are not all
in as we write (January, 1883). The following results are
obtained from reports which are complete up to September.
They represent, therefore, the spring trade in fertilizers, and
do not include the fall or wheat trade. The latter, we will
only say, appears from partial reports to have been un-usually
large. The disasters of the year 1881 caused the
farmers to put in a large crop of wheat at the close of that
year. This crop proved a remarkably successful one, and
it has stimulated our planters to venture largely again in
wheat this season.
The trade of the spring of 1882 was as follows:
Ammoniated superphosphates, 49, 120 tons,*
**'Acid phosphates" or simple superphosphates, and superphos-phates
with potash 6,615
Kainite,__ _. __ 7,898
Agricultural chemicals of all kinds, 1,631
Plaster and agricultural lime, _. 1,070
Specialties, _ _._. 154
Total, ..66,438 tons.
If the wheat trade was only as good as usual, the grand
total for the whole year will be between eighty-five and
ninety thousand tons of all kinds. The supply of fertilizers
was ample and sales were made closer than they have ever
been. All fertilizing materials, except the ammoniates, were
a little cheaper to us in North Carolina than they were the
*The classification in the report of the transportation companies is often
^erroneous. Frequently the description was simply " fertilizer," in which case
it was thrown into class of ammoniated superphosphates. The amount of acid
phosphate was for this season undoubtedly much larger than that given. The
-classification " chemicals" has received much acid phosphate also.
22 Annual Report N. C. Experiment Station.
year previous. The retail price of superphosphates ranged
from $25 at points on the coast, to $30 at points in the dis-tant
interior. The retail cash price of ammoniated super-phosphates
ranged from $38 to $44; of kainite, from $11
to $15. The cotton-time-price of the ammoniated fertil-izers
was 400 to 425 lbs. .of cotton, of "acid phosphates,"
300 to 325 lbs. of cotton.
If we suppose the average cash value of ammoniated su-perphosphates
in North Carolina to be $42.00, of acid phos-phates
$27.50, of kainite $13.00, of " chemicals," all kinds to-gether,
$50.00, prepared lime and plaster $10.00, we have
the cash value of the fertilizers sold during the first eight
months of the year 1882, as about two million three hun-dred
thousand dollars.
RELATIVE VALUATION.
The figures used in estimating the relative values of su-perphosphates
and similar fertilizers during 18S2 were the
following
:
Available phosphoric acid.... 12J cents per pound.
Ammonia 25 " " '"
Potash 6 "
These figures are not intended to represent accurately the
value of these ingredients at all seasons and places. It
would be difficult to fix such figures for a single day in any
particular market. It is utterly* impossible to give any
figures which shall represent the value of these ingredients
over our extended territory and throughout an entire year.
These figures are merely the best approximations to the
cost of these more important ingredients of fertilizers, dur-ing
the season of greatest activity of the trade> and through
the interior of our State. In fact, it matters not whether
they are exact or not, as they are only used to make com-parisons.
It is merely a convenient method of summing
the analyses ; convenient for those who do not care to look
at the different percentages.
We do not go into the questions of the different values of
Commercial Fertilizers. 23
phosphoric acid, ammonia, <fcc, derived from different
sources. This is unnecessary, if not impossible, in our case.
We shall always take steps to detect any inferior or worth-less
nitrogenous materials like leather, "shoddy," horn,&c.
These articles are universally recognized as of very low
value agriculturally,- and their presence will be stated if
ever found.
Biding the decision of the relative value of soluble and
precipitated or reverted phosphoric acid, we class them both
together, and as " available" phosphoric acid, give them
both the valuation of 12J cents. To calculate the relative
value multiply the per cent, of available phosphoric acid
found by analysis by 12J. This gives the value in cents of
the available phosphoric acid found in a hundred pounds.
Just so, multiply the per cent, of ammonia by 25; and of
potash by 6, and add these products together. The sum is
the value of these constituents in a 100 pounds. Multiply
this by 20 and you have the commercial value of the active
ingredients of a ton of 2,000 pounds.
EXPLANATIONS OF THE ANALYSES.
One hundred and seventy-four analyses of official samples
of fertilizers were made during the year. This was two official
analyses of every article which was sold in the State. These
official samples were all drawn as described in the previous
chapter. The figures in the following table are made up
entirely from these analyses. Beside these, however, an-alyses
of seventy-four samples of these fertilizers drawn by
farmers, or other citizens directly interested in them, have
been made. These analyses are not published, although
they serve an excellent purpose as checks upon the other
determinations.
Very few cases of serious deviation from the standard
adopted were discovered by the Station during the year.
These were nearly all satisfactorily explained and adjusted,
when they were looked into. The cases of dispute as to the
integrity of the fertilizers were very few, and were always
24 Annual Report N. C. Experiment Station.
easily decided. Some negligence, in exposing the goods to the
weather, was usually the source of the trouble in these cases.
The water given in the first column is that lost by con-tinual
heating at the temperature of boiling water. The
insoluble phosphoric acid is that contained in phosphates
which fail to dissolve in neutral ammonium citrate solu-tion
(sp. qr. 1.09), Washington method. The soluble phos-phoric
acid is that in form of phosphates (generally the
soluble one—lime phosphate or acid phosphate of lime),
soluble in pure cold water. The "reverted" is that insolu-ble
in water, but dissolving in standard ammonium citrate
solution. This is all that the term reverted signifies here,
and it is used simply to stand for the phrase, "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 dissolv-ing,
or in other words, that these phosphates are "available."
The total available phosphoric is the sum of the soluble
and " reverted." The nitrogen is given as such, and calcu-lated
to its equivalent ammonia. The potash is given as
K 2
The number of the analysis on the Station books is given
in the first, and the place .where this particular sample was
drawn, in the last column.
AVERAGES OF ANALYSES,
<** 1 . «
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Simple Superphosphates with Potash 1.78
Ammoniated Superphosphates without Potash. . . 2.23
Arnmoniated Superphosphates with Potash 8.91 2.. 60 1.82
Analyses of Commercial Fertilizers. 25
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26 Annual Report N. 0. Experiment Station.
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Analyses of Commercial Fertilizers. 27
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32 Annual Report N. C. Experiment Station.
The sample of Lee's Prepared Agricultural Lime contained:
Per Cent.
Moisture or combined water 9.63
Potash 2.33 per cent., equivalent to Sulphate of Potash 4-33
Sulphate of Lime 17. 15
Lime as Hydrate and Carbonate 29.05
Common Salt 13.20
Combined Water, Carbonic Acid, Sand, &c, undetermined 26.64
100.00
The Ammoniated Vulcanite Guano, manufactured by Messrs.
Liebig & Gibbons, of Baltimore, Md., cannot be classed with
superphosphates. The official sample contained :
Per Cent.
Moisture @ 21 2° F. . . . 14.20
Phosphoric Acid 14.60 Equiv. to Bone Phosphate 31.87 per cent.
Nitrogen 2.32 . " to Ammonia 2.82
Potash 0.88
This article is not prepared with acid, and contains, there-fore,
no soluble or " reverted " phosphoric acid. The phos-phate
is prepared by a new process, which the inventors
claim puts the phosphoric acid within the reach of plants.
This must be tested upon the soil. This explains why no
valuation can be put upon it.
List of Fertilizers. 33
LIST OF FERTILIZERS
LICENSED TO BE SOLD IN NORTH CAROLINA DURING 1882.
NAME OF BRAND. ADDRESS OF MANUFACTURERS OR GEN. AGTS.
Acid Phosphate , Atlantic Phosphate Co., Charleston, S. C.
Acid Phosphate Maryland Fertilizing Co., 4 S. Holliday St.,
Baltimore, Md.
Acid Phosphate, L. & R Lorentz & Rittler, 10 South St., Baltimore,
Maryland,
Acidulated Fish Guano .New Jersey Chemical Co., 129 S. Front St.,
Philadelphia, Pa,
Acidulated Phosphate New Jersey Chemical Co., 129 S. Front St.,
Philadelphia, Pa.
Ammoniated Dissolved Bone John Merryman & Co., 24 Second St., Bal-timore,
Md.
Ammo'td Bone Superphosphate E. Frank Coe, 16 Burling Slip, New York,
and Dissolved Bone, (Coe's) N. Y.
Ammo'tedBone Superphosphate. .Seal, Lawson, Kessler & Co., 1O1 South St.,
Baltimore, Md.
Ammoniated Guano L. & R Lorentz & Rittler, 10 South St., Baltimore,
Maryland.
Ammoniated Soluble Navassa Navassa Guano Co., Wilmington, North
Guano, Carolina.
Ammoniated Vulcanite Guano... .Liebig & Gibbons, 87 Exchange Place, Balti-more,
Md.
Anchor Brand Southern Fertilizing Co., 1321 Cary St.,
Richmond. Va.
Anchor Brand Tobacco Fertilizer. .Southern Fertilizing Co., 1321 Cary St.,
Richmond, Va.
"Arlington B." Ammoniated Dambman Bros. & Co., Box 327, Baltimore,
Soluble Phosphate, Maryland.
Ash Element Stono Phosphate Co., Charleston, S. C.
Ashepoo Acid Phosphate Ashepoo Phosphate Co., Charleston, S. C,
Lewis F. Detrick, Gen. Ag't, 108 S. Charles
St., Baltimore, Md.
Baker's Prepared Chemicals Chemical Co. of Canton, 32 & 34 S. Charles
St., Baltimore, Md.
3
34 Annual Report N. C. Experiment Station.
NAME OF BRAND. ADDRESS OF MANUFACTURERS OR GEN. AGTS.
Baker's Standard Ammoniated Chemical Co. of Canton, 32 & 34 S. Charles
Bone Phosphate, St., Baltimore, Md.
Baldwin's Ammoniated Dis-solved
Bone Moses & DeLeon, Baltimore, Md.
Baltimore Guano Co.'s Acid Baltimore Guano Co., 32 & 34 S. Charles St.,
Phosphate of Lime, Baltimore, Md.
Bone and Peruvian Guano .Upshur Guano Co., Norfolk, Va.
"Bos" Ammoniated Superphos-phate
Wm. Davison & Co., Box 126, Baltimore,Md.
Bradley's Patent Superphosphate Bradley Fertilizing Co. , Boston, Mass. , Lewis
of Lime, F. Detrick, Gen. Ag't, 108 S. Charles St.,
Baltimore, Md.
British Mixture E. B. Whitman, 104 S. Charles St., Balti-more,
Md.
Calvert Guano P. Zell & Sons, 30 South St., Baltimore, Md.
Ceres Fertilizer A. J. Wedderburn, 20 Camden St., Balti-more,
Md.
Chesapeake Guano Chesapeake Guano Co., 21 P. O. Avenue,
Baltimore, Md.
Commercial Guano Co.'s Crown
Brand Acid Phosphate Allison & Addison, Agents, Petersburg, Va.
Commercial Guano Co.'s Crown
Brand Guano Allison & Addison, Agents, Petersburg, Va.
Compound Acid Phosphate of John S. Reese & Co., 10 South St., Balti
j| Lime, more, Md.
Complete Guano, formerly "Em- Rasin Fertilizer Co., 20 & 23 South St.,
pire Guano," Baltimore, Md.
Complete Guano, formerly "Sea Rasin Fertilizer Co., 20 & 23 South St.,
Island Guano," Baltimore, Md.
Cotton Brand High Grade Acid
Phosphate Chas. E. Smith, Wilmington, N. C.
Cotton Food Maryland Fertilizing Co., 4 S. Holliday St.,
Baltimore, Md.
Diamond Soluble Bone Walton, Whann & Co., Wilmington, Del.
Equitable Ammoniated Soluble Equitable Fertilizer Co., Box 666 Baltimore,
Bone Phosphate of Lime, Maryland.
Etiwan Dissolved Bone Wm. C. Bee & Co., Gen. Agts, Charleston,
South Carolina.
Etiwan Guano Wm. C. Bee & Co., Gen. Agts, Charleston,
South Carolina.
Eureka Fertilizer Atlantic & Virginia Fertilizer Co., Box 72,
Richmond, Va.
Excellenza Cotton Fertilizer .... .Long & Dugdale, 37 S. Gay St., Baltimore,
Maryland.
List of Fertilizers. 35
NAME OF BRAND. ADDRESS OF MANUFACTURERS OR GEN. AGTS.
Excellenza Soluble Phosphate Long & Dugdale, 37 S. Gay St., Baltimore,
Maryland.
Farmer's Friend Read & Co., Box 3121, New York, N. Y.
Farmer's Peruvian Guano Chas. E. Smith, Wilmington, N. C.
Farmer's Pride Fertilizers B. J. Burgess & Co., Alexandria, Va.
Game Guano Baltimore Guano Co., 32 & 34 S. Charles St.,
Baltimore, Md.
Georgia Bone Phosphate Kirchner & Calder, Wilmington, N. C.
G. W. Grafflin's 1st Quality Am- Lazaretto Chemical and Fertilizer Works, G.
moniated Guano, W. Grafflin, Pro., Baltimore, Md.
Home Fertilizer Boykin & Carmer, 3 N. Liberty St., Balti-more,
Md.
Lazaretto Chemical & Fertilizer Lazaretto Chemical and Fertilizer Works, G.
Works Acid Phosphate, W. Grafflin, Pro., Baltimore,. Md.
Lee's Prepared Agricult'l Lime. . .A. S. Lee, Richmond, Va.
Lister's Ammoniated Dissolved
Bone Phosphate Lister Bros., Newark, N„ J.
Long's Prepared Chemicals Long & Dugdale, 37 S. Gay St., Baltimore,
Maryland.
Navassa Acid Phosphate Navassa Guano Co., Wilmington, N. C.
Patapsco Soluble Ammoniated Patapsco Guano Co.,. 5 Second St., Baltimore,
Guano Maryland.
Peruvian Guano, No. 1, Lobos,
Imported J. M. Hurtado> Box 3610, New York, N. Y.
Peruvian Guano, containing not
less than 6 per cent Amm Chas. E. Smith, Wilmington, N. C.
Piedmont Special Fertilizer Piedmont Guano and MnfgCo., 38 S. Charles
St., Baltimore, Md.
Piedmont Guano for Tobacco. . . .Piedmont Guano and Mnfg Co., 38 S. Charles
St., Baltimore, Md.
Pine Island Acid Phosphate and
Potash Quinnipiac Fertilizer Co.,New London, Conn.
Pine Island Ammoniated Phos-phate
Quinnipiac Fertilizer Co. ,New London, Conn.
Planter's Favorite .Long & Dugdale, 37 S. Gay St., Baltimore,
Maryland.
Pocomoke Superphosphate.. .... .Freeman, Mason, Lloyd & Dryden, Norfolk,
Virginia.
Powell's Prepared Chemicals Brown Chemical Co., 29 Hanover St., Balti-more,
Md.
Premium Superphosphate Hymans & Dancy, Norfolk, Va.
Preston's Acid Phosphate H. Preston & Sons, New York, N. Y.
36 Annual Report N. C. Experiment Station.
NAME OF BRAND. ADDRESS OF MANUFACTURERS OR GEN. AGTS.
Preston's Ammoniated Bone
Superphofphate H. Preston & Sons, New York, N. Y.
Sea Fowl Guano Bradley Fertilizing Co. , Boston, Mass. , Lewis
F. Derrick, Gen. Agt, 108 S. Charles St.,
Baltimore, Md.
Sea Gull Guano Patapsco Guano Co., 5 Second St., Balti-more,
Md.
Soluble Pacific Guano John S. Reese & Co., 10 South St., Balti-more,
Md.
Soluble Pacific Guano for Tobacco. John S. Reese & Co., 10 South St., Balti-more,
Md.
Special Compound G. Ober & Sons, 85 Exchange Place, Balti-more,
Md.
Standard Fertilizer Standard Fertilizer Co., Boston, Mass., D. S.
Burwell, Agent, Norfolk, Va.
Star Brand Acid Phosphate Allison & Addison, Richmond, Va.
Star Brand Complete Manure. . . .Allison & Addison, Richmond, Va.
Star Brand Special Tobacco Ma-nure
Allison & Addison, Richmond, Va.
Stono Acid Phosphate Stono Phosphate Co., Charleston, S. C,
Stono Soluble Guano Stono Phosphate Co., Charleston, S. C.
Upshur's Potash Acid Phosphate, Upshur Guano Co,, Norfolk, Va.
Walker's Cotton Phosphate Joshua Walker, 13 German St., Baltimore,
Maryland.
Wando Acid Phosphate Wando Phosphate Co., Charleston, S. C.
Whann's Raw Bone Superphos-phate,
Plow Brand Walton, Whann & Co., Wilmington, Del.
Wilcox, Gibbs & Co.'s Manipula-ted
Guano Wilcox, Gibbs & Co., Charleston, S. C.
Wilcox, Gibbs & Co.'s Super-phosphate
.Wilcox, Gibbs & Co., Charleston, S. C,
Zell's Ammoniated Bone Super-phosphate
P. Zell & Sons, 80 South St., Baltimore, Md.
Zell's Cotton Acid Phosphate P. Zell & Sons, 30 South St., Baltimore, Md.
Zell's Tobacco Fertilizer P. Zell & Sons, 30 South St., Baltimore, Md.
Horn, Leather and Wool-Waste. 37
HORN, LEATHER AND WOOL-WASTE, AND THE
FERTILIZERS CONTAINING THEM.
In the growth of the fertilizer production and the scarcity
of sources of nitrogen for use in the " ammoniated " super-phoshates,
a great variety of factory-refuse of very low ag-ricultural
value is coming more and more into use. If the
scarcit}^ of " ammoniates " continues and the farmers con-tinue
to require ammonia in large quantities in their ferti-lizers,
these materials must inevitably be brought into
requisition. Leather-scrap, roasted leather, wool- waste and
"shoddy," horn-shavings and horn-meal find sales for these
purposes occasionally now. Our correspondents assure us
that the fertilizers containing them are all "English goods."
According to them, only a "foreigner" could be so unprin-cipled
as to use such materials in place of better ammo-niates.
But we find that there is still a market, although a
very limited one, for inferior ingredients like leather, horn,
&c, among us. It is evident, therefore, that some one be-sides
the " wicked foreigner" is using them.
Under these circumstances it appears to us timely that
the public should have some information on this subject.
1. Hoop and Horn.
Horn, or which is identically the same thing in this con-nection,
hoof is sold as shavings and dust, the waste of the
factories where they are worked, or, more rarely, as meal.
The waste horn is dried or roasted slightly to make it brit-tle
and then ground. This roasting is done upon iron plates
or in shallow cast iron vessels. The horn is darkened, but
if care is taken that it does not burn, very little nitrogen is
lost.
38 Annual Report N. C. Experiment Station.
Another process of preparing horn is by steaming it in
a close vessel. The horn is softened by the steam, some of
the proteins dissolving, as white of egg and blood-fibre are
soluble originally, and a liquor condenses, which has been
found to contain 11 per cent, of dissolved solids and 1 to 2
per cent, of nitrogen. The horn left is more porous and
brittle, so that it can be ground to a fine meal, which it is ex-ceedingly
difficult to do otherwise. This meal from steamed
horn is the only preparation of horn which is in condition
to be promptly active in the soil and the only one, therefore
which ought to be used in fetilizers where any early results
are to be expected.
I have not found any of this kind of horn-meal in our
markets. It is expensive to produce, costing as much as the
other animal ammoniates. The motive for substituting it
for anything else is, therefore, absent.
The sample we have examined came from New York and
was a preparation of crude horn. The particles are of va-rious
shapes, but generally scale like, or splinter like, and
at least 80 per cent., between one-sixteenth and one-eighth
inch in size. The chemical examination gave
:
Moisture @ 212 ° 8.48 per cent.
Organic and combustible matter. 84.45 " "
Mineral matter, or ash 7,07 " "
The organic matter contained nitrogen 14.60 percent*
Equivalent to ammonia 27.72 " "'
(Calculated on the original sample.)
This is a little above the average amount of nitrogen in
horn or hoof. Peterinann,* of the Experiment Station at
Minister, found in nine specimens of horn-meal, minimum
7.46 per cent., maximum 14.28 per cent., average 11.81 per
cent, of nitrogen.
Such coarse horn as this is necessarily unalterable in the
* Agricultural Central Bl., 1881, p. 565 =
Horn, Leather and Wool-Waste. 39
soil. It repels moisture, like any greasy substance, and is
therefore very slowly attacked by the soil's natural solvents.
Nature has made all of these exterior parts of the animal,
and particularly hair, or wool, horn and hoof, especially to
resist the destructive action of the atmosphere and rains.
Art fortifies the skins of animals by the incorporation of
tannic acid into them, in the process of tanning with bark,
to resist air and water. It is thus that leather becomes a
member of this class of factory-refuse of animal origin,
which are not to be used in fertilizers ordinarily, because
of the slowness with which they undergo any changes which
will liberate their fertilizing elements.
Where immediate results are not required, as in manur-ing
fruit-trees and vines, these things may possibly be used
to some advantage. Otherwise they might be composted
with lime and other digestive agents, which will more
rapidly break them up.
To detect Horn or Hoof in fertilizers is a simple matter.
The particles can be readily picked out, using a hand mi-croscope.
Only two other things look much like it. 1.
Some fragments of prepared fish : mashed under the point
of a knife these show a soft, fibrous structure, or else, their
elasticity indicates at once that they are fish scales. 2. Par-ticles
of " cracklings," and various ammoniates known as
"Azotin," have something the color of horn. They are soft,
however, have rounded edges, while the horn particles are
hard, and have sharp edges.
Under a microscope of good power, horn shows a peculiar
structure, and a play of colors in polarized light. This is an
important point, and may be used to distinguish horn, hoof,
and hair from any other parts of the animal, as they all are
peculiar in having this property of affecting polarized light.
Azotin is often adulterated with small amounts of horn to
raise its grade. We have been able to select out of the par-ticles
of horn with unerring certainty by examining a
layer of such particles in polarized light
40 Annual Report N. C. Experiment Station.
2. Leather.
Every kind of untanned skin has a valuable use. If for
nothing else it can be used to make gelatin. The leather
that finds its way into the fertilizing trade is, therefore, the
scraps of bark-tanned leather, from the shoe and harness
factories.
The leather scrap may be treated much in the same man-ner
as horn. When it is roasted it becomes a dark brown
color, and quite brittle. It remains, however, pretty much
unchanged, in chemical composition. Leather is rarely-steamed,
the product being much* inferior in its amount of
nitrogen to the unsteamed leather, although more readily
decomposable.
We have two samples of leather-meal, 1900, ground or
grated sole leather, 1901, scrap calf skin and harness- leather,
and. one sample, 1383, of roasted leather from New Yorkj,
such as is actually sold for mixing in fertilizers. This
sample of roasted ground leather is of dark brown color,.
very fine, in general appearance a good deal like dry ground
blood. Many of the particles show a glistening surface..
The smell of old leather preponderates, although there is a
slight smoky odor.
183,3. 1900. 1901.
Moisture at 212° F 8.45 per c. 10.30 9.65
Organic and combustible matter. 96.76 " 88.91 89.06
Mineral matter or ash, 4.79 " 0.79 1.29
Total, 100.00 100.00 ioo.oo-
Organic matter contains :
—
Nitrogen, 9.78 per c. 5.78 per c. 4.16 per c.
Equivalent to ammonia, ......11.87 " 7.02 " 5.05 "
Comparing these analyses with those of Petermann and
others, we see that the roasted leather, 1833, is decidedly
Horn, Leather and Wool-Waste. 41
above the average. Eleven analyses range from 5 to 9 per
cent, of nitrogen. The sole leather, 1900, is also above the
average—4 to 5 per cent, nitrogen, while the calf skin, 1901,
is below the average of other analyses in its content of nitro-gen,
6 to 10 per cent.
We have suggested already the causes which will prevent
leather from producing any prompt results upon plant
growth. The tanning process renders it highly insoluble.
How utterly worthless it is compared with other recognized
ammoniates the following experiments of Petermann* may
illustrate:
Comparison of Ground Leather and Dried Blood.
The leather used contained 7.51 per cent, of nitrogen and
was finely ground. The blood contained 13.7 per cent, of
nitrogen. The reverted phosphate contained 25 per cent,
of phosphoric acid and the muriate of potash 50.3 per cent,
of potash.
First set of Experiments, on Oats, cultivated in pots, two
pots being planted with each mixture and the average taken.
Weights in French grams (1 gram=0 56 dr. avoir.)
UNMANURED.
Total Wt. of Plants. Wt. of Grain.
Average of two unmanured, 22.34 6.20
NITROGEN ALONE.
Leathermeal, 0.25 gram, nitrogen 34-85- 6.95
Blood, 0.25 gram nitrogen, 51.91 I 3-4 I
NITROGEN AND PHOSPHATE.
Leathermeal, 0.25 gram nitrogen and )
Phosphate 0.30 gram phos. acid, )
39-93 . . . .
. 7.5
Blood, 0.25 gram nitrogen and )
6
Phosphate 0.30 gram phos. acid, )
~*° " yy J "
NITROGEN, PHOSPHATE AND POTASH.
Leathermeal, phosphate and potash, 0.20 gram. .. .30.55 7.56
Blood, phosphate and potash 37-40 *5-93
»
*Agricult. Central Bl. 1881, p. 590.
42 Annual Report N. C. Experiment Station.
The leather meal was without effect in producing any
grain, although it slightly increased the straw.
Some field experiments on white beans gave the follow-ing
relative figures
;
Unmanured 942
Manured with ground leather 981
Manured with Chili saltpetre or nitrate of soda, 1695
Some extensive field experiments on sugar beets gave
him the following relative figures for the yield of clean beets :
Gain over Unmanured
in per cents.
Unmanured, average 338
Soluble phosphate alone 343 1.
Soluble phosphate and leather 378 11.
Soluble phosphate and nitrate of soda 433 28.
Precipitated phosphate alone 343 1.
Precipitated phosphate and leather 359 6.
Precipitated phosphate and nitrate of soda. . . .438 29.
These last experiments are given as the most favorable
to leather which we have seen. According to them the ni-trogen
in leather is worth for immediate results a little over
one-third as much as the nitrogen of nitrate of soda. No
other experiments give it even this small relative value.
To detect leather in a fertilizer is a simple thing. Scrap-leather
and even leather meal can be seen with the eye or,
at least, with the help of a hand microscope. Spread the
sample out on a sheet of white paper, let it get air-dry,
break the lumps and examine, moving the microscope over
it. It may be necessary to use the chemical test in detect-ing
the finely ground, roasted leathers, when its peculiar
odor is disguised by other things. In this case we test for
tannic acid, as the characteristic thing which determines
the insolubility of the animal matter with which it is com-bined.
We have made some experiments to see what amount of
leather can be distinctly detected in mixtures. The fine
roasted leather, sample 1833, was used. The test for tannic
Horn, Leather and Wool-Waste. 43
acid was made in the following way : The sample of ferti-lizer
is acidified with sulphuric acid, water added, boiled
and filtered. To the filtrate is added a phosphoric acid solu-tion
of phosphate of iron. A slight excess of ammonia is
added. The white precipitate may be prevented with
acetic acid, though this does not interfere with the color
reaction. On standing, if tannic acid is present, a fine pur-ple
color or precipitate appears. Any specimen of bark-tanned
leather gives the reaction very clearly. One part of
the roasted leather and five parts of superphosphate gave
the reaction very handsomely. One part of leather and ten
parts of superphosphate gave the reaction distinctly. Mix-tures
containing much soluble organic matter failed to give
the reaction clearly.
3. Hair, Wool-Waste, "Shoddy," &c.
These contain virtually the same substance as horn.
Though so finely divided, it still resists decomposition for a
considerable time in the soil. Hair and wool have produced
good results in some cases, applied to grass lands, and in a
few cases, applied to winter crops. Their action is very
slow even in these cases which offered the most favorable
conditions for their decomposition. I have been able to se-cure
only one sample, 1831, of so-called " shoddy," sold in
New York, 'as an ingredient of fertilizers. It was not
"shoddy" proper, but fine clippings of furs, having with
them a good deal of the skin. The pieces of skin, bearing
fur, vary in size from one-sixteenth to one fourth inch.
The chemical examination gave :
Moisture at 212° F 1 1. 59 per cent.
Organic and combustible matter 84.55 " '"
Mineral matter or ash. , 3.86 " "
ico. 00
The organic matter contains
Nitrogen, H-74 " "
Equal to ammonia , 14.25 " "
44 Annual Report N. C. Experiment Station.
The specimen is unusually rich in nitrogen for hair or
wool. True " shoddy," the waste of woolen mills, clippings
&c, have a great deal of dirt and contain, according to
Peterman, all the way from 2 to 9 per cent, of nitrogen.
The average of twenty-eight analyses by him was 4.78 per
cent, of nitrogen. Samples of true hair give a little more.
Ten samples gave Petermann minimum 3.4, maximum 13.3,
average 11.26 per cent, of nitrogen.
To dtted "shoddy" hair, &c.} it is only necessary that one
should use one's eyes. Break the lumps and the hair or
wool will be found binding the parts of the lumps together.
One dare not decide too quickly that hair is the only source
of nitrogen. It is to be remembered that many good am-moniates
contain a little hair unavoidably. It takes a
considerable amount of hair to give a single per cent,
of nitrogen even. When only a little is seen it is to be
attributed to accident. On the other hand, we have seen
samples of tanking^ in which the hair was evidently an im-portant
item.
It occurs to us that a good way to utilize hair or wool wast
would be as an absorbent in stables. All of these materials
which we have been examining would be best decomposed
in composts with lime manures.
" Shoddy " Fertilizers—Literal and Figurative.
We have put ourselves to much trouble to secure samples
of fertilizers containing any of the inferior materials de-scribed
here. A large number of samples supposed to con-tain
them were collected from various quarters and ex-amined.
Only one fertilizer has been found, the "Shod-dy"
specimen from Norfolk (below), which contains
these inferior ammoniates alone. We are convinced there-fore,
that in the main the trade in our State, at least, is re-markably
free from such inferior articles. We have failed to
find a single purely " shoddy " article among the nearly
Horn, Leather and Wool-Waste. 45
six hundred samples drawn and examined in the last two
years. For the first time, during the last few weeks, we have
found such an amount of any inferior arnmoniate in ferti-lizers
sold in the State as to render it certain that it was put
there purposely. It is against the beginning of a question-able
practice that we wish to speak a warning. This is the
object of this paper, to caution manufacturers about using
these articles in preparing their products and to put farmers
on their guard in buying them. We have just examined
three samples in the course of our official work which con-tain
such an amount of horn as to seriously affect the value
of the articles. The analysis of the last one of these has
not been finished and as we go to press we are not informed,
(under the rule which prevents the chemist from knowing the
names until the analyses are finished, what their names are.)
The names of the articles and the places where they were
found will be published in due time. These articles all
contain a considerable amount of some better arnmoniate
at the same time. The horn has been added to make up
the amount of nitrogen or ammonia to a respectable figure,
or as the expression is, " to make them analyze well."
Against this we desire to utter a decided protest. Farmers
are in part to blame for this, in insisting upon a full 2 to 3
per cent of nitrogen at too low a price. They thus raise
the temptation, at least, to the wrong practice. Let us be
agreed, on the other hand, if we cannot pay for a higher
per cent., to accept a small per cent of nitrogen, all in good,
available form.
The sample of pure "shoddy," No. 1851, was obtained
through the kindness of a friend in Norfolk, Va., from a
cargo of English superphosphate received at that point. It
is a greyish powder, of about the appearance of superphos-phate
from South Carolina river rock and is full of cut, dyed
wool of various colors. The wool can be easily picked out
of it and in large quantities. It contains no other nitrogen-ous
matter.
46 Annual Report N. C. Experiment Station.
The sample gave the following results on anatysis
:
Water at 212 F. . . . 9.42 per cent,
Organic matter. . . . 30.28 "
Mineral matter. .. . 60.30 " including sand 15.59 Per cent.
100.00
Soluble phosphoric acid 6.45 per ct.
Reverted " " 1.31 " Total Bone Phosphate disTd 16.93 per et.
Insoluble " " 2.55 " '« " " undisTd 5.57 "
Total nitrogen 1.90 Equivalent to Ammonia 2.31 "
Potash trace.
The next sample, No. 1888, is similar to this. It contains,
besides some soft animal ammoniate, enough coarse horn to
give about J per cent, of nitrogen.
Moisture at 212 F. 12.70 per ct.
Soluble phosphoric acid 7.39
Reverted 2.17
Available " "
9.56
Insoluble " "
2.45
Nitrogen in available form 1.83
" " horn 0.27
or Bone phosphate dis'lv'd 20.87 Per c*-
" undis'lv'd 5.35
"
Equivalent to Ammonia 2,22 "
Equivalent to Ammonia 0.33 "
Potash 2.78
The last sample we have to notice now contains much
more horn or hoof than either of the above. The sample
is fairly yellow with it. The only other source of nitrogen
is a little nitrate of soda.
Sample No. 1908, contains,
Nitrogen as nitric acid 1.29 per ct. Equivalent to Ammonia 1.57 per ct.
in horn 1.85 " " " " 2.25 "
The other determinations are not yet complete.
Finely Ground Phosphates or "Floats." 47
FINELY GROUND PHOSPHATES OR " FLOATS,'
THE PRODUCT OF THE DUC MILL.
The invention of the Due mill, and of other mills in-tended
to giind phosphates finer than has been done here-tofore
by the burr-stone mills, has raised again the ques-tion
of using finely ground raw phosphate in place of super-phosphates.
The common view of agricultural chemists is
that the acid is simply a means of dividing the phosphate.
A solution of phosphate is produced, which is diffused
through the soil more or less, and then precipitated as an ex-ceedingly
fine powder. Such powders are almost unspeak-ably
finer, we know, than the finest which we make by any
mechanical means. The plant rootlets appear to dissolve
such powders whenever their ingredients are needed by
them, while they generally cannot dissolve the powders me-chanically
produced.
This solution of the phosphate costs us a great deal,
however. We must add about 40 pounds of 55 per cent,
acid to every one hundred pounds of the phosphate, nearly
doubling its weight, and then pay the freight on this,
in order to get the phosphate in this finely divided state.
If we could substitute power for acid, or mechanical grind-ing
for chemical solution, in any way, and keep our phos-phate
in its original concentrated form, it would be a great
saving. A ton of ground South Carolina raw phosphate,
for example, contains 500 pounds of phosphoric acid. It
costs at Charleston say $12.00 a ton. A ton of superphos-phate
contains at best 340 pounds of phosphoric acid (made
from about 1,200 pounds phosphate and 800 pounds of dilute
acid.) It costs $18.00 at Charleston, in the same propor-tion.
We gladly pay this difference in consideration of the
solubility of the phosphoric acid, which is the condition of its
becoming diffused through the soil in the finely divided
48 Annual Report N. C. Experiment Station.
state. But is it possible to accomplish this in any other
way?
Every improvement in grinding phosphates interests
us thus greatly. So far the experiments with phos-phate
ground by burr-stones have not been generally suc-cessful.
Their failure is attributed in part, at least, to the
coarseness of the grinding. As soon as we can produce by
mechanical meansa powder containing considerable amount
of phosphoric acid promptly available in the soil for the pur-poses
of plants, as determined by practical experiments,
the superphosphate will have a dangerous rival. The friends
of the Due mill believe that its invention was a step in this
direction.
The main question here, the actual availability of the
phosphoric acid in the Due mill product, must be decided by
field experiments. Doubtless, a large number of experi-ments
of this kind will be made this year. We shall en-deavor
to have some experiments made also.
Meanwhile, in the absence of accurate information on this
subject, we have undertaken to ascertain :
1st. The actual fineness of the product of this mill, by
measuring the particles with a micrometer.
2d. The amount of phosphate in the product soluble in
in ammonium citrate solution.
This ammonium citrate solution is generally used in lab-oratories,
with what propriety we are still somewhat in
doubt, to represent the soil-water, plant-root juices or other
solvents in the soil and thus determine the availability of
the phosphate, insoluble in water. It was interesting to see
whether there was any relation between the fineness of the
product and the amount of phosphate which would dissolve
in ammonium citrate solution under the fixed conditions.
The attempt to get definite information as to the power,
velocity and blast required to get a product of a given fine-ness,
in order to get some estimate of the cost of the grind-ing
in the Due Mill, has failed us so far, although several
of the mills were visited for this purpose. The conditions
Finely Ground Phosphates or " Floats." 49
of the most successful running of the machine have not
been determined yet. We were satisfied, however, by some
rough observations that the power consumed was much
greater than has been claimed by its friends.
Samples of the product of several other methods of grind-ing
are added to our list for the purpose of comparison.
1861 is a sample of finely ground phosphate found in the
Ealeigh market, represented to be the ordinary product of
the Due Mill, called "Floats." It is a reddish yellow
powder, evidently ground South Carolina land rock.
1862-'3 and '4 are samples drawn by the Director in per-son
directly from the mills. They are from the same lot of
South Carolina river rock, from the same bed, dried exactly
the same way and crushed in the same crusher. 1862 is
the ordinary grinding of the burr stones.
1863 is the ordinary product of the Due Mill, drawn out
of the mill by the blast and caught in the first chamber.
1864 is the material caught in the balloons into which
the air passes from this first chamber. This represents
about 10 per cent, of the product only. This is the "Floats "
proper.
1865 is a sample of finely ground phosphate from South
Carolina land rock, made by a " special process " which was
not made known to us. Also called " Floats."
1866-7 and '8, were drawn in person at a Due Mill where
the product is received in three successive chambers. 1866
is the product received in the first chamber. These are
made from South Carolina land rock also.
1866 is the material caught in the second chamber. The
first chamber was of sheet metal, the second and third of
cloth.
1868 is the product received in the third and last cham-ber.
The second and third chamber together receive about
15 per cent.. of the product.
1869 is a sample of Due Mill product from Richmond,
Va. Also South Carolina land rock, apparently.
4
50 Annual Heport N. C. Experiment Station.
1385 and 1387 represent two of the best products of the
old method of grinding with burr stones, that we have seen.
They were received from Mr. C. M. Stillwell, representing
the Committee of Agricultural Chemists appointed at the
Cincinnati Convention. 1385 is raw, ground Navassa rock,
while 1387 is raw, ground South Carolina river rock.
DETERMINATION OP THE FINENESS.
Prof. George 0. Mitchell, of Raleigh, had the kindness to
make the micrometer measurements in the powders for me.
The miroscopical and chemical work were thus done en-tirely
independently and without any comparison until the
results were all ready.
Prof. Mitchell's report is as follows :
Number
of
Sample.
1861........
1862 i
1863
1864 ......
1865
1866 i
I
1867...
1868
1869
1387
1385
Per cent, of dif-ferent
degrees of
fineness.
40 per cent
50 " "
10 " "
70 per cent
20 " "
10 " " .....
30 per cent
40 " "
30 " "
05 per cent
80 " '« .....
15 ' " "
20 per cent
70 " "
10 " "
30 per cent. ,
50 " "
20 " "
20 per cent
60 " "
20 " "
15 per cent
70 " "
15 " "
30 per cent
40 " "
30 " " ......
50 per cent
30 " "
20 " •«
60 per cent
30 " "
10 " "
Linear Measurements in
Micro-millimeters.
Range between 75 —37.5 m. m. m,
37.5—7.5 "
" from 7.5 down
Range between 300—37.5 m.m.m,
37.5— 7.5 "
" from 7.5 down
Range between 45 —22.5 m.m.m.
22.5—3.75 "
" from 3.75 down
Range between 15—3.75 m.m.m.
3.75—1.5 "
" from 1.5 down
Range between 75—22.5 m.m.m.
" » 22.5—3.75 "
" from 3.75 down
Range between 52.5—22-5 m.m.m.
22.5—7.5 "
" from 7.5 down
Range between 75—22.5 m.m.m.
" " 22.5—7.5 "
" from 7.5 down
Range between 22.5—7.5 m.m.m.
7.5—3.75 "
" . from 3,75 down
Range between 75—22.5 m.m.m.
22.5—3.75 "
" from 3.75 down
Range between 150—37.5 m.m.m.
37.5—7.5 "
" from 7.5 down
Range between 187.5—37.5m.m.m.
37.5-7.5 "
'« from 7.5 down
In inches.
.003 in.—.0015 in,
.0015—.0003
.0003 down.
.012 in.—-0015 in.
.0015 -.0003.
.0003 down.
.0018 in.—.0009 in.
.0009—.00015.
.00015. down.
. 00061n.—.000151-n.
.00015—.00006.
.00006 down.
.003 in—.0009 in,
.0009— .00015.
.00015 down.
.0021 in.—.0009 In.
.0009—.0003.
.0003 down.
.003 in—.0009 ki.
.0009—.0003.
.0003 down.
.0009 in.—.00031a.
.0003—.00015.
.00015 down.
.003 in.—.0009 in.
.0009—.00015.
.00015 down.
.006 in.—.0015in.
.0015—.0003.
.0003 down.
.0075 in.—.0015in,
.0015—.0003.
.0003 down.
Finely Ground Phosphates or " Floats." 51
Single, stray, coarse particles,, not representing any ap-preciable
part of the samples were left out of the measure-ments.
The finest grinding attained in any of the samples
may be set at .75 m. m. m.—-about 0.00003 in. This does not
amount to more than from one-half to two per cent, of any
one of them, except in Nos. 1863, 1864 and 1869, where it
will constitute from three to a possible five per cent, (in the
case of 1864.)
CHEMICAL DETERMINATIONS.
The phosphoric acid determinations were all made by
fusing with fusing mixture, dissolving in nitric acid, separ-ating
the silica, precipitating with molybdate solution and
weighing as pyrophosphate of magnesia. A special lot of
citrate solution wTas made up from pure ammonium citrate,
accurately neutralized and brought to the specific gravity,
1.09. 100 c. c. of this solution were taken to two grams of
substance. The digestion was carried on in a large shallow
water bath, with a brass guaze underneath, to distribute
the heat of the lamp, and a false bottom full of holes inside,
upon which the flasks were set. The cold flasks were put
into the bath warmed to 40° c, and left there forty minutes,
shaking frequently. We secured thus a uniform tempera-ture
of 40° c. in the contents of the flasks for about 30 min-utes,
as is the usual time. The contents of the flasks were fil-tered
promptly while warm with the aid of a filter-pump,
washed twice with half strength citrate solution and once
with cold water. Phosphoric acid was then determined
in the residue on the filter. The results are presented in
the next table. Total phosphoric acid and bone phosphate,
phosphoric acid insoluble in citrate solution, and the bone
phosphate corresponding to this, are calculated first upon
original sample. The last two columns give the per cents,
of total phosphoric acid present insoluble in citrate solu-tion
and soluble in citrate solution.
52 Annual Report N. C. Experiment Station.
NAMES AND
DESCRIPTION.
Due Mill product, Raleigh....
Ordinary grinding of stones...
Due Mill ordinary grinding...
" Floats" from balloons
" Special process"
Due Mill, 1st chamber
Due Mill, 2nd chamber
Due Mill, 3rd chamber.
Due Mill, Richmond
Raw Navassa,gro'nd by stones
Raw S. C. ground by stones ...
ft
M
c3
o
m a
«M «M
o o
Li +a
0> a
XJ 0>
a Ut
¥A Ph
1861
1862
1863
1864
1865
1866
1867
1868
1869
1385
1387
0.76
2.38
0.78
2.58
2.01
1.68
1.27
1.69
1.32"
3.41
1.27
n °
P w
a o
v
Ph
27.88
24.28
25.98
26.63
27.54
25.52
27.29
27.40
25.82
26.83
25.61
o
"o3
e8 ft
+3 00 O O
*=&
o M
1+3 s
oW
Li
o>
Ph
60.86
53.00
56.71
58.13
60.12
55.71
59.57
59.81
56.36
58.57
55.91
ft3
!?t; Q Q. C'l-I 1—1
00 -1-2
<« fl 3
° ,rt O
^ « fe
Ph'S'S
22.90
19.59
20.63
19.95
23.56
20.53
22.43
21.63
21.75
22.12
21.34
Id 0>,S O
m.S —
Vh °
o ® M
^tf2
fH O O
PhPh.2 Ph v<
49.99
4276
45.03
43.55
51.43
44.82
48.96
47.22
47.48
48.29
46.58
So
4.98
4.67
5.35
6.68
3.99
4.99
4.86
5.77
4.07
4.71
4.27
ftgi
C 02 S-,
P fe o
O S
Ph o8,Q
82.14
80.68
79.41
74.91
85.55
80.45
82.19
78.94
84.24
82.45
83.25
02 a>
C3 a: -1-3
-co
03 & H
^^•^
Ph 53 .S
17.86
19.32
20.59
25.09
14.45
19.55
17.81
21.06
15.76
17.55
16.75
The Due machine is to a very slight degree a concentra-ting
machine. The finest part, or that which floats farthest,
is a little richer in phosphate than the coarser part, which
stays behind. We see this on comparing 1862, '5 and '4,
which are ground from identically the same rock. '3 is
drier than '2, but is also somewhat richer in phosphate.
?4 contains about the same moisture as '3 (has possibly slight
hygroscopic properties), but contains 2.35 per cent, more
phosphoric acid. Compare also 1866, J7 and '8, different
parts of the product of the same mill from the same rock.
COMPARISON OP RESULTS.
If we compare the samples, now as to fineness and solu-bility
of the phosphate in citrate solution we get the fol-lowing
table
:
Finely Ground Phosphates or " Floats." 53
NAME.
Due Mill Product, Raleigh
Ordinary Grinding of Stones. .
.
Due Mill, Ordinary Grinding .
.
*' Floats " from Balloons
*
' Special Process **
Due Mill, ist Chamber.
Due Mill, 2d Chamber
Due Mill, 3d Chamber
Due Mill, Richmond
Raw Navassa Ground by Stones
Raw S. C. Ground by Stones
-a
B
1861
1862
1863
1864
1865
1866
1867
1868
1869
1385
1387
c -<
UU CO
O
. O
4-> O
8 6
u a
<v £j
Ph
IO
IO
40
35
20
20
85
45
10
20
*.S
<J3
Ph
30
95
10
15
30
p rt f^
2 <u
H w O
<U o w
rC .53
Ph
17.86
I9.32
20.59
25.O9
14-45
19-55
17.81
21.06
15-76
I7-56
16.75
The fine grinding does not affect the solubility of the
phosphate in citrate solution in any very marked degree, at
least under the conditions here supplied. A very much
finer product is indeed secured, but the increased amount
of phosphate dissolved by citrate is insignificant. Compare
1862 and 1863, for example, made from the same rock.
1864 is exceedingly fine, almost an impalpable powder, and
it yields accordingly .nearly 5 per cent, more of phosphoric
acid to the citrate solution, than 1862, the ordinary burr,
stone grinding. But this balloon " Floats" is produced in
too small a quantity to be worth considering practically.
The increased richness of this balloon " Floats " may be
explained in this way. The phosphate of lime in this rock
is not of uniform density or hardness. A part of it is hard
and somewhat like apatite, a part is soft like marl. This
54 Annual Report N. C. Experiment Station.
softer part is more soluble to citrate, we know, and it passes
in greater amount, having a lower density, into the
" Floats ", like that in these balloons.
It must not be understood that this decides the question
of the solubility of these finely ground phosphates in the
soil. That is an entirely different question and depends
upon the character of the soil. This important point
must be decided by field experiment.
The question of the solubility of this finely ground phos-phate
in compost heaps is an interesting one and deserves
attention also. To those who are interested I would like to
suggest the following formulas for composting and compar-ing
the effects of acid phosphate and "Floats." We should
compare the composts both as to cost and as to composition.
1st. The following formulas will make two composts of
about equal cost. The well known and successful compost
of acid phosphate and kainite may be taken as the basis of
comparison.
600 lbs. acid phosphate @ $24 per ton __ $7 20
200 lbs. Kainite @, $14 per ton I 40
600 lbs., about 20 bushels cotton seed
600 lbs. rich earth or mold, or rotted stable manure _ ___
2,000 lbs., 1 ton costs _ $8 60
"Floats" will cost you in this proportion, say $18.00 per
ton, and $7.20 will buy 800 lbs., then. Put this in the above
formula instead of the acid phosphate and use 200 lbs. less
of the mold or earth. This makes your second compost
heap. 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 sprinkling of acid
phosphate, manure or earth again, &c. The heap should
be thoroughly moist, but not run. 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
Finely Ground Phosphates or "'Floats." 55
eight weeks. Then cut down across the layers and chop
together. You can use, according to desire, 500 lbs. to 2,000
lbs. per acre. Treat both heaps in exactly the same man-ner
in every way and use the same amounts per acre.
2nd. We can make a comparison of the activity of the
phosphoric acid in the two forms, acid phosphate and
"Floats," by adding to this one more compost containing
an amount of phosphoric acid in " Floats " exactly equal to
the amount supplied in acid phosphate in the formula above.
We may assume that the acid phosphate contained 16 per
cent, of total phosphoric acid, the " Floats " 25 per cent.
Four hundred lbs. of "Floats" will give you then very
nearly the same amount of total phosphoric acid which you
got in 600 lbs. of acid phosphate. The mixture should be
made as follows
:
400 lbs. " Floats " @, $18.00 per ton $3 60
200 lbs. kainite @ $14.00 per ton 1 40
600 lbs., about 20 bushels cotton seed
800 lbs. rich earth or mold, same as in others.
2,000 lbs., 1 ton, costs . $5 00
Treat in all respects exactly as the other compost heaps
and use the same amount per acre. The composts may be
used upon cotton or corn. Please report your results to the
Director of the Station.
56 Annual Report N. C. Experiment Station.
KAINITE.
EXPERIENCE AT HOME AND ABROAD.
It is only three years since Kainite was introduced upon
an extensive scale in the Southern States. We have used
muriate of potash and the other concentrated salts for a
much longer time, but kainite has in the shorter time far
outrun the other salts and has attained an established place
in our agriculture. Its relations to the cotton crop are
already quite well understood. Upon this crop it was es-teemed
to produce favorable results from the very first. In
many instances its success was almost wonderful. It is
voted now a specific against rust in cotton and is undoubt-edly
of great value in connection with phosphates and peas
as an improver of the soil.
The crude Kainite, which we get, is a natural product.
It is mined along with a variety of other useful and interest-ing
salts at the salt mines near Stassfurt, in North Germany.
The salt is crushed and is ready for the market. It is trans-ported
from Stassfurt to Hamburg by water or rail, and is
shipped thence to our shores as bulk-cargo. Kainite is
quoted now at Stassfurt at $5.00 per long ton (2,240 lbs.)
As it appears now to be a permanent article upon our list
of fertilizing agents, it will be well for us to get all the in-formation
we can about it from its native land. Such an
account will be the best introduction to the study of its use
upon our own soils.
An analysis of a rather superior sample of crude Kainite
gave these figures:
Sulphate of potash, „ „„ 25.38 per cent.
" l
' magnesia, _. 16.76
Chloride of "
13-59
Common salt, _ _ _ 30. 11
Moisture, _ _ „ _ _ ._ 13-4°
Insoluble matter, , , 0.73
99.97 per cent,
Kainite. 57
One to two per cent of sulphate of lime is frequently
found.
We* may take this as representing quite closely the com-position
of ail of the Kainite received in this country. It
is an article of remarkably uniform composition. The only
variations are between the sulphate of potash and the com-mon
salt, the majority of the samples we have analyzed
having a little less of the former and correspondingly more
of the latter than this analysis shows.
We quote from our records the following recent analyses
as representing the grade of the Kainite sold in North Car-olina.
ANALYSES OF KAINITE.
Sample No. contains : 1627
14.39
26.62
1636 1639 1640 1648
11.30
20.88
1660
Potash
Or Sulphate of Potash
12.04
22.27
11.92
22.05
22.29
22,74
12.28
22.72
It has become customary thus to grade the. Kainite by
the amount of potash it contains alone. But this is, by no
means, its only, although the most important, active con-stituent.
We are all agreed about the importance of potash
for vegetation and the necessity of supplying it to soils defi-cient
in it, or from which it has been removed in tobacco
or grain crops taken away, but we do not generally pay
enough attention to the important part which magnesia
plays, especially in the seed. The large amount of magnesia
found in the seed, as compared with the other parts of plants,
certainly indicates that it has an important position to fill,
In the seeds of many plants magnesia appears in amounts
quite comparable to the potash. We find in the ash of
wheat, for example, along with 30 per cent of potash, 12 per
cent of magnesia, in the ash of cotton seed, 32 per cent
\
58 Annual Report N. C. Experiment Station.
potash and 16 per cent magnesia, and in the ash of corn
(maize) 27 per cent potash and 14 per cent magnesia.
While we have the complete analysis before us/let us
notice an important use to which Kainite may be put out-side
of the soil. Every farmer is familiar with the appli-cation
of ground plaster to fix the ammonia in fermenting
manure. The carbonates of ammonia are volatile. We
recognize them by their pungent odor in the stalls where
manure accumulates. The sulphate of lime changes the
carbonate into the sulphate of ammonia which is non-vola-tile,
under these circumstances. The chlorides answer the
same purpose. Pure plaster (sulphate of lime) contains
46.51 per cent sulphuric acid; Kainite contains in form of
sulphates of potash and magnesia, and chloride of sodium
(common salt) 34.6 per cent of sulphuric acid and 13 per
cent of chlorine, or adding these, 47.6 per cent of acids ca-pable
of combining ammonia, so as to fix it. Looked at it
in this way, the Kainite would appear to be quite equal to
the plaster.
But another thing must be considered also. Plaster re-quires
to dissolve it about 460 times its weight of water,
while Kainite will dissolve in about 1.75 times its weight of
water. WT
e must add to this, too. the fact, which the chemist
will appreciate, that sulphate of magnesia forms double
salts with ammonia more easily than sulphate of lime.
Since it is necessary for these salts to dissolve in order for
them to take effect upon the ammonia, we see the great ad-vantage
which the Kainite has over the plaster.
Rich manure contains usually seventy per cent, of water.
The water in 657 pounds of such manure will be necessary,
therefore, to dissolve one pound of plaster, supposing all the
water can be brought to bear upon the plaster. Only a very
small part of the plaster which we sprinkle upon our com-post
heaps or in our stalls is thus actually active; while,
when we use Kainite a much smaller amount will suffice,
and we may be sure of its all working for the immediate
Kainite. 59
purpose for which it is put there, besides enriching the
manure at a much needed point.
Experiments have not only fully confirmed our expecta-tion
in this matter, but teach also that Kainite has an ab-sorbing
or gathering power in addition to its fixing power.
Experiments at Regenwalde by Drs. Birner and Brimmer,
upon mixed horse and cow dung, kept throughout the year,
gave the following results:
1. The addition of 1 per cent of carbonate of lime or of
J per cent of caustic lime caused a loss of 9.78 per cent of
the nitrogen.
2. The addition of 1 per cent of plaster or gypsum re-sulted
in loss of only 0.34 per cent of nitrogen.
3. The addition of 1 per cent of sulphate of magnesia to
the manure resulted in the enriching of the manure heap
by 5.06 per cent of nitrogen (calculated upon the original
nitrogen), while the addition of 1 per cent of Kainite caused
7.97 per cent to be added to the nitrogen, which must have come
from the air. Some results are at hand in evidence of its
acting in a similar manner upon the soil.
It is advised, therefore, to sprinkle Kainite in the stalls,
upon the manure heaps and about the stables. You must
then see that you have an abundance of absorbents to take
up all liquids, in order that you may not lose all you gain
in the drainage. According to the experience of practical
men and calculations upon amount of dung produced, one
pound of Kainite per day is sufficient for each full grown
animal. This amount costs about thiee-fourths of a cent.
Referring to the complete analysis again, we see that
Kainite contains 43.5 per cent of chlorides, 30 per cent, of
common salt and 13.5 per cent of chloride of magnesia.
When the Stassfurt mines were first opened these salts were
supposed to be very objectionable. The Stassfurt products
were treated so as to separate the greatest part of these
chlorides, and after factories were put up for this purpose, their
owners did all in their power to prevent farmers from using
60 Annual Report N. C. Experiment Station.
the natural product. One manufacturer warns all agricul-turists
against the use of "the crude potash salts, which are
offered at a cheap price hy conscienceless persons, but which,
as impure earthy materials, contain substances poisonous
to plants." There was a certain amount of truth in this.
Wagner says : * " We know that chloride of sodium when
it comes into the soil in large quantities, and still more
chloride of magnesium, acts injuriously upon plants. On
the other hand, we know, too, that these salts are removed
from the soil in the course of time by the washing of the
rains, if the soil is only moderately porous, and in part also,
by their transformation into other less injurious forms. It
follows from this, in the first place, that we should not use
large amounts of these crude potash salts upon soils with
an impervious subsoil. In the second place, we must ad-here
to the important rule that the crude salts are to be ap-plied
only in autumn, winter or early spring, when there is
an abundance of snow, and rain water to carry the soluble
chlorides down into the depths, as has been proved by ex-periments.
These experiments teach also that the washing
out of the chlorides takes place without any loss of potash
whatever, so that we have nothing to fear in bringing
Kainite upon the soil early in the season." In another
place he •says: "Soils with an absorbing power can retain
the whole amount of the potash in Kainite, and thus sepa-rate
it entirely from the chlorides contained in the Kainite,
or produced in the soil by it. If a large enrichment of the
potash of the soil is to be accomplished, we would give the
richer potash salts the preference, because we might bring
upon the soil in Kainite too large an amount of the chlorides
which would have to be washed out. If we would make,
however, only a moderate increase of the potash of the soil
and spread it in dilute form throughout the soil, especially,
* Dr. P. Wagner, Director Experiment Station at Darmstadt, in Journal for
Agriculture.
Kainite. 61
if we desire to send the potash down to the deeper layers of
the soil, Kainite manuring will be found the readiest way
to accomplish this."
KAINITE ABROAD.
What is known in Germany as Rimpau's plan of im-proving
swamp lands is a famous illustration of the value of
Kainite. As we have experienced a result somewhat simi-lar
to his in the swamps of. eastern Carolina, and as we have
vast areas of such soil still to be conquered, a brief state-ment
of the plan will interest us. The bog was first well
drained and its excess of water removed by a system of open
ditches crossing each other at convenient distances. The
sand from the ditches was thrown over the intervening
spaces and a standing place for the plants produced, thus
for the first time. Attempts to cultivate these embankments
without i
further treatment proved entire failures. The
analysis of the top soil of the original bog soil showed 3 per
cent of nitrogen and nearly 6 per cent of lime to be pres-ent.
There were wanting, among the chief ingredients
potash, phosphoric acid and silica. The sand had lain un-derneath
this peaty surface soil without mixing with it to
any great extent. The ditching and throwing up of the
embankments brought the silica into the soil and corrected
its mechanical condition. Phosphoric acid and potash were
still wanting. The main point of the Rim pan scheme was
the application of about 550 pounds of superphosphate (acid
phosphate) and 1,100 pounds of Kainite per acre to the soil
thus prepared. Nitrogenous manures were found not only
unnecessary but positively injurious. Herr Rimpau ex-cluded
even stable manure, saying that it made the soil too
open, promoted the growth of weeds and the production of
humus of which he had too much alread}^, thus antagoniz-ing
the very work which the Kainite was designed to do,
viz.: the destruction of a part of the excessive vegetable
62 Annual Report N. C. Experiment Station.
matter and the taming of the soil, so to speak. This plan
presented something very novel to the European, especially
in the exclusion of the stable manure, their ideal of the
universal fertilizer. The scheme, much distrusted at first,
was afterwards enthusiastically adopted throughout the
whole district, and enabled the poor farmers to produce
beautiful and chea'p crops of roots, grain and grass, wherever
the}r could keep the water under control.
The result in these cases was undoubtedly due in a large
part to the indirect working of the chlorides and sulphates.
Where the richer prepared potash salts were tried, they did
not produce as good results as the Kainite.
We must not suppose that exactly the same treatment
would bring every swamp soil up to fruitfulness. This was
the treatment appropriate for a particular kind of soil. It
was a soil which contained a remarkably large amount of
organic nitrogen and a large amount of lime. Herein lay
the basis of the fertility of the soil when it was once properly
developed. Few swamp soils would contain so much nitro-gen,
and very few so much lime.
Another set of experiments, also made in North Germany,
comes still nearer our state of things in eastern North Car-olina.
The further illustration alluded to is the method of
Herr Schulz,* of Lupitz in the Altmark, a matter hardly
less famous in German journals than the plan of Herr
Rimpau.
The legumes are in as great favor upon the sands of
northeast Prussia, as improvers of the soil, as they are with
us. Clover is adapted to heavy lands, but the pea and the
vetch are peculiarly adapted to light soils. It is thus a
great object with the farmers there, as it is with us, to culti-vate
the pea successfully. Before the plan, we shall speak
of, was adopted, they had had but moderate success with the
*In Landw. Jahrbucher, 1881, V and VI,
Kainite. 63
pea. Their soil would fail to produce the pea after a few
years, and the problem was, how to grow them successfully
again. We have a number of interesting experiments be-fore
us on this point. In these the most remarkable thing,
is the manner in which the ammonia salts, nitrates and
nitrogenous fertilizers always injured the yield. This runs
through a large number of experiments. Some relative
figures reported by Fittbogen* will illustrate the uniform
way in which the ammonia or nitrogenous matter was dis-advantageous.
i. Unmanured, --_... ..«__ _ 60.2
2. Potash manure alone, _„ ___iio.6
3. Potash and lime, i~ ,.114.
1
4. Potash, superphosphate and ammdnia, « . „.._ 88.0
The most thorough, complete and costly manuring did
little better than no manuring. It was accepted as settled,
therefore, that the ordinary ammoniated superphosphate
would not do at all.
Herr Schulz-Lupitz, comparing his soil with Herr Rim-pan's,
found it was deficient in lime, and proceeded to marl
a large part of his land. The result was an improvement
in all the crops except the legumes. These did so badly
upon the marled soil that it appeared necessary to give
them up entirely. But then the grain could not be produced
successfully upon this soil, because the pea was relied upon
to prepare the soil for the grain crop, (probably storing up
in it the needed nitrogen.) We do not know how to ex-plain
the failure of the pea. The only suggestion is that,
as the carbonate of lime in marl is known to promote the
formation of nitric acid in the soil, the effect of the marl
upon the peas may be ascribed to this. (Maercker.)
Herr Schulz's next attempt was with Kainite on his peas,
*Landw. Jahrbucher, V, 803.
64 Annual Report N. C. Experiment Station.
at the rate of 500 to 800 pounds per acre. The results were
excellent. The marled lands brought not only a large
amount of peas for fodder, but the after-crop of grain or
potatoes was fine. This has proved the solution of the
problem for the sandy lands. The adopted practice in Ger-many
is first, a good marling, then Kainite and peas.
Herr Schulz has well illustrated the success of his plan
in the permanent improvement of the soil by a large array
of facts. Wherever Kainite and peas preceded in his ex-periments
there was a permanent improvement. Wherever
concentrated manure was used upon the aftercrop, the plots
that had received kainite and been cultivated in peas the
years before were far ahead. To maintain the improvement
Herr Schulz shows very well the necessity of continuing
the application of Kainite with the addition of superphos-phate
each time a crop is taken from the soil.
The experience of many of our correspondents in using
Kainite and peas upon the sandy lands of the east is re-markably
similar to this, although their experiments have
not been carried out with that method that will permit of
our reporting them here. We have realized already many
of these important results. The plan is undoubtedly the
most promising one we know of for improving our light
soils. It dispenses entirely with the necessity for buying
the ammonia which has become the most expensive ingre-dient
of fertilizers. It is a cheap as well as an efficient
method. The important part which Kainite plays in the
plan is evident. Kainite brought the peas and the peas
gathered the nitrogen and stored it in the soil. The scheme
is much the same as that advocated by our late distinguished
countryman Dr. St. Julien Ravenel, of Charleston, S. C, and
which is said to have given good results under his direction.
In his plan, however, the insoluble phosphates took the
leading part.
The observations which have just been roughly outlined
here, appear to the writer to be of exceeding importance
Kainite. 65
•
to us. A large portion of all of the South Atlantic states
are covered with just such swamp soils as those experi-mented
upon by Herr Rimpau at Cunrau, while nearly all
the arable soil in the eastern portions of these states is of ex-actly
the character which was found so wonderfully im-provable
under Herr Schulz-Lupitz's plan. These very
lands are underlaid, throughout a large part of their ex-,
tent, with excellent marls. South Carolina has an almost
unlimited supply of phosphates, and Germany offers us
cheaply her potash salts. What prevents us from making
all of these waste places blossom all over with fruitfulness?
KAINITE IN NORTH CAROLINA.
We had no right to expect that Kainite would act upon
our, for the most part, dry, hot soils in exactly the same
way as it did upon the comparatively moist, cool soils of
northern Europe. We could not accept German experiments
as decisive for us. Kainite had to meet entirely new con-ditions
here, new crops, as well as new soils. It is more im-portant,
therefore, for us to get information about its suc-cess
at home than abroad, howsoever interesting and sug-gestive
the foreign experiments may be.
Three years ago Kainite was almost unknown in North
Carolina. The spring trade of 1882 in the State amounted
(o 7,898 tons. This would indicate a remarkable success.
At least nine-tenths of this was used in the eastern portion
of the State, and upon cotton. Out of 66 correspondents in
this eastern section making report, 42 used Kainite upon
their cotton crop last year, and nearly all of these express
a more or less favorable opinion with regard to it. Thirty-one
out of the same number report that they consider it
very successful upon cotton and will use it still more largely
in the future. Out of 48 correspondents in the south-mid-dle
section, 20 used Kainite and 16 are favorably impressed
with it. Its use was nearly confined to cotton in these sec-
5
66 Annual Report N. C. Experiment Station.
tions, only a few having used it in composts on corn, also
with favorable results. In the other sections of the State it
has been very little used.
The writer regrets that it is impossible to give here all of
the details of all of the experiments upon this subject which
have been reported to him by his correspondents. We shall
endeavor to give an abstract of the results arrived at, using
some of the experiments as illustrations of the chief points.
The results are so uniform under similar conditions that it
is possible to do this,
abstract of results.
We shall consider first some of the more general points.
First the question :
1. Has Kainite, or the chlorides of magnesium, sodium, &c,
'it contains or gives rise to in the soil, any injurious effect upon
plants f
Kainite was introduced to our planters upon its European
reputation, and was accompanied with the instructions
we have already quoted, about applying it in fall or winter,
in order that the chlorides might be diffused through the
soil and their supposed injurious effect prevented. Our
planters almost uniformly disregarded this precaution, and
without any bad results as far as we can learn. It is true
that they used the Kainite in only small amounts, from
one cwt. to three cwt. per acre. This amount was ap-plied
in the furrow or row, however, alone, with other
fertilizers, or in composts. Under no circumstances have
we heard of any injurious effects being attributed to it,
Lately, Prof. Maercker has shown that there was no sufficient
ground for the objection to be found in German experiments.
It has been said that Kainite is known to have caused the
yellow tobacco upon which it was used to be spotted or to
produce a leaf burning to a dark ash. But I have been un-able
to find the proof of this. To the contrary, we know
Kainitb. 67
that Kainite is used in many tobacco manures which are
very popular among growers of fine, yellow tobacco. In
Germany muriate of potash produced a badly burning leaf.
In one experiment with Kainite in a compost upon Irish
potatoes the effect was distinctly disadvantageous. The
potatoes were small, knotted and contained a minimum of
starch. On the other hand experiments with Kainite on
potatoes in England and Ireland resulted very favorably.
In Germany they have found that a heavy application of
Kainite the year previous has improved the Irish potato
crop very much.
Besides these possible cases, there is no indication to be
found in our experience injNorth Carolina of any positively
injurious effect of Kainite upon any plant.
2. Kainite in wet and dry seaso7is.
The universal experience was that the good effects of
Kainite were much more marked in 1881, a very dry year,
than in 1882, a very wet one. This is contrary to the no-tion,
at first accepted, that an abundance of water in th«
soil was necessary to diffu