The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1873-05-04

sion OF the State Agricultural and Me-
qhanioal Society. was upon. sheT subject
Of "the cheapest fertilizer. whether do.
mestic or commercial, and the moss eoo-
nomical time and method of it's appica-
tion." The discussion was opened by
the following essay, by Paul s. Fielder,
Esq, of Orargeburg:
MIR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN OF
TIE SOCIETY: There are very few soils
80 fertile as to dispense with manure OF
soma kind. When suoh soils do exist.
by repeated cropping and removing the
produce, they will be eventually worn
out, unless replenished in some way, A
soil, to be productive, must contain solu-
ble earths, and by repeated groupings
some of these soluble parts will become
just as certainly exhausted as corn crib
which is continually used out of, and to
which no corn is returned. will get
empty. All earths are not soluble. and
consequently cannot be good for plants,
the composition of vegetables in differ
.ent proportions. No soil contains them
in equal abundance, and il soil is ex-
hausted of only one Of these parts which
enter into the composition of a vegeta.
BILE, it must inevitably cease to produce
that plant. By tho continued planting
and removing of the growth of a soil,
some one OF these parts will sooner or
later bscome exhausted, and when this
deterioration commences, it goes on with
accelerated speed. There is no portion
OF South Carolina with which I am ao-
quainted that is not benefited by ma
nuring. Of the whole State, do not
know any section which absolutely re-
quires higher culture and more constant
manuring than that portion in which I
live. aud doubt il any has paid greater
attention or made more constant efforts
in that direction than the planters of
Orangeburg. So highly are all fertilizers
valued. that cotton seed cannot be
bought at anything like a reasonable
figure. Every planter selling bushel,
feels that he is robbing his soil and add
ing to the purchasers. (The first thing
noticed by a planter in Orangeburg is
the location of the lot and it's advantages
for making manure.) So certain are our
seasons. and 40 few are the casualties,
that we Judge the crop we are going to
make by the size OF the manure pile and
the fertilizers that we intend to buy. I
have never planted crop without ma.
nuring the land; in faot. I would as aoon
think Of working my horse without feed
ing him, and I have never failed to re-.
ceiye compound interest on all fertilizers.
either bought or made at home. Yet, in
the face OF all this. and although I have
been planting and manuring twenty.eight
years, I never have had question pro-
pounded upon which am 80 ignorant,
and which I dnd 90 difficult to answer,
ss the one now under consideration. To
me there seems to be no rivalry between
them.i I have always used both in the
same field. Never separated them. Now,
the question is, or at lenst the frsS to be
answered is, (which is the cheapest fer
tilizer. whether domestic or rcommercialp"
That places on one hand the lot and
stable. and on the other Peru and the
phosphases. L am called upon to decide
between them, when use all my spare
money to bay tho other. and have never
had enough. It is easy enough to tell
the cost OF commercial fertilizers. ONLY
have to loAk at my factors bill; but how
cheap it is. that is another question. To
estimate the result: The field is so large,
and the expanse 80 great. that I cannot
see to the end of it. It is not how much
more cotton has Il made the land pro-
duce this year, but how much has it i'm
proved the land also, and how much bet
ter and more efficient labor csn be COM
manded in consequence, and how much
more cotton seed it will add ns domestic
manure, aud how much it will enhance
the value OF the lands and the reputation
and the credit Of the planter follows.
MIR. President, who can, calculate it?
1t rises to my view like mountain be-
hind mountain, until I am lost in it's
contemplation. But, sir, I will endeavor
to give my experience in figures and
facts ae nearly as possible. I can only
approximate. as I have never kept any
detailed account Of my operations. I
have never weighed or measured load
OF manure or counted the loads 10 tho
acre. But what I do know is, that with
the use of domestic manure and COM
merciai fertilizers in connection in three
years I brought my land up from 200
pounds seed cotton and five bushels corn
per aore, to 1000 pounds of seed cotton
and from fifteen to twenty bushels of
corn to the acre. will try to make an
estimate of the cost OF lot and stable
manure, and to do this will have to
give my process of making it. So far as
littering tho stable is concerned, that
may be put down as nothing. 1t is ne
20 for "a e., - ,l- I.