Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1876-08-11

lawn. had Just analyzed sample from n
neighboring dealer, and found IL very good,
aud told my friend so. He bought guam
tity, tried Il, and scarcely see any benefit
from il. The season was dry, however, and
we were inclined 70 think that might have
been tho reason for the failure. Not long
since very intelligent farmer was telling
about some experiments he had made a few
seasons ago with artificial fertilizers. He
had tried small lots Of a number Of different
brands of superphosphates and Peruvian
guano also. SO far as he could judge, there
was but little difference in the results, nor
did either Of the articles prove especially
beneficial. He felt certain that the fertiiz-
ers we're in themselves good, and was won.
dering why the results were not more salts
factory. The failure could not be .ascribed
to drouth for the season was not particu.
larly dry. l am inclined TO think that in
this case, and perhaps in the other one, the.
fertilizers did not supply what the soil lacked.
Aud right here, believe, is to be found the
cause Of good many Of the failures in the
use Of artificial fertilizers. Most Of our arti.
fetal manurcs are only special Fertilizers,
They supply part, but not all, of the list of
ingredients Of plant food, which may be dc.
Gcient in our soils. During the past winter
and spring, we have analysed, at our expert
ment station, about hundred samples of
commercial fertilizers, such as are sold aud
used in Connecticut. With the exception
Of small number Of samples Of potash salts,
but very few Of them furnish any considera-
bic quantities Of potash, though nearly all
contain good deal Of phosphoric acid and
lime, aud the most Of them nitrogen also.
In report lately issued by the station, anal
yses Of somo seventy samples are given.
This list includes phosphates, which furnish
phosphoric acid and lime superphosphates,
which contain phosphoric acid, lime and sui
phuric acid bone manures and "ammoai-
ated phosphates," which contain tho ingredi-
ents mentioned, and small quantities Of nj
trogen in addition; Peruvian guano and
fish manures, which contain good deal of
nitrogen, and more or less phosphoric acid
and lime, and so on. None furnished any
notable per centages Of either potash or mag
nesia, except the Peruvian guapo, which
yielded small proportions Of potash, the high.
est being about two and one-half per cent,
and Of four nitrogenous superphosphates, to
which German potash salts had been added
in manufacturing. Two gave about four
per cent of potash, the others less than two
per cent of potash each. Along with the
potash they contained magnesia also. OI
the whole list Of seventy commercial fertiliZ-
ers, referred to in the experiment station
report, only the last two mentioned fur
nished notable quantities Of each Of the
whole list Of ingredients Of pant-food which
are apt to be lacking in our soils. These
, last were complete Fertilizers. The other:
: were special fertilizers.
In the last article mention was made o.
! some experiments by Messrs. Lawes and
| Gilbert in England, and of Prof Storer a,
, Jamaica Plain, Mass. The soil on which
Messrs. Lawes and Gilbert worked, gave
, continuously good results with manures which
furnished nitrogen and phosphoric acid, aut
was able to supply sufficient potash OF itself
4 But on Prof. Storer's soil, phosphates nnc
! nitrogenous fertilizers did but little good
. while those that furnished potash proveC
a most effective. In Lawes and Gilberts ex
periments, the soil supplied enough Of tn,
+ other essential ingredients of plaut-food, Sc
that with the addition Of nitrogen and phos
| hSiut 40 "OAO Ooee'hNu
!, year after year, as with heavy dressings o
a barn.yard manure. Prof. Storer's land fur
4 nished enough Of phosphOric acid and lime
4 and the other essential ingredients Of plant
a food, so that when potash was added, n
large crops were obtained as with barn-yart
4 aud stable manure.
!, The need Of potash in many New Eng
a land soils is likewise indicated by the exper
I ments Of Prois. Goessmann aud Stockbridg
r of the Massachusetts agricultural college
q the Messrs. Sturtevant in Framingham
Mass, and others. Aud these results ar
1 confirmed by a great deal of practical expe
e rience in the regions where these expert
monts have been made and elsewhere.
Q We have some experiments now going o
U in connection with our station in which tn
Z effects Of different fertilizers on soil in thi
n neighborhood are being tested. or cours
a no definite results are obtsined as yet, as th
\ crops are still young, but so far as We ca
q now Judge, the fertilizers which contain Po
~ ash are doing considerably better than tho'
10 which have no potash.
,ee In some Of his field experiments, Pro
Storer obtained smaller crops of beans an
"a barley on plots treated with bone and othe
a phosphates, than on contiguous plots whiC
n received no manure at all. In some cas-
10 the phosphates, instead of increasing Il
: crops, actually diminished them. The san
ii observation has been made by experimen
N ers in Europe. This injurious action {
-e phosphates Prof Storer is inclined to thin
"a would occur only on poor soils. To invest
N gate the cause, he "tried number Of expe
~ iments in pots, with the Wow of determi
q. ing how large an amount Of phosphate mi
tv nure may be applied to sterile land. Fro
ne the results obtained he niers that bcne-du
ar and other phosphates, when present in Il
ly large a quantity, may exert an exceeding
Ut hurtful influence on the plumue, or fir
nv sprout, that springs from the seed, esp
L cially at the time when the young shoot
eeasing to draw its nourishment from II
bv seed, and is beginning TO live on matters d
in rived from the soil aud air."
no Now do not these facts give very pro
al able explanation Of the reason why U
il. friends superphosphates and guano did
,w poorlyf They aro special fertilizers. Tn
Ue supply part but not all Of the indispensit
re ingredients Of pant.foOd Did they fail
ed supply just the ones that were most neede'
of Now let US look at this matter from
ed slightly different standpoint. Many farmC
a iind that Peruvian guAno, fish and other 81
he cial fertilizers, whose action is quick q
ia stimulating, seem to leave their soil in
n more exhausted condition than before ii
,ut were applied. A good many Of our O
rot ueCticut farmers complain that guano a
mt fish "run their land down, drive out
a grasses, aud bring 10 sOrrel." Tho sa
me observation is made concerning bone manu-
,ed and other phosphates. One Of the most
3ut serving farmers in this region remarked
de. me while ago, that bone does not work
IN we'll on his aud his ncighbOrs' land, as vi
for they first began to use II.
In the experiment station circular ab