The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1876-01-06
Fertilizers.

Millions have been thrown away in the
purchase of commercial fertilizers. This
useless waste of money is one great cause
of the poverty of OUR people. But the
practical question with our farmers
should be, is it the Use or abuse of COM
mercial fertilizers, which should be con-
demned. There arc certain fac:s which
cannot be denied. The fertilizers have
made an entire revolution in agriculture.
There are vast belts of upland country,
which once produced no cotton, where it
is now raised most successfully by the
use of fertilizers. The average yield of
cotton throughout the South was but one
bale to three acres. The average now is
one bale to two acres. A bale to the
acre was almost unheard of before the
war. But we now frequently read of 2
bales to the acre. In tobacco culture,
the Improvement has been even more
marked. Gilham'a Tobacco Fertilizer
has doubled the crops. The yield of
grain, grasses and vegetables has been
brought up from 30 to 100 per cent
above the old yield. These are indispu.
table facts known to everybody. An
other fact also will not be questioned,
viz: That the most successful agricultu-
rists have been the largest consumers of
fertilizers. Mechi, of England, Dickson,
of Georgia, and Peter Henderson, Of
New York, are familiar examples. 1t is
also true that the foremost agricultural
nations deal largely in commercial fer
tilizers. 1t is said that Great Britain con-
sumes annually 697, 900 tons of CONNER.
cial fertilizers. She exports more phos-
pilates from Charleston than does all the
rest of Europe. The finest farmers in
the world are to be found in the British
Isles, and there agriculture is carried to
the highest point of perfection. Those
shrewd British farmers ought to know
whether they are losers or otherwise by
the use of fertilizers.
We infer then from what has been ac-
complished by commercial fertilizers, that
the consumer is loser only when he uses
good article ignorantly. The adul-
teration of fertilizers has been enormous.
Some specimens analyzed in our own
State had, if we recollect Alright, 80 per
cent. of worthless matter. This fraud
can be corrected by stringent Legislature
enactments, or through the influence of
the Grange. When an article has been
tried by the members Of Grange and
found inferior and adulterated in any
degree, the fact should be reported to
every other Grange. Fraudulent dealers
would soon be driven out Of the market
in this way, and that source of waste
stopped. Ignorance is another cause Of
failure to derive profit from the use of
fertilizers. Many know nothing of the
constituents of the soil, which they have
been cultivating all their lives. Proba-
bly, too, they do not know what kind Of
food is needed for the kind of plant,
they are trying to raise. Hence, they
are working in the dark. The fer
tilizer applied may be wrong for the
plant, and it is just like wrong food to a
Child to make it grow, or wrong
medicine to sicl; man to make him
well.
Germany is dotted all over with labor
atories. which tell farmers what fertili-
zers the soil and the plant require. We
have nothing of the kind, and if the far,
mer does QOC RQCW Lie Sudly Sio VI viz ooti
of his farm, he must find out by expert.
ment on a small scale what thai soil
needs. If child will not grow when fed
with unsuitable food, neither will a plant
grow when it is improperly fed. The
Grange may do much to assist in
knowledge of soil and plant food. The
Lecturer ought to have some knowledge
of agricultural chemistry, and tho wants
of different kinds Of soil.
If the farmer uses fertilizer not re-
quired by the soil or not suitable to the
plant he is cultivating, or if he puts on
the fertilizer in careless and improper
way, without previous preparation OF the
soil, and without regard to the proper
quality and quantity to be used, let him
not rail out against all fertilizers, but
rather let him blame his own folly
Southern Home.
"Mr. Busbee says you needn't send
the paper to him any more" said little
urchin who stuck his head into the sane.
tum. GAIL right" said the editor. "An'