Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1877-04-18
FARM AND FIREsIDE.
What Fertilizers to Use.-Farmers their
own ExperlEelters.

own Exper1Eelters.
II have piece of old land that has
been somewhat worn down by num-
Der of years cropping. 1t is such and
such kind Of soil, has been treated so
and so, and want to get such a crop,
and at the same time time bring it into
good condition. Ny supply of stable
manure Is short. Will it pay for me to
try guano, or superphosphate, Or potash
salts Ifso, how much shall 1 use?"
This is type of a great many in
quiries l receive. wish I could answer
them, but most certainly can not
Chemists can not prescribe for soils as
doctors do for patients. 1t would of
course be very easy to take the analysis
ola given crop, and say, this requires
so many pounds of nitrogen, so many
pounds OF phosphoric acid, lime, potash,
and so on. These will be furnished by
so much sulphate Of ammonia, super
phosphate, and salphate of potash"
But very likely the soil would supply
enough potash ofitself, and the sulphate
OF potash would not be needed. The
crop may have the power of making use
ofthe compounds Of nitrogen already
stored in the soil, or supplied by the
atmosphere, so that at least part Of the
heterogeneous material will be superfuous;
the application of gypsum is often an
equivalent to the addition of potash and
magnesia, since gypsum tends to iber-
ate these from their combinations in
the soil, and thus render them available
to plants. So likewise lime may often
be applied instead Of the gnano
Or phosphates, with good results, and at
but at but a fraction Of the cost. The
physical conditions of the soil may be
such as to very materially affect for
good or i'll the action of the fertilizers, |
and thus the formla, fine as it woul
appear in theory, will be apt to be far
from economical in fact.
Stable manure is a complete fertilizer.
1t contains all the ingredients Of plant
food, and its organic matter improv es
the mechanical condition of the soil |
besides. 1t is standard fertilizer, and
useful everywhere. To learn by what |
artificial fertilizers this can best be sup
plemented, in any given case, is, as 1
have often insisted, a matter best set !
tied by experience and experiment.
For farmers who have not their own
experience, or that Of others in like
circumstances, to guide them, the most !
sensible plan is to try experiments on a
small scale, with different trustworthy
fertilizers Of high grade. The ones that
prove most satisfactory, can then be
used in large quantities with confidence.
This idea is by no means original
with me. I suppose that if any one
yersed in these matters were to men,
ton the men generally conceded to be
the leading authorities in agricultural
chemistry at the present time. the first
names would be; in Germany, Wolff
Stoeckhardt and Knop; in France,
Boussingault and Vile; in England,
Yoelcker, and, in this country, John
son. Now every one of these. except
Boussingault, in whose works l do not
recollect to have seen anything Of the
sort. not only recommends such expert
ments, but has given more or less
specific directions for them. In little |
book on fertilizers by Wolff, which l
have at hand, no less than seven pages
are devoted to plans for farm expert
ments with special fertilizers.
Prot. johnson says: ''This method
consists in observing the effects Of each |
element of plant-food, or Of each avail
able fertilizer, applied by itself to plot
Of suitably prepared ground, upon a
crop or a succession of crops. For
many ordinary purposes plots Of small |
area square rod each-are sufficient, |
if the soil is uniform in quality and
death over considerable surface, as
shown by the uniform stand Of the
crops in former years. 1t is better,
however, to have long and narrow
plot OF ten or fifteen square rods area, |
because the inequalities of the soil are
less likely to disturb the results. The |
ground being prepared for a crop, a |
number Of the measured plots or strips |
are laid off, and different fertilizing
matters are applied to them in appro-
pirate quantities. On one, for example !
use gypsum, on another fresh Stacked
lime, on another superphosphate, made
from bone ash or bone black, and oil of
yitriol; on another pulverized blood
and meat scrap rich in nitrogen, but
nearly free from phosphates on another
sulphate of ammonia, on a sixth muriate |
Of potash, on seventh heterogeneous |
phosphate, or a fish guano, on an eighth
stable manure, etc. Two or three plots
with 30 manure should intervene, to
make a basis for comparison. The
experiments should extend over series !
Of three or four years, the same plots
being each year treated with the same
kinds and qualities of fertilizers, but
cultivated with different crops.
Some time ago farmer was telling
ME Of a case quite in point here. a |
farm near his own, which had been
cropped until it was pretty well run
down, came into, the possession of
we'll to do gentleman, who had noticed
a good deal of the working Of CONNER
cial fertilizers, and made up his mind
that he could bring the old farm back
into good condition by liberal use of
these articles. So the first season after
he took hold oft, he applied some |