Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1878-12-24

Senator McPherson'S house, at Wood
ridge, N. J. was burned last Friday
light, with ali its contents. The family
rarely escaped with their lives, flying
rom the house in their night-clethes.
Hon. Beverly B. Douglass, Represen-
alive in Congress from the first Con-
,ressional District of Virginia, died at
o'clock Sunday morning, at his room at
lac National Hotel, Washington city,
After an Illness of several days.
A Word to the Farmers Of Augusta.
In a recent conversation with one OF
The most intelligent and accurately in
formed merchants of Staunton we learn |
ed that the quantity of artificial fertil-
izers sold in the county of Augusta, dur
ing the past season, was about three
thousand tons. The average price OF
these fertilizers was about fifty dollars
per ton. The aggregate sum, therefore,
which was paid, or contracted to be
paid, for fertilizers was ONE HUNDRED
AND FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS y
This is startling amount, in money,
to be drained from the hard earnings of
the farmers in single county. 1t is more
than twice as much as the whole tax
wnieh the county pays to the State. 1t
i3aa - be paid, too, in cash, and it all
goes ont of the county and into the
hands OF strangers. As a general rule,
these fertilizers are bought on credit,
and are payable out of the crop of the
succeeding year, generally on October
1st. This renders it necessary for the
purchasers to thresh early, and to hurry
their crops into market to meet the notes
which are payable October LIST. The
consequence is that vast quantity OF
wheat and flour is thrown on the mar
ket which must be sold for what it will
bring. The market is thus glutted, the
prices depressed, because the supply is
greater than the demand; and the value
of the whole crop of the county is de-
preciated in corresponding degree.
Can the farming interest stand this
kind of drain? We think not. We
believe that large part of the pecunia-
ry distress of the farmers is produced by
this injudicious expenditure of money
in the purchase of fertilizers. 1t is a
species of gambling. 1t is, in some re-
specls, like purchasing lottery tickets
Every nan imagines his venture will
10 tl,,f hxy, iy,f m
investment in the Fertilizer Lottery"
he will be certain to draw prize!
We do not pretend to say that these
fertilizers are without value. Nor do
we venture to assert that, under some
circumstances, it is not judicious to
buy reasonable quantity of them.-
For example, if man has poor field,
which will not produce grass, we think
it very proper for him to buy ton Or
two to use ON that field, with view to
obtain a set of grass. But we feel en-
tirely confident that the farmer who
endeavors to carry on his whole farm
ing operations, by means OF commercial
nlanures, must ultimately fail. Does
any rational man believe that the farm
ers of the county will be benefited next
year to the extent of the one hundred
and fifty thousand dollars which they
have expended, last fall, for fertilizers
We feel confident that the bushel meas
ure and the scales, when applied to the
growing crop, will give negative an
swer to this enquiry.
There Is another fact. connected with
the habitual use of these artificial ma
nures to which we wish to call public
attention. Many of them contain a
considerable portion of mineral acids.
Under particular circumstances, and
on particular soils, these acids may be
beneficial but, under other circum-
stances and on different soils, the effect
is positively pernicious. Where the
soil is disposed to be acid, they in
crease this tendency, so as to produce a
growth Of sheep-sorrel and other nox-
ious weeds, We have heard of several
farmers in the county whose lands have
become infested with sheep-sorrel, which
had never troubled them until they had
used artificial fertilizers.
There is yet another consideration,
connected with the use of commercial
manures. which should not be lost sight
Of. Most of these manures are soluble
in water. If, therefore, there should
happen to be frequent and heavy rains
in the falh after they are sown with the
grain, the soluble salts (Which constitute
their greatest value) become dissolved
by the rains; and are carried down SO
dsep into the ground as to afford little
nutriment to the growing grain. Dur
ing the present autumn and early win
ter we have had an unusual quantity of
rain, and we venture to predict that our
farmers will find, when they come to
harvest their crops next summer, that
while they may have abundant crops of
straw they will have short allowance
of grain.
We are persuaded that the use of COM
mercial fertilizers is attended with too
many hazards to justify the extensive
use that is now made of them. Their
effects, too, are merely temporary. They
add, directly, little or nothing to the per-
nanent fertility of the soil. They can be
profitably used only to obtain good set
of grass, and that, when obtained, if
judiciously managed, will uhquestiona-
bly, be bcLehcial. Indirectly, in this
way, they may add to the fertility of the
soil.
ment to US that the farmers of Augusta
do not make more liberal use of far
more valuable, permanent, and cheap
forfili1ar ~ hioh ia within tho raaob of