The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1878-08-14
NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL
FERTILIZERS.

render it more productive is the all
important object of the farmer.
Various ways and means are used to
accomplish this end, and each with
greater OF less gain. The first means
used is in cultivation. A soil finely
mixed and made mellow is fertilized
to the extent of what is contained in
the soil; that is, all the elements of
native fertility are made available to
the support Of plant life when the
soil is put in the finest state Of pull
verization. The beneficial effects OF
this artificial condition of soils is not
fully appreciated by the common Gull
vivator. We are too often led by the
custom or habit of doing just such an
amount of labor in preparing our
land for crops, without regard to the
condition to be gained. We plow
and harrow by rule and call it fitted,
without regard to whether it be fine
OF otherwise; but we should always
be governed by the condition, whether
it requires more or less labor. A
coarse, lumpy soil cannot feed crop
TO the extent of its capacity, for only
the fine rootlets of the plant feed from
the soil, which can no more take hold
Of the hard clods of earth than of a
granite rock.
The portion of the soil which is
made fine and soluble is only made
available to the crop; hence, to make
all the elements available in the soil
it must be finely pulverized. This
may be called the first means of
tertilizing the soil. The next is in
the application of such matter to the
land as will supply the crop with
food which is not already contained
therein. Experience has taught us
that animal eXcrement and all decay !
ed animal and vegetable matter fer
tilize the soil, or, in other words,
there is fixed in nature a succession
Of life, death and decay, the living
plant being fed by the decay of the
preceding one, and to supply the
soil with the needed elements of
plant food we have only to return
that taken from it to keep up per
petual round of production. Hence,
ehe most natural manures to apply to
she soil are decayed animal and veg
s4able matter, for they contain just
what has been taken from the soil
and are just what will restore it,
But this we cannot often do, for ind
large portion of the soil
product is carried away. Hay, grain
md vegetables are grown only to be
into meats, butter cheese,
Hour, etc, a large portion Of which is
carried away where it may perhaps
enrich distant or foreign lands, or,
what is more common, is thrown to
waste where it does not again find its
way to enrich the earth.
This system of carrying off without
return will ultimately exhaust lands
of their fertility. Evidence Of this is
seen in the deterioration of lands in
all parts of our country where kept
under cultivation, with no other re-
source than the barnyard for keeping
good this drain upon the soil. With
ont some kind of manure we know
That the best lands will fail to return
remunerative CROPS, and the great
question is, Where can we obtain
such manure as will supply this in
cvitable exhaustion Science has dis
closed to us what properties are taken
from the soil in cropping and which
render it unproductive, and it also
teaches us that such elements as our
crops have been taking and using up
are found in abundance stored away
by an all-wise hand to meet the wants
Of the husbandmen, that bread may
be produced for the family of man in
all ages to come. These clements
are found in the phosphate rock, the
potash rock, the lime, sulphur, soda,
magnesia, and other mineral proper
ties which constitute the inorganic
clements of all plants-all of which
ere sufficient to meet the wants OF
The world in all time to come. The
sea has also contributed to supply
rhe wants of the soil in the vast
amount of sea-towl excrement in the
form of guano found in the islands of
ocean, and by the unlimited quanti-
ties of fish which are taken to be
manufactured into a rich fertilizer
for tho soil. In this way the sea is
making return for the waste that is
constantly going on all over the
world IN giving to the water the re-