The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1880-02-18
farm aud Garden.
Fertilizers.

less dlthculty nevertheless III is one OF
great importance to the farmer. For this
reason we are tempted to undertake IT..
We will first consider Commercial Fer
tilizers, and the over-ruling question,
"Will it pay to use Commercial Fertll-
izers?"
This question is answered differently,
from different stand points the vary
ing circumstances by which observers and
experiments are surrounded-the diverse
interests, preconceived opinions, and i'm
mature judgments which impel to con-
illusions. On some crops we think they
pay on others not-some seasons they
succeed, in others they fail Then again
some Fertilizers properly prepared, with
due proportions of Phosphoric Acid, Nj
trogen, and Potash, pay, while others
lacking in these constituents bring dis
appointment and loss. In some seasons,
such as we had last summer, the best,
and most honestly prepared, did not gen.
orally come up to expectation, because
their constituents could not be dissolved
for want of moisture, and be brought in
contact with the root of plants, and be
absorbed by their rootlets. Tobacco
planters generally, believe that good Fer
tilizers, when tobacco is bearing an aver
age price, will pay, and they conceive it
Is hard to get along without them where
tobacco is raised on a large scale 1t is
almost impossible, on large areas, to do
with putrescent manures alone. No ex-
tensive planter could make enough stable
and barn-yard manures for his tobacco
even if ne failed to apply any to his other
crops
The cotton planter finds it impossible
to get along without Commercial Fertil-
izers. In Georgia, in 1878, (and we sup
pose as much in 1872 nearly a hundred
thousand tons of these Fertilizers were
used. Their use. for cotton has been
gradually extending, and it is scarcely
probable that this would be the case If
they did not yield remunerative results.
The Georgia planters are too wide-awake,
and calculating, and intelligent, to be
thus taken in9
1t is doubtful whether Commercial
Fertilizers" have paid on the wheat crop
In Virginia-in Eastern Virginia we feel
pretty confident they have not, and that
the farmers have lost much by them.
This crop is so precarious that che farmers
have too often lost almost the whole in
vestment made in Fertilizers for wheat.
We have not had but one really good
wheat crop in the State for the last ten
years-the crop of 1878, and even that
was much injured by rust in Eastern Vir-
ginia, and in all the counties south of
Albemarle in Piedmont, and Augusta in
the Valley. In 1879, the crop while very
good in Eastern Virginia, was much i'm
paired in yield by the freezes in Pied
mont and the Valley On a crop so un-
certain, Fertilizers can scarcely pay On
lands particularly adapted to wheat, as in
the Piedmont and Valley, Fertilizers pay.
On corn they are not considered to pay
well. If poor land has to be cultivated
IN corn, then if the farmers can get them,
we would advise their use, for it certainly
will not pay to raise only two or three
barrels to the acre.
But the greatest benefit the farmers in
Virginia can expect to obtain from Con-
mercial Fertilizers is to get a stand of
clover and the grasses by their use, and
tins advantage is often overlooked. When
used on wheat or oats hey may fail en-
tirely to makea return, at if thew cause
a stand Of clover or the grasses sowed on
the wheat or oats, then they will pay. "
Lands are very often too poor to procure
stand of the grasses, and the farmer
must use something to procure this stand
or he can never give the land start in
the path of Improvement Land once
we'll taken in clover is on the high road
to fertility, if it is afterwards judiciously
managed. Some of our lands are too
poor to produce crop of black eye peas,
or at least crop of ones worth turning
under. Then, we should resort to some
Fertilizer to ensure the growth of this
crop which is an important one in the i'm
Provement of lands. After land is taken
IN grass, moderate top-dressing of suit
able Fertilizer is important, and will paw
There are several reasons why Fertil-
izers often fail. The principal of these
are dry summers, and worthless com
pounds" The former cannot be guarded
against, though the failure is often attrib-
uted to an improper cause, that is, fraud
or ignorance In the manufacturer, instead
Of want of sufficient moisture to make
soluble the constituents of the Fertilizer
The worthless compounds must be de-
tected by the foresight and caution of the
farmer. Let him examine the brand
which the law requires to be put on each
bag or package; and see that it contains
proper quantities of Phosphoric Acid