Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1881-11-02
Fertilization by PhOSphates.

Mr. PRESIDENT, LADIES AND GENTLE
MEN In discussing the question before
us. Does it pay to use commercial iertil-
izers?" wish to take the affirmative side
OF the question.
History tells us that about the middle of
he last century light house was built on
Lincoln Heath, Lincolnshire, england. Ii
was erected TO guide travellers over a
trackless. barren waste a very desert
almost in the heart of Englan !, and long
it served its useful purpose. The pillar,
no longer n light house. now stands in the
midst of rich and feI tile farming region,
here all the land is in a high Safe of
cul iva,on For more than twenty-five
Years no barren heath has been visible
even from its top.
Suprrphosphate of lime, chemical in
ventiun, first applied to land by the British
chemist, Murray, and brought to the no.
tice of reading farmers of England by
Baron Leibie, has been the chief means
through which this great change has been
effected. Superphosphate of lime over
., eat stretches of English soil makes, or
,nce made, the turnip crop. Leihig IN
1870 called attention to commercial fertil
izers. That very year few tons were
used as an experiment; and now thousands
of tons are used yearly, having proved
itself paying investment for the farmers.
With such results as these no wonder
commercial fertilizers are vending their
way into the United States, where il waste
full agriculture has impoverished once
fertile soil.
We have perhaps no trustworthy data
on which may be bas"d an estimate of the
quantity used in our own country, but the
amount IL enormous; aud by n careful lest
made by the best judges in our country
/ re past year, we are led to believe that
here are hundreds of acres of land in Yer
mont of which the income is comparatively
nothing, that by the use of II suitable
amount of some good commercial fertll
Yer could be made to grow one hundl ed
bushels of corn or more to the acre.
| will recite single instance: A farmer
in this own made il test three years ago
by taking an acre of land that had been
dressed with stable manure since the land
was cleared forty years ago. During this
time it had been cropped once in about
twelve years by blowing and sowing to
grain, then seeding to grass, and after
cutting the hay for several years was
, turued into pasture for few years, then
plowed up as before. Thus for forty years
this land has been constantly sapped by
crop after crop. The only fertilizer it
obtained was from being a portion of the
time in pasture.
Three years ago this land changed
hands The new owner, a practical farmer,
wished if possible to improve this " back
fed" How could he do itP 1t was at
too great IA distance to draw the manure,
wen if he had it 10 spare, and after think
ing the matter over carefully, he resolved
to make Il careful lest of one acre. He
accordingly took three hundred pounds OF
Superphospllute and after sowing 1t broad-
east narrowed it thoroughly, mixing it
with the soil then m ,rked his rows, and
put two hundred pounds more in the
lrill, making five hundred pounds to the
tcre.
In using phosphate for the entire fertil-
Ter he had nut lew weeds He hoed his
corn hut once hoeing it when it was about
he SIZE that corn usually Is at the second
noemg; and as a result he huSkcd one
uundre and forty Bushels OF sound corn
from his acre
Thus this man, who had always believed
phos plate TO be good starter" but
must be backed by the use of stable
manure, vas AT once educated to the posi-
sutton tina, he formerly scorned, ., E., that
crops could be grown by phosphate alone
his man who had formerly used two or
nree barrels year is now ready to use
ts many tons, while his neighbors, who
mad formerly used phosphate in small
quantities only, having seen this crop OF
corn, are following suite, by using 1t by
het, n.
And ask YOU. gentlemen farmers, are
here not " back fields IN your neighbor
moods which have mt only = run out, but
worn out " which have not paid for
moving the past season, which if plowed
np in jane and allowed to remain in sum
ner lallow through the season could be
made to grow good crop OF corn by the
nppicatin of good coat of superphos
phate? Surprising the same amount OF
money had been expended Tor phosphate
during the past ten years in our state that
has been paid for corn and shorts, our
carpenters would he building larger barns
and our lands would be in much richer
state of cultivation than at present.
You will ask Does it pay to use phos-
phates in seeding to GRASP l say, Yes.
1t was my fortune few years since to
meet man who had tried phosphate in
seeding down. He had stocked his field
I'll in one day, using the same kind OF seed
over the entire field and narrowing 1t all
alike; hut sowed strips across it with
phosphate, and to my surprise those
strips could be plainly seen the second,
hir and fourth years. This man was
careful to make the strips so that there
could he no mistake us to their ientitv.
He called farmers meeting, and from
among their number committee was
chosen to investigate it carefully, and
reported that In their opinion there was
double the grass on the phosphate pats
than where no phosphate was used.
Since that time other tests have been
made in this county. Parties who live In
Barnet and Ryegate, who five years ago
used a single barrel TO the acre in their
" corn hills" have found by IA careful test
that six hundred pounds OF y Ia TO the
tcre. applied to bound out lands IN seeding
10 grass gives them two tons where they
formerly cut less than half ton to the
acre.
find bv referring to the Agricultural
Reports of 1870 that the average yield OF
corn in the New England states Was 81 II
bushels 10 the acre, while the average
Weld in Vermont was 80 6-l0 to the acre
and that in the six largest corn growing
states outside of New England, 81 9 10 u
the acre
Our observation-disclosures have two fold
advantage over us: LIST. They can ralst
Grain without manure % They can
do their work in the level sections of til
west by horse power. But when we con
,ider the large amounts paid for trtnspor
: a,ion, we ut once conclude that we hi
batter raise more grain and use more fe /
Itillz RS. THUS we nave sho Rn That by Thu
United States statistic. Vermont gives
better report for corn than any of tn
: above named states mentioned. Then
shall we not plant more, manure better
and buy less grain of our western neigh
hOrsp