The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1882-02-22
farml aud Garden.
Commercial Fertilizers.


favor of the negative is increasing. In
view of the immense sum of money, an.
nually invested in fertilizers, the ques.
ton is one of great Importance. The
farmers OF Georgia, alone, used nearly, if
, not quite six millions of dollars worth of
fertilizers during the year 1881. This is
nearly one-ffth of the total market value
of the crop of the State OF course no
reasonable man will contend that this
amount is a total loss to the farmer, or that
they do not get very largely increased
yield as a result of the use of fertilizers.
The claim is, that on the whole the farm
ers would have been better of if thew
had never used. them In proof of this
proposition, individual examples are
cited of farmers who have steadily re-
Trained from buying or using fertilizers
and who have as steadily prospered and
made money, while hundreds of others
who have used fertilizers year after year
have become embarrassed with debt and
failure. 1t would be easy to show that
this method of reasoning will lead into
error. There are many circumstances
surrounding a farmer, many habits of
mind and practice, which enter as factors
In the question of success or failure to
reap dividends from the farm. 1t will
not be sound logic to attribute success or
failure In any business to any single cir
cumstance orpractice, unless the relation
of cause and effect be shown to exist.
The effect must be traced back to its
alleged cause, and there must be no
reasonable doubt that the reference is
correct. To illustrate 1t would be very
erroneous to conclude that horses cannot
be proftably employed on a farm, be-
cause an Individual, or even a number
of farmers who have uniformly employed
them, have as uniformly failed of success
In farming, while others who plough
mules or oxen have almost as uniformly
found farming "a profitable business.
Nor would it do to assume that par
tlcular variety of corn-yellow corn, for
dnstance-is unproductive, because seve-
raj farmers who always plant yellow corn
generally make poor crops Of corn. In
the first case supposed, it might be that
the farmers who ploughed horses were
addicted to habits of extravaganza and
neglect of farm business, which are often
associated with a certain kind of fondness
tor horses, and which would abundantly
account for failure. In the second case,
1t might be made to appear that the vel
low corn farmers happened also to be
very indolent, careless and slothful. and
that they had selected that variety of
corn for planting because of. a belief that
1t would bear neglect better-produce
more with less care and labor than any
other kinds
Coming back to the question of com
mercial fertilizers: 1t is one THING to
assert that the use of commercial Cor
chemical) fertilizers has not been gene
rally profitable and wise, and quite
another to insist that farmers, should
cease to use them, or that laws should be
enacted to prohibit their manufacture or
sale, as was sagely proposed in the Lee
gislature of Georgia. We should ex
anime and ascertain CD whether the
blame of failure belongs properly to fertil-
lzers and the principles which underlie
their use; or (2) is it attributable to their
improper and I'M udicious use; or (3) that
the farmer has been led to put too much
confidence in their virtue to the neglect
of other means of fertilization and of that
careful economy and painstaking applica-
ton Of the true principles of farming,
without which failure is almost certain.
OF course we do not allude to spurious
fertilizers in this connection, except to
exclude them from the discussion The
law in every State, as it does in Georgia,
should efectually exclude them from the
market.
o. OF the first alternative it may be
said, that the principle which iustiies
the use of stable manure, ashes cotton
seed, and other familiar forms of fertil-
izers, is precisely the same as that on
which the use Of commercial fertilizers is
based, viz. that the productive quality
of the soil is increased by adding to It
the elements Of fertility in whatever form
they are found to be available. These
elements are phosphoric acid, potash,
ammonia, etc. AS we cultivate the soil
and remove from it yearly crops of grain,
grass, cotton, and tobacco, these elements
in their available form, are gradually re.
moved from the land, and exhaustion fol-
lows. The phosphoric acid, potash. and
ammonia have entered into the crops
and have gone to assist in building up |
the bodies of men and animals. A large
proportion of these elements is found in
the animal excrements, and the ashes OF
plants, and in the form Of manure is car
RED back to the soil directly, as has been
done from time immemorial. We now
rrE b. 4 81 Il Al