Daily Republican., 1883-06-30
Phosphates - Appefizers.

| HISh-Tdte toTH. ~ grew Tlhnt hloHS.
Another said !" like phosphate il i
such an easy way to manure the land.
The last man put in the clincher
do not know that it is so much Of ;
manure, but it is good appetizer. s.
is whisky. | do not believe in paying
forty or fifty dollars per ton for appe
Tiers for land any more than do il
attempting to live on stimuiants
There is enough virtue in most Phos
pilates to stimulate crop at first, ane
cause it to start with more rapit
growth. In the same way agood drink
of stimulant will give person brave
start, but the trouble is the effect is moi
sufficiently lasting-it does not hold
out. In many cases this stimulated
growth is a damage, for, when tht
cause is exhausted the p ant Is weaken
ed and checked in its growth, or else il
has formed an unnatural stem or s'alk
which the soil Is not able to supply
while If there had not been this excess
Of stalk or stem fhere would have beer
no check, but an ability on the part Of
the soil to have met all hercquiremeuts
of the plant.
Before commercial manures wert
pulled up to the extent they are now,
had noIion could make corn grow on
the same Observation-Disclosures
prepared compond, not wisely mixed,
perhaps, but about ~ sensible as ny
Of the modern doses which farmer
swallow so easily, and I put this mix.
ture into the hill, put earth over it and
then planted my corn. IL came up so
green and rank as to attract the notice
of persons passing on the road, and the
stalks were grand, but l never had SO
few ear in proportion.
My compound consisted of air-slaked
lime, plaster (sulphate of lime) and
wood ashes. Now, a chemist can 'ell
me just what was lacking, l suppose,
and if | had put that in, there would
have been a proportionate crop of ears.
| should like to have him. Now will
tell him something. If I had kept my
compound out of the hill, and had a
natural growth Of stalks such as the
land would have produced, the crop
would not have had the setback it did,
and there would have been proper
tionate crop OF ears
My point is that stimulating crop is
an injury, unless it can be kept up
until it natures As farmers usually
Use commercial manures, they do little
if anything more than push the crop at
the start, and often this extra growth is
an injury. watched field Of buck
wheat last summer with a great deal of
interest, where the seed had been drilled
in with some kind of phosphate, and a
strip left across the lot without any of
it.
The phosphated part cane up first,
and at blossoming time was several
inches taller than the portion where no
phosphate was used. The straw-mark
this-was great deal coarser, and the
leaves broader, and the cluster Of BIOS
SONS more scattered or wider apart
The owner said he did not think there
was any better yield, and do not think
there was as good. The phosphated
part grew faster, blooucd first, and was
a few days ripper, although it was all cut
1t the same time.
On soil so poor in organic matter (the
basis of vegetable growth) that it
would not produce crop, chemical fer
tilizers no doubt could be added to
cause crop to grow. They would also
help to extract plant food from he soil !;
but would crop grown at such an ex-
pense pay? | do not like such a founda-
ion to build upon. As II last resort it
might do. know there is great deal
)f wisdom spread on here by professors
md manufacturers of chemical CON-
pounds.
To most of us it is dust in our eyes, so
ar as comprehending their talk but
hey do succeed in selling world of
'tutf, which in my hu: BILE opinion does
'ery little good. Not one of the far
ners whose remarks | quoted at the
of this article knows that he
vas benefited in the least by his eX-
'endture for phosphates. The proba-
,ilities are that they threw away their
money, and thousands of others are
loing the same thing every year.
Does it never occur TO our farmers
hat possibly they may be humbugged
little? Only few years ago there
we're few makers of commercial stimu-
ants, or, as the farmers call them,
phOsphates. Now their name is
egion, and every third farmer is an
gent. Have farmers and philosophers
.lways been fools, or have there been
lew discoveries in the science Of growth
which can only be developed in the
laboratory ofsome ephosphate-compound-
ng establishment?
1t would be more profitable for far
lers when they meet TO discuss how |
hey can increase the bulk and quality |
f barnyard manure, and turn their
rain, straw and hay to the best account
, increase the growth on the farm, to
xhort each other to better culture,
'hich will pay more in the end than by
uying fertilizers. do not like to see
his drifting away from the old com
lon-sense and substantial landmarks
nd practices. which have brought pros
Gritty to so many homes, to the uncer-
lin, shiftless, aud costly ways where
, much is paid out and 50 little re-
lrned.
Would it not be wiser policy for far
,ers to expend the money they pay for
hemical fertilizers in the purchase of
il meal and bran to feed to their cows,
nd TO make more beef, mutton and
lanure consider oil meal at $2S per
N and buckwheat bran at SIS per ton
, be better Investment than paying
10 or $45 per ton for Il small per cent,
nitrogen or phosphoric acid"
MELON CULTURE.
The greatest point, says writer, is
, have the hills as rich as they can be
lade before putting in the seed, and the
ext is to let them take care of them
'lves. Just at the time the melons are )
alf grown tHey seem to do well in the
ills where they are completely hidden
I'd shaded by tall grass and weeds,
ut this is due more to he fact that
lev are not disturbed in such cases, as
le grass keeps every leaf of the vine :
it's place. In hoeing melons never |
ork any part of the hill that is covered '
ith vines, but work before them !
lat is, around the hillside of the limit {
.owth already made by them. If
ASS has secured stand in them, I
entity pull it up, care being taken not f