The Portland daily press., 1883-01-24
How to Try and to Buy Commercial Fer
tiliZ0rS

tlllZerS.
1 frequently receive from readers of the
Tribune requests TO give advice in regard to
buying and using commercial fertilizers, and
even TO name the brands that are best, or
the firms of whom reliable fertilizers can be
bought. Such requests indicate healthy
dlstrust OF the numerous, voluminous, often
extravagant and sometimes absurd testimo-
malls that are paraded by some manufactur-
ers and Dealers but it is quite beyond the
province of this department to attempt to
tell its readers what and where to buy; in
the place of answering such requests, of
which one is now before me, | may be al
lowed TO give few words of advice in gen.
eral. First OF all, the farmer intending to
invest in commercial fertilizers would not be
less wise if he would inform himself as to
the kind of manure that he is most likely to
require whether he needs to buy nitrogen
compounds, phosphoTc acid or potash, or
two or all of these plant nutrients. The
price charged for fertilizer is ALWAYS based
on the quantities Of these substances that it
contains; if it contains all three, then the
purchasers pay so many dollars for so many
pounds of nitrogen compounds in the ton,
so many dollars for the phosphoric acid,
and so many for the potash; the sum of the
three prices is the total price paid. Plainly,
If potash is not needed on the purchasers
farm or on the special crops he is raising,
the money paid for it in the fertilizer is
thrown away; or if his crops would be near
ly or quite as large without the nitrogen
compounds, he is particularly unwise to buy
those in fertilizer, for If present in any
considerable proportion they make up the
greater part of its cost.
IT. is no easy matter for the farmer to get
fully trustworthy knowledge on this point
for he must acquant himself with the gener-
al action of these plaI t nutrients, alone or
N IN N finp m 10 aud ali hxT
experience often hard to earn. with their
special action in bis own particular locality.
But j. is none the less important that he
should have this knowledge, if he expects 10
gain the utmost possible profit from the use
OF commercial fertilizers-or TO have even
part OF it and of more or less imperfect re
liability rather than none at all, if he does
not wish to run much risk of altogether
wasting his money i'll such Investments. On
the general action of these nutrients, he may
study trustworthy books on manure. of
which there are too few within reach of Eng
lish readers, or the teachings in the agricul-
tural papers of competent writers on the
subject, of which the number, both of those
who are competent and of those who think
they are competent, is not small. On their
special action under the conditions that pre-
vail on lis own farm it may be that expert
ments must be performed; the final test of
the question of profit or loss to come from
the use of any plant nutrient as fertilizer
Is the test of the field. If the inquirer can
find that this test has been made by others
may times aid with positive result, under
conditions at least very like his own, he may
safely proceed with his investments ON the
strength of such tests, otherwise he must
experiment himself.
1t would seem to be plain enough to need
no telling, that in thus working out his own
Results, at perhaps no little cost of time and
money, the farmer should first attempt to
form reasonable conclusioE-as to the kinds
and forms of plant food that it would be
wise for him to include in his experiments,
and should thea take reasonable precautions
to make it sure that he gets what he wants |;
bnt it does need telling, nevertheless, and
telling often, to a good many farmers who
experiment with this or that brand of fer
tilizer, without having any definite idea of
its composition, or any safe assurance, if its
composition is given by the dealer, that 1t
does really contain the plant food said to be
provided in it. The proper course for one to
pursue who wishes to test an investment in
commercial fertilizers is this: To pay no
heed to testimonials unless he personally
knows those who give them; to make no in
quiries for this or that brand, but simply to
say to his dealer that he wishes for so many
pounds of phosphoric acid, either soluble as
in superphOsphates or less soluble as in
bone meal--as the case may be-and so
many pounds of nitrogen, and perhaps so
many pounds of potash; let him make bar
gain for these quantities, as he would for so
many bushels of oats or tons of hay, and get
them in equally soluble forms where they
will cost the least money. Let him make
use of the experiment station of his State,
or of any other means accessible to him, to
verify by chemical analysis the composition
of the fertilizers he finally buys; let him set
out on his course of experiments with the
settled purpose that not till after having con-
tinued ii through at least three seasons of
average weather will his accumulated re-
suits yield sufficient material for safe guild
ance as to future action. Then he win have
learned whether it will pay for him to buy
phosphorc acid, nitrogen or potash for hie
soils, and he will have learned how and
where to buy these plant nutrients most adj
vantageously in case he finds it to be profit
able for him to continue their use; and be
will have learned that the only testimonials
in regard to brands of fertilizers that have
any real value are those of the chemist who
certifies that they contain such and such
proportions of the plant nutrient that he
requires.-Dr. Caldwell In New York Trib-
une.