The Osceola times., 1886-09-25
ARTIFICIAL MANURES.
How 20 Improve the Condition oi h""'
and to Restore its feruity'

which puts the farmer in position TO pro-
vide his fields with more liberal dress
ing than he is able to give them from
his own supply of home-produccd
natural manure.
Whoever seeks to arrive quickly at
This state of cultivation must make eN'
tensiye use of those auxiliary or artiii-
cial manures that are now offered HIM
by commerce. ,.l
As long as these powerful agents for
increasing the productiyeness OF land
were unknown, an advantageous alter
nation of crops was indeed the only
means of insuring large yield from the
farm. and this leads slowly yet surely
IN the results; now. on the contrary, 1t
j. in the farmers power, by buying adj
ditioral manures, to attain his OBJECT
with far greater rapidity. The more eX-
tended employment ofartllical manures
is an advance in farming that has
already opened up a new era. by TINS
/ means the business of a farmer Is be-
| coming more closely approNlmated than
| formerly to that of a manufacturers lot
| while formerly our farming arrange
ments were conducted in the manner
| which the quantity of manure produced
ON the farm itself prescribed, we are
now free to cultivate, as may seem most
profitable. every plant which is adapted
| to the soil. Yes, still more; we can
nroduce. as il were, with single effort,
| inc baryests from worn-Out and poorly
| manured land: we can, in such case,
secure in two or three years the same
results for which formerly ten or twelve
wears were required. The farmer should
avail himself of artificial manures; (l)
! Torender land more speedily productive
| ID, to improve quickly the CONDITION
oIor, ~lready much exhausted; t3) to
.ai,a m tho >. tile land TO the maximum
of nroductiyenos, in general attainaoie'
o. Or what is the same hing to make the
occupation Of farming H. ,,,,,I ~,
possible; (4) TO be able to con. ''''''T ro,a- S,,
interruptedly the most profitable of
ton of crops IN pccunlnry pOlnt
view; 90 to strengthen and rCnvig-
orate poor and backward sowingS, or
such ss have been hurt by the severity
of the winter; (6) to obtain in the
shortest possible time a more abundant
production of animal manure, The last
| observation will especially comfort those
farmers who have hitherto imagined
that artificial are about to supplant nat
| ural manures, a suppOsltlOn which Will
of course be seen TO be untenabie when
it is considered that the former, when
they have rendered proper service, will
| rather displace themselves and make
their employment uncalled for. For if,
by the agency of artificial manureS,
fields are speedily brought into q state
of greater productivcness, more straw
and fodder will also be produced, and
by their assistance the stock can be so
increased and the supply of natural
manure so enlarged that the use of arti-
fetal manure is no longer necessary.
Whoever is now contentcd with the har-
vest which a half-eXhauStcd or but par
italy manured field produces Surrenders
of his own free will the full income de-
rivable from his land. The farmer, it
is true, requires larger capital to carry
on his business than in the usual mode
of farming, but when the money which
he invests in the land is soon and surely
returned 10 him, with abundant interest.
il is then, indeed most advantageously
employed
How do these manureS produce their
effect? For what kind of soil and for
what kind of crop are they especially
adopted?
This is learned by reducing them ac-
curatcly into their separate constituents
and by subsequently comparing these
constituents with those of the plants to
which they are proposed to be applied
A. fertilIzing agents. In the cNc.cmcnt,
and urine of those domestic animal,
which produce the ordinary stall manure
the farmer finds all the elements united
that plants in cultivation require for
their nourishment; hence he rightly re-
CARDS them as a universal manure.
1t is otherwise with artificial manures,
whose constituents are extremely vari-
Gus, and in which are seldom found all
the substances necessary for the food OF
plants, but, as a general rule, only a
few individual ingredients.
Hence the farmer should not regard
them as representatives or substitute,
for stable manure, but rather as supple
mentary and accessory agents, by
/ which he is enabled to heighten and in
crease the power OF the latter
Every practical farmer is aware that
he can not supplant stall manure by
lime, gypsum, manuring salts, ashes
and the like, but may probably
strengthen its action; so. too, precisely
with most artificial manures; and il
must accordingly be of great impor-
tance to the farmer, if he does not wish
to make experiments at random, and
thereby sustain considerable loss. to
know beforehand the principal constit-
uents of the artificial manureS he pro-
poses to employ, in order that he NAV
be able to form a judgement, concern
ing its probable modes of operation.
knowledge is not only need
ed of the kind and quantity
of fertilizer required to be used
TO produce given results on a crop, but
the form, combination and mechanical
condition of artificial manurcs. rs well
as the materials of which they are com
posed. Without this rational system
of manuring is impossible
Present methods of analyzing fcrtili-
zers recognize only a portion of the
component parts of artificial fertilizers,
and the conclusions drawn are unccr-
tain, unreliable and of questionable
value, and the valuations founded on
these analyses are altogether false and
erroneous. In regard to nitrogen, the
most costly element in fertilizers. we
are not informed rs to the amount of
soluble or insoluble, but it is usually
stated as organic substatc, yielding
ammonia; but we are left in ignorance