The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1889-06-26
Does 1t Pay to Use Commercial
Fertilizers

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The following essay was read by farm
er \. Il. Critchtield, Of Somerset County
Pennsylvania, before the meeting Of th'
State Board Of Agriculture, at Brook
vile, Jefferson County, on June l3
1889:
Does ii pay to use Commercial Fertil
izers?
not only doubt my ability, but fee
confident that shall not be able to an
swer the question proposed in the subjeer
assigned me to the satisfaction of all
For anything know, there may be those
here whose lands need no other fertiliz
ers than such as they themselves can
produce in the way Of barnyard manure
lime and such other fertiIizing substan-
ces as the careful and economical farmer
is able to collect about his own premises
and put in proper condition for appllca-
ton to his soil. If such be the case, GER
tainly it woald be bad policy TO lay out
money for what, by strict economy. they
may produce at home In politics this
would not be sound Republican doctrine,
and for this reason, if for DO other, |
would oppose it. Certainly no one is JUS
tifiable, no matter what may be the con
/ dition of his soil in laying out money for
manures Of any kind, until he has made
the fullest reqnisition upon barn yard,
pig pen, poultry houses and every other
quarter of his premises from which he
may reasonably hope to receive any help.
But know there are some Of US whose
lands if they are to be placed and kept
under cultivation at all, call imperatiyely
for the application of more fertilizing
substances than we can supply at home,
and the questions to be determined in
reaching correct solution of the prob
lem am to solve so far as we are con
cerned, are
First What are these substances or
elements that onr soil needs
Second How can they be obtained ?
and
Third How viii their cost compare
with the amount Of benefit we may hope
TO derive from them?
To answer the first question requires
such a knowledge of both chemistry and
botany as. an ordinary farmer, like the
writer, can not be expected to possess.
Even the very best chemists find it ex-
ceedinely difficult, by taking samples Of
various soils into the laboratory for anal
ysis, TO determine just what elements Of
plant food they lack, but by careful
analysis Of the products of the soil or, if
you please, by an analysis of the soil, by
analyzing the different classes of yegeta-
bles and plants it produces, the facts that
we as farmers need to know, have been
determined for US by scientific men.
From these fects that come to US, "eut
and dried" and ready to be applied to
practical use, we learn that very large
per cent, more than rine-tenths of all
the elements necessary TO all vegetable
life or plant growth, Nature has provided
in the greatest abundance in the air.
These elements supplied by the air are
what are called the organic elements of
plants, and consist of carbon, oxygen,
hydrogen and nitrogen. Carbon exists in
great abundance, and in the form in
which it is needed to promote the growth
of vegetation, namely, carbonic acid gas,
the atmosphere is abundantly supplied
with it from the decomposition that is
continually going or of animal as well
as vegetable matter. Indeed all living
animals, the human race included, are
constantly making their contributions to
this supply by the chemical process that
takes place in the lungs at every inhaIa-
ton of air. by which the oxygen needed
to purify the blood and fit it up for the
purposes of animal life, is taken from the
air, and the earbonic acid gas resulting
from the operation is thrown off by ex-
halation to again mingle with the at
mosphere. Oxygen, the second Of the
organic elements, is one of the simple
gasses. 1t is abundant in nature. being
found in all animal as well as vegetable
bodies, comprising about 80 per cent. or
one-half of their weight, so that although
it is one of the most important, if not he
most important element in all vegetable
growth, We need give ourselves no con-
cern about the supply. 1t is here in the
greatest abundance and in such form that
it can be taken up ond utilized by our
growing crops just as it is needed.
Hydrogen, the third of the organic e.
ements, is another of the simple gasses
of which nature hls also provided an
abundant supply, and in such form as to
be available. 1t comprises a little more
than 10 per cent, OF one-tenth of water,
and is supplied by dew, rain, snow, and
every form of moisture absorbed by the
earth.
Nitrogen, the last Lamed of the organic
elements, is also abundant in the atmos-
phere, making up more than three
fourths of its bulk or weight, but unlike
the other organic elements, a sufficient
amount of it is not, in its simple state,
available for the support of vegetation
In combination with some of the inor-
ganic elements, it forms the nitrates or
salts that are, in some countries, largely
used in the composition of commercial
fertilizers, such as nitrate Of soda, nitrate
of potash, &c Why it is, that ike the
other inorganic elements, it can not be
taken up by growing vegetation in the
quantities necessary, scientists have thus
far been unable 10 discover. When this
discovery is made and the means ascer-
tanned by which nature can be prompted
to the accomplishment of this great
work, it will be the realization of the
aIchemists dream. not simply the conyer-
sion Of metals, but Of air into gold. Until
such discovery IS made, we must resort to
such methods as are known for the sup
ply Of this indispensable element.
The inorganic elements of plants are
greater in. number than the organic, al
though they do not form nearly 50 large
part of the plant food necessary to the
production of any given crop. Perhaps
altogether they do not comprise more
than one-twentieth part of the plants
grown in our climate. But while the per
cent. Of these elements combined found
in the plant is comparatively 50 small,
their nresenca ,s inst az indisnensahIe 10