The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1889-01-23
one soil, than TO another:

3 prfa 'f Potato a1S..... Is 81 i 90 80
1t is easy to see that though they are
so close together in price these fertil-
izers are by no means all alike. They
have the same constituents, but these
vary greatly relatively to one another
The most noticeable difference is the
great increase in potash in the potato
fertilizers. 1t is only since the German
potash salts began to be imported that
potash has formed an important, or
more than an accidental, element in
commercial fertilizers. The potash in
these potato fertilizers goes in at the
expense of the nitrogen, or the phos-
phoric acid, or of both. Bradley shrinks
both nitrogen and phosphoric acid to
get in 1888 worth of potash. Bowker
shrinks the phosphoric acid only, but
gets in only 2.92 of potash. The Buff
falo shrinks both nitrogen and phos-
phoric acid to get in S377 of potash.
The Quinnipiac makes large shrink
age on phosphoric acid, increases its
nitrogen and shows about the same
potash as Bradley-S5.50. Williams
& Clark shrink almost as much on
phosphoric acid, and exceed all the
other potato specials in potash, show
ing valuation of $500 in that article
AS to this matter of potash for the po-
tato crop, especially on those light soils
otherwise well-suted to potatoes, but
nearly destitute of available potash,
we have, for ourself, preferred not to
buy the special potato fertilizers in
which nitrogen or phosphoric acid, or
both, have been scanted in order to get
in more potash, for the reason that so
long as good unleached hard wood ashes
can be had for fifty cents barrel we
think we can do better to use that. On
some of the heavier soils of the state,
where ashes do not seem to be needed,
it would also be we'll not to use those
special potato fertilizers, to the exclu-
sion of those that are richer in constitu-
ents other than potash.
But how about other crops? Well.
for small grains the average grades on
this list are probably best for heavy
and medium soils, taking those strongest
in nitrogen by preference. On lighter
soils, for small grains, we should take
the same if we could buy ashes; other
wise we would want more potash from
some other source. AS salt is usually a
help to these small grains, perhaps
potash might be best furnished to them
by the application of say 800 pounds of
kainit to the acre, this being mostly
salt, with about twelve per cent of
potash in it, or about twice as much
as good ashes contains. When it
comes to corn, we have crop that
on corn soil wants potash literally
and phosphoric acid even more literally,
but does not seem to need a great
quantity of nitrogen. There are a
good many experiments which seem to
have shown that the corn crop will not
pay for much nitrogen. If this is so,
then of course the right fertilizer for
corn might not be one of the more
costly brands, but one like Listers
Success, which would be a success on
corn probably sooner than on any other
crop, as it has, of nitrogen, only the
value of 1922, while it has $lS.96 of
phosphoric acid and Sl.49 of potash,
The Cumberland Superphosphate has
Sl9.5S of phosphoric acid; Bradley's
Sea Fowl, SHIT; Bradley's XL.
Stag; Cleveland's, Sl7.59; Bowker's
Hill and Drill, SIT SO; Bay State, Ssh;
Buffalo, SHIT; Bowker's Sure Crop,
S17.74. OF these, the two lower-grade
brands, Listers Success and Bowker's
Sure Crop, are probably as good for
corn as the higher-priced brands.
But now, before we stop, we want
every reader who intends to use these
commercial fertilizers, as well as all
those who will depend wholly upon q