St. Landry democrat., 1889-03-09
Fertilizers in the South.

OF the natural results of the radical
change in the system of labor at the South,
from slave to free labor, has been the
more careful attention paid to scientific
farming. Breaking up of large land hold
ings into small farms has had great deal
to do with the introduction of improved
methods. Working the soil over year after
year soon exbausts it unless it is sustained
by artificial fertilization and small farms
are necessarily taxed to their fullest ca
pacitv to meet the wants of their owners
Among the means that have been found
essential in successful farming is the judi
cious use of manufactured fertilizers,
adapted to the soil and the requirements
of the crop raised. We know of no two
States that have done more in this respect
than Georgia and South Carolina, in pass
ing laws looking toward promoting the
agricultural interests of their people, and
protecting them from frauds and deceits
that designing tradesmen might practice
upon them. In Georgia-and we refer to
this State because we are more familiar
with it-every brand and lot of fertilizer
has to be submitted to inspection by a
competent person appointed by the State
because of his special fitness, before it is
allowed to pass iuto the hands of the con
sumner. There are six inspectors in the
State, stationed at the principal centres of
trade, and they are busily employed in
executing the laws effecting fertilizers, in
their Inspection and analysis, during eight
months of the year. or from October to
June. The vigilance that is exerted by
these officials is of immense advantage to
the planter, by assuring him a purer and
higher standard of fertilizer That all
shall not depend on the inspectors, there
is appointed an experienced and skillful
chemist who acts in connection with them
in the thorough analysis of the products.
The amount of fertilizers that is inspected
yearly is increasing, though the increase
has been slow within the last four years
The number of tons that was inspected
for the season of 1884 was Isl $40,
while the average for the preceding ten
years was 1O3, 495 tons The State is
benefited by this system of inspection, as
every ton that is examined is subject to
charge of fifty cents, which brought into
the treasury for the last year net income
of $62 1873. and for the last seven seasons
$343, 1913. The employment Of fertilizers
is not haphazard game by any means it
is as subservient to scientific treatment as
anything can well be that is connected
with agricultural pursuits. A fertilizer
that is adapted to one soil is not, as a mat
ter of course, suited to another, and it
would be contrary to ordinary common
sense for farmer to fertilize his land
without knowing the composition of his
soil Or that of the fertilizer he may use.
At the principal fertilizer works there is
competent chemist in charge, whose duty
it is to analyze the samples of soil that are
sent to him, and prepare formulas for
proper mixtures suitable to the soil and
the wants of the vegetation that is to be
cultivated and we are able to bear wit
ness to the great care that is practiced in
making the mixtures, in that the ingre-
dients shall preserve their proper proper
ton. These remarks bear with special
force on the cotton cultivation of the
South and the only way now open to the
cotton planter to make his yields of suffi-
cient quantity to be remunerative, is to
freely and judiciously use approved arti-
fetal fertilizers.-Boston Journal Of Com
naerce.