St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1891-10-22

What the Government Stations are Do
ing for the Farmers.

What the Government Stations are Do
ing for the Farmers.
Farmers in the older states are
spending millions of dollars annually
for commercial fertilizers. In this
country, as in Europe, they have be-
come an absolute necessity on worn
out soils: but to make them profit
able it is necessary that they should
fit the wants of the soil and crops
for which they are used. Ii farmer
buys potash for land which abounds
in potash but needs phosphoric acid,
he of course loses. The fundamental
principle in the use of commercial
fertilizers is to select those materials
which supply in the best forms and
at the lowest cost the plant food
which the crop needs and the soil
fails to furnish.
In order to enable farmers to find
out the wants of their own soils and
the best way of supplying them, and
at the same time to get light upon
the properties Of soil in different sec
tons of the country, a number of eX-
pertinent stations are introducing
soil tests with fertilizers, which are
largely conducted both by the sta
tions and also by individual farmers
on their own farms. Of course many
of the experiments are failures, but
many pi actical men who have en-
gagged in this work have declared
that they have thus learned a great
deal which is practically useful and
highly instructive.
The results of these tests in general
show that soils vary greatly in
their capabilities of supplying food
to crops. Different ingredients are
deficient in different soils. The best
way to learn what materials are
proper in any given case is by OBJ
servation and experiment. The
rational method for determining
what ingredients of plant food a soil
fails to furnish in abundance, and
how these unfinished materials can
be most economically supplied, is to
put the question to the soil with diff
terent fertilizing materials, and get
the reply in the crops produced.
The chief use of fertilizers is to supply
plant food. 1t is good farming to
make the most of the natural re-
produced on the farm, and to depend
upon artificial fertilizers only to fur
niSh what more is needed. 1t is not
good economy to pay high prices for
materials which the soil itself may
yield, but it is good economy to sup
ply the lacking ones in the cheapest
way"
Probably the most valuable practi-
cal work that these experiment sta
tions have done has been to analyze
these various commercial fertilizers
which are offered for sale by manu-
facturers. In some of the states, in
New Jersey, for instance, the fertilizers
are analyzed, and the qualities of
chemicals found in each sample COM
pared with what the manufacturer
claimed that the composition con-
tanned. So as to make this perfectly
plain, the money value of the chemical
found in each sample is noted, and
compared with the price charged by
the manufacturer. Some startling
results have been shown. One
fertilizer selling, say, at $25 per ton
would be found to have value of
$2S; another selling a $40 ton,
would be found to be worth only
SIS; and in one instance l recall the
manufacturer charged S43 ton for
his complete fertilizer. and the chemist
found that its actual value was only
$3.50 Bulletins like these have
certainly done great good, for they
have warned farmers from buying
inferior chemicals, and they have
compelled manufacturers to keep
their compositions up to the adj
vertised standard. When there is