Smyrna times., 1891-11-25
Experiments with Fertilizers.
WHAT THE GOVERNMENT STATIONS
ARE DOING FOR THE FARMER.


Farmers in the older states are
spending millions of dollars annually
for commercial fertilizers. In this
country, as in Europe, they have
become an absolute necessity on worn
out soils but to make them profitable
it is necessary that they should fit the
wants of the soil and crops for which
they are used. If 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 land fails to furnish.
In order to enable farmers to find
out the wants of their own soil and the
best way of supplying them, and at the
same time to get light upon the diff
erent properties of soils in different
sections of the country, a number of
experiment stations are introducing
soil tests with fertilizers, which are
largely conducted both by the expert
ment stations and also by individual
farmers on their own farms. OF course
many Of the experiments are failures,
but many practical 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.
! 1iHnrant 6aE -
different soils. The best way to learn
what materials are proper in any given
case is by observation and experiment.
The rational method for determining
what ingredients of plant food 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 different
fertilizing materials, and get the an
swer 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 resources of the
soil and of the manure produced on
the farm, and to depend upon artificial
resources only to furnish what more is
needed. 1t is not good economy to
pay high prices for material which the
soil itself may yield, but it is good
economy to supply the lacking ones in
the cheapest way.
Probably the most valuable practical
work that these experiment stations
have done is to analyze the various
commercial fertilizers which are off
cred for sale by manufacturers. In
some of the states, New Jersey, for in
stance, the fertilizers are analysed and
the qualities of chemicals found in each
sample compared with what the man.
ufacturer claimed that the compost
ton contained. So as to make this
perfectly plain, the money value Of
the chemicals 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 have a value of $28 another
selling at $40 per ton, would be found
to be worth only SIS; and in one in
stance l recall the manufactures
charged $43 ton for his complete fer
tilizer and the chemist found 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 advertised
standard. When there is more uni
versal education among the farmers, il
: will only be necessary to express the
value of fertilizers in chemical terms
We have the authority of the United
. States Agricultural Department. that in
the states where chemical terms have
; long been established, the farmers
need nothing more than these chemi-
cal terms to guide them in selecting
the special fertilizers needed in given
cases.. g. Speed in Harper's Weekly