Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1893-04-26
A Bag Of Fertilizer.
What Ii Is. How II Is Made.
The Largest Factory in the World
Visited.
What Is A Bag of Fertilizer?
Rural New Yorker, March II and 49,

Many a farmer has asked that question
of himself. The bag contains 200 pounds
of dark -coloIed substance with pecul-
lar feel and smell. BY examining it close
many different substances. We see, too,
that some brands are sticky and greasy
while others are dry and powdery. When
we take a handful of some kinds, 1T sticks
in mass almost like putty or clay, while
others will not mold at all. But where
does the fertilizer come from? How is ii
put together? Why and how is it "good"
or ''poor?" These and similar questions
are asked by farmers. In order that !
might talk intelligently about the making
of fertilizer, l recently visited the great
works of the Bradley Fertilizer Co., at
North Weymouth, Mass. There saw the
whole process from the pulverizing of the
crude material to the making of the bag
that was to hold the finished product. In
this article, do not want to say a word
about chemistry il can help it. Lots OF
farmers who use fertilizers keep asking
me, "W hat is a nitrate, sulphate or phos-
phate?n and s'What is ammonia anyway"
want to try to give these men a little
clearer idea of what fertilizers really are.
For this reason shall use only words and
comparisons that all can readily under
stand. A fertilizer factory might be com
pared to we'll ordered kitchen. The for
mer prepares food for plants while the lat
ter turns out meals for human beings.
We may compare the making of a bag OF
fertilizer to the mixing, cooking and
serving OF pumpkin pie.
Why Buy Useless STUFF In Fertilizers?
Suppose your fertilizer has this analysis
printed on The bag:
.sl-aper cent nitrogen.
10 phosphoric acid.
potash.
Uhfc ropracaute iacc fha n nor rent nj
the whole weight. You buy less than 40
pounds of these three substances in bag
Of 200 pounds, and over 100 pounds OF 9TH
er materials that are not considered val
liable enough to talk about. You natu-
rally ask, "Why do have to pay for the
handling and bagging OF 160 pounds OF
stuff? Why can't / get the 40 pounds
pure?" Perhaps you think the fertilizer
maker has cheated you by putting in
worthless caller" in order to make weight.
A little thought willlshow you how i'm
possible 1t is to obtain pure nitrogen, pot
ash or phospeoric acid. A visit to ferti-
lizer factory will convince you that max
er who has any regard for his reputation
cannot afford to give you unnecessary
s'stuff." II he consults his own interests,
he win give you as little as possible.
Nature Deals IN Combinations.
Take coffee as a simple illustration. You
put tablespoonful OF ground coffee into
pot and boil it with water enough to fill a
cup. The grounds, or the portion left
after the s'coffeeu is all boiled out, weigh
almost as much as The original tablespoon
full. The real ''coffee'' represents but tiny
fraction OF the weight OF what you buyl
Why not take the coffee in your mouth
and chew II? You would get just as much
s'coffee'' as you do by drinking a cup of
bot water with it. Take milk you drink
SIS parts OF water to obtain IS parts of sol
ids. Drive off all the water and leave butt
ter or cheese. Butter is the only substance
you eat that is not largely mixed with wa
ter or something to give it bulk. For this
reason, you can eat but little butter. Your
beefsteak Is about so per cent water. A
spoonful of condensed beef extract would
give you all the nourishment there is in
pound OF steak, but il would not satisfy
you. The potatoes you sell are 20 per cent
water. What sort of job would you have
digging and selling them il the water
were all squeezed out and they were left
only one fourth of their present size? You
don't object to paying good price for
hay. although you know your horse does
not digest nor make use of half the bulk
you feed him.
Now Nature has wisely made bulk nee
essary feature of all salable things. Good
foods for men or plants have Just enough
loosely that the feeding organs cail. make
immediate use of it, and yet so securely
that it will not be lost. Extra bulk above
that point of safely holding the nutri-
ment is useless and expensive thing to
handle and transport. Pure "coffeen is too
strong to be taken into the mouth and
would evaporate and escape il left to it.
self. Therefore large amount of other
wise useless matter is packed with it and
we have the coffee berry. This holds it
until grinding and hot water take out the
part we need and leave the grounds" !"
which were useful only as frame or bulk.
The same with potatoes. The water added
to the solids makes form and bulk so that
the tubers can be easily handled and eat
en-.
Nitrogen, for example, is a deadly poi
son in its pure state. 1t is very difficult
to hold it except in combination with 9TH
er substances. Pure nitrogen for the
farmer is an impossibility-it is gas and
would not stay in a fertilizer bag any
more than steam would stay in an ice
house. AS the steam, changed to ice, is
kept securely, so the nitrogen, mixed and
held by other substances, takes a definite
form and can be handled and used. Take
what is called nitrate OF Soda W bite sub
stance looking somewhat like coarse
salt. We are obliged to handle 100 pounds
of nitrate to get 16 pounds of nitrogen;
the other S4 pounds represent the soda
and other things that are needed to hold
the nitrogen in that particular form-just
exactly as the 45 pounds of water are need
ed to give shape and size to the 10 pounds
of dry matter in bushel OF potatoes. The
same with phosphorus or potash. II you
want to see why you cannot handle phos-
phorus, touch an old fashioned match
just after you light it, before the wood
burns. 1t viii fairly eat the flesh off your
fingers. Plants cannot eat phosphorus
until it is combined with another elemen-
tary substance, oxygen, forming what is
called phosphoric acid. In 100 pounds of
ground bone, for example, there may be
% pounds of phosphoric acid, and we must
handle the IS extra pounds in order to hold
the Is pounds securely. Thus we see why
we cannot get our 30 pounds of pure plant
food without the 100 pounds needed to
hold and retain the 40. The manufacturer
never gets any pay for the 100 pounds.
The Government chemist allows his val
ues only on the 40 pounds of nitrogen,
potash and phosphoric acid. Any one can
see that the manufacturer can have no OBJ
iect in handling lot Of "stuff'' for which