The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1895-11-19

Farmers are too ready to assume thai
low price per ton means cheap potash,
and hence when they want potash, and
see that kainit in the crude state is
offered at about one fourth the price of
the muriate and high grade sulphate,
that it is the cheaper form, not reflect
ing that the market price is based upon
the amount OF actual potash which the
article contains. AS the potash salts
are all imported from Germany. the
price at the seaboard is nearly uniform
for the potash contained in each. But
when the salts are shipped to the lnte
rior the cost of the potash in each form
rapidly changes by reason of freight
charges. It costs just as much to
freight ton of kainit, containing II
per cent. of potash, as it does to freight
ton of muriate or sulphate contain
ing so per cent. of potash. Any one
then can see that the potash in the
kainit rapidly becomes more costly
than that in the more concentrated
forms. But this increase in price is
ers especially should avoid the use of
the crude salts of potash. Kainit has
associatiated with it very large per
centage of the chloride of sodium (com
mon salt). If this is applied to the to
bacco crop it will result in serious dam
age to the market value of the leaf, as
it is we'll known that the chlorides are
injurious Co tobacco, particularly to
that which is to be burned. This will
be noticed to less extent when the
muriate is used, but the muriate is
still chloride, and to be safe the chic
rides should be entirely av, ided, and
potash should be applied to the tobacco
crop only in the shape of the sulphate.
There are two forms too of the sulphate,
one of which has about 80 per cent. of
potash, while the other or high grade
has so per cent. It is always matter
of economy to buy the high grade sui
phate, and if any one offers sulphate of
potash at particularly low price you
may be sure that it is the low grade,
and that if far in the interior the low
price is only apparent, and that the
actual potash costs more than in the
higher priced high grade. The most
complete fertilizer experiments on rec,
ord are those of the late Maj Ragland
for the Virginia station, and those
made at the N. O. station. In the Vir
ginia experiments it was found that the
form in which the nitrogen was applied
had as important a bearing upon the
profit Of the crop as the form of the
potash, and that the organic nitrogen
from dried blood gave by far the best
results. The greatest profit per acre
was where the soil was fertilized with
the following mixture per acre:
Dried blood 100 pounds.
Sulphate Of potash 12O pounds.
Acid phosphate ia pounds
This gave an increased value in the
crop over an unfertiIized plat of $50 62
per acre, while the actual cost of the
application was but $8 25. Where
nitrate of soda was used to the same
NaiU0 DIS Gu0 uEISu OlOOO DIS d SO4I 20 VI
nitrogen, the profit of the crop was
not more than two-thirds as much as
from the application of the dried blood,
showing that the sodium salts even
when not in the shape of chloride
may have an injurious effect, and re-
futing the notion that some are per
sistently advocating that soda can
take the place of potash in any of our
cultivated plants. The soda in the
nitrate did not help out the potash at
all, but really retarded it's effects when
it was applied in connection with it as
nitrate, possibly by checking the
nitrifcation of the organic nitrogen al
ready in the soil, while the ammonia
in the blood simply promoted the COM
plete nitrifcation of all at hand. In
the fertilization of the tobacco crop it
is important not only to avoid the chic
rides, but the chloride of sodium in
particular, and to use potash, which is
the most important element for this
crop, only in the form of high grade
sulphate. W. f. MASSEY