The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-04-27
Use OF special Fertilizers.

There is so much land yet n'this coun-
try that is not Invested of its original fer
t.lity that whoever is obliged to rely
wholly on special and purchased man
ures cannot keep up against the COM
petition he is obliged to meet, says the
American Cultvator. With present low
prices of produce, exclusive reliance on
commercial fertilizers becomes too ex-
pensiVe for prott. Yet 1t Is found in
practice that on fairly good land there
is often a deficiency of some special plant
food which when it has been supplied
makes a good crop, where before l.ttIe or
nothing could be produced. Wherever this
is the fact the commercial fertilizers can
always be used at "a profit. Where
grain has long been grown phosphate and
potash will be, generally, the fertilizer
needed. For potatoes, potash alone, or
with a small proportion of nitrogen to
give the crop an early start will give the
| best results. For garden vegetables, nit
rogenous manures Will be manly required,
and these are supplied most cheaply in
stable manure, clover, and for use in carly
spring, nitrate OF soda.
great change has been made in popu-
lar ideas about manurfnS since the early
days We grow more grain and other
crops for sale, and keep less stock than
formerly, except near cities where COWS
are largely kept TO supply milk TO Gus
toners Hence there cannot be the same
mon thirty forty or more years ago. So
long as a large amount of stock was
the stable manure required to top dress
the compare lively few acres put under
cultivation. If the manure was also used
10 increase the clover growth this ma n
tanned soil fertility pretty We'll 1t was
slow farming, but as 1t involved little
outlay Of money, ii seemed and was COM
paratiVey safe. Few farmers failed in
those days except from impfovidence in
other respects. Their farms produced rea-
sOnably good crops, and as the manure
used cost nothing but their labor, what
the crops sold for could be used for
paying farm expenses and adding a little
yearly TO the bank account. There are
some farmers who occasionally wonder
why they cannot farm successfully on
the plans their fathers and grandfathers
pract.ced.
One reason undoubtedly is that the old
fashioned plans were really less success
full and profitable than they seemed. All
the time that stable manure was mainly
relied on there was continued wasting of
the mineral fertility OF the soil The effect
OF the stable manure and clover was to de-
compose in the soil the insoluble mineral
plant food that IL contained. 50 the def
cheney Of stable manure In phosphate and
In grain-grOwing districts IL was after n
while found that applications of stable
manure brought heavy grOwths OF straw
with poorly filled heads OF grain The
effect Of deficient available potash 10 stif-
fen a. But instead Of regarding II as the
effect most farmers considered rust the
cause Of the deficient heading and niling of
the grain IN truth, both the rust ana the
poorly filled grain were more the results on
deficient potash and phosphate supple
mentad where the stable manure was used
~ an excess q nitrogen % proportion 90
Yet h Is fact that on poor land heavy
draFsinFf ~ stable manure or nitrogen
supplied ~ clover may b. used with ads
vantage, provided enough mineral fcrii-