St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1896-04-04
FARMER AND PLANTER.
ABOUT FERTILIZERS.

tAKMEk ANDPLANIEk.
ABOUT FERTILIZERS.
4 Few Hiats to fsrmers who Ars Con.
pelled to Uss the Coacentrated Fertilissrs
Of Commerce.
a western correspondent writes:
"Will you please tell MS about the max
ing Of concentrated fertilizers at home?
Can we make fertilizers out of mate
rails we can get from the drug stores?"
II our friend depends on the drug
stores for the materials to make his
fertilizers, he had better buy them al
ready mixed. Drug stores do not ham
die these things in sufficient quantity
to enable you to buy in large quantities
at reasonable prices, and you DO not
want them in the con centrated form
that some Of these matters are sold IN
the drug stores. There is no doubt
but that farmers can save . great
deal of money in the purchase OF
fertilizers by buying the materials
on the market and mixing them in the
proportion that they may desire for
various crops. The fertilizer manu-
facturers will tell you that. with their
improved machinery, they can mix the
fertilizers more cheaply than you can,
but they do not give you tho advan-
tage of their cheap mixing. They will
charge you moro for the mixing than
you can mix them for yourself. It has
been found that the elements Of plant
food most generally lacking in soils
that have long been cultivated In farm
crops are nitrogen. phosphorus and
potash. While there are other things
essential to plant growth, it is found
that all of our cultivated soils have
enough of these things for all purposes
of plant food. Lime, for instance,
is essential to the growth Of
plants, but almost any arabic soil con-
tains plenty Of lime for all the purpo-
ses of plant food direct, and yet we
find that it is useful at times to add
some fresh limo to act rs q reagent,
that is, to make some other things like
the nitrogen available for plant food,
and for improving the mechanical con-
dition OF our soil. But while time is .
useful thing in soil that is properly
cultivated in a rotation with peas and
clover, and has q store of vegetable
matter in it for the lime to act upon,
lime is not a fertilizer In the sense that
it can be used on a dead poor soil to
encourage the growth of plants. The
true fertilizing agents needed are
combinations in which nitro
gen. phosphorus and potash are
found in a shape in which plants
can make use of them. If you have
read the former articles In this series
you will notice that for the general
farm crops l have not recommended
the use of nitrogen. This is because
we can by means of growing COW peas
and clover get our nitrogen from the
air in sufficient amount for most farm
crops. Until we have stored in our soil
considerable amounts Of decayed vege-
table matter by the use of these crops
it may pay to use some nitrogen. But
we should as rapidly rs possible get
our soil into condition to save
this expense, for the nitrogen in
. fertilizer is by far the most
expensive part Of it, costing three
times what the potash costs. We
can get nitrogen by the use of
cotton-seed meal, in which it is found,
in the form Of ammonia to the extent
of about seven per cent. We can also
get it in the dried blood from the large
slaughtcrhouses.f from the dried scrap
from the fish oil works, and in the form
Of nitrate of soda, which has Is per
cent. of nitrogen. This last form gives
us the nitrogen in the most readily
available form for the use of plants.
But it is well to have in our fertilizer
at the same time some Of the organic
ammonia like that in cotton-seed meal,
as it lasts longer in the soil. The best
form in which we can get the phos-
phOrous is in the shape Of
dissolved phosphate rock, known
rs acid phosphate, in which
the phosphorus is found as phosphoric
acid. This is made in large quantities
in South Carolina and elsewhere. The
best form in which we get potash is in
the various salts Of potash that are i'm
ported from Germany. 1t is best to- get
these in the concentrated form of
muriate and sulphate Of potash, rather
than freight lot of heavy salt that is
of no use in the crude article. All
these fertilizer ingredients you can get
by the ton from dealers in fertilizers
in all the large Atlantic cities and else
where. The prices vary according to
the distance inland for the acid phos-
phatc and potash salts and nitrate Of
soda, rs all are either made on the sea-
board or imported from abroad. BY
purchasing these ingredients separately
and mixing them at home. you can
make q ton of fertilizer, containing
the three elements In due proportion
rs desired for various crops, for from
five dollars to ten dollars less per ton
than the manufacturers will sell it to
you, and you will know just what
you have. In almost all the manufac-
tured brands of fertilizers on the mar
ket there is an excess of nitrogen rs
compared with the percentage, of pot
ash they contain, SO that for special
fertilizers for garden crops, which need
high percentage of potash, you will be
obliged to mix for yourself if you want
to get the proper amount of potash. A
good, complete fertilizer-that is, one
that contains all the three desirable
elements of plant food-can be made rs
follows:
ESQ lbs. nitrate of soda.
$50 lbs cottonseed meal.
800 lbs. acid phosphate.
800 lbs. muriate of potash,
Making 4 ton that will cost at the
seeboard about Se3.00 for the ingredi-
ents. Leave out the nitrate of soda
and the cottonseed meal from this, and
you have = perfect manure for the en-
couragement of the pea and clover