Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1896-06-17
Notes From the Agricultural College.
COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS.
(By f. w. VOL, Assistant Chemist.)

L ldSU year dllu uOW SONSILS VIC SdlS
of commercial fertilizers in this state.
The law provides that manufacturers
and dealers in commercial fertilizers
Of any kind, the price Of which ex-
ceeds $1,000 per ton, shall give a
statement on each package or bag
sold, of the quantity of valuable fertil-
izing ingredients contained in the fer
tilizer, and shall also take out a license
for the sale OF goods in the state.
The passage Of the law places Wiscon-
sin in line with older settled states
in the Union, which have had similar
fertilizer laws in force for a nu mber
of years. The purpose of thela is to
protect both farmers and reputable
dealers in fertilizing materials against
deception and swindling. We have
had examples from near home of
possible fraud in the fertilizer trade;
q carload of a so-called commercial
fertilizer was sold in the city Of Mad
ison to a dealer few years ago; it
was found on analysis that the ma
terial, which had been contracted for
at good price, and for which heavy
freight bill had been paid, did not
even contain as much fertility as
would be found in a similar weight Of
soil from an ordinary field.
Again, a short time since a Wiscon-
sin farmer bought quantity of Pc
ruvlan guaEO from a Chicago firm,
paying At therate of $1,000 a ton for
1t; the fertilizer was anal yzed In the
laboratory OF our Experiment station
and was found to be somewhat lower
| In fertilizing ingredients than guaran-
teed; this, however, was less import
ant than the fact. that the sane fer
tilizing ingredients bought at retail in
the form OF crude materials would
cost ABOUT $1,000 ton, i.e., there
was an Overcharge of nearly 100 per
cent. for the material called Peruvian
guanO, which was not guano at all
and had never seen Peru, but was a
phosphate rock ground up fine.
The need Of protection both to farm
ers and to dealers who manufacture
and handle honest goods is therefore
evident, and this Is what our state
fertilizer law offers. There are now
twenty-eight states IN the Union on
whose statute books fertilizer laws
Will U6 10 una.
THE TRADE IN COMMERCIAL FERTILE
ERS.
In some of the state, especially in
the east and south, the trade in COM
merclal fertilizers Is enormous; the
small state OF Connecticut alone, only
one-twelfth as large as Wisconsin.
expends 100000 every year for fer
tlllzers. The farmers, fruit growers
and market gardeners of New York
pay out the sum of $o,O0O,000 an
nually for fertilizers, while the fertil-
izers sold in Pennsylvania each wear
are worth S4,OOO,OOO, and other
eastern states In proportion. Coming
nearer home we have statistics from
Indiana showing an aggregate annual
sale OF fertilizers amounting to over
one million dollars. 1t is estimated
that over $4O,OOO,OOO worth oil COM
mercial fertilizers are sold annually
In the United States.
Commercial fertilizers have been so
far sold only IN limited quantities in
this state, the market gardeners, flor
lists and dollhouse growers being
about the only ones who have used
them. Our farmers have had the ben
eft of rich virgin soils in which fer
tlllty has been stored up during CEN
turtles, anu while the decrease in Yields
from the time the settlers first broke
the sod III many cases Is very marked,
The supply of fertilizing ingredients in
the soil is still often sufficient for the
production OF fair crops.
II
bandry, in which the fertilizing ma
terials vOlded In the excreta of farm
animals are carefully saved and put
back on the land, is not as exhaustive
OF the soil fertility as grain farming.
Large quantities of food stuffs are
furthermore annually brought into
the state for the feeding of our dairy
COWS and other farm amin ais. The
fertility contained in purchased foods
goes largely into the manure Of the
ANIMALS and IS put back on the land :,
thus maintaining this in Il good state
Of fertility.
ADVANTAGE OF DAIRY OR STOCK FARM
ING.
The dairy farmer OF stock raiser
who carefully saves the manure of the
farm animals will therefore be able to
keep up the fertility of his land for a
long time without purchasing artific-
lal fertilizers, provided the land is
not too poor to start with; but the
farmer practiclng intensive farming
who sells large crops Off his land, or
who follows special system offarm-
ing that exhausts the fertility of the
soil In single direction, needs to
apply special fertilizers in order to
maintain the productive capacity of
his land.
In future years our farmers will
doubtless come to depend more and
more on commercial fertilizers for the
maintenance of the fertility OF their
land. 1t is well for us that we can
draw benefit from the experience
and knowledge gained by eastern
farmers along this line. Our farmers
are encouraged to use artificial ferti-
llzers on their land, but they NAV
properly be cautioned against MAX
ing heavy purchases before they have
satisfied themselves by field trials on
a small scale that their land will be
benefited bV the anplio ation Those