The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1897-05-04
I'm L. Read in Practical Fa mcr.

sary for Crops as for Farm Ami
mails
John f. Read in Practical Fa mer.
If crops are to be grown, food must
be supplied for their nOurishment A
plant can no more live without food
than can an animal. And if it is to be
profitable to the grower there must be
rs wise an adoption of the food to the
wants OF the plant as there is in the
| case of the animal. The food must
be sufficient in quantity, suitable in
quality, and must be supplied when
| needed.
TOO many crops are not given the
food that is needed for their perfect
development. TO large extent they
are left to forage for themselves. This,
too, in great many cases, by men who
are careful to feed their animals well.
These men believe that it pays to keep
good supply Of food for their animals.
| and keep IT where it can be obtained
with but little difficulty They do not
| make their animals work ali day to
get bare subsistence. Yet it would
| hardly be more unproiitablc to do this
than 1t is 20 fail to provide amp Q
stores Of food for their cultivated
plants 1t Is true that plants can OBJ
tain good deal OF food for thcmscl YES
| Ihey grow in waste places and un-
cultivated fields without help from
| man. But they do not attain anything
like the vig0r and development that
| they would nave if the conditions were
more favorable. The same is true
| though TO u less extent, OF the culti-
| waited plants that are supplied with
only small quantities Of food. Scanty
| feeding docs not bring the farmer
! either largo or profitable crops.
The quality Of food is as important
as is It's quantity. This is AS true of
| plants rs IL is of animals. Sometimes
crops are small upon land that rccciv-
cd considerable quantity Of fertilizer
ara that brand, and, perhaps, com
| mvrclal fertilizers in general, may be
condemned Dy the man who had thus
bt en- disappointed in the result Of his
Efforts to obtain "A large yield But
| the fault may not have been with the
| FERTILIZER. II Il man gives his animals
| food that is not at all suited to their
| wants he cannot expect good results to
| follow. But plants arc Just as partic-
ular about their food as are animals.
| No one would think Of keeping his
horses and his hogs on the same kind
Of food Yet LLere are men who will
| buy fertilizer for some special crop
and use it, not only for that crop, but
Tor several 'Othcr crops. The mixture
may have been tie best that could
have been made for the crop for which
1T was recommended, and yet have
been OF comparatively little use for
some OF the other crops upon which it
was used For these crops there may
have been great deficiency Of one OF
the elements needed to make a suit
able fertilizer and an excess OF other
| elements. But the excess Of the latter
cannot atone for the deficiency of the
| former. The old rule in natural philo-
SONNY holds good here "A chain is
no stronger than it weakest link" IT.
is not the average quantity OF the
needed elements that determines the
value Of a fertilizer, but the smallc t
quantity OF any one of the more i'm
| purtant kinds. The quantity of fcrti-
| Zcr, such as it Is, may be large. and
there may be great deal more nitro
| gen and phOsphoric acid than is
needed, and yet the plants may be
half starved because of q lack OF potash.
Or, there may &c an abund nee Of
potash and deficiency OF some of the
other elements, in which case the re-
suit will be equally unsatisfactory.
With the plants, as with the animal ,
If the food is to be properly utilized it
IL
docs not answer to keep an animal on
short ratoDs during the early period
OF It's existence and feed it heavily
after it has become stuntel by lack OF
sufficient food. Neither will it do TO
feed well at some times and give but
! little food iat other periods. Lihera
| feeding must be constant il it is to be
successful. The same rule applies
to plants. II tho best results are TO be
secul ed the plants must he amply sup
they require, and that supply must be
maintained from the time the seed
germinates until the proper stage for
harvesting has been reached. 1t is
right at this point that many failures
are made. Often manure is applied
just before the seed is put into the
! ground. Perhaps it is used in suf-
fcicnt quantity to make q fine crop,
but it takes some time for mucn of it
to become available and so the plant
does not get sufficient quantity of
food during one OF the critical times OF
its life. If a little fertilizer had been
used to give the plants start, the
manure would have carried them out
In vigorous growth. Not infre-
quently the trouble comes at the other
end Of the line. The supply Of availa-
bic food materials is so nearly exhaust.
ed before the plants are mature that
they are not nearly as prol iic as they
otherwise would have been. The crop
such case, Is small, because at q
certain period, and perhaps brieI
one, the supply Of food for the plants
was inadequate.