St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1897-02-13
FARMER AND PLANTER.
noME-M,xED FERTILIZERS

More Economical aad Satlsfactoey Than
Those Bought Ready Mixed.
As many farmers find It necessary to
use fertilizers in grain and tobacco
& rowing desire to suggest that it will
be great saving if they will mix their
own fertilizers instead of buying those
already prepa red, a. is the usual GUS
tom. have done my own mixing for
the last two yeare. and know it pays
me. and for this reason recommend
it to others. I use from Is to 20 tons
Of fertilizer every year, and have saved
by home mixing from i've to seven
dollars per ton on what j use.
There is no great amount Of scien-
ti6c knowledge necessary to mix fer
tilizers successfully. rs most agents
and manu- features would mako you be-
lieve, nor is it necessary to have IN
expensive mixing machine to do the
work. You want to know in the first
place that acme sort of . soluble or
available fertilizer is best for produc-
ing paying crops Raw bone and tank
age unacidulated act too slowly to
give best results- want something
more prompt Even for the orchard /
use and would recommend . quick act
ing fertilizer -
To supply the phosphoric acid neces-
sary to make any good fertilizer l
would always use aciduiated phOs-
phate rock. 1t is to be hoped that the
recent find in Tennessee Of very rich
deposits Of this rock may cheaper this
product. NJ believe it will. There II
no doubt but what fertilizers are too
dear in comparison with present prices
for which most grains are selling.
Acid phosphate is the name applied to
this rock goods. got 1t 1t SIS per
ton last season, IN article that was
guaranteed to contain from Is to II
per cent of available phosphate acid.
IT tho farmer can procure wood
ashes from mills or lime kilns, it Is
the cheapest form in which to buy
potash. Ashes can always be bought
for much less than they are worth as
. fertilizer in most parts Of the coun-
try. II the ashes are not to be had,
use murate of potash for grains, sui
phate of potash for potatoes and to-
meal or calculated tankage. l have
used the meal, rs could get what I
wanted in it cheaper than it could be
had in the tankages The above are
the cheapest and best sources from
which to procure the necessary
materials to make any fertilizer con.
tanning the three necessary ingredi-
ents, phosphoric acid. potash aud am
monia. These arc the materials most
used by regular fertilizer manufac-
turers.
Now for tho mixing. For corn. wheat
or oats use 1850 pounds of the acid
phosphate, 400 pounds of tankage or
cotton seed meal and 100 pounds of
potash to make up . ton of fertilizer
For potatoes or tobacco use more pot
ash and less phosphate. Some lands
may need more potash or ammonia
than prescribed above for growing
grain, but every farmer should know
enough about fertilizers, il he has
been using them for any length of
time. to know about what per cent. oil
the above Ingredients he needs. and
mix accordingly.
Tho mixing is very quickly and east
~ done by cleaning of tho barn floor
and dumping our acid phosphate, pot
ash and tankage or cotton-seed meal
In . heap, and then mix with shovel.
One man will mix ton and resack it
easily in IN hour. Do your mixing as
you need to hse the fertilizer.
l carefully :calcylated the cost of
what fertilizer l used the past season
and found that upon my own mixture
! saved six dollars per ton by home
mixing. and eight dollars per ton on
potato grower. EvSFy; farmer who
uses any amount Of fertilizer will find
that it will pay himbig to do his own
mi1ing;-w. ". steveps, in Farmers