Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1898-12-15
FARM ~
lS ~ ZIP
AZ asse AKPEN
SOIL FERTILITY.
Interesting Conclusions From Ell
periments with Fertilizers.

Interesting Conclusions From Ex-
periments With Fertilizers.
Valuable and thorough experiments
in the maintenance of the fertility of
the soil have been continued for a num-
Der of years at the Ohio station. The re-
suits of these experiments appear to
justify the opinion that for the crops
and spills under test phosphoric acid is
at present the most important constitu
ent of fertilizer, with nitrogen and
potash following in the order named.
Further conclusions drawn by the sta
tion are:
The largest increase is only obtained
when the fertilizer contains all three of
these constituents, but it does not as
yet eeem necessary to use nitrogen and
potash in so large proportion, relatively
to phosphoric acid, as would be indicat-
ed by the chemical composition of the
crops.
Apparently. phosphoric acid should
considerably exceed either nitrogen or
potash in quantity in fertilizer for
corn, oats or potatoes, while for wheat
the proportion of nitrogen may closely
approximate that of phosphorio acid.
Nitrate of soda is apparently the most
effective carrier of nitrogen in common
use as fertilizer, but it can seldom be
used with economy in Ohio because of
the relatively high cost of its nitrogen.
Slaughterhouse tankage, which is the
carrier of ammonia" in practically
I'll AZ @oot<ux, x,,sxod fa~t;li,o~c sold in
this state, is probably less effective
carrier of nitrogen than nitrate of soda,
but the cost of nitrogen in unmixed
tankage when due allowance is made
for the phosphoric acid carried by the
tankage. is SO much less than in nitrate
of soda that tankage becomes much
more economical source of nitrogen to
the Ohio farmer than nitrate of soda
This advantage in tankage disappears,
however, when it is purchased in the
ordinary factory mixed fertilizer, since
the price at which such fertilizers are
generally sold brings the cost of their
nitrogen to higher figure than its
necessary cost in nitrate of soda. while
the experiments reported in bulletin 50
of this station indicate that the nitrogen
of the factory mixed fertilizer is not
more effective than that Of ordinary
tankage.
Dissolved boneblack is apparently a
more effective carrier of phosphoric acid
than raw bonemeal or acid phosphate,
but dissolved boneblack, like nitrate
of soda, is seldom or nevsr used in the
compromising of factory mixed fertil
izers in Ohio, because of the lower cost
of phosphoric acid in other materials.
Acid phosphate, ON account of its
comparative oheapness and large sup
ply, has become the standard carrier of
fertilizer phosphoric acid. Our expert
ments indicate that commercial acid
phosphate, like slaughterhouse tankage,
is variable in composition, and both
materials should only be bought on a
guaranteed analysis.
Our experiments fully support the in
ference that the phosphorio acid of bone
meal and tankage, when these materi-
ais are finely ground. is quite as effect
i've, pound for pound, as the available
phosphorio acid of acid phosphate. and
that these materials, unlike boneblack
and Carolina rock. require no treatment
with sulphuric acid to make their phos-
phoric acid available, provided only the
grinding be done with sufficient thor
oughness. Investigations indicate that
there has been decided Improvement
in grinding within recent years.
Basic Stag appears to stand next to
dissolved boneblack in effectiveness as
carrier of phosphoric acid. Apparent
ly this result is in part at least due to
the superior mechanical condition of the
Stag meal, as it is an extremely fine pow
der. This material is not treated with
acid.
These experiments show that the fer
tilizing constituents of barnyard ma
nure act more slowly than those of COM
mercial fertilizers, but as they cost
much less in manure it becomes the
cheapest fertilizer
The advantage of applying manure to
the surface instead of blowing it under
is strikingly shown.