The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1899-12-12
No. A

mean to say that this is not possible,
but there is also the question Of it's
probability. Farmers do not live up
to, ia practice, all they know. Even
the statisttcians, who have put up q
bold buff in respect to any possible
! ehortage OF our food supply, are at the
same time pointing out the necessity
of improved methods of culture, in or.
der that the future may be secure.
This is the saving feature OF the situa-
tiOn. What fear is not legitimate ex.
haustion of our soils, which naturally
accompanies any system Of farming,
but unnecessary exhaustion, which re-
suits from improvident methods of
practice both in the growing and the
utilizing of our crops.
soalL first discuss the use of ccnl.
mercial fertilizers in relation to gen
eral fertility" by which I mean the
productive capacity Of thos9 coils that
have been cropped FOR long time, and
that now, even under good manage
ment aud the use OF the natural wastes,
do not yield profitable harvest. In
the fret place, the adoi ion thai must
be made to th7se coils is nitrogen, phos.
phOric acid and potash, and do not
| consider Gs q fertilizer a substance
which does not contain one or more Of
these elements. But all three elements
may not be required by given soil
So you must first know your SOIL
what you want; and then your tertiIt
z2r-what you are getting, There lie
too much ignorant buying Of CONNER.
cial fertilizers on the tonnage basis.
| Then the application must be system.
esic, aimed to supply definite need OF
the soil. Owing to the demand for
cheap ton prices, the average brand of
commercial fertilizer to day only CON.
taiDs about 300 pounds of actual fer.
I'll zing constituents to the ton, Yet
it is q 1ite as easy to make brands that
will contain es high as 45O pounds OF
| fertilizing constituents, and thus be so
per cent. better than the present. And
farmers should take pains not TO buy
elements Of fertility which they don't
want. In the continuous cropping Of
wheat, for example, phosphoric acid ia
the most rapidly exhausted. SO the
farmer wastes the money he spends for
potash. Then there is also the guess
tiun Of profit. Fertilizers, in order to
be profitable, must be applied to crops,
the POSSIBLE increase of which will
bring more than the cost Of the ma
terla's used. This rule seems obvious,
but is often overlooked.
But there are other conditions where
the fertility demand is of a different
character. There are what l term
'sp- al fertility" requirements as well
as general That is, there is kind OF
farming where natural fertility, how
ever great, is inadequate to meet the
pecial needs Of the crops grown. Here
the farmer has to COZ slider not only
yield but quality; he sells his nitrogen,
phosph0ric acid and potash not, as it
were, in bulk. but in neat and attrac-
tive packages, and therefore gets a
high enough price for a given quantity
Of it to pay for a great deal Of waste in
the doing up. Take asparagus, for ex.
ample; it's market velue depends on
the e1z9, succulence and sweetness.
This perfection Of quality can only be
attained when the plant has at disposal
an abundance Of all forms of plant food
during the entire period Of growth. An
application Of $50 worth of plant food
Will thus often prove more profitable
for asparagus thar g worth to crop
of wheat. It is in this production of
quality that the most lavish and profit.
a0le use Of fertil rs will increasingly
be found.
We have another point to consider
the relation OF commercial fertilizers to
the exports of farm products. We are
exporting in wheat, rye, cats and
heterogeneous feeds the potential wealth
Of our country from an agricultural
standpoint Now when we sell busheI
of wheat for 80 cents, we sell nitrogen
tOr Al cents pound and phospho ORIG
acid and potash for Il cents. The diff
ference between the prices received for
these constituents In the wheat, end
the prices peld for the elements as they
originally existed in the soil, must il
clude cost OF raising and selling the
wheat, as we'll as the farmers profit
How much better to export -four and
get twice the money for go per cent,
LET'S plant food The came principle
applies to other grains. Convert your
plant food into Deef, pork or butter,
and you get enormously higher prices
for much less costly articles. So don't