The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1899-05-12
HOMEMADE FERTILIZERS.
Press Bulletin No. 2, Issued by the Agricul-
tural Experiment Station of the
University of Tennessee.

Press Bulletin No. 2. Issued by the Agricul-
tural Experiment Station OF the
University of Tennessee.
Farmers should make their own ma
nure at home, by growing feed, feeding
it to mich cows or other stock and saw
| ing the manure. They should by all
means produce their own heterogeneous
fertilizers by growing leguminous
plants, which catch and fix the nitrogen
of the air, as explained in Press Bulle-
tin 1. The good farmer will do this and
will thus never need to buy any fertil-
izer unless it is phosphate and potash.
If they will buy fertilizers there is no
mystery or difficulty about mixing them
at home. Nitrogen costs IL to Is cents
a pound in fertilizers. Manufacturers
prepare them by mixing with acid phos-
phate some source of nitrogen, like tank
age, dried blood, or cotton seed meal,
| and potash compound like muriate of
potash, or kanite. Why may not the
farmer mix them for himself? is ques-
ton frequently asked of the Tennessee
Agricultural Experiment Station. The
Station always mixes fertilizers for its
own use, and any farmer can do the
same as follows:
Use as the basis for your mixture acid
phosphate made from the Tennessee
rock. 1t is the highest grade and cheap
est phosphate we have. It should be
had anywhere in Tennessee for $12 a
ton or less, an l should contain 16 to IS
per cent available phosphoric acid. For
potash use mrriate of potash, contain
ing so per cent potash. 1t costs in Ten
nessee $40 to So.
Two classes of mixtures are sold:
1. Mixtures of acid phosphate and
potash can be prepared thus: Take
l, $50 pounds of Tennessee acid phos-
phate, $50 pounds muriate of potash,
and mix thoroughly. At the above
prices ton of the mixture will cost
about S14.25 and will contain at least
1875 per cent available phosphoric acid
and S.5 per cent potash. 1t is the best
fertilizer for cow-peas, grasses and for
age plants generally, corn and wheat,
and makes fine compost with manure.
2. So-called complete fertilizers may
be prepared by mixing proper amounts
of acid phosphates, potash and ''am-
moniates, as the substances supplying
nitrogen are called. Here is a good
mixture made with ''tankage," or dried
animal matter from the slaughter
houses, which contain per cent nitro
gen and IL per cent available phosphoric
acid, and costing $50 ton:
Mix $50 pounds of tankage, $50 pounds
pounds of muriate of potash. At the
above prices a ton of the mixture will
cost about s17 and will contain II per
cent phosphoric acid, 3.5 per cent nitro
gen, and 2.5 per cent of potash. A com
plete fertilizer hardly as good as this
will cost at least $25. This mixture is
for cereals and general crops and soils
own Tennessee-madec cotton seed meal,
however, in place of imported ammo
niates?" The Connecticut Station says:
"It is the cheapest source of available
nitrogen. Experiments indicate that it
is as good as the best forms of animal
matter" Cotton seed meal contains
about per cent nitrogen, 3 per cent of
phosphoric acid, and ? per cent of pot
ash. Cotton seed meal should first be
fed to stock and the manure used with
mixture 1, but if you are not prepared
to feed it and must buy ammonia, it is
the cheapest fertilizer you can buy.
Mix 900 pounds of Tennessee cotton
TT i
phosphate, and 200 pounds of muriate
of potash with the cotton seed meal at
$50 ton; this mixture will cost about
$3.50 per ton, and will contain about s
per cent phosphoric acid, 3.5 per cent
nitrogen, and 6 per cent of potash. Be
ing so rich in potash and ammonia, it is
a fine mixture for potatoes, beans,
watermelons, garden vegetables, and
truck generally, especially tomatoes
straw berries, and other small fruits, on
poor soils. Such fertilizer would cost
at least $50 to buy.
Any of these can be easily mixed on
the barn floor or smooth, dry place,
by breaking all the Jumps, and sprink
ling over, first a thin layer of one and
then of another ingredient until the
whole is laid out. Shovel together I'M
til very thoroughly mixed and put
sand screen.
Can you not afford to mix your own
fertilizers for from S. to $40 ton?
Agents are running over the country
selling formulas for fertilizers not half
as good as the above for IS a recipe.