The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1900-09-11
Agriculture
191RWERs BUY FERTILIzEi DIR tn
RRANDNAME OR FOR TIL r.
TILIZING INGREDIEN4S
THEYCONTAIN!

Igrisulture, Raleigh, N. c., Aug. so, 1900.
Il Is true in Virginia as in the rest
: +be Southern States, that farmers
80 Governed in their purchase of
s,rtiIizers by other reasons than by
.bo percentages of phosphoric acid,
s;trocen and potash contained there
n The principle governing reasons
4 will briefly describe) are:
1st. Imitation.
md Name.
srd. Odor and appearance.
4th. Price.
tst Imitation. One or more of
tbe best farmers in a community
have made fine crops by the use of
fsrtilizer, their neighbors then buy
that fertilizer until, possibly, several
successive bad crop years result in
f,ilures for most farmers, but sue
.ass for one or two who are differ
emily conditioned and who used a
different fertilizer from the ma
ioritv, you may then find many de-
serting the old fertilizer and trying
the new.
Again, many farmers SOW the same
fertilizer that the leading or best
farmer in that community uses, never
asking or caring what it is, just
50 it is the same as used by their
model. Where they know nothing
about fertilizers and will not inform
themselves, it is probably the best
way for them to follow the example
of the best farmer amongst them.
2nd. Name. The name of the fer
tlizer and of the manufacturer,
both, play an important part in the
decision of a farmer as to what fer
tilizer he will use. Many will use
only a certain brand, others have inn
pEcft confidence in a certain. manu-
facturer and will buy almost any of
his goods, and will touch no others,
although they may contain the same
percentage of the same fertilizing
ingredients and sell at a much lower
price.
Before the existence of fertilizer
laws the reputation of brand car
ned more weight with it than it
should at present, but the reputation
Of a factory will always have some
eject and it is right that it should
RSo, Where the farmer, however,
allows himself to be misled most by
the name, is in the case of fertiliz-
eES bearing a name for special crop,
such as, Corn Fertilizer, Wheat Pro-
d1cer, Cotton Grower, ETC., and
specially in tobacco fertilizers. For
example, a certain factory sells two
brands of fertilizers, one called
Dark Leaf Tobacco Grower" and
the other Bright Leaf Tobacco
6rower, " each with the same guaran~
Red analysis of 80 phosphoric acid,
81 ammonia and 80 potash. Of
course these are the same fertilizer
aad bagged out of the same pile, but
the dark tobacco belt a farmer
could not be made to use the Bright
Leaf Tobacco Grower, and converse
IN the bright tobacco belt they
'Ould not buy the Dark Leaf To-
2cco Grower, being guided solely
y the name and not by the compo-
ation.
IN Virginia there are /, 1,O71 brands
fertilizer registered, and of these
'.' have the guarantee of so phos-
Plorlc acid, go ammonia and 30
p''aSh, ali bearing different names,
a4u IN most cases indicating that
uey are especially good for certain
"ops, as wheat, tomatoes, ETC.,
'4lIe, Of course, if honestly made
'ue Is Practically as good as another
@ any crop.
out the trucker would not use the
wheat Producer" on his tomatoes,
r'F the wheat grower the Tomato
'o"er on his wheat even if they
's'e ldentically the same goods.
'Fd. Olor. There are many who
,Do arr governed almost exclusively
od'r while few are Influenced
c'- md taste. So true is it that
~ oa." Is the controlling motive
''n nny, that it has become al
A., '>' maxim with many fertilizer
'alerS "S that No smell no sell"
~oNy farmers will not think of
- - 'ns Il fertilizer which has not "a
y Dad, strong odor, whereas, if