Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1901-03-22

Mixing Fertilizers on the Farm.
| would like to ask, would it not be a
information relating to the farmer nix
Ing his own fertilizers? Farmers in this
vicinity haYe not met with any perma-
nent success with the fertilizer Offer ed
and it must be owing to the quality of
the material. They are quite averse to
paying the price asked, and getting so
little benefit DR.. G. McV. Tobey,
Washington Co, n. Y.
The practice of buying the raw mate
rails and mixing the fertilizers on the
farm is growing in favor with farmers,
who believe that there is a large saving
to be made. The New Jersey,experiment
station estimates that the average manu-
featured fertilizer contains about 300 lbs.
actual fertilizing constituents or plant
food. The trade in manufactured fertil-
izers is growing rapidly, as well as the
process of home mixing. Market gar
deners who use fertilizers more extern
sively in gross quantities, as well as in
amount per acre, and whose fertilizer
bills often range from $1,000 to Sl0,0 900 per
year, usually buy mixed goods.
For most farm crops, home-miXed fer
tilizer can be made with the apparatus
found on the average farm that Will give
satisfactory results. The farmer can
buy the.usual raw materials, which fer
tilizer manufacturers employ, though
not as low in price, for he must neces-
sarily buy In small quantities. The
usual sources of material for securing
nitrogen are nitrate of soda, sulphrate of
ammonia, dried blood, tankage, fish
scrap, castor pomace and cottonseed
meal; for potash. murate and sulphate
of potash and kainit, while phosphorc
acid is obtained from bone, S. c., Tenn.
and Fla, phosphate rock and Thomas
Stag.
In mixing fertilizers on the farm nc
filler is usually needed. TO the usua
chemicals some organic material should
be added, for the chemicals, if miXet
alone, will draw moisture and becom,
pasty, lumpy or may even become a sole
mass. The use of tankage, dried blood. fin,
scraps, etc, will improve the mechanical
condition of the mixture. The cost %
mixing will range from - to soc per ton
employing labor at Sl.25 per day.
The process of mixing is simple. or
a smooth, tight floor empty in separat,
piles the different quantities of eacl
kind of material, which mast be il
fine condition. In case any of the in
gradients are lumpy, such as the potasl
salts or nitrate of soda, they must b.
reduced to fine condition by runnn!
through screen and pounding up tn
Jumps, or running through feed mill
Take a few shovelfuls from each pill
and place it together, continuing thi
process until all of the materials ar
) placed in one pile In as uniform proportion
as possible. Then shovel this pile owe
two or three times, using squar
shovel and taking from the bottom eacl
time. In this way, if little care has beel
used at the start to get the right numbe
of shovelfus Of each ingredient, uni
form mixture will be obtained in thre
turnings of the pile.
The material is now ready to be ap
! piled and can be used in any man ne
desired. The following formulas
, which were compiled by the New
, Jersey experiment station for use OIL
different crops, have been fount
u. to be very satisfactory. These are merel,
! suggestive and can be varied In accord
, ance with the market price of raw ma
r terials. The lack of results whicl
farmers experience In the use of com
mercial fertilizers, as is indicated by on
4. correspondent, is due mainly to a to-
light an application. The use of l0
lbs. per acre of an ordinary grade o
commercial fertilizer cannot usually b.
seen In the crop, while if the quantity
was increase to 300 or 800 lbs. a marked
effect would be produced and prof
obtained from the application.
FORMULAS FOR MINING FERTILIZERS.
Field corn No. |. ground bone %,
lbs, acid phosphate 800 lbs, muriate o
potash % lbs. No. ,, cottonseed mea
200 lbs, acid phosphate 600 lbs, muriat
of potash 200 lbs. apply 300 to 800 lbs.
per acre without manure.
Oats: Nitrate of soda 200 lbs, tankag
$50 lbs, acid phosphate 600lbs., muriat
of potash 80 lbs. use 300 to 800 lbs.
Wheat: Nitrate of soda 80 lbs, tankag
$50 lbs, acid phosphate $50 lbs, muriat
of potash 80 lbs. use 300 to 500 lbs.
Early potatoes; Nitrate of soda 10
lbs sulphate of ammonia 100 lbs, tank
age 100 lbs, acid phosphate 800 lbs
sulphate or muriate of potash 200 lbs.