The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1902-08-19
No. 28
COMPLETE AND INCOMPLETE FERTIL.
IZRRs,
Cor. of The Progressive Farmer.

OOE' O4 Lie I EOSTeSSlV6 armer.
A complete fertilizer is one which
contains the three essential plant food
ingredients, nitrogen, phosphoric acid
and potash. Correspondingly, every
fertilizer which is lacking in any one
of these ingredients is of necessity an
incomplete fertilizer. A complete fer
tilizer is made by mixing together GER
tain raw materials which contain
phosphoric acid, nitrogen and potash.
The most common of the raw mate
rials used as sources of plant food are
nitrate of soda, sulphate of ammonia,
tankage, fish scrap, dried blood and
cotton-seed meal as sources of nitro
gen. The phosphoric acid is obtained
most from acid phosphate, dissolved
bone or bone meal. For potash we
have to look to Germany, from which
country are exported great quantities
of potash salts, these salts most com
monty appearing on the market in
the form of muriate of potash, sui
phate of potash, sulphate of potash
magnesia, and kainit.
Some farmers buy their fertilizers
already compounded, while others pur-
chase the materials separately and
mix them at home In either case it
is equally essential that the fertilizer
applied should be properly balanced;
most of the bad results obtained are
due either to an inequality in the COM
position of the fertilizer, or else to
an injudicious application of the ma
nure. No farmer can tell exactly
what fertilizer will give the best re-
suits upon his particular soil unless
he has made some experiments and
observations on his own account. It
is true that experimenting requires
care and attention, but nevertheless,
after the farmer has once ascertained
what proportion of plant food ingre-
dents will produce the most profta-
BILE returns, the increased yields will
more than compensate him for the
time and trouble involved.
No special rules can be laid down
for applying the fertilizers, though it
is a generally recognized fact that
manures for fruits and vegetables
should contain a liberal percentage of
potash. The potash exercises mark
ed influence on both the quantity and
quality of the produce; this ingre-
dent, however, should be well backed
up with phosphoric acid in order to
produce the best results. As for the
nitrogen, much study should be given
to the amount of this ingredient to be
used, for, if an excess is applied, it is
liable to produce a rank growth of
foliage at the expense of the fruit or
grain, whichever the case may be.
It often happens that the physical
condition of the soil is such that the
fertilizers will not produce paying re-
suits, and in some cases an application
of lime at the rate of 1000 pounds per
acre will prove quite beneficial.
It will pay the farmer to keep his
soil well supplied with organic mat
ter through the cultivation of one or
the other of the leguminous crops.
Clover or peas, for every well inform
ed farmer nowadays know that as
these crops possess the property of
absorbing nitrogen from the air, the
soil on which they are grown needs
only to be fertilized with potash and
phosphate thus saving the expense
of applying nitrogen, the most costly
ingredient of all
GEORGE z. WILSON.