The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-04-25

at least a month before red rust proof oats, sown at the same time, would have been ripe. When both grains are sown after Christmas the beardless bar ley is still ahead of oats in maturing. For example the beardless barley sown in February is beginning to head while oats sown the same day on the same grade of land are only three or four inches high at the time this Is written, April 23
 The area harvested April n was sown in drills August A, 1908 Beardless bar ley sown November is now in the milk stage, while red rust proof oats sown on the same day show no sign of heads.
 The following weak points have been observed about this beardless barley which we are endeavoring to acclimatize by changing 1t from a spring barley to a winter barley.
 l. Tenderness towards cold, which quality we are endeavoring to over come by continual selection of seed from plants that survive the winter
 2. Weak straw. especially when reaf rust and dry weather occur.
 3. Beardless, as well as all other kinds Of barley requires rich land.
 IF. D.
 High and Low Grade Fertilizers. s. M. Tracy in Farm and Ranch.
 In looking over the advertisements or the different brands of commercial fertilizers one cannot help noting the great difference between the compost ton of those recommended for gener- al farm use and those which are pre- pared specially for fruit growers and market gardeners. The former are very commonly a mixture containing about 10 per cent. of phosphoric acid, q 0f nj A potash. while the latter are of much higher grade. often containing per cent of phosphoric acid and per cent. or more of each of the other two ele- ments. It Is true that tho higher grade goods usually sell at a higher price, but in nine eases out of ten they are really the cheaper goods. The cost per ton should cut no figure in a fer tilizer. but the cost per acre for the effect produced should be one of the points on which the selection is based. When 200 pounds of a high grade fer tilizer will produce the same effect that can be secured from 300 pounds Of lower grade the better goods are really cheaper at $50 per ton than are the lower grade at SPA. or even at S20. It costs just as much to mix, sack and pay freight on a ton of low grade goods as for an equal amount of the
 
 crop producing benefit 1t is economy to make them the smallest possible pro- portion of the total cost of the fertil- izer.
 As rule market gardeners give clos CT attention to the composition of the fertilizers used than do ordinary far mers and planters. They farm on small areas and secure large returns per acre, and for making their large H. the fertilizer used as on the labor of cultivation. They find that in using the cheap. low grade goods they are handling large amount of worthless material, and that they are not secur- ing the different clements of plant food in the most profitable proportions. Plants need balanced ration as much as do animals. and it Is no bet ter economy to feed them with cheap, badly proportioned fertilizers than 1t is to try to fatten a steer on dry corn stalks because they are cheap. The best fertilizer in the end the cheap est,and the one which Is the best for a garden of a few acres Is also the best l for use on larger fields. One of the most poular fertilizers in use by market gar deners contains per cent of phosphoric | acid. 3 per cent of nitrogen and per cent | of potash. Another which Is extensively | advertised as Garden Truck Speciar l per cent of phosphoric acid, | per cent each of nitrogen and potash. | Still another firm which has an extensive | trade in the market garden regions of the | Southern States recommends a mixture | per cent of phosphoric acid, | ? per cent of nitrogen and per cent of | potash. In fact. nearly every reliable fer | tilser dealer recommends the use of a | containing nearly or quite as much potash as phosphoric acid, and that 1 is founded on the actual | experience of the most careful and intel ligent cultivators. A fertilizer which ifs the most effective on the relative small area of the market garden Is equally ef- fective on a thousand acre plantation. and purchases should be made accordingly. On the gardens stable manure is used more freely than on the plantations. but on every well managed plantation cow peas are grown extensive. so the fertil- lzer requirements of the two are pract'- cally the same.
 The old formula of 1922 was adoptC 1 when litle was known of the relative val ues of different mixtures, and when acid phosphate was cheap and potash salts were dear but now acid phosphate and potash salts can be purchased at aho1t the same prices, so there Is no reason why the large planter should not us" g00QS or as nlgn Brdue dS lHe ti iuCh idt | mer For most soils and for most crops the fertilizer should contain about equal proportions of both phosphoric acid and potash The relative amount of nitrogen will vary widely with previous treatment of the field Where peas were grown last year little or no nitrogen need be used. and the most economical fertilizer VIII be one made from about equal parts or acid phosphate and kainit. Where the field has grown several successive crops of cotton or corn without being planted In peas it will be better to add nitrogen to the fertilizer. using about half as much nitrogen as phosphoric acid. Equal parts of cotton seed meal, acid phosphate and xainIt will make a fertilizer contain ng about g per cent of phosphoric acid, l-2 per cent of nitrogen ' per cent of potash which is very close to what the most care 'uI cultivators find most efficient for or 1inary crops. Such fertilizer made from Inc raw materials and mixed at home. will cost not far from SIS per ton, while the mixture made with equal parts Of acid phosphate and kainit can be made for about s16.
 Whatever relative proportions may be lsed the larger the actual amounts or ,hosphoric acid. nitrogen and potash the more economical will be the fertilizer. even though the cost per ton may be h-- lie more than for similar goods of lower trade.
 Biloxi, Miss.
 Hog Hygiene.
 Perhaps one of the most important things on the most of farms is the rais- no, of hogs. and as there are none of the