The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-04-12
FERTILIZER SALES
 SHOW INCREASE Facts Stare Southern Cotton Association in Face BOND BIDS STILL IN AIR Governor Jelks Says He Has Not Yet Decided What to Do-Would
 Like to Get Another
 Offer.
BOND BIDS STILL IN AIR

Montgomery, April -tSpecial)-The increased sales of fertilizer tags, indieat- ing more farming acreage for the season | than was put in last year, has been the cause of much speculation and wonder in the face of the fact that there has been a great effort to prevent just this sort of thing. But the facts are staring the farmers and the officers of the South ern Cotton Growers association in the face. and the worst part of it is there Is a general impression that not only has the guano been sold, but it has gone into the ground or is in the hands of the farmers ready to be put under the surface It Is also quite certain that the office of the Alabama department of az riculture and industries believes that there has been as great a use of the fertilizers this year as last, if not more. Where has 1t gone? is the question. Has it been placed in cotton rows or a great deal of 1t made ready for other crops?
 Under Other Crops.
 | There is a pretty general impression that there has been great deal of fertil- izer put under other crops than cotton so far One man tells of farmer he knows who bought as much as he did last years but used more than half of 1t under potatoes. There are others who have put 1t under corn and still others who have made effort to help along many other vegetable crops with 1t. This seems to be reasonable, many point out Cotton is so cheap that many of the sensible farmers have come to the conclusion that no mat ter what the other fellow does he will plant less. He sees no real profit In 1t at any price liable to be reached. He has, therefore, cut 1t out and will content himself with other crops. Still others nave planted sparingly. There can be no doubt of this The end, as a consequence, Is not so gloomy, and 1t will be the work of the men who are trying to keep the cotton acreage down to keep busy, for there is | much time yet to do good and convincing preaching.
 MT. Adams Opinion.
 Chief Clerk Jesse Adams is in charge | of the Department of Agriculture of the state in the absence of Commissioner R. K. Poole, who is i'll at his home in Fauns- dale and has been for several weeks. l MT Adams does not believe there has 1 been any attempt on the part of the | fertilizer manufacturers or the dealers to ''tamper" with the returns, so to speak He has Investigated two cases of alleged suspicious character and found that neither was of any importance. One was where a number of tags were found l loose in a car. It was discovered that | there were no more than were needed to | supply the sacks inside. They had been thrown in no doubt by some careless laborer who was too lazy to attach them to the sacks. In another case 1t was reported that there were five tags on one sack There was no investigation of the instance as there did not seem real reason for looking into only one case of the kind. Other reports of like kind have failed to develop anything.
 No False Returns.
 Mir Adams does not believe that there has been any false returns made of the tag uses and he Is not a believer in the idea that the manufacturers would take part in anything that was underhanded in any way. He points out that these men have to make their living out of the farmers and they would be very foolish to enter into anything that would initiate against their interests They could have no good reason to create a wrong impression either about the sales or the price of the crop. These Gper l have, on the other hand, been very lib- eral to the Southern Cotton Growers as- sociation and given everything they could in the way of time and money to aid the work in hand. MT. Adams asks the question in all seriousness, Why should they foster with one hand and tear down with the other" It Is not common sense to think so. MT. Adams believes He also says that the reports from his men in the field go to show that not only has the fertilizer been shipped to the dealers but that the farmers have it in their fields and many times in the ground, In other words he does not be- lieve there has been any decrease in the actual purchases by the Alabama farmers over last year.
 Bond Bids In Ar.
 Governor Jelks is still holding the bond lids in mid air The writer saw him to- day, and he said he had not yet made up lls mind what he will do. He was in con sultation with President Baldwin of the First National bank for an hour yester- day but so far as can be ascertained nothing was agreed upon. Mir Baldwin is one of the parties to the big bid made by the, syndicate of New York Brming- ham, Montgomery and other Alabama cit les finaneiers.
 The Governor seems to have the matter under careful consideration, and to be carrying some important idea concerning 1t in his head. No gossip has been heard about anything new In the way of offers but 1t is well known that the executive would like very much to get an offer above that made. which he firmly believes he ought to receive. Many gentlemen of the city are interested in the bids, and It has been given out as the general opinion of the bankers that the offers received are as good as can be reasonably ex- pected.
 Capitol Commission.
 There was a hearing of protests at a meeting of the capitol building commits sion today, the members hearing from a committee of commercial and industrial associations which would deter the com