The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-03-26
Agricultural and Commercial Values 0f
 Fertilizers.

Agricultural and Commercial Values Ok l Fertilizers.
 1 The commercial value" of a fertili- ger is determined by the elements of which it Is composed, and the trade
 values" of those clements; while it's
 asricultural value" is determined by 1 its crop producing power. or dts ea-
 paoity for increasing crop yields. 1t is a very easy business for the l farmer to determine the value of any
 brand of fertilizer found upon the
 market, when the value of the nitro tgen (eighteen cents per pound), phos- phoric acid (four and one-half cents), and potash Give and one-half cents per pound), contained therein are
 known. A very simple rule is to null
 tiply the percentage of any element
 by twenty. and this product by the l value per pound of the clement and
 this will give the value Of 1t in ton
 in cents.
 The fact that fertilizers and fertlli-
 ger materials can be intelligently and
 economically purchased only on the
 basis of their chemical composition, as shown by anyalsis, and regardless of brand name" no matter how delusive-
 ly high sounding the latter may be, Is becoming more generally recognized each year. The analysis" and the l brand name" should determine the price. just as surely as it determines
 It's value on the market and in the
 field. The component parts or con- | tent of plant food, ia what gives to
 anS combination of fertilizing agents
 it's value; and it is a knowledge of l these elementary substances, together with their valuation, that enables us | to determine if the price of a fer
 tilizer is beyond what 1t should be, considering the cast of the component parts.
 Though the farmer is vitaIly inter-
 ested in the ''oommercial' value of 8
 fertilizer, he is still more vitally in- | terested in it's agricultural value. and the latter is determined by the increased yield resulting from its use. Can the amount of increase in yield, that may be confidently looked for as a result of their use, be definitely de-
 termined7 We think SO. but prefer for others to answer the question. Taking cotton as an illustration: Prof. Charles w. Dabney. formerly of Tennessee, says: Experiments show us that an application of sixteen pounds of nitro gen, twenty pounds of potash and seventy pounds of phosphoric acid to good lands. such as would by them selves produce 75O pounds seed cotton
 per acre, usually doubles the crop" The above quantities of valuable plant food ingredients mentioned by Dr. Dab hey would be approximately furnished by $50 pounds of an S-2-3 commercial | fertilizer.
 R. J. Bedding. director of the Georgia Experiment Station. is author ity for the statement that: "Experi-
 ments made at this station show that $S worth of well balanced fertilizer applied to one acre of land in good heart. and we'll cultivated, may be req sonably expected to produce an in crease of yield of 1000 pounds of seed cotton. >Fhe same land, without fertil- izer. would produce 500 pounds per acre. At the present price of cotton, eleven cents, this would give a profit of (for both lint and seed), $30.SO, af- ter deducting the price of the fertili- ger"
 Prof. Bedding further says: "A fer tilizer for cotton on the soils Of Middle Georgia should contain three and one- third parts of available phosphoric acid to one part Of potash and one part of nitrogen. Or, to state 1t In more popular way. a fertilizer that contains ten per cent of available phos- phoric acid should have about three per cent of potash, and three per cent of nitrogen. So, then, the ordinary S-2-2 fertilizer does not contain enough potash and nitrogen by fifty per cent each"
 NOW. III Cnls Aattef statement, the experience of Professor Bedding ex- actly coincides with our own and with that of almost all observing cot | ton raisers in the entire cotton belt, 1 who have had sufficient experience with | commercial fertilizers to enable them to arrive at positive conclusions in the | matter. The agricultural value of | a fertilizer is determined. as previous | ly stated. by its capacity for bringing about a profitable increase of crop | yields. This can hardly be done by | applying a paltry 200 pounds of a low grade fertilizer per acre. Why not? | Because in applying 200 pounds of an | S-2-2 fertilizer per acre, but twenty | four pounds of actual plant food is | added, to-wit; Sixteen pounds of phos-- phoric acid, four of potash and four l of nitrogen. which amount of plant l food is sufficient to bring about much | of an incerase in crop yield; and what 1 increase in crop yield is obtained Is | not profitable, because these small l amounts simply act as a stimulant to | the crop, and in a still further impov- l erishment of the land A small amount | of a really low grade fertilizer has no | Horticultural" value. for the reason ! that. instead of enriching, it actually impoverishes both soil and owner. An 1 increase in the amount of fertilizer 1 used per acre will increase the crop; 1 we have tried 1t often enough to know | this to be the case. It is false econ omy to use low grade fertilizers. or to 1 practice One-sided fertilization, where | complete fertilizers are indicated.
 Four hundred to 600,t or even 500 pounds per acre. of a high grade fer