The French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1896-1912, 1907-03-14
FertiIizing the CROP.

The primary object In using fegtA-
izer Is to produce a larger yield OF the
crop that isstoebeqimmediately grown,
or is already growing, on the land to
which the fertilizer il to be spilled.
As a rule, il CONTAINS from ten to six
teen per cent.aof more or less pFonpt-
ly available plant food In other
words, a commercial fertiliEer con-
tains In every 100 pounds weight from
ten to sixteen pounds of available
phosphoric acid. ather alone, % khAt
amount OF phanAerc acid aal Ret-
ash com6lMea, Or Of these two and
nitrogen eanAbaned making I'm the lAk-
ter case what ID called q Complex
fertilizer. Now this ten to sixtsR
pounds in sach~feA ponnds Of the ter
tflizer is supposed Co be, and should
be, practically soluble and available
at once, or within q week or two,,for
the use OF the crop. says Virginia
Carolina Fertilizer Almanac.
The remaining portion of the fer
tilizer. or elghty-four to ninety pounds
In each lee pounds, is a mixture
OF insofuble phosphate and sulphate
Of lime. some sand, -water, organic
matter and other things thAteare
necessarily incident to the maHutac-
ture, and cannot be economicallEs re-
moved. They are of very little lmRe-
date value to either the crop or the
soil.
So when we apply a high grade fer
tilfzer to the soil the object is 10 sup
ply the plants with soluble plant food
and increase the yield of the cotton,
grain, grass or whatever the crop
may be.
Incidentally, however, this fertil-
izer does help the land, because it in
duces a larger growth of stalk, roots
and foliage of the plants-or those
parts that will be returned to and be-
come part of the soil. A dose of this
fertilizer, for instance, not only in
the size of the stalks, the fol-
Iage, huIls and other parts that go
Immediately back and form a part of
the soil in the shape of ,humus Ode
cayed vegetable matters). But the
principal way to improve the soil it
self is to add vegetable matter to it
IA the form of stable manure, renoTa-
ting crops, rotation of crops, ETC., in
more direct manner
It would seem manifest, then, il we
wish to increase the yield OF corn.
cotton, wheat, oats, grass, ETC., that
the fertilizer should contain the three
elements Of plant food in the pro-
portions that are best suited to the
particular crop. This is particularly
true if the purpose is to use liberal
amounts of fertilizer per acre. In
such case the deficient supply, in the
natural soil, of any one or more of
phoric acid, nitrogen and potash)
need not be specially considered.
According to carefully conducted
field experiments, conducted at many
of the experimentstations, 1t has been
found that cotton requires a fertilizer
that contains about n part each of
nitrogen and potash and 8 1-3 parts
Of available phosphoric acid. This
demand would be met by a fertilizer
containing ten per cent. available
phosphoric acid, three per cent. of
nitrogen and three per cent of pot
ash; or, as ordinarily expressed, a
1913 fertilizer. One analysing !
S-2.7O-1.7G; or S-2.4O-2.4O;
or 7-2.1O+2.1e, ETC., would answer
Just as well, provided these lower
grades be applied in heavier quanti-
ties.
So it has been found that corn, su-
garcane, sorghum. grasses and other
crops belonging to the grass family
respond beststo a fertilizer that shall
contain ten narts Of phosphoric acid,
1--WE parts offnitrogen and two parts
OF pOtash-or a 10-5-2 fertilizer.
The folloWfag formulas are in pre-.
cisely the same proportions, only
they are of lower grade, and would
give practically the same results only
when a correspondingly larger appli-
cation shall be made per acre-viz., /
9-4.50-1,SO; or 8-4.OO-1.6O;
or 7-3.5O+L40, and@so on. Of
course, these lower grades can be sold
at lower prices than=thes high grades,
but, as a ruie, theSfafmer will find it
more economical to buy the high
grades, both on account of their
cheaper price per unit" and also the
saving of freight, the latter being pre-
clse1y the safesper ton, for both high
and low grades
--k tbs al
Value of a Cow.
In undertaking to place an esti-
mate on the value OF = COW the exact
amount of milk and butter fat pre-
auced should<be determined. A.
Most peopIes when estimating the
Va1ua Df a cow. will hn largely in /
huenced by the statements made by
the owner of the number Of gallons
of milk she viii produce. This in
formation is usually very misleading,
as most persons do not take into con-
sideration theafoaap in milk, 1and1
again. the party wishing to sell a COW :
Will sometimes lexaggerate as to her
production as we'll.
The milk from a COW. as usually