Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1911-08-10
FERTILIZERS
HOME MIXED SAVE FARMERS
FROM FIVE TO TEN DOLLARS
OR MORE PER TON.
Grain Growers Should Order Materials
Now and Get Them Mixed for
the Time They Are Needed.
BY Isaac Cook, Professor of Asronomy'
West Virginia University.

It may seem out of season to call
the attention Of farmers to making
for their wheat and rye
crops by judiciously purchasing fer
tilizers and getting them mixed fol
the time when needed but it never
pays to put off buying fertilizers until
the last few days before seeding and
then hurriedly buy any brand the deal
er has in stock regardless of the kind
of plant food most needed. The wrt
ter has been managing large farm fo1
several years and has always made
practice of buying fertilizing materials
some time before they are needed and
mixing them in the proportion which
has been found to be best suited to the
needs of the crop that is to be sown
Ask your neighbors if they intend to
order fertilizers for this fall, and those
who do should cooperate and buy
their fertilizers to the best advantage
and have all shipped by the fertilizer
company to one place, thus reducing
the cost of handling and freight.
II you buy fertilizers already mixed
shows that you pay the
fertilizer company on an average OF
IS a ton for mixing and bagging.
party of farmers in any community
can buy the separate ingredients used
in making complete fertilizers and mix
them themselves and save from SO 10
SO per ton depending on the quantity
of the different ingredients ordered
The writer has found that ton OF Ter
tilizer, containing four different In
gradients, can be mixed thoroughly
and sacked by two men in two hours
time without overexerting themselves.
Counting labor at 15c per hour it thus
costs 6Oc per ton to mix and bag ton
of fertilizer with four different ingre-
dents, on the farm. Would 1t not pay
you more per hour than any other
work you may be doing at that time!
But there is a more important consld-
Grafton, which is, that you know the
source from which the plant food In
the insredients came from; for there
is a great difference in the values OF
plant food from different sources.
To prepare a home-mixed fertilizer,
all that is needed is a square pointed
shovel and a wood frame, 5x212 feet,
covered with a wire screen OF 3-16 to
n inch mesh, and a tight floor. Spreao
the different ingredients on the fool
in even layers, spreading one upon the
other. Begin at one end of the pile
and, cutting down through the layers
with your shovel, throw it through the
screen. The particles that are too
large to pass through the screen
should be crushed with tamper. Re
shovel the materials back through the
screen two or three times, after which
it will have been mixed sufficiently to
begin sacking.
Materials to Use.
AS to the materials to use, the fol.
lowing are recommended as the most
desirable ones to the market:
Steamed bone-meal containing % to
% per cent phosphoric acid and IL
to 2 per cent ammonia; acid phos-
phate containing IA to IS per cent
phosphoric acid; nitrate OF soda con-
tanning IS per cent ammonia; muriate
of potash containing so per cent pot
ash. Steamed bone-meal is valua-
BILE ingredient on account Of the good
effects from its use on the clover crop.
Formulas For Mixing.
To get best results liberal applica'
lions of fertilizers should be made.
Many farmers, thinking they are econ
omizing, use too small amounts of fer
tilizers per acre to get the greatest
net returns.
The following mixture will give ex-
cellent results for wheat. The mate
rails are generally put up in 125-lb'
sacks, and if all the materials are in
125-lb. sacks they may be mixed as
follows:
7 sacks of a IA per cent acid phos,
phate, S75 lbs.
6 sacks Of steamed bone-meal, TAO lbs
1 sack of muriate of potash, 125 lbs
2 sacks Of nitrate of soda, ESQ lbs
This mixture analyses about 1853
costing $26.6O per ton mixed and sack
ed ready to use. Another good mix
ture can be made up Of the folrowin
materials:
- sacks Of 16 per cent acid phos'
phate, 1900 lbs.
IL sacks Of muriate Of potash, 1879
lbs.
21k sacks Of nitrate of soda, 1929 lbs.
This mixture analyses 2.S-12-4.6 and
costs s24.2O per ton mixed and sacked
ready to use.