The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1912-02-16
SOME PERSONAL OBSERVATIONS
Relation OF experiences and the
Practical application in Connection
wish Oder Fertilizers and the Re-
suits which Followed Mixtures.
CHy J. N. MERONEY. }

.t-aa old farmer to critiel8o the opin-
i'm Of the e4r7r & we'll known ynG.
leading agricultural lapor but
must say TAI he would have hard
time to e2H%ru to me some things
taat have cone under my observation,
nd reconcile thom with his state
meut as quoted above.
/ am plain old d.igy,frmer /
lave studied COWS and their conec-
ton and usefulness in helping to sup
port and urbuild farm fertility for
twenty-five years, / have in my COW
house d concrete floor, a water tight
gutter behind my COWS. All Of the
droppingg from my COWS, both solid
and liquid, as they fall. are recelv-
ed in the gutter
IL the morning in winter, when 1
open my Cow house door to turn out
MY COWS and clean my stable, | find
strong smell like amonia rising
Fhom the gutter. Fifty years ago, in
my sctoolboy days, 7 was taught
anonta was one form of nitrogen, and
that nitrogen was the most costly sub
stance composing chemical fertiliz-
ers and the one most subject to eyaD-
'afmton The smell of the amonia
mast come from the mapare in the
/ -1,ter. 1t must be rising in the air
9 get within reach Of my nostrils. If
It IS Using clom the manure and gets
/ rblt nigh It will not sc back, 50 it
! is being lost
I WAS surprised That the smell Of
|@nonia 1'as~ro longer noticeable
when had covered the manure in
The gutter with finely ground phos-
pnato rock. So, the ground rock is
certainly ideodorizer, and, if the
smell of ammonia l notice is the nitro
gen from the manure escaping into
the air, the application of ground
rock certainly has beneficial eff
feet in preventing the loss. have
used this for seceral years and am
g. sure of it's effects on the manure
| that | will continue to use it, and
would advise all dairymen to use it.
| have never tried it in my horse sta
| bles, but l am satisfied that there is
some chemical affinity between it aud
the fresh, damp droppings in the cow
stables that improves the manure
| and strengthens it's fertilizing value,
so that it is not absolutely worthless
as quoted above. l get splendid re-
suits from my manure. l believe
that the chemical action of the f-esh
manure on the finely ground rocks
makes the phosphorus water soluble
So that the roots of the growing
plants can use it.
| Will give another instance com-
ing under MY observation, showing
the effect of Natures forces-the
freezes of winter together with the
rains and hot sunshine of summer in
making the raw rock phosphate avail
able as plant food without the help
Of Sulphuric Acid. Some twenty
years ago I was preparing to set out
a vineyard OF some four hundred
vines. The place selected was a
worn out hillside some eight hun
dred feet above sea- level. The
ground was so badly worn from negro
troopers growing cotton SO many
years that it would not bring weeds
eight inches high. But the southern
exposure suited me for my vineyard
SO I laid it Off and had holes dug two
feet square and two feet deep.
In digging, large amount of nasty
yellow rock was found and taken out,
and several wagon loads were wheel
ed out and piled in a row along a
fence below the vineyard. (This was
before the Brown Rock Phosphate
was ever thought of in Maury county,
thought it worthless sandstone.
| bought several wagon loads of ZONES
from the negroes of the neighbor-
hjod and broke them INTO the holes
il place Of the rock taken out, filed
il with top soil, set my vines and
soon had splendid vineyard.
After a year or two | noticed that
the yellow rock piled along the fence
we're falling 10 pieces; Stacking like
lime, completely disintegrating; and
lie weeds were growing thicker end
Ligher each year.
Last year | rode along where the !
rocks had teen piled Many Of them
aal been as large as my head, but
now there were none to ve found larg-