Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1912-05-23
HIGHEST GRADE
OF FERTILIZERS
Should Be Used BY Farmers
of West Virginia
The Highest Priced Material May Not
Be the Best For All Purposes
Education Necessary.

The annual report on the inspection
Of commercial fertilizers in West Vir-
ginia will be ready for distribution in
a few days. It will have to mention
no really serious violation Of the fer
tilizer law. When farmers buy fer
tilizers in West Virginia they get what
the tags tell them they are getting;
indeed there are very few other pur-
chases that may be made with as lit
tie uncertainty.
The report will show that somebody
is buying too much low grade fertil-
izer, but this Is not the fault OF the
law or those intrusted with its enforce
ment. If somebody will buy the low
grade stuff when a sworn statement
as to its inferiority oonspicuously and
securely affixed to every package, 1t
is a sad case to be sure. but 1t Is be-
yond the reach Of fertilizer legisla-
ton. Just here 1t is to be observed
that while low priced" often means
"low grade" there are exceptions to
this rule. Acid phosphates are among
the cheapest fertilizers obtainable and
there is no better source Of phosphoric
acid. On the other hand, some of the
highest priced materials may not be
the best for all purposes. For exam.
Pile, bone products, such as bone meal.
bone tangake, etc., which furnish so
large part Of the nitrogen purchased
in this state, are, in this climate, nec'
essarily slow acting manures. When
bone has time to decompose, as when
used on crops that do not have to at,
tain their full growth in single sea-
son, or when used in rotation close
enough to prevent serious loss by
teaching, bone is an ideal manure. 1t
even tends to feed the crop more reg
ularly than the more quickly available
materials. Unfortunately, however, 1t
is not on such crops or In such rota.
tons that bone products are always
used, and while the Tasting effect" is
always highly priced and often regard
ed as evidence of double service, 1t
may, in the case Of quick growing
crops and a loose rotation be the evil
dence of double loss-loss by leach!
ing while nothing was growing; loss
in the half starved crop for which the
bone was applied, but for which 1t
could not become available In time.
Such losses must be very great and
even if we could afford them 1t Is a
shame to waste materials SO we'll
adapted to better agricultural prac-
toes. A very considerable part Of
these losses Is traceable to the teach
ing that it is the acid phosphates that
make soils sour. Parties believing
this naturally buy the more expensive
bone as source Of phosphoric acid.
An ever present opportunity for
wasting money in the purchase OF fer
tilizers is to be found in the garbage,
muck tankage and other low grade
sources of nitrogen. Small quantities
OF such materials are sometimes used
for the reason that they keep certain
mixtures in good mechanical condi-
ton. Larger quantities are often used
because some people insist upon hav'
ing something low priced at any cost.
But by far the greater part Of such
materials are doubtless used to meet
the provisions Of fertilizer laws which,
in many states, refuse to recognize
any difference between the best and
the worst sources of nitrogen and
which require that nitrogen of all sorts
be officially valued" on the same
basis.
The tags show the materials from
which the fertilizer is made and the
proportions in which the materials are
used. The purchaser knows just what
he Is getting; indeed he has very much
less reason for uncertainty than II he
had bought the materials and mixed
them himself, for in such case he must
of course take chances on the materi-
ais which may not be as ordered. In
West Virginia there is only one way
for a purchaser of commercial fertil-
izer to be in any doubt as to what he
is getting and that way is to refuse to
read the tags.
PROF. B. H. HITE,
West Virginia Agricultural Expert.
ment Station.