The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1913-01-18
THE FERTILIZER SITUATION
Commissioner Watson Suggests That
State Operate Its Own Phosphate
Beds With Convict Labor and Re-
claim the Soil.

VI 'Ou'H CdlO OlIHd eHpendlnS practl-
cally $2S, 100000 a year for CONNER
clal fertilizers Commissioner Watson
in his annual report to the general as
sembly recommends that the State
work it's own phosphate beds on the
coast with conVicts and sell the ground
rock to the farmers at cost He says
the recommendation will bring forth
strong lobby, and a vigorous fight"
The report says:
The annual enormous expenditure
by the farmers Of the State of practi-
cally $2S,OOO,000, as estimated by
competent authority, for commercial
a drain upon our financial resources
that pOrtendS disaster unless sorne-
thing be done. Soils are being treated
today as if conditions Of soil exist
as they did when the use of CONNER
cial fertilizers was first introduced.
Continual use has rendered them acid
to high degree, and conditions to-
day are far different. Ignorance Of
intelligent use Of fertilizing ingre-
dlents is so general that it has been
the cloak behind which fancy mix
lures have been put on the markets
in neat packages with ready purchasers
at handsome profits to the manufac-
turers L believe the time has come
TO take some decisive action towards
stopping this great expenditure and
financial drain upon the farmer and
inevitable ultimate exhaustion of the
soil.
What l shall say here is not in
tended as an attack upon the intelli-
gent and not too general use Of COM
mercial fertilizers nor certainly not
upon the tax that the State derives
from the tonnage of fertilizers an
nually consumed. That tax should be
Kept on every ton Of all fertilizer that
goes into consumption, for inspection
is vitally important in the matter Of
fertiliZering material and can not be
successfully and effectively conducted
otherwise. Furthermore, the income
from the tax is being applied to work
Of most vital concern to the produc-
ing population Of the State-a work
which should be increased rather than
diminished, and this suggestion, car
ried out would mean more revenue
and less complaint about the tax,
which is now paid plus unjustifiable
profits to manufacturers. The inspec-
ton Of fertilizers should be kept where
it now is and the income applied as
it now is-for the fullest benefit of
those who pay the tax and of their
sons.
This suggestion, however, is di-
rected at the great and useless waste
of money by the consumer, depicting
his finances for the profits of shrewd
manufacturers and bringing sure
deterioration of soil fertility. If the
cost Of fertilizers amounts to more
than the harvest then farmers must
most as much as the value of the en-
tire corn crop of the State, the crop
that is second only in value to cotton.
The time has come to stop the buying
and feeding to the land of patent med
icine-miXed fertilizers, and instead
give the sick soil pure food.
"All soils in South Carolina today
are extremely deficient in one Of the
chief elements Of animal food--car-
Donate of lime. Until very recently
the great necessity for ground lime
stone rock to be applied to the soils
OF the State to cure, the sourness and
acidity had not dawned upon the peo-
pie. Now the need for it is apparent
to many. Circulars have been issued
by those realizing the imperative need
for this material in natural forms.
When they tried to gat it, they found
it impossible to do SO at any save
prohibitive prices-$3.25 per ton in
carloads lots, Columbia. Excessive
transportation charges prevail Eff
forts to get concessions have amount
ed to practically nothing. This de-
partment, some time ago, took the
matter up with President Finley of
the Son hcrn railway, who had issued
one CT the circulars urging the use Of
ground limestone, without making it
possible for farmers to buy it. The
best that could be made now is $2.35
per ton, via Southern railway cXclu-
siVely to Columbia. The nearest
mines shipping the material CONNER
cially are in Tennessee and North
Carolina. south Carolina has good