Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1913-01-01
Commercial Fertilizers.

| and Vermont giving many tables of
analyses of commercial fertilizers,
some discussion of the various points
revealed by these examinations, gene
raj advice to the users Of such fertili-
zers and the laws governing the in
| spection and sale Of fertilizers in
those States.
The Michigan bulletin (No. 26O
gives analyses Of 29S samples, repre-
senting 267 brands Of fertilizers. OF
these 10 were found below their
guaranty in nitrogen, were below
their guaranty in phosphoric acid,
and three were below their guaranty
in potash. Only one Of these defici-
encies, however, amounted to more
than rs cents per ton.
In the raw materials at the fertili-
ger factories, plant foods have cost
during the past season the following
prices: Nitrogen Is cents a pound;
potash, 4 Y cents; phosphoric acid,
cents. OF course the manufacturer
charges for mixing, sacking and
handling the raw materials, and the
transportation Of the mixed goods
and the profit Of the retailers add to
their cost by the time they reach the
farmer.
The California bulletin (No. 232)
gives tabular analyses Of 636 sam
pies, 40 Of which were sent in by
farmers, EOS were taken by station
inspectors from goods that had been
purchased by farmers, and the others
were taken by station inspectors from
goods in the hands of the manufac-
turers and dealers. or these 636
samples unlawful deficiencies in one
or more Of the three fundamental
ingredients were found in 115.
Owing to the long haul OF such raw
material as must be brought from
the Eastern States to California, the
cost Of nitrogen varies widely, ac-
cording to the material from which
it Is derived. In dried blood it costs
22h cents a pound; in tankage and
bone, 21 II cents; in ammonia sui
phate, 1914 cents; in nitrate Of soda
Is u cents, Phosphoric acid and pot
ash cost about as much in California
as in the Eastern States.
The Vermont bulletin (No. 1863
gives tabulated analyses Of 49, IL
censed brands made by 19 factories.
While IA per cent Of these were
found deficient in onG or more of the
three fundamental ingredients, all OF
them, except three, made up for its /
shortage in one ingredient by an
overplus of other ingredients of equal
value.
That the statute providing for in
spection Of the fertilizers sold in the
State has had a salutary effect is evil
denced by the fact that during the
first year two out Of every three man.
ufacturers made, inferentially, a
false claim that they were using sui
phate Of potash instead Of muriate;
this year only one out of every four
are guilty Of this deception.
All three OF these bulletins agree
in advising farmers, as a rule, to buy
finely ground, high-grade fertilizers
rather than the low-priced goods. The
fundamental reason is that it costs |
just as much 10 mix, sack and trans
port ton of cheap goods as of high |
priced goods, and hence he pays
larger part Of every dollar for these |
services and smaller part for actual
plant food
For instance, the Vermont station |
found that in that State the average
farmer got for every dollar spent for
fertilizers SIS cents worth of plant !
food when he bought low-grade |
goods, So cents worth when he
bought medium-priced goods, and 50
cents worth when he bought high
grade goods.
While on this subject Of CONNER
cial fertilizers, / would impress upon
the mind OF the reader a few obser-
vations Of transcendant Importance.
1. 1t has been ascertained that the
atmosphere above every acre Of land
contains sixty to seventy million tons
Of nitrogen and that the legumes
(pod-bearing plants) have facilities
for extracting rich stores of this at
mospheric nitrogen and storing it up
in their roots and tops.
2. The average soil having a clay
foundation contains in its ton five
feet as much as thirty thousand