The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-09-03


who buys tile low-grade fertilizer
pays for saclsing and freighting thi.
l9i pounds Of useless material.
Now do not understand that l ac-
cusc the manufacturers of fraud, fol
there is no fraud iii it, but it is made
to meet the demand from farmers for
n low priced fertilizer and is very
largely used by them, because they
look 10 the price per ton rather than
the fertlizing value of the ingredients
AS l have before remarked. l went
over tho report from an experiment
station on the analysis of the various
fertilizers sold in North Carolina. and
/ j counted over Zoo different brands,
| each with n fancy name, one called a
! special for tobacco, and another n
| special for wheat and so on through
/ the whole list. And every one Of these
! brands could have been taken from
the same pile, for they were all the
same thing end every one of them
/ were this low-grade S-2-2
| And farmers, near neighbors, will
each have his favorite brand. and think
lit better than what his neighbor uses.
and both are the same identical thing
with different brand names. Formers
buy too much by the brand and the
price, and fail to investigate the plant
food value of the fertilizer.
| Soils and crops vary as to the needs
of the different plant foods, and n
farmer can better supply their needs
| by buying the various materials used
i'll fertilizer mixtures and make the
mixture for himself He can then
make low grade, and put in the filler
for himself. if he wishes. or can make
q high grade article in which no filler
/ is used except what naturally is COM
bincd with the materials used.
we must get the plant foods in GER
tain combinations. We cannot use
pure nitrogen, for that is n gas, and
hence we get nitrogen in various COM
binations. Plants do not use nitrogen
a all until it is in the form of nitrate
that is, salt or combination of nitric
acid and some base such as lime. pot
ash or soda. When we use the natural
nitrate of soda we get nitrogen in the
most readily available form, and it
must be used by plants at once or is
RAPIDLY leachcd from the soil
/ When we apply cottonseed meal fish
scrap or tankagc. or any organic ma
/ tcrial containing nitrogen, this must
be broken down by the bacteria or de-
| cay and ammonia set free Then an
other form OF bacteria feed on this
ammonia and form nitrites. and still
another form use the nitrites, and the
result is nitric acid from oNdation
Then, when we have nitric acid, it at
once unites with the lime or potash in
| the soil and makes a nitrate that plants
can use.
This shows the value in making n
fertilizer mixture of using some nitrate
| of soda for the immediate use of the
| plants. and then some material con-
tanning organic nitrogen to continue
the work later in the season. We can
\ - nI.rr.lt ,ip yifr
seed meal. tankage or fish scrap, and
Il few other materials less commonly
used
| Farmers puzzle over the term per
| cent, and simply fail to understand that
when this is used in q fertilizer IL
simply means so many pounds in each
| 100 pounds. In ton. then. of S-2-2, it
/ means that there are 160 pounds of
! phosphoric acid, forty pounds of am
nonia t32 pounds nitrogen), and forty
pounds OF potash. This is all there is
in 1000 pounds OF this low grade fer
| tilizer.
Then fertilizer manufacturers know
that farmers consider bone as a bet
ter material for phosphoric acid than
rock, and they offer what they call
bone and potash mixture, and there is
not particle of bone in il, but it is
simply made of acid phosphate or dis
| solved rock phosphate and potash and
4
of l6 per cent acid phosphate and $50
pounds OF muriate Of potash, with 500
pounds OF sand to make the ton. You
can buy the acid phosphate and potash
and mix 1T for yourself and save the
sacking and freight on the filler.
Some are asking about the Thomas
| phosphate. or Basic Stag phosphate, as
IL is also called. This is q byproduct
| from the Basic process of making steel
| The Phosphorus is removed from the
| iron. and is in tho Stag left This is
| ground fine and used as n source for
phosphoric acid 1t is not so readily
| available as the phosphoric acid in acid
| phosphate, but it has the value OF not
| producing acid conditions in the soil
as long use OF acid phosphate will
! through its robbng the soil of lime
! carbonate. The Thomas phosphate car
rics an average Of forty pounds of free
lime IN each 100 pounds and to that
extent will tend to keep the soil sweet.
Bat this same fact makes n difficulty
IN mixing complete fertilizers with
Thomas phosphate for the lime in con-
nection with organic matter containing
nitrogen will tend to carbonate the
ammonia and make it volatile, and a
fertilizer mixture in which Thomas
phosphate is used to make a complete
fertilizer may lose value if ii stands
long after mixing.
1t can be made up and used at once
rs the soil Will absorb any ammonia
that is set free, but it should not dc
used If the mixture is to stard loag
unused 1t can be mixed safely With Il
nitrate like nitrate OF soda or nitrate
Of potash.
Grain or Cotton Farmers Need Not Buy
Nitrogen.
This brings us to the fact that I
have long insisted upon. That a
farmer who farms in good rotation
grows an abundance o! legume forage
and feeds it and saves and uses the
manure intelligcntly Will never need
10 buy ammonia or nitrogen in n fer
tiliZcr. The manufacturers always use
the term ammonia on their sacks in
stead OF nitrogen, for the figures look
larger But it is nitrogen that plants
want. Ammonia is n hydride of nitro
gen. and is about So per cent nitrogen
They VIII print an analysis showing SO
much per cent OF ammonia in nitrate
of soda. when there is not Il particle
OF ammonia in ii, but 8 per cent oil
ammonia looks bigger than 5 per cen,
nitrogen.
Now the farmer, as have said. who
farms right. can get, through the clover
and peas, and the manure made. all the
nitrogen his grain or cotton crops need
I.,,, In, Ir.r