Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1914-03-27
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THE FERTILIZER YOU BUY
Figures and Facts About Commercial
Plant Foods.

Il
the life and growth Of plants. Certain
soils have them in plenty, but in Iorm
that cannot be assimilated by the
plant. Other soils lack one or more.
Some have had them in generous guam
/ titles and in available form, but have
been impoverished by unwise cropping.
Animal and vegetable manures contain
them Commercial fertilizers have
them in larger quantities and in
supposedly concentrated and readily
available form.
| Many farmers believe commercial
| fertilizers are only temporary stimu-
lants to the soil and actually harm the
land on which they are used. They do
not stimulate the soil in any way what
ever and they injure the land only in
directly and because Of their misuse.
Natural vegetable and animal fertili-
zers perform exactly the same offices
commercial forms do, but contain less
plant food. The fertilizers produced
on the farm, however, have one great
advantage over commercial forms.
Stable manure carries with 1t large
| amount of organic matter that in
| creases the humus content OF the SOIL
Commercial fertilizers only furnish
available plant food. If the CONNER
cial forms are persistently used with
out the addition of humus making ma
terial, the soil eventually will become
sour, run together, dry out quickly and
bake hard. That is what has happened
to many Of the cotton and potato lands
Of the south.
Fertiizins That is Harmful.
The so-called injury to land by the
| use of commercial fertilizers Is caused
by the farmer who applies little fer
tilizer, without any humus-making
| material, directly to the roots of
growing crop. Such food is quickly
consumed and the land, already de-
pleted by unwise cropping, loses still
more Of what little natural plant food
1t may have left. The consequence Is,
every year the land, after the use OF
commercial fertilizers alone, Is likely
to be little poorer in fertility and
physical condition than 1t was the
year before.
Growing plants take enormous guam
titles of potash, nitrogen and phos-
phoric acid from the soil. Two hundred
bushels of potatoes, for example, ma
turing on an acre of land, will take
away from the ground in which they
grew seventy-five pounds Of potash,
forty-six pounds Of nitrogen, twenty
one pounds of phosphoric acid. That
must be returned, or the land will suf-
fer and finally be exhausted. The SEN
| sible, economical and scientific way to
effect the restoration Of food taken
/ away is by means Of green manuring,
| with leguminous crops, such as clover,
cowpeas or alfalfa, which are particu-
larly useful in supplying nitrogen, and
the generous use Of manure from farm
animals. Commercial fertilizers are
expensive, and their one office is to
feed the plant.
A "Don't" in Lining.
Lime or plaster is the only substance
commonly applied by the farmer that
| actually stimulates" soil, through
sweetening it and promoting the nitri-
| fication Of organic matter. And lime
never should be mixed directly with
farm manures or with phosphoric acid,
as in the one case 1t releases before 1t
reaches the soil valuable fertilizing
qualities Of the manure. and in the
other converts the phosphoric acid into
a less available form. The same ap-
plies to wood ashes, which contain a
large per cent Of lime.
The nitrogen, phosphoric acid and
potash in commercial fertilizers come
from various sources and 1t will be
money in the farmers pocket to learn
something of them Nitrogen may be
in the form of nitrate Of soda, sulphate
Of ammonia, tankage, cottonseed meal
etc.
| Phosphoric acid may be in the phos-
phate of lime found in rocks and
bones; potash in the potash salts and
the ashes in the form Of potash. In
commercial fertilizers these are blend
ed in certain proportions, reckoned to
be the best suited for certain crops.
The Useless Filler You Buy.
But do not make the mistake Of as
| suming that commercial fertilizers are
composed Of these chemicals in pure
state. For example, ton Of fertilizer
designed for use with potatoes will
contain about 10 per cent Of potash, s
per cent phosphor!c acid and per
cent nitrogen-or two hundred pounds
| potash, one hundred and twenty
pounds phosphoric acid, and sixty
pounds nitrogen. The remainder Of the
ton is filler" nothing more. Conse-
uuently, when the farmer buys ton
of the fertilizer, he gets along with 1t
| $40 pounds of dead weight, added to
give bulk, on which he must pay the
| freight.
The farmer who is preparing to use
commercial fertilizer can save money
by buying his chemicals in concen-
trated form and mixing them himself,
which can be done in box or on
platform with a hoe and sand sitter
| Just as we'll as it Is done in the fac
tory. The "fillers' in commercial fer
| tiliZers are Of no value to the land, and
may be actually harmful. For conve-
| nience in distributing the farmer can
just as we'll supply his own filler OF
any kind Of soil If any soil is needed,
which is not likely as there usually Is
an abundance Of filler naturally asso-
cated with the materials used in max
ing fertilizers. Materials for home
mixing can be had of wholesale deal
ers in seeds and farm supplies.
All Elements Not Always Needed.
The term complete fertilizer" signi-
fies that the mixed product is supposed
to contain, for whatever use 1t Is in
tended, the proper per centage Of nj
trogen, phosphoric acid and potash.