Judsonia weekly advance., 1915-08-25
AL FER


 habit of applying fertilizers to soils, but have not been taught the underly- ing principles of the industry.
 @ The use of some kind of manures on soils with crops for the purpose of in creasing the yields goes back to an cient times. We know that many an cient people applied animal manures to their soils for this purpose. The Chinese centuries ago, applied ma nures of various kinds to their soils and gardens and with phenomenal re- suits In Von Tshudis Travels in Pc ru we find that as early as the middle or the last century notes were being taken on the actual value of Guano by the Peruvians
 Bousingault speaks of seeing fields in Peru on which wheat had been grown every year for two centuries and the yield still high and the grow CTS prosperous.
 The practice of using mineral ferti- lizers was introduced direct from Pc ru t the United States in the year 1846, and was based on such reports as we find above. It had already been used in England before it found it's way into the. United States, but Peru application of minerals to soils as plant food originated. We do not know this is true, but all evidence points to this. It is of greater interest to us therefore that we know about the customs in Peru.
 The first man in the Southern States to use this Peruvian guano was David Dickson, of Sparta, Ga, who saw an advertisement of it in the old Ameri- can Farmer published in Baltimore. The South has perhaps never had more successful farmer than David Dixon, who made many millions of dollars farming, and who was a pio- neer in many other lines as well as in the use of mineral fertilizers. Tn the | year 1S46, the year after it was intro duced into the United States, he bought three sacks and used it, and on ind ing that it paid him. bought It in in- creasing quantities till the year 1855 anu ICOb, AIG11 Iit N6It lHGO IL JuIlY. AS is suggested above this is no doubt the first instance of the use of a con centrated mineral fertilizer on cotton in the United States
 The universal success with which MT. Dickson met in the use of this Pe- ruvian guano led many other proni- nent farmers to follow his example, and in every reported case, success followed it's use. We are constrained to believe that the way that the appii- cation of this mineral fertilizer to the cotton and other crops in the South could not possibly have been an acci- dent. It's success was unquestionably &ased on the actual needs of the sol. A<auickly available manure was what the Sgop needed, and when this was once aSnlied results were evident
 After %time it was found that the Peruvian p,,sarots which contained prin- cinaIlv nitrogen, produced too much stalk andt not mirsh increase in the yield of ffuit, and hence it's use was somewhat discouraged Tor a season.
 About t}his time the war between the Statels began, and at the same time the discovery of the potash be1s -s C-rynIany also, the offering en the market of various kinds of mineral fertilizers resulting from the teach i ings of von Liebig of Germany, who was at that time the greatest cham pion in the world of agriculture and it's possibilities. As a result the 2op- ularity of Peruvian guano subsided and more study was given to the gen eral question of the use of mineral manures, both by farmers themselves and the students of agriculture.
 Two great contributing factors to the rise of the fertilizer trade in the South are first the abolition of slav- cry, and second, the rise of agricul- tural education. Before the war the question of land was secondary. If 1 growing farm crops in the South wore the land out" there were plenty of slaves to take in nore land" It was cheaper to take in land than to pay for any artificial manure. In 1862, the Morrill, Bill passed Congress, creating agricultural colleges in the various states, after which there be- 1 gan a campaign for improving meth | ods in agriculture. Experiments at public expense were begun on a small 1 scale, and the public was induced to | make greater use of plant foods of all 1 kinds, as well as to improve methods of tillage. This, of course, caused an | immediate increase in the use of min. eral plant foods, and out of which | grew demands for great quantities of | fertilizers. From this great demand | there sprang up fertilizer factories in i all parts of the country All kinds of materials were tried out, some was good, and some was not, but much of both kinds used. The factories had no restrictions and many of them palmed of on the farmers anything that would smell strong and that could be put in sacks. This condi- tfon on account of state laws did nofl