Judsonia weekly advance., 1916-04-05
INTELLIGENT USE OF FERTl LIZERS IN GERMANY.

All state institutions have fostered the fertilizer trade since it's origin in the early fifties. State organizations of all kinds have taken lively part in the building up of the trade, and in lat CT years the states have taken it for granted that the trade is profitable to farmers and merchants alike, and have therefore framed laws to regu. late it's manufacture and sale. In every state where fertilizer is sold in appre' eiable quantities laws have been passed exacting certain requirements of the manufacturer, because farmers who are not able to analyze such ma terials for themselves would be the sufferers. Besides the trade, over-am- bilious, would forget it's obligation to the consumer and offer for cale in ferior material under the name of fer tiliZers We may say without fear of successful contradiction that the states themselves are largely responsible for the rise and volume of the fertilizer trade.
 It has long been recognized that Germany leads the world in many lines of science. This is perhaps true in regard to the use of fertilizers in early years. Germany discovered that mineral salts applied to growing crops increased the yields immensely, and gave time and stuoy to the under lying causes, and has suggested to the other parts of the world many valu- able lessons on her findings. Von Liebig through his studies and lec- lures on modern agriculture has made known much of the work of Germany in the early history of the use of com mercial fertilizers. Liebig says that Kuhlmann, German agricultural scientist, applied salammoniac to meadow in the year 1845 and 1846, and found that on hectare (212 acres) he gathered $40 pounds of hay more than on the same kind Of meadow where he did not use the sal ammoniac. He secured this result by using about 200 pounds of sal-am- moniac to the acre.
 In commenting upon this Von Liebfg { uctS JIl0 lOIIO WI1iS IO say IL lo qulLo certain, that in the action of the gua- i no, which produced the crop next high. est after the Chilli saltpeter, an un' mistakable part was played by the ammonia contained in it. On the other hand, however, the experiments with carbonate and nitrate of ammonia show that a quantity of ammonia, or nitrogen, equivalent to that in 20 pounds of guano and employed under the same conditions, was almost with out effect.
 A little further along he says: "The most recent observations on the com pertinent of the soil towards the food of plants show how slight is the knowledge we possess of their mode of nourishment, and of the part which the soil, by it's physical condition plays in it. The compartment of the salts of ammonia, of chloride of so- dium, and of nitrate of soda, towards the earthly phosphates in the soil, may perhaps assist us in throwing l some light on their action, or one of their actions, on the growth of plants" This statement was made because it was always found that when common salt was added to certain minesal ma nures, greater yield was obtained, and Von Eiebig came to the conclusion 1 that this was due to the relation of l this added material to the liberation of potash in the soils.
 Only short time after the war be- tween the States the German potash beds were discovered and by rapid leaps and bounds this material gained in favor with planters as well as ex- perimenters. The necessity for find- ing a combination to liberate the pot ash in the soils was now removed and thorough satisfaction was found l in the use of the nitrate Of soda and the potash salts, and here the indus