The Prescott daily news., 1916-04-04
4. FERTILIZERS AND FIELDcRoPs


 full service to his fellow-man and life of success as farmer, had the following to say about the use of guano: "I say that farmers can make every acre of their lands rich if they will. Providence intended the earth should increase in fertility as rapidly as it does in population. Every man that assists in removing this dormant guano. lying idle and useless on the Chincha Islands, and puts it in cir culation. creating herewith food and clothing, is a benefactor to his kind. The country suffers for want of shars of the surplus fsrtilizing mate rial. Remove the deposit and apply to crops, and it will enrich the land" T commenced to use guano in 1S46, and gradually increased the use of 1t until the present time, never having omitted to use 1t on my crops ex- cepting the last year of the war, when | could not obtain 1t. With the proper system of rotation of crops. and re- turning all the crops to the land. ex- cept the lint of the cotton, land may be improved with Peruvian guano alone, but not so fast as when you combine with the soil all the ele- ments of the plants to be grown. Am monia being necessary for all plants, l know of no crop that it would not benefit It will pay the best upon those crops that bring the most mon ey-cotton being that crop in this sec tion, and tobacco in other sections" It will be seen from the above that MT. Dickson profted greatly by the use of guano. He knew well the value of ammonia to growing crops, but you will observe that he knew quite as well the value of other plant foods to the crop. He got better yields when he applied all the clements of plant food than when he applied ammonia alone Also observe that he consid- cred it good business to apply fertil- izer. He was business man as well as a farmer, and knew all the keen points in the business world.
 The Hon. James M Smith another millionaire farmer of Georgia, who died only few days ago, has the fol lowing to say with reference to the use of fertilizers on farm crops
 '"The use of fertilizers has become one of the most important factors in Southern agriculture. II is a power ful agency in producing an increased yield-a thing we should desire and work for. We certainly believe in the use of commercial fertilizers, but we also believe in the turning under of vegetable matter. the sowing of legumes and the saving of all barn. yard manure. The uptodate farmer will not consider one Of these. but all four of them, in trying to increase his farm crops"
 Each of these two farmers. who have done much to stimulate farm i'm proyement, learned the value of fertil- izers but learned equally well the value of diversified farming. They would not decrease the use of fertil. izer but diversity more. They would have us use more fertilizers, so that
 
 table matter, in turn blow this under. and in this way increase the fertility of our lands. The most effective farming of today involves these two great principles. Use fertilizers and diversity the crops Rotate and feed the plants, and you will increase your yields, be more secure from plant dis eases, and bring your farm into a high state of cultivation
 If growing crops take plant food out of the soil and we do not blow under an amount equal to this, or get it from some other source and apply it, our land is sure to decrease in fertility and in value. This is a fact beyond dispute. With most of our crops we take from the fields large amount of nitrogen. phosphoric acid and pot ash, which never goes back to the place on the farm from whence 1t came. We should see to it, then, that some kind of plant food takes it's place. In the case of cotton, we sell the seed. and with them large amounts of nitrogen and other ele- ments of plant food. Very often we burn the stalks, and Tn this way take from the field much more valuable plant food. It is suicidal policy for us to do this under any circum- stances, but especially so when we fail to put back on the soil what we take off.
 On sandy farm in one of the Southern states. which had been aban-