The Springdale news., 1916-03-31
4. FERTILIZERS AND FIELD CROPS

| life of success as a farmer. had the l following to say about the use of 1 guano: .I say that farmers can make every acre of their lands rich if they will Providence intended the earth 1 should increase in fertility as rapidly 1 as it does in population. Every man that assists in removing this dormant 1 guano, lying idle and useless on the l Chincha Islands, and puts it in cir l culation, creating herewith food and clothing, is benefactor to his kind. The country suffers for want of share of the surplus fertilizing mate 1 rial. Remove the deposit and apply 1 to crops, and it will enrich the land.
 'I commenced to use guano in 1846. ! and gradually increased the use of it until the present time, never having omitted to use it on my crops ex- 1 cepting the last year of the war, when 1 could not obtain it. With the proper 1 system of rotation of crops, and re- l turning all the crops to the land, ex i 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, 1 l know of no crop that il would not benefit. It will pay the best upon those crops that bring the most mon- l ey-eotton being that crop in this sec ton, and tobacco in other sections"
 It will be seen from the above that Mr 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 we'll 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 lie consid- cred it good business to apply ferti- izer He was business man as well as farmer, and knew all the keen points iu the business world
 The Hon. James NJ. 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 Itis power ful agency in producing an increased yieId-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 im- provement learned the value of fertil- izers, but learned equally well the value of diversified farming They would not decrease the use of fertl- izer, but diversity more. They would have us use more fertilizers, so that we could grow more plants and vege table matter, in turn plow 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 high state Of cultivation.
 If growing crops take plant food out of the soil and we do nor blow under an amount equal to this, CT get it from some other source and apply it, our land is sure to decrease in fertility and in value This is fact beyond dispute With most of our crops we take from the fields a large amount of nitrogen, phosphoric acid and pot ash, which never goes back to tbe place on the farm from whence it came We should see 0 it, then, that some kind of plant food takes it's place In the case of cotton. we sell the seed, anu with them large amounts of nitrogen and other ele- ments of piant food. Very often We burn the stalks. and in this way take from the field much more valuable plant food. IL is suicidal policy for us to dc this under any circum. staHees, but especially so when We fail tortut back on the soil what we take
 sandy farm in one of the a-hern states, which had been aban dI by it's original owner and sold foi ' cents per acre, a little barn vars anure and heavy applications of { TO izer made another farmer
 riFsSo Q last farmer used SIS worti : ofnors :er per acre and raised 1.40f pol seed cotton per acre This r wt bale per acre on the en
 til The $15 investment in fer
 u I good breaking and culti
 V ed the thrifty farmer nor,
 IL io'r acre when cotton wat a [lish price i, I pertinent stations and oth y fn/ Ens have found that fertil