The Nevada County picayune., 1916-02-10
INTELLIGENT USE OF FERTi LIZERS IN GERMANY.

of all kinds have taken lively part in the building up of the trade, and in lat CT years the states have taken 1t for granted that the trade is profitable 70 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 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 gale 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 lee lures on modern agriculture has made known much of the work of Germany in the early history of the use of com Kuhlmann, German agricultural scientist, applied salammoniac to meadow in the year 1S45 and 1846. and found that on a 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 Liebig has the following to say: ''It is quite certain, that in the action of the qua no, which produced the crop next high. est after the Chili saltpeter, an un. mistakable part was played by 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 ill the soil may perhaps assist us in throwing 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 mineral ma nures, greater yield was obtained, and Von Liebig came to the conclusion that this was due to the relation Of this added material to the liberation of potash in the soils.
 Only a short time after the war be tween the States the German potash beds were discovered and by rapic leaps and bounds this material gained in favor with planters as we'll as eI perimenters. The necessity for find ing a combination to liberats the pot ash in the soils was now removed and thorough satisfaction was found in the use of tho nitrate of soda and the potash salts, and here the indus try stood for long time. Ltsbig do ss claim, however. that Tribasie ph osphats of hns crept into the formula and was found sficient. This fact is very sig nincant and happened to be Aiscov the nitrate of soda and potash sslts Liebig thought that these two plant food materials had the power of dis solving phosphoric acid in the form vi earthly phosphates. and these in turn added greatly to the yield of farm crops.
 We have here many hints of what afterwards really developed to be facts-namely that the three great clements of plant food that should be applied to the soil for good crop yields are phosphoric acid. ammonia and potash. For many years these three elements have been the essential sis ments of plant food In q fertilizer for mula-
 Today Germany applies more min eral salts per acre to her crops thar any other nation in the world, and partly as a consequence gets higher yields of farm crops than any other nation. It Is significant that these 4u,o pacto ora an cl0aaIv raIafad pu,