Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1917-12-26
Quality.

Quality.
Quality is a strange word to be
connected with agriculture and yet if
every farmer in Orleans county rec
ognized it's significance as applied to
his business, what a revolution there
would be in farming methods within
few years. Quality in all kinds of
livestock, quality in roughage raised,
quality in feed bought, in seeds, in
fertilizers, quality in everything, but
ster says, Equality signifies a degree
of excellence" Farmers are yearly
losing thousands of dollars because
they do not even take the trouble to
know what the degree of excellence"
is of the fertilizer which they buy, of
the seeds, of the feed. To many men
"cottonseed" is just 'cottonseed"
whether it is cottonseed feed analyz-
ing 20 per cent protein and made up
of half cottonseed meal and half cot
tonseed bulls or whether it is high
quality Al per cent protein meal. The
price of an article does not always
indicate what the real value o. that
article will be to the man who buys 1T.
It may be cheap in price, without
doubt it will be cheap article in the
real sense OF the WORD.
In other words, we, as farmers, do
not take the pains that we should to
know the relative values of various
feeds and fertilizers on the market.
Many men would buy Sc per cent cot
tonseed meal at $53 a ton when they
might buy al per cent cottonseed at
$3.50 ton and think they had real
bargain because the price was less.
AS matter of fact, they were beaten
in the trade and didn't know it. They
failed to consider that difference of
5 per cent in protein guarantee al
per cent minus SO per cent equals 5
per cent) made 100 pounds more pro-
tein in ton of the high grade meal
and that at a difference of $3.50 in
price was money we'll invested.
Or here is a farmer who buys fer
tilizer for his next years crop. Ask
him what it analyses and he tells you
it is "corn fertilizer" That does not
indicate anything of the value of that
fertilizer The thing to know is it's
analysis expressed in per cent of nitro
gen and available phosphoric acid and
lin peace times) potash. These three
elements are what farmers are buy
ing to put on their land-that is what
the crops are using when they are
x
it of at least looking at the analysis
and knowing what we buy rather
than buying a ton of corn fertilizer"
which may analyze exactly the same
as a ton Of "potato fertilizer" which
your neighbor bought from this COM
pany or some other company.
But any farmer who buys fertilizer
in any quantity will do better to use
chemicals and know exactly what he
is putting on his land. In years past
these have proven considerably
cheaper than ready-mixed fertilizers
of the same analysis and from prices
already received this year and figured
out it seems safe to say that the
farmers of this county will be saving
from SIS to SIS per ton by mixing
their own chemicals. Potash cannot
be obtained in chemical form this
year by the farmers any more than
last year. The man who feels that
hi his land demands potash and knows
that the returns will justify his ex-
penditure for this will do we'll to buy
some one of the h1gh-grade mixed
goods on the market containing pot
ash However, there are probably
few farmers in Orleans county whose
land needs potash SO badly that they
will be justified in buying it in mixed
goods at present prices. Potato fields
may be rotated and even pasture land
plOughed SO that no one field may be
largely deprived of it's available pot
ash supply thereby showing potash
hunger" in the early death of the
plants. A man will do we'll to watch
his crops carefully, however, this
coming year.
A high quality in seeds is even now
a thing which relatively few farmers
demand. Seeds is seeds" the same
as "Pigs is Pigs" to a big class of
men. The Vermont law demands that
agricultural seed shall be guaran-
teed as to it's purity and freedom
from foreign matter and seed other
than the kind Sold" A bulletin is is
sued each year giving the names and
analysis of the different brands of
seed sold in the state. It is a dollars
and cents proposition for any farmer
to study the seed, feed and fertilizer
bulletins issued by the experiment
station and know whether the brands
he is buying hold up to the guaran-
tee. The recent seed bulletin shows
that one firm was selling two grades
of timothy, one analysing go per cent
purity and actually containing 1880
weed seeds per pound, and the other
analysing 80 per cent purity and &C.
tually containing 655 weed seeds per
pound. A cheap price for any article
never can be used as a guide to sig
nifty a good trade.