Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1918-11-05
Seed and Fertilizer for 1919.
THE GROWER SHOULD ATTEND To ns
NEEDS EARLY. i

FOR two years the seed and the fer
tilixer sltuation has been acute. And Il
bids fair to be, to say the least, no bet
ter Tor the coming year. For in addition
TO the shortage and high cost of mate
rials. and demands upon transportation
for war needs, there 10 already an in
creased difficulty owing to the shortage
oil labor In fertilizer plants.
IL We are to have fairly comfortable
time ut home, and arc to do our duty
supplying the food needed BY our own
soldiers and those of our Allies, and do
our part In helping feed the civil popula-
zion OF Europe, we must see to it that
our crop yields for. 1919 do not fall off.
With the diminished male farm labor 1t
is highly important that We grow maxi
mum crops per acre. Our cultivation
must be more intense. We cannot well
increase, and may not be able to main
tain, our present acreage devoted to
crops. To get maximum production
under these conditions means thorough
preparation of soil, good seed, liberal
application Of manures, and protection
from insect and fungous enemies.
u field selection of seed has not been
made, the grower should at once select
from his own crops the seed needed for
next year, and II be f1nds that he has not
enough, or good enough seed, he should
at once look to an adequate supply of
high grade seed. Cheap seed is likely
to be poor economy. A we'll bred seed
will often make q difference OF many
bushels in returns and without any add.
ed rnaf fha AsHaranna q.
A small investment may make marvellous
returns.
Maximum acre yields cannot be OBJ
tanned without high fertility. All farm
manure should be so handled as to re-
tain q maximum Of the fertiliziug con-
stituents and make them quickly avail
able. II you do not know how to handle
and compose manures write to the Maine
Agricultural Experiment Station for a
description of the way it handles ma
nures at its Highmoor Farm. There are
thousands of dollars worth of fertility
annually lost in the mismanagement of
farm refuses. With the present scarcity
and high cost of commercial msnures,
home supplies should be conserved to
the uttermost.
After carefully estimating your fer
tilizer needs for the coming year, orders
for all needed purchased plant food
should be placed at the earliest possible
Because of the shortage of
labor in fertilizer plants the companies
were unable to fill more than Is per
cent of their August orders for winter
wheat fertilizers. There Ia apparently
little hope, even II the war stops soon.
for increased labor supply during the
winter and spring to be used in making
up the spring fertilizers of potatoes and
other crops. The only way out is for
fertilizer factories to start manufsctur-
ing at once, and ship out the goods as
rapidly as they ara cured. This, Of
course, requires that the farmers order
what fertilizers they can now and be
ready to accept the shipments as soon as
they can be made. II this is done, there
is reason to hope that the industry will
be successful In producing fair pro-
portion Of its regular tonnage, and also
in getting the fertilizer to the farms be-
fore the cold Of winter congests our rail-
roads.
The special purpose Of this letter is to
arouse the farmer to save In the very
best way all the manure possible, to
estimate at once his commercial fertil.
izsr need, and place his orders go that
and delivery can begin
at the earliest possible moment.-Chas.
d. Woods, Director.