Free trader-journal. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1916-1920, 1919-02-15
FERTILIZE TO KEEP MORE
LIVE STOCK
On the Stock Farm the PIantfood OF
Fertilizers Is Used Over
and over.

All farmers are familiar with the
saying, Maintain the fertility OF your
farm by keeping live stock" While
Ibis is a Understanding statement ii
seldom proves true. In fact many Of
our agricultural officials state that
many live stock farms are decreasing
in produCtiyeHess. You can't continue
20 take from the sugar bowl without
filling it occasionally. While live
stock farming is one of the best sys-
TENS for maintaining fertility even
| this system is far from being 100 per
cent efficient. Plantfood is lost in
every pound Of live stock products
and farm produce sold and in every
pound Of manure leached or wasted.
/ Therefore if fertility is to be main
tanned some outside source Of feftil-
| ity must be brought TO the farm. Extra
pantfood may be added BY purchasing
feeds and fertilizers.
/ The live stock farmer can use fer
/ tilizer TO much better advantage than
/ can any other farmer. His soils are
usually rich in humus, which enables
the crop to make the best possible use
of the fertilizer applied. His fertilizer
/ investment is insured.
The live stock farmer has the fur
Their advantage that the plantfood ap-
piled in the form of fertilizer is act
ually used over and over again on his
farm. The first profit is not the only
profit: the benefits may extend over
a period Of years.
On the stockIess farm much plant
food is removed and lost each year
through the crops sold. This must
be balanced by the purchase of fer
tilizer. 1t may not he necessary to
purchase the equivalent Of all the
plantfOods SO remoVed-some nitrogen
may be supplied through legumes, and
potash may not be in excess of the
amounts that become available in the
soil each year. But phosph0ric acid
must be purchased in full, even in
excess of the amounts apparently con-
sumed by the crops.
On the live stock farm, however,
matters are different. Most Of the
plantfoOd goes back to the land. Only
a small portion-20 per CENTS neces-
sarily lost. The balance is added to
the circulating medium Of fertility and
In part is used over and over again.
For example. high nitrogen fertilizer
may be applied to grass. Now grass
is a luXuriant feeder, and in some au-
thoritative tests has apparently re-
covered in the crop all Of the nitro
gen applied as top-dressing, and as
far as potash and phosphoric acid are
concerned, any surplus remains in the
: soil and is not lost by teaching.
The hay is consumed by cattle-ma
nure is returned to the land. Under
} a most careful system of saving, s.
= per cent of tic plantfood in the fec
e stuffS may be recovered in the manure
e and again returned TO the soil.
] The plantfood of fertilizer IS thu
F. used a second time.
Perhaps the manure made by the
hay is applied TO corn. The plantfooC
by this time is orgnnic--the manure
must rot before it becomes available
Not ali becomes available the first sea
son--and this is why manure lasts
yet in this corn crop is some of the
= nitrogen which was applied to the
grass the year before, in the form OF
fertilizer.
Tn the course Of time the oc0rn is
fed To stock. manure is returned tc
the land, and once again plantfooc
goes through its endless cycle, increas
. ing crops and increasing farm profits
It Cacn operation.
No wonder, then, that when once
live stock man really investigates the
possibilities in profit from the use OF
fertilizer a permanent fertilizer Gus
toner is made.
European agriculture shas demon
/, strated the truth Of these statements
III these countries stock has heeI
largely kept--hut to maintain fcrtilit!
dependence has been placed on boti
mauurcs and fertilizers.