White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1931-04-30
OF Interest to Farmers
by County Agent E. c. Durdle)
County Agea4t E. c. Datrdle)

izer to work like magic and make up
for every other shortcoming of his
crop and soil, such as poor seed, in
efficient spraying, poorly plowed and
cultivated land, weed conditions, and
low humus content. The efficiency
of fertilizer is materially decreased
when it is applied to soil that is too
acid. Fertilizers will not take the place
of lime, nor will lime take the place of
fertilizer, nor will fertilizer take the
place of organic matter. The grower
who cannot obtain a sufficient guam
tity Of barnyard manure to keep his
soil in good condition must depend
on green manure crops, such as win
ter rye, clover, field peas, and m;llet.
He must even consider the practice
ability Of fertilizing his green manure
crop to produce greater tonnage.
There is big opportunity for far
ners to get more out Of what manure
they can obtain by the use of super
phosphate. The practice Of mixing
this material with manure as it is
produced in the stable has received
too little consideration although it
has been very favora5ly recommended
ty all of the experiment stations and
adopted by marry progressive farmers.
DIR. Thorne of the Ohio Experiment
Station began rec ,n1mendins the
practice some 80 years ago and his
recommendations have been accepted
as standard 40 to SO pounds of
sperphosphate for each ton of man
ure. Manure weighs about 2 tons to
the cord. 1t undoubtedly would pay
growers making or hauling fresh man.
ure to furnish suparphosphate to be
used on the fresh manure at the rate
of one pound per day for each horse
or cow. It keeps things clean and
dry, sterilizes to certain extent,
holds in the ammonia and keeps the
smell down, rounds out the plant food
value of the manure, and is Chez }.
The only objection that might be
raised against it is the fact that it is
dusty. Poultrymen will find this
material of especial value.
With the newer synthetic fertilizer
materials making possible high analy-
sis mixtures, the grower must use
more care in the use of these mix
lures. More care must be taken in
their storage. Injury to plants must
be avoided by more careful distribu-
ton and application.
Fertilizer attachments to seed drills
and fertilizer spreaders must be kept
in better condition so that they will
work as they should and spread the
materials evenly and at the desired
rate. New spreaders are available
that will Distribute evenly as low ac
200 pounds of fertilizer per acre.
The East have probably spent thou
sands of dollars for fertilizer where
we have spent one in the west. It
has been only within comparatively
short time that commercial fertilizers
have had much of place in west
ern agriculture. The fact that the
east is rapidly shifting to new fertil-
izer practices would lead us to believe
that we should follow the same prac.
tices here rather than waiting until
later to make the changes. The point
that we have been most interested in
is the economic aspect of fertilizer
uses and returns secured from them.
Whatever material will furnish our
clements of fertility at the lowest cost
taking into consideration any labor
required for mixing if this is neces-
sary, should be the material most
logical to use. In other words we
have felt that a farmer should buy
his fertilizer just the same as he buys
feed, hogs, or his groceries.
E. c. DURDLE