84 VERMONT AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



HOME MIXING OF FERTILIZERS 



By Ernest S. Brigham, at North Tunbridge, March ist. 



The question of fertilization is one of particular interest at 

 the present time. We have heard our grandfathers tell of the 

 wonderful crops of potatoes grown upon land which knew not 

 the stimulus of manure, of the crops of corn harvested from 

 seed planted among the stumps of the newly cleared fields, and 

 of the grass which grew almost shoulder high in ante-mower 

 days. But those times belong to the past here in New England 

 and now if the farmer wishes to crowd the " old barn eaves ' 

 with the fruits of the harvest and compete successfully with the 

 newer lands of the west, he finds it necessary to go to the mine, 

 the mill and the factory for materials with which to reinforce 

 the plant food in his soil. 



How to purchase and apply these materials most cheaply is 

 a question of great importance. The most popular way at the 

 present time is the purchase of the ready mixed fertilizers 

 offered for sale by the manufacturers, and we find upon referring 

 to the bulletin 65 of our Vermont Experiment Station that no 

 less than 126 brands of these mixtures were offered for sale in 

 the State last year — variety enough it would seem to satisfy the 

 taste of the most fastidious plant. 



It is interesting to study the analyses of the different brands 

 given in this bulletin, and they certainly should be carefully 

 studied by every buyer of fertilizer. Take for instance a fer- 

 tilizer which was sold in our section of the State last year for 

 $26 per ton, and we find that it was valued at $16.49 P er tou by 

 the station valuation, which is the valuation based upon " retail 

 cash prices of the various fertilizing ingredients in the large 

 markets, unmixed but ready for use." That leaves in the case 

 of this fertilizer the sum of $9.5 1 which went to pay the cost of 

 mixing, bagging, freight, agent's fees, etc. Thus we see the 

 purchaser of this fertilizer, which is one of average quality, re- 

 ceived 64 cents worth of plant food to the dollar invested, the 

 remaining 36 cents going to pay the above named expenses. 

 We also find in the same bulletin the statement that " two dol- 

 lars out of every five spent for fertilizers went to pay the cost 

 of manufacture and sale." In these days of close prices, the 



