376 



STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



much phosphoric acid and much nitrogen are demanded by them and 

 will pay ; their season of growth is short, their root system meager, 

 and plant-food must abound to utilize the tremendous powers of these 

 plants for absorbing and assimilating it; crops two and three times as 

 great as those assumed may be obtained without difficulty. 



The value of plant-food, then, has a double meaning : to the plant, 

 as without it no growth, and that is, no crops are attainable ; to the far» 

 mer, as at some time he is bound to buy and restore wbat he takes 

 from his land; he cannot eat his cake and have it still. He would bay 

 of course in open market, and at as low a rate as competition will 

 allow, and when he does he will readily ascertain the value of the num- 

 ber of pounds of the three fertilizing substances which his crops have 

 removed ; for evidently that value would be equal to the price which 

 he has to pay for them in the market. Such calculation has been made 

 in the following table, under the term of manurial value : 



TA BLE 5. — Manurial value of this crop: 



The trade value of potash, phosphoric acid and nitrogen, or the price at which 

 each can be bought in open market, is 5i cents per pound of potash, 5 cents a pound 

 of phosphoric acid, and 17f cents per pound of nitrogen. At these prices the cost 

 of returning to the land what is moved by the crops would be per acre : 



Wheat, kernels $6.00 



" straw. 7 29 



13 29 



Oats, kernels 3.81 



'' straw • 3.92 



7.73 



Corn, kernels 11.94 



" cobs and husks 0.96 



" stover 6 40 



19.30 



Timothy $12.57 



Clover 26.98 



Alfalfa 23.17 



Potatoes 7.07 



Carrots 4.52 



Cabbage 18 .35 



To take care, therefore, of straw and all other vegetable refuse 

 and return it to the land in a proper manner, is a matter of great impor- 

 tance; to sell timothy, clover and alfalfa as such, rather than to feed it 

 and sell it as flesh or milk, is bad policy and self-destructive. To value 

 a crop simply by its market price is crude and unscientific. The price 

 which the farmer pays for it is not only its cost of production, but in 

 addition to it, its manurial value, which we have often neglected, and 

 which the conditions of the case begin now to force upon us for seri- 

 ous consideration. 



