178 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



stable manure contains "the baker's dozen/' and may be called an entire 

 manure, because it furnishes every material required by the plant. It 

 also contains a large amount of organic substance, the decay of which 

 furnishes the humus so necessary for the proper physical condition of the 

 soil. If commercial fertilizers are used on the farm, experience teaches 

 that only by combining their use with that of barnyard manure can per- 

 manent fertility be maintained. If used alone and without securing a 

 supply of organic matter in the soil, it is found in the course of years 

 that the land has fallen off in fertility, either from a change in the 

 physical condition of the soil, or from a deficient supply of some material 

 not included in the "complete fertilizer," but contained in the farm 

 manure. If the commercial fertilizers of any kind are used, they should 

 be employed along with barnyard manure, to supplement and reinforce 

 the standard manure of successful farming, for the dung heap is the pivot 

 of successful farming. 



The college is often asked to analyze the soil of some farm to deter- 

 mine what is required to make it fertile. A handful of soil is caught up 

 at random on some part of the farm and sent here for analysis, not real- 

 izing that skill and experience are required to make a selection of soil that 

 fairly represents the field or farm as a whole. The analysis of such a 

 random specimen, however, carefully made, may be of little or no value 

 in determining the requirements of such a farm, "and yet shew I unto 

 you a more excellent way." Question the soil as to its wants by actual 

 trial. Ask it whether it wants this element, or would do better with 

 that, by applying these manures to small plots and watching the results. 

 If the crop is markedly improved by the use of the fertilizer on your 

 plot, then you have reliable information from original sources, better 

 than any the chemist can give you. 



I was once walking with Secretary Howard and admiring the Blue 

 Lupines that beautified our lawn before the advent of the lawn mower, 

 and wondered whether it was a good food for stock. Secretary Howard 

 answered my inquiry by throwing a handful to a sheep in the next field; 

 the sheep quickly took in the situation and the lupines, licked its chops 

 and looked up for more, saying as plain as words, "I like that, give me 

 some more." In like manner question your soil by placing in it some 

 one fertilizer and watch the result as shown by plants growing on it. If 

 it answers you by waving its flag of brilliant green signaling you the 

 message "that is what I want and can use to advantage; give me more," 

 you have your answer. If it shows no sign of improved growth, you have 

 your answer of another kind as to that material. The failure may be not 

 from the nature of your fertilizer but from some physical defect in the 

 soil or the season, but the same conditions would apply to the farm. 

 Hence the answer of the plot would apply to the field. 



ARE THEY STIMULANTS? 



Some farmers regard commercial fertilizers as "stimulants and not 

 nourishment." and that they exhaust the soil instead of feeding it. The 

 elements in the concentrated manures are direct food for the plants, 

 enabling them to appropriate not only the materials in such manures, 

 but to use other matter in the soil that otherwise would remain useless. 

 In this way they may "aid the fanner to exhaust the soil by rapidly 



