MICHIGAN LIVE STOCK IN 1899 417 



in some sections contributed its share in maintaining the fertility of the 

 soil by returning to the soil in stable manure a portion of the plant food 

 necessarily taken from it by the growth of plants. The fact remains, 

 however, that many of our best farmers in various parts of the State find 

 the regular and systematic use of commercial fertilizers profitable, and, 

 paradoxical as it may seem, these farmers are just the ones that take 

 the most pains to save and apply all farm manures. 



Third, Another and not the least important cause is found in the fact 

 that Michigan did not pass a law for the inspection of fertilizers until 

 the year 1885. Previous to that time, and more particularly at just 

 about that time, this State was the dumping ground for fraudulent, 

 worthless fertilizers. Dr. Kedzie found that in one instance soap boilers' 

 waste and leached ashes was sold as a high grade superphosphate. In 

 another instance marl was shipped in from Ohio as Buckeye Phosphate. 

 In still another instance furnace slag and salt was represented as a high 

 grade fertilizer. The writer had a little personal experience with what 

 was known as "Western Reserve" fertilizer, which^, both upon analysis 

 and trial, was found to be practically worthless. Now, when a man bought 

 some of these kinds of goods, having had no previous experience with fer- 

 tilizers and thinking them all alike, he became disgusted with commer- 

 cial fertilizers and stamped them all as a fraud, and to this day some who 

 were thus defrauded in various parts of the State can not even be induced 

 to try fertilizers as an experiment. 



WHERE USED. 



The use of fertilizers may be said to be general, that is, nearly every 

 farmer uses it, in the eastern and southeastern portion of the State. 

 Here fertilizers have come to stay. Their use is beyond the experi- 

 mental stage, and a majority of the farmers have settled down to the 

 policy of using them s^-stematically. Scattered all over the State are 

 individual farmers who use fertilizers regularly, and in many localities 

 their use is quite general in particular neighborhoods. 



ON WHAT CROPS USED. 



The great bulk of all the fertilizers used in Michigan is applied to the 

 wheat crop at the time of seeding in the fall. One principal reason for 

 this is that the wheat crop by too many farmers is considered by them as 

 the money crop, and anything that will increase the yield of wheat in- 

 creases the cash income and debt paying power of the farm. Until 

 quite lately the use of fertilizer in the spring was confined largely to 

 market gardeners and fruit growers, but farmers are beginning to use 

 it on oats, corn, potatoes and sugar beets. The use of fertilizers on 

 potatoes would be largely increased could anything like a fair market 

 price for the product be assured. 



PER CENT OF FARMERS USING FERTILIZERS. 



The Michigan crop report for July, 1899, gives the per cent of farmers 



using fertilizers in the southern counties as ten, the central counties four, 



the northern counties one, and for the whole State seven. Had the State 



been divided geographically into eastern, central and western counties, 



53 



