418 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE 



it would have been found that quite a large per cent of the farmers in 

 the eastern counties use fertilizers. 



PERSONAL, EXPERIENCE. 



The writer began the use of commercial fertilizers in a very cautious 

 way. purchasing in the fall of 1887 three sacks (600 pounds), simply to 

 test their value on wheat. One of the sacks was the "Western Reserve"' 

 fertilizer above referred to. No results could be observed from the use 

 of this brand, neither in the growth of straw or length of head, or plump- 

 ness of berry. The other brand (Homestead) produced gratifying re- 

 sults. The sacks were sown on separate fields on a strip through the 

 middle of the field, and at the rate of 200 pounds per acre. The wheat 

 made a better growth from the start on these strips. The straw was 

 taller, the heads longer and better filled, and the berry was plumper and 

 had a more glossy appearance. It was simply astonishing to note what 

 results so little fertilizer would produce. A portion of one field had been 

 top-dressed with barnyard manure. The fertilizer was applied cross- 

 wise of this, so that it extended over the manured as well as the un- 

 manured portion. It was a surprise to note that the fertilizer produced 

 as marked a difference in the growth of wheat on the manured portion 

 as on that portion not manured. The portion of the field top-dressed 

 with manure produced a better crop of wheat than the unmanured, but 

 the fertilized strip was seemingly proportionally better also. This 

 seemed to indicate that one need not be afraid to apply a little plant 

 food to even fairly good land. 



In the fall of '88, two tons of fertilizer (analysis, 2^ to 3.15 per cent am- 

 monia, 8 to 11 per cent phosphoric acid, and 1.5 to 2 per cent actual pot- 

 ash) was used on wheat at the rate of 200 pounds per acre. Strips the 

 width of the drill were left regularly through the field where no fer- 

 tilizer was sown, so that results could be noted. It did not take a 

 threshing test to convince any one that profitable results were obtained. 

 Conservative people estimated that the fertilizer made a difference of 

 from 10 to 15 bushels per acre. Fertilizer has been used regularly since 

 on the wheat crop, and it is believed always with a profit. 



USE ON A KUN-DOWN FARM. 



A run-down farm was purchased in the winter of '88, and the value of 

 fertilizer has been thoroughly tested as a supplement to clover in bring- 

 ing up this land. The results have been greater than ever was expected. 



Previous to the purchase, a catch of clover had not been obtained for 

 years, and on some fields timothy even refused to grow. On one field in 

 particular, four unsuccessful attempts had been made to get a stand of 

 timothy. By the application of fertilizer, good enough crops were grown 

 from the start to pay for the labor and interest on the investment, and 

 fine stands of clover were secured at once, which were certainly not all 

 due to tillage, as on strips left where no fertilizer was used the clover 

 did not make nearly as strong a growth. Not a particle of barn-yai'd 

 manure was used on this farm for the next eight years. No clover was 

 ever plowed under, not even the second crop, so that all the plant food 

 the farm received was in the clover roots and commercial fertilizer, yet 

 the yield of crops gradually increased. Clover alone could not have made 



