The Bulletin. 63 



of potatoes and other tuber crops, and gives to the peach and other fruits 

 their rich, rosy color. Nitrogen or ammonia is the leaf and stem producing 

 element. 



As no two crops demand these elements in precisely the same proportion, 

 it is necessary for the farmer who uses fertilizers intelligently to study the 

 demands of the various crops he is growing and feed to the plants the elements 

 in proportion that will meet the demands of the plant and afford a profitable 

 return for the money invested. The majority of us use fertilizers not as a 

 permanent improvement, but for immediate results; therefore, it is the more 

 necessary to study this question. If, for instance, we are growing a grain crop, 

 the seed being the important part of the plant, we should feed it well with 

 the seed-producing element (phosphoric acid), and only give it enough of the 

 other elements to produce stalks sufficient to bear the fruit. The hay and grass 

 crops should be fed that element (ammonia) which makes leaf and stem. The 

 tuber and fruit crops should be fertilized with potash. 



Equally true as the above statement is the fact that different soils require 

 the elements in different proportions. Some soils may be quite rich in one 

 element and deficient in others. For instance, the red lands of the Piedmont 

 section of our State are rich in potash, and frequently do not respond at all 

 to the use of this element. Each farmer must determine for himself what 

 elements are needed in his soil. It is not safe to depend on chemical analysis 

 for this information. Of course, in this way we can determine what elements 

 are present in our soils, but we are more vitally interested in the elements 

 that are present in an available or water-soluble condition, and not in the 

 mere fact of their presence. The only practical way to find out this is to 

 test it on our own farm by a series of experiments. Each farmer can take 

 a small area and try the various elements under the different crops and easily 

 determine which will give profitable returns. The farmers of our State are 

 spending annually thousands of dollars for plant food that is absolutely worth- 

 less to our plants, while with only a little trouble and thought we could pur- 

 chase intelligently only that which our soils and plants require. 



After we have decided the above questions as to the fertilizers best suited 

 to our soils and plants, can we control these conditions by the use of ready- 

 mixed or manipulated fertilizers? Most assuredly not. The only economical 

 and intelligent thing to do is to buy the raw material, such as acid phos- 

 phate, cotton-seed meal and muriate of potash, and mix our own fertilizers at 

 home. Having these materials at hand with a fixed per cent of the elements 

 of plant food, any farmer with a little intelligence can make a fertilizer to 

 meet the demands of his various soils and crops. 



I say it is the only economical thing to do, because we can buy the above- 

 named materials, which have a fixed market value, and mix up a ton of 

 fertilizer at from $3 to $5 per ton less than we can buy the same analysis 

 ready mixed. 



We know that the price of the elements of plant food in raw materials for 

 the spring of 1909 was as follows: 



Phosphoric acid in acid phosphate 4c. per lb. 



Nitrogen 18c. per lb. 



Potash 5c. per lb. 



If we take, for example, a ton of the ordinary 8-2-2 fertilizer, which I find 

 is used more than any other analysis in North Carolina, we find the following 

 condition : 



1G0 lbs. of phosphoric acid at 4c. per lb $ 6.40 



40 lbs. of ammonia or 33 lbs. nitrogen at 18c 5.94 



40 lbs. of potash at 5c. per lb 2.00 



Total value of plant foods $14.34 



We know that 8-2-2 costs the average farmer from $18 to $22 per ton. Of 

 course, the above prices are based on the value in raw or unmixed material, 



