Cor7i Groivers' Association. 169 



Manure should be hauled directly to the fields as it is made 

 where this is possible as in this way there is the least loss by 

 fermentation and leaching. If it cannot be hauled every day it 

 should be hauled every week or as often as possible. Where ani- 

 mals are fed in stables a manure carrier that dumps directly into 

 the manure spreader is the modern thing. Where cattle are fed 

 in large sheds the manure may be allowed to accumulate and be 

 hauled when most convenient in the year as there will be very 

 little loss under such conditions. Manure kept tramped com- 

 pactly and mixed with a fair amount of litter and liquid manure 

 under cover will as a rule, lose a minimum amount of fertilizing 

 materials. 



THE USE OF COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS. 



The increasing use of commercial fertilizers in Missouri is 

 a cause for alarm among those who are interested in the future of 

 the State. The reason for this is found in the fact that as ferti- 

 lizers are used it is for the effect upon the immediate crop with 

 no thought of the future. Moreover, when they are found to pay, 

 as they usually do on worn soils, there is a strong tendency for the 

 farmer to continue their use year after year, to the neglect of his 

 farm manures. It should be remembered that the chief function 

 of fertilizers is to supply soluble plant food, and where a soil is 

 lacking somewhat in one or more of the elements of fertility in 

 soluble form, due to too much grain farming or other cause, the 

 addition of such element or elements in the form of a fertilizer 

 may bring large returns. Consequently the farmer becomes en- 

 thusiastic in its use and continues the practice, depending far too 

 largely upon the fertilizer for his crop. The final results of such 

 a system is exactly the same as the growing of clover and remov- 

 ing it from the land; — the soil is stimulated to larger production 

 of crops following, the humus supply is neglected and burned out, 

 and the fertilizer at once assumes the role of a soil stimulant 

 rather than a soil builder, with final disaster to the farmer and to 

 the land. In other words, fertilizers thus used may postpone for 

 a time the failure of a soil to produce satisfactory returns, but 

 only for a time. Such a use of fertilizers is perfectly legitimate 

 for the man who is just paying for his land and must meet his 

 obligations, but it must be clearly understood that this is a tem- 

 porary expedient and one that cannot be continued if his land is 

 to permanently maintain its productiveness. The proper use of 

 commercial fertilizers, on the other hand, is a constructive one. 



