fertilizer per acre was about four dollars. The in- 

 creased yield was a little over eleven bushels. The 

 increased net profit was over seven dollars an acre 

 when wheat sold at one dollar a bushel. In 1917, 

 under wartime prices for both fertilizer and wheat, the 

 net profit would have been 285 per cent. See Chart 16. 

 Similar experiments in corn land in the Middle West, 

 hay land in the East, fruit and truck land show fully 

 as startling results. Not only is the yield increased, 

 but usually the quality of the crop is much improved. 

 It is matured earlier. The yield is more certain. Looked 

 at from another angle, commercial fertilizer is a means 

 of making farm labor more effective that is, it re- 

 duces the amount of labor required to produce a 

 bushel, bale, pound, ton or quart of output. 



Thus far we have used commercial fertilizer for 

 cotton, truck and fruit crops in regions of specialized 

 farming, and more or less on farming lands in the 

 East. In the great Central West the use of commer- 

 cial fertilizer has increased but slowly. The middle 

 western farmer has not yet felt obliged to use it to keep 

 up his yields. At present he is likely to consider its 

 use a reflection on his land. He is prejudiced against 

 it. However, it is the consensus of opinion of those 

 who are best informed that the general use of commer- 

 cial fertilizer in the United States is but a question of 

 time and education. In the leading nations of Western 

 Europe the crop yields per acre in normal times are 

 approximately double those of the United States. 

 European agricultural experts estimate that in get- 

 ting the increased yield, commercial fertilizer is at 

 least a 75 per cent factor. It might not be profitable 

 for American farmers to attempt to equal European 

 yields, for the point of diminishing returns might be 

 reached, and our aim in the United States is and must 

 continue to be the maximum income per farmer. But 



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