FERTILIZERS. 



275 



of the colony is equivalent to 15 for each in- 

 habitant. 



FERTILIZERS. The system of agriculture 

 which consists in removing crops without re- 

 storing the plant-food they take from the soil, 

 and which Liebig aptly called Raubbau (rob- 

 bery-culture), has already reduced the soil of 

 our older States to the condition where it must 

 be fertilized or abandoned ; where not only the 

 most careful tillage, and husbanding of the 

 manurial resources of the farm, but also the im- 

 portation of plant-food from outside, are req- 

 uisite to the restoration of fertility. Guano, 

 phosphates, potash salts, and the like, have 

 become with us, as in Europe, indispensable to 

 successful agriculture. 



Every one of the Atlantic, and many of the 

 Middle States, employ large quantities of com- 

 mercial fertilizers. Their use is extending to 

 the prairies of Indiana and Illinois ; and even 

 in Kansas experiments are being made with 

 them on soil stated to be " worn out with 

 long cropping." Single towns in Connecticut 

 are said to expend $20,000 per annum in arti- 

 ficial manures, and the State of Georgia im- 

 ports annually some $5,000,000 worth of plant- 

 food, in the form of phosphates, guano, potash 

 salts, and the like, to restore fertility to her soils. 



The amounts of these materials sent out from 

 the central markets in the spring of 1881 were 

 so great as to make, in some places, a railroad 

 blockade. The Commissioner of Immigration 

 of Georgia says : " It is frequently stated that 

 the immense increase of the cotton-crop since 

 the war over that prior to 1860 is due to 

 emancipation only. A most important factor 

 in bringing this about has been the very gen- 

 eral use of commercial fertilizers. 1 ' The rapid 

 improvement of Southern agriculture has been 

 made practicable by various material agencies, 

 of which this is one of the chief. Not freedom 

 alone, but freedom and superphosphates, are 

 giving us the '' New South." 



How important a factor of the agricultural 

 progress of the country commercial fertilizers 

 have become is illustrated by the following 

 figures, partly official and partly general esti- 

 mates, but doubtless reasonably correct: 



The Commissioner of Agriculture of the 

 State of Georgia reports that the number of 

 tons of commercial fertilizers inspected in that 

 State in 1881 was 152,464, from which the 

 State received $76,232 (a tax of fifty cents be- 

 ing levied upon each ton consumed in Georgia). 



Dr. Dabney, Director of the Agricultural 

 Experiment Station of North Carolina, reports, 

 under date of December 15, 1881, that 50,000 

 tons were consumed in 1878, 60,000 tons in 

 1879, and 80,000 tons in 1880; and that "the 

 sales this year (1881) will slightly exceed this 

 last amount.'' 1 



It is estimated that Virginia consumes over 

 40,000 tons; Pennsylvania, over 50,000 tons; 

 New Jersey, over 20,000 tons; New York, 

 over 35,000 tons; Ohio, over 15,000 tons; 

 New England, over 50,000 tons ; and the use 



of fertilizers is rapidly increasing toward the 

 Mississippi Valley, and through Michigan, In- 

 diana, and Kentucky. The consumption in 

 the Atlantic and Middle States is estimated at 

 not less than 500,000 tons, or about $20,000,000 

 worth. Thousands of farmers, therefore, must 

 be using fertilizers successfully, else why this 

 constantly increasing consumption? 



The term commercial fertilizers properly ap- 

 plies " to those articles occurring as natural de- 

 posits, like guano and Chili saltpeter ; or ma- 

 nipulated in some way, like dried blood and 

 fish-scrap ; or regularly manufactured, like su- 

 perphosphates and potash salts, which are pow- 

 erful fertilizers, are expensive in comparison 

 with farm manure, and are regularly quoted 

 in our market reports." 



The history of the trade in commercial fer- 

 tilizers dates back not more than about forty 

 years. The value of bone, fish, and even of 

 superphosphate of lime, however, was recog- 

 nized long ago in farm practice. "The first 

 settlers in this country learned of the aborigi- 

 nes on the coast that a fish, planted in each 

 hill of maize, greatly increased the crop ; bones 

 were used as manure in England, to some ex- 

 tent, early in this century, and superphosphate 

 of lime was made and applied by Sir James 

 Murray, in England, as early as 1817." 



In 1840 the first cargo of Peruvian guano 

 was shipped to Europe. This date may be said 

 to mark the beginning of the use of commer- 

 cial fertilizers in agriculture. In the same 

 year appeared Liebig's " Chemistry, in its Ap- 

 plications to Physiology and Agriculture," 

 which book, with his other contributions to 

 the subject, made the beginning of that move- 

 ment which has created a science of agricult- 

 ure, and has enabled the art of agriculture to 

 meet the demands of modern life. 



It is a not uninteresting coincidence that 

 two movements of such moment for agricult- 

 ure, artificial supply of plant-food to soils and 

 the rational application of science to their cult- 

 ure, should have received their first great im- 

 petus at the same time. The ingredients to 

 which the efficacy of the more common com- 

 mercial fertilizers is mainly due are three ni- 

 trogen, phosphoric acid, and potash. Among 

 the more important sources of these materials 

 in the American markets may be mentioned: 



Nitrogen (ammonia). The chief sources of 

 nitrogen are: nitrate of soda and sulphate of 

 ammonia, which supply nitrogen without phos- 

 phoric acid or potash; the various forms of 

 slaughter-house refuse, dried blood, azotin, 

 tankings, etc., which contain nitrogen with 

 some phosphoric acid ; and fish-scrap and Pe- 

 ruvian guano, which furnish both these ingre- 

 dients in considerable quantities, the latter con- 

 taining also some potash. 



Phosphoric Acid. The most important phos- 

 phatic materials are : bone-black, Canadian 

 apatite, Navassa and South Carolina phos- 

 phates, and sundry "rock" or "washed" gua- 

 nos, as Curac.oa and Orchilla, which supply 



