2l6 SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 



are used as when they are omitted. Scant crops are 

 as frequently due to the want of proper tillage as to 

 the absence of plant food. Poor cultivation results in 

 getting the soil out of condition ; then instead of thor- 

 oughly preparing the land, commercial fertilizers are 

 resorted to, and the conclusion is reached that the soil 

 is exhausted, when in reality it is suffering for the want 

 of cultivation, for a dressing of land plaster, for farm 

 manures, or for a change of crops. There is no ques- 

 tion but what better tillage, better care and use of 

 farm manures, the culture of clover and the systematic 

 rotation of crops would result in greatly reducing the 

 $60,000,000 annually spent for commercial fertilizers, 

 without reducing the yield of crops. The better the 

 cultivation, the less the amount of commercial fer- 

 tilizer required. 



276. Abuse of Commercial Fertilizers. — When a 

 soil produces poor crops, a complete fertilizer is fre- 

 quently used when an amendment only is needed. 

 Restricted crop production in long cultivated soils is 

 due to deficiency of available nitrogen. If the nitro- 

 gen were supplied, improved cultivation would gen- 

 erally furnish the available potash and phosphoric 

 acid, but instead of providing the one element needed, 

 others which may already be present in the soil in 

 liberal amounts, are often supplied at a great expense. 

 Another abuse of fertilizers is their application to the 

 wrong crop. A heavy application of potash fertilizer 



