CHAPTER III. 

 Fertilizers. 



FACTS ABOUT FERTILIZATION. 



1. Soils of equal fertility do not respond with equal -satisfactory 

 results. 



2. The average result is probably the accurate measure of relative 

 efficiency. 



3. It is impossible to determine even approximately the profit or 

 loss resulting from use of fertilizers on a basis of one year's 

 use as an experiment; the estimate must be based on results 

 requiring a period of time of sufficient length to determine its 

 effects on succeeding crops. 



4. The full benefits to be derived from scientific use of fertilizers 

 may be fully realized when properly applied for periods rang- 

 ing from 10 to 20 years and even longer. 



5. The results may be determined from the average price and 

 production for a series of years with rotation of crops. 



6. Statistics show that the average yield per acre in Wayne 

 County, Ohio, for the ten years 1900-1909, were as follows: 

 corn 28 bushels ; wheat 18 and one-half bushels ; oats 30 

 bushels. 



7. The Ohio Experiment Station at Wooster, Wayne Co., Ohio, 

 demonstrated with the use of lime, manure and fertilizers, 

 in a four year rotation of corn, oats, wheat and clover on a 

 soil representing the average fertility of the soil in Wayne Co., 

 that the average production annually can be brought up to the 

 following figures : corn 76 bushels ; wheat 36 bushels ; oats 

 60 bushels. 



8. On the unfertilized plots at the experiment station on land that 

 was of originally the same character as the high producing 

 plots before they were fertilized, the rotation was the same but 

 the yield was only; corn 28 bushels; wheat 13 bushels; oats 

 27 and one-third bushels. 



Principles of Fertilization. 



1. Fertilizers should be suited to the crop to be supplied. 



2. All plants do not require the same quantity of each element in 

 plant food. 



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