SOME GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 365 



fertilizers. Quoting again from the Ohio bulletin we find, "The increase of 

 crop per pound of fertilizing constituents applied has generally been smaller 

 when barnyard manure was used as the carrier of fertility, than where chem- 

 ical carriers were used ; but the lower cost of the barnyard manure has made 

 it possible to use this material with profit when the use of commercial fertil- 

 izers resulted in loss. A marked superiority is indicated from manure which 

 has been kept under cover until required for use, over that which has been ex- 

 posed, even but for a short time, in an open barnyard, and it seems 

 possible to materially increase the effectiveness of manure by treating it with 

 nitrogen-fixing materials." 



14. It is always more profitable for the farmer who uses the commercial 

 fertilizers to buy the materials and mix them at home than to buy the ready 

 mixed articles. He is thus able to vary the proportions of the different con- 

 stituents to suit the particular soil or particular crop he is growing. The 

 Ohio Station has also investigated this matter in a thorough manner and 

 gives the following conclusions: "In the field experiments of this Station, 

 herein reported, factory mixed fertilizers, made by firms of high standing, 

 produced no greater crops than home-mixed fertilizers of equivalent compo- 

 sition. The cost of the factory-mixed fertilizers was greater by 50 to 90 per 

 cent, than that of the equivalent home mixtures. The verdict of these field 

 experiments is confirmed by the investigations of all other agricultural Ex- 

 periment Stations which have reported upon the comparative value of factory- 

 mixed and home-mixed fertilizers. Physical and chemical examination of the 

 two forms of mixtures shows that the factory-mixed fertilizer is not more 

 homogeneous in its character than that mixed by the farmer. Fertilizing 

 materials may be as perfectly mixed with a shovel on a barn floor or in a large 

 box as by the most elaborate mixing machinery. The most thoroughly mixed 

 fertilizer is apt to separate in transportation, the finer particles settling to the 

 bottom, the coarser rising to the top ; hence the fertilizer mixed at home will 

 usually reach the field in better condition than that mixed at some distant 

 factory. Those who purchase the crude materials and mix for themselves are 

 less likely to have materials of inferior quality imposed upon them than those 

 who buy ready made fertilizers. The possible annual saving in the fertilizer 

 bills of Ohio farmers by cash purchase of materials and home mixing or con- 

 trol mixing, reaches $300,000 to $400,000." 



If such is the case in Ohio, where it is but a recent thing to use the com- 

 mercial fertilizers, what would be the result in the Cotton States where the 

 sales of fertilizers run up into several millions of dollars annually while in 

 Ohio they little exceed half a million, and a possible saving of 50 to 90 per 

 cent, may be made ? 



