A DEBIT AND CREDIT ACCOUNT 7 



manures are used to the best advantage when sup- 

 plemented with commercial fertilizers containing 

 available phosphoric acid and potash. Good authori- 

 ties recommend that for every ton of stable manure 

 applied, 50 to 100 pounds of acid phosphate and 

 25 to 50 pounds of high-grade muriate or sulphate 

 of potash be used. 



Home mixing of fertilizers. The farmer should 

 mix his own fertilizers that is, he should buy ithe 

 separate ingredients and put them together accord- 

 ing to the formulas desired. In doing this he yvill 

 learn what the different forms of plant food are, 

 what they are valuable for and from what source 

 they can be obtained. He will become to some ex- 

 tent an investigator and will of necessity take a 

 deeper interest in his work. In purchasing the sep- 

 arate ingredients the object sought should be to 

 secure as much nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash 

 in available form as possible for $i, instead of! as 

 many pounds of fertilizer as possible regardless! of 

 the amount of plant food contained in them. The 

 quality and cost of home mixtures analyzed by the 

 experiment stations indicate very clearly the advan- 

 tage of this method of purchase. When the cost 

 of plant food purchased in this way is compared 

 with the average cost of that in the regular brands, 

 there is frequently shown a saving of 30 per cent. 



Expenditures. The relation of deposits or fer- 

 tility ingredients to expenditures can perhaps best 

 be illustrated by a balance sheet from an acre of 

 land at the New Jersey Agricultural College Farm, 

 where an exact record of 76 acres was kept by the 



