38 WILSON & TOOMEK FERTILIZER COMPANY 



potash. We can only imagine what a great number 

 of samples would have shown. He rightly says "A 

 planter surely cannot expect to get uniform results from 

 application of such poorly mixed fertilizers." 



He calls up a further point, that fertilizer materials 

 have such different weights they do not stay mixed unless 

 properly ground and combined together. He gives the 

 weight per cubic foot of some of the most common mate- 

 rials as follows : Superphosphate, 60 Ibs. ; blood, 30 Ibs. ; 

 tankage, 45 Ibs.; nitrate of soda, 85 Ibs.; sulphate of 

 ammonia, 55 Ibs.; sulphate of potash, 80 Ibs. When 

 merely mixed the heavier materials gradually settle 

 toward the bottom. 



It is best for all users of fertilizers to learn all they 

 can about different fertilizer materials, and I will go 

 into detail on that subject later, but such knowledge is 

 necessary far more for the purpose of selecting proper 

 formulas than for the creating of formulas, for when 

 the different materials are mixed together their action 

 on each other must be considered as well as upon the 

 plant and the soil. 



To my mind, there could not be a better argument 

 for mixed formulas than the tank experiments carried 

 on at Gainesville. From them we find a great waste of 

 nitrates greater by far when nitrate of soda was used, 

 but alarming even from sulphate of ammonia. Both 

 for the prosperity of the plant and for economy, it is a 

 feasible conclusion that a gradually available supply is 

 better than any one particular source. An exception 



