396 MISCELLANEOUS FARM SUBJECTS 



hesitate to draw conclusions with less than an experience of ten 

 years. 



It has been asserted that corn is particularly responsive to phos- 

 phates, cereal crops to nitrates, grasses and clovers to phosphoric 

 acid and potash, Beets and carrots to nitrogen, potatoes and sweet po- 

 tatoes to potash, and truck crops to nitrogen ; and yet with only this 

 meager information, not pretending to be exact or invariable, we 

 find a multitude of brands on the market, many of them being pre- 

 pared and recommended for special crops. One has but to look up 

 the reports of the state departments of agriculture and the state ex- 

 periment stations charged with the inspection of fertilizer materials 

 to see the absolute lack of system which prevails in the fertilizer 

 trade. The tendency in this country seems to run to an increase in 

 the number of special brands for special crops, but there is an abso- 

 lute lack of uniformity even in the elementary composition of these 

 special brands. As a rule the fertilizer formulas are simpler and 

 more uniform in the South than they are in the North; there are 

 also a less number of special brands for special crops. 



It is the general belief at the present time that a fertilizer for 

 tobacco should be rich in potash and that for cigar tobacco the potash 

 should be in the form of carbonate, yet we find special brands for 

 tobacco with from 1 to 3 per cent of potash, and so far as the evidence 

 permits one to judge the potash in the majority of brands is not in 

 the form of carbonate. It would seem that it would be a protection 

 to the farmers to prohibit the use of the word tobacco on a brand of 

 fertilizer containing less, say, than 6 per cent of potash in the form 

 of carbonate only. 



It is the general belief that potatoes require fertilizers rich in 

 potash and that it is better to have the potash in the form of sulphate, 

 yet brands of special fertilizers for potatoes are offered for sale with 

 only 2 and 3 per cent of potash. It would be a protection to the 

 farmers to prohibit the use of the word potatoes on any special brand 

 for potatoes with less than a minimum of, say, 6 per cent of potash, 

 and this in the form of sulphate only. It is the general belief that 

 sugar beets require a fertilizer rich in potash and that it is best to 

 have this in the form of chloride or muriate, but no particular atten- 

 tion seems to be paid to this in the preparation of special brands and 

 the farmers do not know what materials they are purchasing. 



There is a choice also in respect to action on the crop. This 

 will depend somewhat on the character of soil and can only be 

 learned by experience. One fertilizer will appear to be best one year 

 or on some crops and land, and another season, owing to the different 

 weather, wet or drought, or on other land or plants, another kind of 

 fertilizer will give the best results. 



It is a fact of common farm experience that nitrogenous ma- 

 nures differ widely in their efficiency. Nitrate of soda, for example, 

 often has a visible effect on grass land within ten days after sowing, 

 dried blood requires a longer time to affect the color or growth of 

 grass, while an application of leather or hair may never show the 

 slightest effect. 



