26 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [P. D. 4. 



their full capacity every day in the year there would be pro- 

 duced about 6 per cent of the actual potash which was annually 

 imported from Germany before the war. It is recognized also 

 by authorities in the fertilizer business that in none of these 

 methods is the cost of production low enough to enable the 

 domestic potash to compete with the German at the end of the 

 war. Reports of other sources of potash are constantly being 

 circulated, but seem to lack authoritative confirmation. 



Large deposits of phosphate have been discovered in the west, 

 but here, too, it is doubtful if the material is available enough to 

 compete in price with the phosphate rock of Florida, South 

 Carolina and Tennessee. 



During the y^ar Congress authorized the erection of a govern- 

 ment plant for the manufacture of nitrate from the air, but as 

 this is to be used for ammunition, it will hardly benefit the 

 fertilizer situation. It would seem as though there was a field 

 for private capital to go into the business of manufacturing 

 nitrates in this way, as is now being done successfully in 

 Germany. 



To sum up, it seems as though our farmers must plan to 

 place increasing reliance on animal fertilizers and soiling crops 

 for the coming year. 



Poultry. 



Four things conspired to reduce the production of poultry 

 and eggs in the State this year, — high labor costs, low vitality 

 in eggs and chicks, bad weather, high prices of feed; and possi- 

 bly a fifth might be mentioned in that high prices paid for 

 poultry tempted many to sell off their stock rather than carry 

 on the business at the increased costs. The long winter and 

 late spring certainly had much to do with the low fertility, 

 while bad weather served to cause much loss in the young 

 chicks. The number of breeders of pure-bred birds seems some- 

 what on the increase just now, and that many of these breeders 

 are turning their attention from mere feathers to a utility strain 

 in their several breeds is most encouraging. There certainly is 

 room for improvement in poultry breeds, and especially so in 

 strains which have greater vitality and consequently large pro- 

 ducing powers of both meat and eggs. Much experimental 

 work is now being done to eliminate disease among poultry. 



