Money Wasted 



manuring that has come under the writer's 

 notice is that of root crops, and especially potatoes. 

 No crop is so profitable when well managed, 

 and none more urgently needs its proper food- 

 stuffs — nitrogen, ammonia, and potash — but nine 

 farmers out of ten give them nothing but super- 

 phosphate, which contains none of the above 

 ingredients. In a favourable year superphosphate 

 may produce a good crop, but in a bad year it 

 cannot. This is not the worst, however. Potatoes, 

 properly manured, leave the land rich and ready 

 for large crops of corn, but if they only get super- 

 phosphate the land is impoverished, and the 

 farmer loses. I give potatoes as an instance, as 

 the difference in profit between proper and 

 improper manuring is so great; but any crop 

 will point the moral. What is more satisfactory 

 than improving poor grass land by suitable 

 applications of slag or kainit, and turning a 

 thin meadow into a rich one almost as by magic? 

 I believe that the growing use of low grade 

 superphosphate is a bad sign for farming, they 

 have only a poor manurial value, but they are 

 cheap and have a fatal attraction. I say fatal, 

 because after a course of years of nothing but 

 low grade superphosphate, land must deteriorate, 

 and lose its heart and " steam." I have noticed 

 it on many occasions. The bulk of the money 



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