Circular No. 59. December, 1915. 



NASSACHUSEHS AGRICULTURAL EXPERIINT STATION 



AMHERST. 



THE USE OF FERTILIZERS IN 1916. 



William P. Brooks 



The directors of the Agricultural Experiment Stations in the New Eng- 

 land States, New York and New Jersey have recently held a meeting for the 

 discussion of the present situation as affecting the use of fertilizers. At this 

 meeting it was decided to make certain fairly definite suggestions, each direc- 

 tor to present the subject with due regard to special local conditions. The 

 following suggestions embody the substance of the points agreed upon except 

 that in a few instances special reference is made to conclusions based chiefly 

 upon results obtained in this Experiment Station and not, perhaps, generally 

 supported. 



The person planning his use of fertilizers for next season confronts a 

 peculiarly difficult situation. Neither potash salts nor basic slag meal which 

 have been coming to us from Europe can be imported and neither can be 

 purchased except for prices practically prohibitive. Nitrate of soda has 

 advanced sharply in price on account of its extensive use in the manu- 

 facture of explosives and the excessively high ocean freight rates due to the 

 scarcity of shipping and the blocking of the Panama Canal. Acid phos- 

 phate is also much higher than in recent years on account of the heavy de- 

 mand for sulfuric acid, essential in its manufacture, in the production of 

 munitions of war. Most other materials have advanced in sympathy and 

 all mixed fertilizers are necessarily higher and contain little or no potash. 



Under these conditions it becomes especially important to adopt such 

 general measures as will reduce so far as possible the necessity for purchased 

 fertilizers. 



MEASURES FOR LESSENING THE NEED FOR FERTILIZERS 



Among such measures some of the more important may be mentioned 

 and briefly discussed. 



1. Selection of the Soil 



No good farmer is satisfied to follow a system which means that his soils 

 are growing poorer, but during the ensuing season fertilizer potash will be 

 practically unobtainable while other materials will be high. In order, 

 therefore, to reduce the necessary expenditure for fertilizer so far as possible 

 and at the same time not to run undue risk of crop failure, it will manifestly 

 be good policy to grow hoed crops chiefly on the better soils. In deciding 

 which are the better, we must consider both natural characteristics and 

 previous treatment. The heavier soils are in general stronger than the 

 lighter. It is especially important to remember that they contain more 

 total and usually also more available potash. The soils rich in organic 

 matter stand least in need of manure or fertilizer nitrogen. The soils that 

 have recently been well manured or fertilized will carry crops through a 

 period of temporary fertilizer shortage better than those less liberally treated. 

 Freshly broken up grasslands, especially if clover has constituted a consider- 

 able proportion of the herbage, and recently reclaimed soils will, other things 

 being equal, furnish more available food to a hoed crop than fields long 

 under cultivation. 



