14 FERTILIZERS IN THE WEST 



One would have to be blind not to see the large monetary 

 profits derived from the use of complete commercial fertilizers 

 under the very dry conditions of Spain. But the most 

 remarkable result of these experiments is the fact that in 

 several of the tests the check plot received heavy applications 

 of stable manure. In spite of all this the profits derived from 

 commercial fertilizers were much larger than those obtained 

 with stable manure. This refutes the popular belief prevalent 

 in some of the Western States that stable manure is the only 

 hope to the farmer there, when it comes to increasing his 

 crop yields. 



The Fertilizer, to Yield the Highest Profit, Must 

 Contain a Sufficient Percentage of Potash. 



It has been remarked above that our western soils are 

 generally rich in total potash and that this misleading fact 

 is responsible for the theory that potash would not prove 

 profitable there as a fertilizer ingredient. The only way to 

 decide this question is by practical field experiments. A num- 

 ber of such tests have been made in the Canadian West, and 

 we shall mention here only two of them : 



Mr. L. M. McLean, Innisfail, Alberta, Canada, carried 

 out one such experiment on potatoes, with the following 

 results : 



No fertilizer 280 bushels per acre 



Nitrogen and Phosphoric Acid 312 bushels per acre 



Nitrogen, Phosphoric Acid and Potash ...409 bushels per acre 



