220 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



5. The best brands of commercial fertilizers are quickly 

 available to plants, and so the food contained in them is 

 mostly used the year of its application. The potash and 

 l^hosphoric acid which they contain will be available to future 

 crops if more is applied than is used the first season. From 

 an economic standpoint fully enough should be used each 

 season to produce the crop sought. 



Barnyard manure and commercial fertilizers are often 

 compared, to the disadvantage of the latter. This compari- 

 son would be more intelligent if it was kept in mind, that 

 barnyard manure not only adds the three fertilizing elements 

 to the soil, but is also the most useful of soil amendments in 

 that it (1) adds large quantities of humus, (2) contains in- 

 numerable beneficial bacteria, and (3) opens up clay soils 

 and makes leachy soils more compact and retentive of 

 moisture and plant food. 



A large part of the plant food contained in solid manure 

 is very slowly available, and so the effect of a heavy applica- 

 tion may still be seen for some years. This means a long 

 delay in securing returns on the full investment. 



In comparing fertilizer and manure it should also be noted 

 that many farmers expect 200 or 300 pounds of a cheap 

 ready-mixed fertilizer, costing, perhaps, $1.50 a hundred, to 

 show as good results as 20 two-horse loads of manure, worth 

 at least $1 a load. 



The question of buying fertilizers, therefore, resolves itself 

 into securing at the least cost the most pounds of the three 

 elements, and in getting them in the best proportions and 

 combinations to supply the plant as required. It is im- 

 portant to avoid using a large excess at any one time, and to 

 have the fertilizer compounded so as to prevent its loss by 

 leaching. To do this intelligently the following facts must 

 be known : ( 1 ) the amounts and availability of the three fer- 

 tilizing ingredients contained in the various goods offered for 

 sale, (2) the value of these ingredients, and (3) the char- 

 acter of the soil and of the crop to be grown. 



The fertilizer laws now on the statute books in most States 

 require that all fertilizers be sold on a guaranteed analysis, 

 and that this analysis shall be printed on the bag or con- 



