32 How THE FARM PAYS. 



about thirty days after and the grass had developed to double the 

 length on the area where I had tried it. To make the test com- 

 parative I sowed pure bone dust along-side of it, and found that there 

 was no apparent difference between the one and other, except that 

 this cost $16 per ton and bone dust costs $45. If it can be oought 

 at $16 per ton and can be obtained in sufficient quantities, it will 

 no doubt be of great value wherever fertilizers are needed. 



How do you explain the beneficial results of this bone fertilizer 

 as compared with special fertilizers? 



(Mr. C. ) In this way. A poor soil mostly needs three substances 

 nitrogen, potash and phosphoric acid. But few soils are so poor as to 

 need all these. Potash is very abundant in nature, and it is phosphoric 

 acid that is usually most deficient. A special fertilizer contains all 

 these three substances and some others. If the soil only needs one, 

 a farmer who buys a special fertilizer pays for more than he needs. 

 If he needs only phosphoric acid he can get that in this cheap bone 

 manure. It is evident that my soil needs phosphoric acid and shows 

 it by the effect of this bone, which is pretty nearly all phosphate of 

 lime. Then, you see, for $12 I get 1,500 Ibs. of this fertilizer, which I 

 need, while for as much special fertilizer I should pay $37.50 and 

 pay money for what I do not want. There are glue factories all over 

 the country, the refuse of which is most valuable, and farmers should 

 by no means neglect the opportunity of availing themselves of it. 



I am so impressed with its value as a fertilizer that I in- 

 tend at once ordering forty tons of it, and will apply it as a top dress- 

 ing on my grass lands the coming spring, at the rate of about 1, 000 

 pounds per acre. 



(Mr. H.) In my article on manures, Mr. Crozier, I made no allusion 

 to lime or marl, which I have always held to have no fertilizing prop- 

 erties of themselves, except inasmuch as they act to correct the acidity 

 of the soil, or to lighten heavy soils, or to give adhesiveness to soils that 

 are too light. In fact, I believe they are beneficial for their mechanical 

 effects on almost every soil, unless such as are impregnated with 

 oyster shell deposit, which is found on lands lying along the sea coast, 

 and in some cases for a considerable distance inland. On such soils 

 there is no benefit to be derived from the application of lime, as there is 

 usually sufficient of it supplied by the disintegration of the shell deposit. 



(Mr. C.) I would agree with you so far in saying that I have never 

 found any fertilizing properties when lime was applied to such crops as 

 mangels or potatoes, but on cereals, particularly wheat or oats, I 

 have found an application of 100 bushels per acre of pure stone lime, 

 when composted with double the amount of loam, to be one of the 

 most valuable fertilizers for such crops. 



