FERTILIZERS FOR THE CARD Eh. 



229 



barley (and probably for other plants also) is abso- 

 lutely proved. 



Mr. J. M. Smith, of Green Bay, Wis., a pre-emi- 

 nently successful gardener and fruit-grower, kindly 

 answers some questions in regard to four acres of 

 potatoes he grew last year. " My compost heaps," 

 he writes, "are composed of stable, barnyard and 

 pig-pen manures, with all the refuse of the 40 acres 

 of garden, such as potato tops, pea and bean vines, 

 weeds and, in short, everything that we think will 

 add to their value as fertilizers. The compost 

 heaps are wet down occasionally when they are get- 

 ting too dry. But we never intend to wet them 

 sufficiently to drain them in the least. They are 

 worked over once or twice during the winter, and in 

 the spring are in the best of order for making a 

 very quick and rapid growth of crops. These com- 

 post heaps are my main dependence for large crops 

 and they rarely fail to produce the desired result. 

 The land on which my potatoes were grown had for 

 a number of years been manured each year with 

 about 30 loads of manure per acre, and in addition, 

 about 75 bushels of unleached wood ashes." 



No wonder Mr. Smith raises large crops ! 



The 30 tons of this manure would contain not 

 less than 300 lbs. of nitrogen, 300 lbs. of potash 

 and 180 lbs. of phosphoric acid. We are prob- 

 ably safe in saying that the crops grown do not re- 

 move half the plant food furnished in the manure, 

 and consequently the soil must be getting richer 

 every year. 



But what do we mean by " richer " ? We think it 

 would be difficult to persuade Mr. Smith to stop 

 using, even for a single season, what he justly 

 calls his "main dependence" when he wishes to 

 raise a large early crop of choice \'egetables. 



Last year he competed for the prize offered by 

 the American Agriciiltm'ist for the largest crop of 

 potatoes grown on one acre of land, but like the 

 sensible and experienced man that he is, he did not 

 confine himself to one acre. He knows that the 

 season has much to do with the yield. A quantity 

 of manure that would give a great crop in a dry, 

 bright, sunny season might cause the potatoes tc 

 run too much to vines in a damp, cloudy season. 



The manures used on each acre, together with 

 their approximate composition and the yield per 

 acre, are given below : 



J Ten cords or 30 tons I 



of manure . . . . f 



80 bushels unleached ) 



wood-ashes . . . . | 



, 1,500 lbs. Stockhridije I 



potato manure . . / 

 1,500 lbs. Mapes pot- 1 



/%o,s- 



Nitrogcn, Putasli, plioric )'ii-ld 

 lbs. //>s. acid. lbs. in bus. 



ato manure . 



300 

 None 



60 



300 



105 

 9S 



180 404 



50 454 



J 73 454 



180 426 



As there was no unmanured land, we cannot be 

 sure that iiiiv of the manures used did any good. 



Knowing the condition of the land, we cannot 

 think the carbonaceous matter of the barn-yard 

 manure was of any benefit to the crop. The other 

 three fertilizers used contained no carbonaceous 

 matter, and all of them produced a somewhat larger 

 crop than the manure. The potash, very probably 

 did no good. This is indicated by the fact that none 

 of the fertilizers contained as much potash as the 

 manure. Neither was it the phosphoric acid; because 

 the ashes not only contained a much smaller quan- 

 tity, but it is not as soluble as that in the fertihzers. 



At first sight one would be apt to say it could not 

 possibly be the nitrogen that increased the crop, be- 

 cause the ashes, which produced 50 bushels more 

 per acre than ten cords of manure, contained no 

 nitrogen. But this does not follow. We all know 

 that lime has been used as a fertilizer for hundreds 

 if not thousands of years, and it is now generally 

 admitted that its chief effect is due to its action in 

 favoring the formation of nitrates from the stores of 

 nitrogenous organic matter in the soil. The 80 

 bushels of ashes used would furnish 40 bushels of 

 carbonate of lime. And on such land as Mr. 

 Smith's, that has been manured every year with 30 

 tons of manure per acre, there must be a large ac- 

 cumulation of nitrogenous organic matter that can 

 only furnish food for plants after it is decomposed 

 and the nitrogen converted into nitrates. The lime 

 of the ashes, as well as the potash, would favor nitri- 

 fication. In other words, they would furnish nitrates. 



We will not suggest to Mr. Smith that he should 

 test this question by trying lime. Practical farmers 

 and market gardeners are too busy to make ac- 

 curate experiments. We want the experiment sta- 

 tions to do the work for us. And for some years to 

 come, at least, we do not want to be asked to make 

 "soil tests." There is plenty of work to be done 

 at the stations. We do not want more stations, 

 but more carefully planned and accurately con- 

 ducted experiments at those already established. 



Alluding to the admirable experiments of Pro- 

 fessor Voorhees on tomatoes, we remarked, in The 

 American Garden for March, page 171 : 



" It may surprise many gardeners that 20 tons of 

 fine barnyard manure did not produce as large a 

 crop of tomatoes as 160 lbs. of nitrate of soda." 

 And it may surprise some of our readers that 80 

 bushels of unleached wood-ashes should produce a 

 larger crop of potatoes than 30 tons of well rotted 

 manure on Mr. Smith's highly manured land. We 

 have intimated above that the ashes probably in- 

 creased the formation of nitrates from the accumu- 



