22 
FERTILIZERS 
Cover Crop in a Michigan Cherry Orchard. 
Phosphorus (phosphate) matter can be added in the form of bone 
meal, which contains 20 per cent of phosphorus and 3 per cent nitrogen. 
However, bone meal is expensive, and most growers will find rock phos- 
phate cheapest. This is a form of rock that is mixed in Tennessee and 
Florida. Ground as fine as flour and applied to the soil, it is the most 
economical; but when it is used there must be humus in tlie soil. Humus 
makes the rock phosphate soluble, so the tree roots can absorb it. 
Where immediate results are needed, or if the soil lacks humus, the 
acid phosphate should be used. The difference is that it has been treated 
with acid tp make it soluble. It is quicker acting. 
Potash is known as Muriate of Potash and contains about 50 per cent 
potash. There is another form, known as Kainit, that contains only 12 
per cent of potash, but you have to pay freight on the 88 per cent of other 
matter, which makes it really more expensive in the end. 
Complete commercial fertilizers are not to be recommended for gen- 
eral use, because a soil may be lacking in nitrogen and phosphate and 
still have plenty of potash, or it may be lacking in potash and phos- 
phate and have plenty of nitrogen. In any case it would not pay to put on 
a complete commercial fertilizer that contains all these elements when 
all the soil needed was one or two elements. There is just one way 
to find out what your soil really needs, and that is to buy a fertilizer con- 
taining nothing but potash and put it on the ground with some crop. If 
your soil needs potash, the crop will show a great improvement. If it does 
not need potash, it will not show an improvement. Test out with acid 
phosphate the same way. 
In our own testing we apply Muriate of Potash, at the rate of .50, 100 
and 200 pounds to the acre. We drill in a strip about 100 feet long, t(!st- 
ing it at the rate of 50 pounds to the acre; then we set the drill over to 
100 pounds to the acre, and drill in another strip. 
In testing the ground for phosphate, we use the acid phosphate, be- 
cause it gives quickest results, and we can test it on peas, rye, or any 
other annual crop. We use it at the rate of 300, 600 and 900 pounds to 
the acre. In each ease we always drill in a strip without any fertilizer to 
serve as a comparison with the ones that have been fertilized. 
Anybody can make a test like the above and determine just what 
fertilizers the land needs. Then you can buy the phosphate and potash, 
and mix them in just the proportion that your soil needs. 
The only complete fertilizer that you can afford to use is barnyard 
manure. Good manure of this kind sells anywhere from 50 cents to ,12.50 
per ton in different parts of the country, and it is well worth the price. It 
should be spread evenly at the rate of 5 to 10 tons to the acre. 
