A Bag of Fertilizer. 
WHAT IT IS! HOW IT IS MADE. 
THE LARGEST FACTORY IN THE WORLD VISITED. 
Part i. 
What Is A Bag Of Fertilizer? 
Many a farmer has asked that question of himself. 
The bag - contains 200 pounds of a dark-colored sub¬ 
stance with a peculiar feel and smell. By examining 
it closely we see that it is evidently a mixture of many 
different substances. We see, too, that some brands 
are sticky or greasy while others are dry and powdery. 
When we take a handful of some kinds it sticks in a 
mass almost like putty or clay, while others will not 
mold at all. But where does the fertilizer come from? 
How is it put together? Why and how is it “ good ’» 
or “poor?” These and similar questions are asked 
by farmers. In order that I might talk intelligently 
about the making of a fertilizer, I recently visited the 
great works of the Bradley Fertilizer Co., at North 
Weymouth, Mass. There I saw the whole pro¬ 
cess from the pulverizing of the crude material 
to the making of the bag that was to hold the 
finished product. In this article I do not want 
to say a word about chemistry if I can help it. 
Lots of farmers who use fertilizers keep asking 
me, “What is a nitrate, sulphate or phosphate?” 
and “ What is ammonia any way?” I want to 
try to give these men a little clearer idea of 
what fertilizers really are. For this reason I 
shall use only words and comparisons that all 
can readily understand. A fertilizer factory 
might be compared to a well ordered kitchen. 
The former prepares food for plants while the 
latter turns out meals for human beings. We 
may compare the making of a bag of fertilizer 
to the mixing, cooking and serving of a pump¬ 
kin pie. 
Why Buy Useless Stuff In Fertilizers? 
Suppose your fertilizer has this analysis 
printed on the bag ? 
per cent nitrogen. 
10 “ phosphoric acid. 
6 potash. 
This represents less than 20 per cent of the 
whole weight. You buy less than 40 pounds of 
these three substances in a bag of 200 pounds, 
and over 160 pounds of other materials that' are 
not considered valuable enough to talk about. 
You naturally ask, “ Why do I have to pay for 
the handling and bagging of 160 pounds of 
stuff? Why can’t I get the 40 pounds pure?” 
Perhaps you think the fertilizer maker has 
cheated you by putting in a worthless “filler” 
in order to make weight. A little thought will 
show you how impossible it is to obtain pure nitrogen, 
potash or phosphoric acid. A visit to a fertilizer fac¬ 
tory will convince you that a maker who has any re¬ 
gard for his reputation cannot afford to give you un¬ 
necessary “ stuff.” If he consults his own interests he 
will give you as little as possible. 
Nature Deals in Combinations. 
Take coffee as a simple illustration. You put a 
tablespoonful of ground coffee in a pot and boil it with 
water enough to fill a cup. The “ grounds” or the 
portion left after the “coffee” is all boiled out, weigh 
almost as much as the original tablespoonful. The 
real “coffee” represents but a tiny fraction of the 
weight of what you buy ! 
Why not take the coffee in your mouth and chew 
it ? You would get just as much “ coffee ” as you do 
by drinking a cup of hot water with it. Take milk— 
you drink 85 parts of water to obtain 15 parts of 
solids. Drive off all the water and leave butter or 
cheese. Butter is the only substance you eat that is 
not largely mixed with water or something to give it 
bulk. For this reason you can eat but little buiter. 
Your beefsteak is about 50 per cent water. A spoon¬ 
ful of condensed beef extract would give you all the 
nourishment there is in a pound of steak, but it would 
not satisfy you. The potatoes you sell are 75 per cent 
water. What sort of a job would you have digging 
and selling them if the water were all squeezed out 
and they were left only one-fourth of their present 
size ? You don’t object to paying a good price for 
hay, although you know your horse does not digest or 
make use of half the bulk you feed him. 
Now Nature has wisely made bulk a necessary 
feature of all salable things. G od fo ids for men or 
plants have just enough bulk to noid the digestible 
portion so loosely that the feeding organs can make 
immediate use of it, and yet so securely that it will 
not be lost. Extra bulk, above that point of safely 
holding the nutriment is a useless and an expensive 
thing to handle and transport. Pure “ coffee ” is too 
strong to take into the mouth and would evaporate 
and escape if left to itself. Therefore a large amount 
Justus Yon Liebig. Fig. 69. See page 170. 
The father of modern artificial manuring. 
of otherwise useless matter is packed with it and we 
have the coffee berry. This holds it until grinding 
and hot water take out the part we need and leave 
the “grounds,” which were useful only as a frame or 
bulk. The same with potatoes. The water added to 
the solids makes form and bulk so that the tubers can 
be easily handled and eaten. 
Nitrogen, for example, is a deadly poison in its pure 
s tate. It is very difficult to hold it except in com bination 
with other substances. Pure nitrogen for the farmer 
is an impossibility—it is a gas and would not stay in a 
fertilizer bag any more than steam would stay in an 
ice house. As the steam, changed to ice, is kept se¬ 
curely, so the nitrogen, mixed and held by other sub¬ 
stances, takes a definite form and can be handled and 
used. Take what is called nitrate of soda—a white 
substance looking somewhat like coarse salt. We are 
obliged to handle 100 pounds of nitrate to get 16 pounds 
of nitrogen; the other 84 pounds represent the soda 
and other things that are needed to hold the 
nitrogen iu that particular form—just exactly as the 
45 pounds of water are needed to give shape and size 
to the 15 pounds of dry matter in a bushel of potatoes 
The same with phosphorus or potash. If you want 
to see why you cannot handle phosphorus, touch an 
old-fashioned match just after you light it before the 
wood burns. It will fairly eat the fiesh off your fingers. 
Plants cannot eat phosphorus until it is combined 
with another elementary substance, oxygen, form¬ 
ing what is called phosphoric acid in 100 pounds of 
ground bone, for example, there may be 25 pounds of 
phosphoric acid, and we must handle the 75 extra 
pounds in order to hold the 25 pounds securely. Thus 
we see why we cannot get our 40 pounds of pure plant 
food without the 160 pounds needed to hold and retain 
the 40. The manufacturer never gets any pay for the 
160 pounds. 
The Government chemist allows his values only on 
the 40 pounds of nitrogen, potash and phosphoric acid. 
Any one can see that the manufacturer can have no 
object in handling a lot of “stuff” for which he is to 
receive no money. It ought to be evident to the 
farmer, also, that the higher the grade of fertilizer he 
buys, the less “stuff” does he pay freight and 
handling on. As to the chemical names of 
fertilizers, let us understand that “nitrate” 
simply means a certain combination of nitrogen 
and enough of some other substance to hold it 
together. In the same way a “sulphate” 
simply means a similar combination of sulphur 
with other substances, a “phosphate” a com¬ 
bination with phosphorus, and so on. Ammonia 
is a combination of nitrogen and another gas 
called hydrogen. For example, sulphate of am¬ 
monia is a combination of sulphur and ammonia 
with water and oxygen enough to hold it to¬ 
gether and give it form and shape. This and 
nitrate of soda are only different forms of hold¬ 
ing nitrogen, and might be compared "to sirloin 
and porterhouse steak off the same carcass. 
“ Nitrate,” “ sulphate” and “ phosphate ” are 
names of combinations of different substances, 
and should be no more confusing than “ apple,” 
“ potato ” or “ turnip,” which only mean certain 
definite combinations of water and different 
varieties of dry matter. 
What a Fertilizer Factory Is. 
It may be called a great restaurant for plants. 
We steamed down from Boston on the great 
tug Robert S. Bradley, one of the largest and 
most powerful boats in Boston harbor, which 
was built by the company for towing their great 
lighters used in carrying the fertilizers and 
materials to and fro between Boston and Wey¬ 
mouth. The “Bradley,” like all other appur¬ 
tenances of this business, is a most substantial 
and complete boat You can’t find anything cheap or 
shoddy in this company’s outfit. “The best is the 
cheapest” is the story evident everywhere. The great 
fertilizer works are located at North Weymoutti, on a 
neck of land nearly surrounded by water. 
Nothing can indicate more plainly the energy and 
success with which this great business has been con¬ 
ducted than the history of its remarkable growth, 
which has been constant from the outset, and is indis¬ 
putable evidence of the way in which the company 
have met the farmers’ demands for honest and reliable 
fertilizers. 
The business was started in 1861 in a small factory 
in the old Roxbury district of Boston, with a very 
limited capital invested. From year to year as the 
demand increased, the manufacturing capacity was 
enlarged until the business has become by far the 
largest of its kind in the world. A picture of an in¬ 
terior is shown at Fig. 70. 
Wandering through these vast buildings among per¬ 
fect mountains of fertilizers in their crude or finished 
state, one is strongly impressed with Mr. Bradley’s. 
