VOL. LIII. No. 
NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 24 1894 
'' 
IMPORTED PLANT FOOD. 
WHAT PACKAGE SHALL WE USE FOR IT? 
Part III. 
A Good Form of Comparison. 
“ The fertilizer is more available, then, is it? 
“ By all means. It is fine and soluble—all ready for 
use. Besides it can be scattered evenly all over the 
ground. If you could take manure and grind it up as 
fine as the fertilizer and scatter it evenly through the 
soil, you could get it almost all out with one crop. It 
is just like coal ; the finer you break it up, the faster 
it will burn, until fine coal dust will flash almost like 
kerosene oil while a big chunk will hardly burn at all. 
The fertilizer in connection with our cold cow manure 
acts like kin¬ 
dling to start 
the fire. Ferti¬ 
lizer develops 
all crops nearly 
10 days earlier 
than manure.” 
“How do you 
think the ferti¬ 
lizer compares 
in price with 
the manure ?” 
“ The fertili- ) 
zer used to cost 
860 a ton and 
was not so good 
then as now. 
A ton to the 
acre now costs 
me 836. Let 
any farmer fig¬ 
ure how much 
manure he can 
buy for 836. He 
never would 
think of putting 
on less than 860 
to 875 worth per 
acre if he ex¬ 
pected to raise 
a profitable 
crop of vege¬ 
tables. There 
was a time 
when I thought 
I could not 
raise squashes 
without p u t - 
ting two shov¬ 
elfuls of ma¬ 
nure in each 
hill. Now I 
can raise better 
ones by using How they Baise Stri 
two handfuls of 
fertilizers; hand against shovel is about the proportion 
of values between the two, and any one can figure out 
the difference in cost of buying, handling and spread¬ 
ing.” 
In this connection we may refer to the fact that 
gardeners in this section all agree that the fertilizers 
are particularly valuable for such crops as peas and 
string beans. The picture shown at Fig. 36 is a repro¬ 
duction of a photograph taken on the farm of Mr. 
Daniel Tappin of Arlington. This magnificent crop 
of string beans was grown on Bradley’s fertilizer. 
“ Some farmers fail with fertilizers.” 
“ Very likely ; but there is a reason for such a fail¬ 
ure as there is for anything else. Most farmers start¬ 
ing with fertilizers do not use them right. They should 
be broadcasted for most crops. Then again, farmers 
do not use enough of them to get good results. To 
make a fair test, use the same value of fertilizers that 
you do of manure. In my opinion, fertilizers and im¬ 
proved tools have saved New England farming by 
cheapening the cost of plant food and enabling us so 
to work the soil as to give the plants full access to the 
food.” 
“But how do you manage to keep 19 head of cattle 
and four horses on this little farm and still sell hay ?” 
“Fertilizers and cheap pasture. I keep what may 
be called a heifer farm—all young heifers of Ayrshire 
or Holstein blood. We sell all the bull calves and as 
soon as the heifers are old enough, we ship them to a 
farm in Maine, where they run on cheap pastuie 
as long as the feed lasts. Then they come back and 4 re 
kept thriving through the winter on sweet-corn stalks. 
How THEY Raise String Beans in Massachusetts, Nothing but Fertilizers Used Hebe. FiG.c'Sei 
is about the proportion barley and rye hay, and some strong grain. In the I believe these gardei 
any one can figure out spring, back they go to pasture, being sent back in time of the importance of h 
handling and spread- for them to calve, when, if they do well, they are sold to to me that Mr. Frost is 
dairymen. Sometimes I milk them one year and sell manurings have left a i 
refer to the fact that at the second calving. By this course, the expense of be exhausted in years, 
ee that the fertilizers raising them is made very light, and there is not much Arlington so stocked w 
eh crops as peas and work about the dairy. For example, we are now milk- ter, that they could pi 
n at Fig. 36 is a repro- ing only four cows, and some of those will soon be next five years on ferti 
on the farm of Mr. sold. By keeping a good bull, I can insure good of stable manure. I 
?hi 8 magnificent crop stock and create a demand for my heifers. It is a very matter must be added 
radley’s fertilizer. cheap and profitable way of turning my rough fodder stable manure the che 
lizers.” into manure without the extra work of milk dairying. obtained? Who has gi 
reason for such a fail- It is much more profitable than raising the same num- trial? Suppose a man 1 
Most farmers start- her of steers. I sow barley in the spring and cut it ize it all thoroughly, 
em right. They should when just right for hay. This, with sweet corn, feeds sow oats in the spring ' 
Then again, farmers the heifers and enables me to sell the Timothy. Then ing out or cut for stra^ 
jet good results. To I can plow up the barley stubbie, use a ton of fertilizer Plpw in the stubble, ai 
per acre with it, and set out late cabbage, thus getting 
two good crops from the same land.” 
Mr. Ham is considered an expert at growing 
squashes. He has often taken premiums at fairs. He 
formerly used 10 cords of manure per acre for squashes, 
but now uses only five cords and puts a handful of fer¬ 
tilizer in each hill. This not only cheapens the ma¬ 
nuring, but grows better squashes. On his asparagus, 
Mr. Ham uses a ton of fertilizer per acre each year, 
and nothing else. Let it be remembered that when 
Messrs. Frost, Purington and Ham speak of “ fertil¬ 
izers,” they mean mixed commercial fertilizers. They 
all use the Bradley goods. 
Mr. Ham’s experience proves that the only real dif¬ 
ference between stable manure and fertilizers is humus 
or vegetable 
matter. When 
he plows under 
a sod of grass, 
rye or barley, 
and adds a ton 
of fertilizer per 
acre, he obtains 
everything h e 
could buy in 
875 worth of 
manure. Mr. 
Frost and Mr. 
Purington 
practically ad¬ 
mit the same 
thing. The 
question is, can 
they afford to 
lose one cash 
crop in order to 
grow a crop of 
humus? It 
would mean a 
saving of at 
least 840 an 
acre in manure 
alone and more 
than that in 
labor, which, in 
a cultivated 
crop, amounts 
to nearly 825 
a month on each 
acre — to say 
nothing of the 
fact that a de¬ 
creased use of 
manure for sev¬ 
eral years, 
would so reduce 
the weeds that 
much more 
3 a8ED_HEBE. Pig.p36; labor would be 
saved. 
I believe these gardeners have an exaggerated idea 
of the importance of humus in their soils. It seems 
to me that Mr. Frost is right in saying that previous 
manurings have left a surplus in the soil that cannot 
be exhausted in years. I believe there are fields at 
Arlington so stocked with this surplus vegetable mat¬ 
ter, that they could produce maximum crops for the 
next five years on fertilizers alone, without a pound 
of stable manure. But, admitting that vegetable 
matter must be added each year for garden crops, is 
stable manure the cheapest form in which it can bp 
obtained? Who has given the green crop plan a fair 
trial? Suppose a man take an acre of land and fertil¬ 
ize it all thoroughly. On one-quarter of it let him 
sow oats in the spring to be plowed under when headt 
ing out or cut for straw to be used in making mats. 
PIqw in the stubble, add feytilizers apd set out late 
I 
