The progressive farmer and southern farm gazette., March 30, 1912, Image 1

About The progressive farmer and southern farm gazette. (Starkville, Miss.) 1910-1920

Image provided by: Mississippi Department of Archives and History

                
HARROWS AND HARROWING—Page 10.
^11~ ^ '
HEM FA®M §A2®TT®
# A Farm and Home Weekly for
% Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee.
o, ---
___BIRMINGHAM, ALA.,— MEMPHIS, TRNN.
vjnTxvn. No. 13. _S ATURD A\\ t ARCH 30, 1912. Weekly: $1 a Year.
Fertilizer Analyses, Helpful and Confusing.
COME months ago a Tennessee friend wrote us in regard to some |
^ fertilizer agents and their tactics. Among other things he said
“Below I give the an
1 £ A ____- ■ __
to put out a lot of figures calculated to confuse rather than iuform.
Most Southern States have laws regulating the analyses
printed on the fertilizer bags,
ellJ did nit twimiiwii ui anu
of acid phosphate:
High Grade Dis- Per Cent
solved Bone ... 14.00
Moisture at 212 F . .
Phosphoric Acid,
Soluble . ..8.00
Phosphoric Acid,
Revertible. 6.00
Available Phos
phoric Acid.14.00
| Insoluble Phos
phoric Acid. 1.00
Total Phosphoric
Acid.15.00
Total Bone Phos
phate of Lime .... 32.00
“The name of the above is
misleading. The dishonest
agent will tell the farmer
that this is a pure animal fer
tilizer made from bones,
when it is made by treating
finely ground rock phos
phate with sulphuric acid.
I
|j Mi :
It JltXHV l&$.
[: AAni.r-> ,1j ii,
t Pe rCerii .
I HIC-H GRADE DISSOLVED 0OAIE /•» oo
| Phosphor/c AcidSohjblE *.»"
| Phosphor ic Hud Be vmiht .bon /
j AvAilaBL\' ProSPHmuc Acid h
iNSOtHIUF ftfcSPHOfliC ACID /.op
11';Total phosphoric Acid H'°v
II Total Bone PHosphau flint UM
but some of these laws need se
vere revision Only Alabama
and Georgia, we believe, prevent
a duplication of nitrogen as
ammonia, while the Mississippi
law, permits just such a list of
percentages as our frieml quotes.
Florida requires that the per cent
of ammonia, instead of nitrogen,
be given, and also the source of
this ammonia. There is, of course,
an advantage in this to the man
who has studied fertilizers, but so
few farmers have studied fertil
izers that we are inclined to like
better the North Carolina law,
which requires this information
to be filed with the Commis
sioner of Agriculture, where it
is available to all farmers who
ask for it.
THESE TWO ANALYSES MEAN THE SAME THING—WHICH DO YOU LIKE BEST?
He adds up the per cent col
umn and gets 90 and then tells us that this fertilizer contains 90
pounds of plant food to every 100 pounds. He then prices it at
about $20 per ton and the farmer buys. He has sold that farmer
a 14 per cent acid phosphate, or 280 pounds of plant food (phos
phoric acid) worth about 5 cents per pound, or about $14, for $20.
“There are agents who are perfectly honest, representing
their goods no higher than they are, and who try to sell the farmer
goods adapted to his soil and crops at a reasonable price. 1 he
average farmer knows but little about fertilizers, and for the most
part, buys from the slick-tongued and high-priced agent. A few
years ago one of these agents was trying to sell a farmer, when I
came up and he tried to sell me. The first sample lie showed me
was a 10-2-1. He added up the per cent column getting 92. W hen
he said his goods contained 92 per cent of available plant food
and that the price was $35 per ton, I told him I would take 20 tons,
but that our contract must show that the goods contained 92 per
cent plant food. Of course, we did not trade and that fellow has
never tried to sell me again.”
Now, practically all manufacturers and handlers of fertilizers deal
squarely with their customers, and there are few fertilizer agents guilty
of the dishonest practices our friend reports. But the point is this—such
a confused jumble of figures as he gives is nowise helpful to the far
mer- and often gives the dishonest man a chance to make false
claims. There can be no good reason for any State to allow such
j branding of fertilizers. The simpler the statement on the bag, the
better idea the farmer can get of the goods be is buying. In the
writer’s opinion, all that should ordinarily go on the fertilizer bag is
the simple statement of the plant foods it contains, thus:
Available Phosphoric Acid, 10.00 per cent—Nitrogen, 1.65 per
cent Available Potash, 2.00 per cent.
I o say that a fertilizer contains^44 per cent available phosphoric
acid, l per cent unavailable phosphoric acid, 15 per cent total phos
P <)rk acid, 32 per cent bone phosphate of lime; or that there
? 1-65 per cent nitrogen, equivalent to 2 per cent ammonia; or
| ^ ^t>1 cen* Potash, equivalent to 4 per cent muriate of potash is merely
in snort, u lariuers nau studied
fertilizers as they should, the form of the analysis would not matter
much, but since they have not, we feel sure that the wisest plan is to
permit only the percentages of the available plant foods to go on the
bag. More than this is likely to do harm rather than good. Additional
information could well be given on a separate sheet or be otherwise
made available to the farmer who wishes to know more than the sim
pie analysis tells. But it must be remembered that it is the average
farmer for whom the analysis is put on the bag. and that if this aver
age farmer can get to the point of buying fertilizers by the actual
amount of plant foods they contain, he will have made a great advance.
The analysis on the bag should help him to do this.
FEATURES OF THIS ISSUE.
A STUDY OF COTTON BREEDING—II—The Plunt-to-Row Sys
tem . d
BE A CREATOR OF WEALTH—Wrong Ideas as to the Dignity
of Labor.». Itt
CREATING A STATE BY BETTER DRAINAGE—The Great Work
Being Done in Florida. 5
CORN IS NOT A GOOD MONEY' CROP—Its Greatest Use is for
Home Consumption. Ml
GOOD CORN CROPS AND HOW TO GET THEM—letters From
Our Readers. 7
MEATS: COMPOSITION AND COOKING—Meats Are Among Our
Worst Treated Foods.’. II
THE FREE SEED GRAFT—4Congressman Small’s Speech on “The
Congressman's Own Graft”. t>
TIMELY' GARDEN WORK—Notes by Profs. Massey and Niven l-liJJt
THE SOUTH AS \ HOG-RAISING COUNTRY — We Can Raise
, Cheap Pork, but Don’t Do It. IK
UNREASONABLE EXPECTATIONS AS TO PASTURES—You
Can’t Plant a Crop Now and Get Summer Pasture. . .. :i
WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT HARROWS?—Read Prof. Sher
win’s Article and You Will Know More. 10