The Butler Weekly Times Newspaper, September 14, 1892, Page 9

ar TIMES SUPPLEMENT. MONTHLY BULLETIN OF THE Missouri State Board of Agriculture, FOR SEPTEMBER 5, 1892. LEVI CHUBBUCK, Secretary, Columbia, Mo. Ss zis] e y ae 21d ie 1 218 SUMMARY OF RETURNS. : 2 zs 4 3 Sone ea Se S558) (28105. heise ai/42;)/A2lulajlo Corn, average condition September 1.. 82 ee) 86 73 | 86 Wheat, average condition when har 6 73 63 95 92 | 86 ye, average condition when harveste 5 9 ot 93 84 | 88 , average condition when harvested . 65 56 56 63 7 | 69 Buckwheat, average condition Septembe: Potatoes, Irish, average condition September Potatoes, Sweet, average condition September 1. Tobacco, average condition September 1. Cotton, average condition September 1... Sorghum, average condition September 1 Apples, average condition September 1 Peaches, average condition September Grapes, average condition September 1 Stock-hogs, number for fattening compared wi Stock-hogs, average condition as to weight and s Clover seed, acreage compared with last year Clover seed, condition of the crop Septemiber 1. _ _ On the firat of August the eatimated percentage condition of Corn was higher in Missouri than in any of the seven great corn-producing States and required only continued favorable conditions to make an average crop. The favorable conditions did not continue, however, and the consequent drop in the estimated percentage condition is due, in a measure at least, to the depressed ia of the farmers, and a greater loss is estimated, prob- ably, than will be found to have occurred. The drouth and heat of August were relieved only by local showers, badly distributed, although in many places the corn has not suffered tor moisture, and reports made since the good general rain of the 27th ult. are much more cheerful. With good seagonable weather a much higher per- centage condition will be justified a month hence. The condition of corn at this date in 1891 was but 85 per cent., but, of course, there is greater reason to fear damage from frost this season owing to the late planting. Many correspondents say the late corn will not be safe from frost until October 1. Wheat varied in yield, some threshing returns not nearly equaling anticipation, while in the southern and southwest counties the yield was above earlier estimates. Some of the grain is bleached and shriveled, but it is generally of good quality, and the crop as a whole equals the estimates made from this office early in the season. The later and fuller the returns the worse appears the oat crop. Buckwheat continues to do well. Trish potatoes are very poor, some counties in North Missouri report- ing the ‘nearest a failure in thirty years.” Sweet potatoes continue in better condition than the Irish, but do not promise so good a crop as last year. The month was quite favorable for the tobacco crop, which is in good condition. Cotton and sorghum continue to improve. There is no improvement in the fruit prospect; apples and peaches continue to decline, and grapes do not equal the condition popularly credited to them, and from carefully compiled returns will not exceed for the State three-fourths of a full average yield. The long, cold, wet spring combined with little feed and want of care caused great loss of young pigs, so stock-hogs are scarce; many counties reporting, ‘‘no surplus, all needed for home consumption.” There is no disease reported, and the condition of hogs is comparatively good. The acreage of clover seed is below that of last year and the sced has | been much damaged, in localities, by the native red-legged grasshopper. FERTILIZING WHEAT LAND. LaMonteE, Mo., August 29, 1892. Levi Chubbuck, Secretary State Board of Agriculture, Columbia, Mo. Dear SiR :—I wish to use commercial fertilizer on forty acres of land for wheat this fall, this land has had two crcps of wheat on it in succes- sion. The crop last year yielded about 18 bushels and this year about 14 bushels per acre. Would like you to inform me the best fertilizer for wheat. When and how to apply it. How much per acre and the probable cost per acre, and also if you think it a profitable investment. An early reply will greatly oblige, yours very truly, R. E. Gururiz. The information called for by the foregoing letter is of much moment to the wheat-raising farmers of Missouri, but a full and satisfactory answer would require almost a book on the subject of fertilizers. Answering the last question first, it is, generally speaking, question- able if the use of commercial fertilizers in wheat growing will pay in Mis- souri with wheat at present prices. Neither will it pay to raise wheat for the prices now obtained, and at the present average rate of yield. There must be larger crops per acre obtained by methods which will not involve a very considerable increase in cost of production per acre. én certain soils and under certain conditions it is quite possible to use commercial fertilizers on wheat land with profit, but to say that it will pay on this field or on that farm is beyond the power of anyone except by investigation. Fertilizers, whether so-called commercial, or in the form of barnyard manure or a green crop plowed under, are simply plant food added to that of the soil. Piants use as food a number of different substances, about 14 in all, some of which are supplied more freely by nature than others, .A fertile soil is one that contains an abundance of such of these elements as must be obtained from that source, and in such a condition as to meet the needs of the plants growing thereon. If a single element of plant food essential to the growth of a plant is absent from a soil, thit soil is unfer- tile so far as that plant or any other kind of plants needing that same element is concerned. Ifa soil has a limited supply of one or more of food elements in an available form the growth of the crop will be limited to the same extent. A soil may, and often does, have an abundance of all the food elements except one or two. In such cases, it is of course only necessary to supply the deficiency. This is a vital point in land fertiliza- tion especially when commercial fertilizers are used, for the prices fixed by dealers are based on the market value of each element of plant food con- tained in the brand they are selling. Realizing that plant feod is made up of 14 elements in different com- binations, that these are required by plants and exist in the soils in varying proportions, the problem oz fertilization would seem to be a most compli- cated and difficult one. But if we get possession of the right facts to start with it will not be nearly so hard to solve. To the facts already stated we will add another, namely, that of the 14 elements constituting plant food all but three of them are, as a very general thing, supplied in abundance by nature ; consequently, we need only consider the three that may be lacking and take steps to supply them. These are nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash. A soil may be deficient in whole or in part in one or more of these three. It may have an abundance of all fer one kind of crop, and not enough to meet the different requirements of a different kind. The elements may all be there in sufficient quantity, but in an insoluble condition or chemicel combination, so that the plants can’t make use of them until the processes of nature shall make them available, or they may be there in the right condition, but not in just the right place to be reached by the plant roots, that is, they may be too far down to be reached by shallow-rooting plants, ‘ tea : Hence, when the question is asked specifically as to what fertilizer this or that field needs to make it produce certain crops, there must be a good deal of contingent information at hand to enableone to answer. One does not want to buy acomplete fertilizer, that is, one containing all three of the - BUTLER, MISSOURI. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1892 elements namea, and thus pay out moncy for ingredients his land has no jack of ; neither does he want to buy a special fertilizer, that is, one con- iaining only one of the elements, unless he knows that that 1s just what his land and crop wants. Chemistry will not give the information so far as the land goes with snfficient accuracy. Nature is much more delicate ip her processes, and if we ask her the questions properly she will tell us. If the farmer who is not raising enough wheat to the acre to satisfy him and wants to know what to eo to increase the yield will take an aver- age acre of his wheat land, plow and prepare uniformly, sow to wheat, divide into 10 cqual plats, and upon these put different kinds of fer- cilizers, commercial and homema:e, leaving one or two of the plats unfertilized, nature will answer his inquiry im the results more satisfac- torily then it can be in any other way. Leaving two of the plots unfertilized, on one cf the others there might be put 32 pounds of dis- solved bone black which would supply phosphoric acid at the rate of 50 pounds to the acre. On another put 16 pounds of muriate of potash sup- plying potash at the rate of 80 pounds to the ac:e; and ona third put 16 pounds of nitrate of soda which would be at a rate of 25 pounds of nitrogen to the acre. On another one put two of the three substances named, nitrate of soda and bone black ; and muriate of potash and bone black on another and nitrate of soda and muriate of potash on the next one and on one put all three ingredients. ‘There will be one plat left on which 50 or 100 pounds of bone meal can be used. By noting the growth during the season, and by harvesting, weighing and threshing the crops separately one will be able to tell quite accurately what the soil of that farm needs for wheat production, and in practically no other way can this be specitic- ally determined. But unless one wants to continue a particular crop year after year on the same land it is not necessary that he know exactly what is lacking in the soil that he may avoid waste of material. nature and follow ber plain teachings he will not follow continuous crop- ping, but will rotate. first crop does not require all of the plant food it contains, another crop having different requirements following next year will make use of the surplus providing it has not been lost by drainage and leaching. ence, it is that the farmer should know something of the composition and feeding character of his crops. TABLE. Materials removed from the Soil by Various Cro} | Ro moar Porasu. | Nirnogen. | Rye. Ibs. { Ibs. Ibs. Grains, 25 bushels—1,400 Ibs 11.8 24.6 Straw, 3.500 ibs sae C8 | 14.0 1) 38.6 | Grain, 20 bushels 5.0 | 4.2 18.4 Sur 0 1 2504 17.8 11.2 Sotal cscenaeee 98 } 2.0 29.6 Grain, 20 bushels—1 9.5 6.4 25.0 Straw, 3,000 Ibs... 6.6 18.9 14.4 Mlotal snes sets sete renee tates enc le te erestaseshe rae 16.1 23.3 39.4 Grain, 50 bushe’ 10.4 44.8 Stalks, 6,500 Ibs. 62.4 31.2 | 72.8 76.0 Har. | (Glaver a 000 har staec ease cose a set sco cass eneu wanes 1 16.8 54. 64. Mixed grasses, 1% tons—3,000 Ibs..........02.2...eeseeeeeees 12.8 39.6 46.5 PoraTozs. Tubers, 150 bushels—9,000 Ibs ............- Saeanuecatemsiacse 14,4 51.3 80.6 Towacco. | Leaves, 1,800 Ibs., (1,260 Ibs. dry ) ... 71 Stalks, 1,100 lbs. dry... 47. i118. Assuming that the land in question has just enough of each of the three essential food elements to make a crop of 10 bushels of wheat per acre, what must we add and at what cost to make 30 bushels? By the table, we see that 20 bushels of wheat and 3,000 pounds of straw will require, omitting fractions, 16 pounds phosphoric acid, 25 pounds potash and 39 pounds nitrogen. The first can be supplied in 100 pounds of bone black which will cost about $30 a ton, or $1.50; 50 pounds of muriate of potash will give 25 pounds of potash, costing $50 a ton, or $1.25 ; and 200 pounds of sulphate of ammonia will give 40 pounds of nitrogen, and will cost $80 a ton, or #8. Total cost of fertilizers required to produce the extra 20 bushels of wheat, $10.75, 20 bushels of wheat at 70 cents a bushel will be worth $14, with the straw extra. If it can be determined that there is enough of one or two of the three food elements in the soil to produce any part of the extra 20 bushels in addition to the 10 bushels, then there would be no need of supply- ing the full requirements for 20 bushels. Suppose, for instance, that there was enough nitrogen in the soil to produce 20 bushels of wheat and only enough of the others to produce the 10 bushels. Then there would only be $4 worth of sulphate of ammonia needed per acre in addition to the $1.50 worth of bone black and $1.25 worth of muriate of potash, reducing the cost to $6.75. Bone meal is being used quite extensively as a wheat fertilizer. Let us examine it a little : 100 pounds of it contains 3.8 pounds of nitrogen. To supply enough for an extra yield of 20 bushels of wheat would require 1,000 pounds. This would contain, besides 2 pounds of potash, 232 pounds of phosphoric acid, when not over 16 are required to meet the needs of the increased yield of 20 bushels ; 23 pounds of potash will be lacking, and there will be an excess of 216 pounds of phosphoric acid. The cost of the bone meal will be about $36 a ton, or $18 for 1,000 pounds, and if to this is added 25 pounds of muriate of potash to supply the potash, at a cost of $1.25, the cost of the fertilizer in that form will be $19.25 per acre, $5.25 more than the increased crop is worth, not counting the straw. But the 216 pounds of excess phosphoric acid has a market value of 5 cente a pound, or $10.80, which, if it is retained by the soil, as it probably will be, for succeeding crops, can be deducted from the $19 25 leaving the cost of fertilizing with bone meal and muriate of potash $8.45 per acre, and a net profit from the 20 bushels of extra crop, $6.45, not counting extra cost of threshing and handling. Thus we can ‘igure out a profit from the use of commercial fertilizers, and undoubtedly this can be secured under the properconditions. But, as remarked in the outset, it is questionable if their use is to be strongly or indiscriminately advised. What, then, are we to do to increase our wheat yield to a profitab'e . point? is asked. Referring to the table again we see that a crop of 114 tons of clover contains 64 pounds of nitrogen. It appears, also, that to supply 40 pounds of nitrogen, enough to make 20 bushels of wheat in the form of sulphate of ammonif, costs $8, much of the largest part of the cost when all three of the food elements must be added. Now, with the further °° fact in mind that the clover plant and its relatives the pea, bean, etc., have the power possessed. so far as known, by no other farm plants, of gathering this costly food element of nitrogen from natural sources (the air is four- fifths nitrogen ) and fixing it in condition for use of other plants, we have the key to the problem. A 134-ton crop of clover, to say nothing of the roots, contains enough nitrogen to make a 30-bushel crop of wheat. The other two food elements, potash and phosphoric acid, if they be lack- § ing, can be supplied at a comparatively light cost The stock-raiser may say, and with good reason, that clover is too valuable as a stock food, supplementing as it does and making valuable such foods as straw and corn fodder, to plow ander asa fertil zer. If it is fed and the manure made by the stock is carefully saved, nearly 2s much plant food will be secured in addition to the stock-feeding value. So we say invest cautiously in commercial fertilizers, but don’t be afraid of clover, it makes cheap animal and plant food. If he will again look to | By so doing if a general fertilizer is used and the ™* AGRICULTURAL PITOTOGRAPHS WANTED BY THE MISSOURI ‘S FAIR COMMISSIONERS, . ard of Agriculture, Columbia, Mo. ders of the BriiETin to be deeply of the State of Missouri at the World’s een assigned the State in actory as to location, and er state. In this space the to be made. This exhibit nerous individuals throughout communication is to reiterate 1 Missouri to contribute the to the Missouri World’s Fair et full personal credit for same bi id locality where they live plainly eat cur command we can only show by planting, cultivation and harvesting. Are reajers who have pride enough to have a photograph i! b_ans or other products taken for will be plainly stamped with nd at the close of the exposition ed to the owner. Tow about on fruit and stock g them who wish to avail themselves of this efore the world ? The autumn seeding season there are any among your readers who would i scene occurring on their plan- » We will take pleasure in giving due promi- inistration and management are features to be H you not among the readers of the of a model farm who would be glad to ne method ? If so, the Missouri World’s vill ta it pleasure in making nice provision for it. Thope our leading culturists may think seriously and tter. L have referred to should be about 18x24 inches in ger than the ordinary camera will take, but small nega- tives may be made and sent to competent parties for enlargement. iow it to the we Fair Commission ui exhibiting favorat In conelu we desire to especially colicit contributions of choice specimens of cotton and breom corn. Any of your readers having fine specimens of either of these will confer a favor by corresponding with the undersigned, ; Et J. K. Gwyny, Executive Commissioner, Room 207, Mermod & Jaccard Building, St. Louis, Mo. Requests for farmers’ institutes have been received by the Board of Agricul.ure from farmers in the following named counties : Audrain, Barry, Boone, Butler, Gentry, Greene, fi « en, Howell, Chariton, Jackson, Clinton, a Cole, oper, Shelby, Sullivan, Stone, ‘Texas, Vernon, _ Fifteen or twenty more counties can be included in the series if invi- tations are received soon. Communities wishing meetings will confer s avor by writing at once to the Secretary, as arrangements for the series must be completed very soon. The expenses of the meeting, except for hall, are met from funds provided by the State. The meetings will con- nue two days in a place. Speakers qualified to discuss any of the prao- tical farm topics will be in attendance. iranklin, THE ROADS IMPROVEMENT CONVENTION. HELD AUGUST 16-19, IN CHILLICOTHE, MISSOURI. If anyone doubted that the people of Missouri were in earnest regard- ing the necessity of road improvement, he would have had his doubts speedily dispelled had he attended the Roads Improvement Convention he'd A 16-19, in Chillicothe, Mo. It is a question if there was ever a convention held in the State where those present were more thoronghl: imbued with the importance of the purpose for which they were assemb. ms or more determined that that purpose should be accomplished, The convention was made up of men representing the best thought and character in the State, a body to whom it would be safe to entrust any question of public policy, and an honor to anyone to be able to say he wag one of the number and took part in the deliberations. That this vention carried the road improvement cause a long stride for i, is not que ned. During the winter of 1890-91 the Missouri State Board of Agriculture inaugurated the first systematic movement in favor of good roads by having the subject d in all of the series of farmers’ institutes held that season. In September of 1891, the Board held the great trial of road machines at Mexico, Mo., the first of the kind ever held on go largea scale. This att 1 wide-spread attention, and the great interest awakened was the first m ss peop'e were becoming aroused to the import- ance of ¢ n of the subject was continued at the meet- ings hel uring the winter of 1891-92, and a number of local ri ies were formed, the first being at Fulton, Mo.. w of the season was held. J. L. Erwin was made } ety, a fitting recognition of his years of personal meeting of the Board of Agriculture, the Secretary of ed to arrange for a State Roads Improvement Co - summer. The meeting just held at Chillicothe ion. In the meantime, during May last, the is Improvement Society held at Springfield, Mo., a ent Convention that was largely attended and of nt result being the formation of a State THE CHILLICOTHE CONVENTION, tion of the Chillicothe Convention embodied two leading mination of information as to the best ai ing eentiment of the people of the besides papers and lectures on road ry were invited to exhibit their by which the machinery and tools were fording the delegates present, many of ‘ Ty, an opportunity of judging of m the work done, besides getting many practical artoi road-building from the experts who operate the THE MACHINERY EXHIBIT. he following-named firms had machinery, it, Ind., the champion rock ernsher, two -on road reiler, wheeled scrapers, slushers,