The soil, stable manure, green manure, commercial fertilizer, soil drainage, tillage, silos and silage - Softcover

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1911 Excerpt: ...A good way to make fertilizers in this condition fit for use in the drill is to take them to the barn floor, pound up the lumps, and mix the material with either coal ashes or dirt. This operation will probably take the time of two men for a half day, thus adding the cost of their time to the original cost of the fertilizer. Such carelessness is indeed accountable for considerable waste of fertilizer after it gets to the farm. 93. It is natural that fertilizer men should be anxious to sell their products, and they will often try to induce the farmer to buy fertilizer a year in advance, on the strength of the statement that ammonia may increase in price. Although there is considerable truth in such a statement, it is questionable, unless a farmer has excellent storing facilities, whether or not it will pay him to store fertilizer. As a rule, the decrease in the quantity of plant-food and the extra 'expense incurred in preparing fertilizer that has become solidified, make it more profitable to purchase fresh material each year, even if ammonia does increase in price. 94. It has been found by experience that the best and cheapest way to handle fertilizer is to haul it as direct as possible from the market to the soil. If the field is not quite ready for use, it is well to place the sacks on some dry boards that have been laid on the ground at the edge of the field. The sacks should then be covered with canvas, and over this should be placed two or three boards that will serve as a roof, Such an arrangement, however, is recommended only when the fertilizer is to be used very soon. 95. Fertilizers are frequently wasted on the farm by the careless opening of the bags by the workmen, who often tear them and spill much of the contents. They will also let some of th...