Newspapers / The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, … / Feb. 26, 1910, edition 1 / Page 1
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VcL XXV. ; 116. & RALEIGH. II. C, FEBRUARY 25, 1910. j s Weekly: $1 a Year. i'.r,- v '... WEaat :FeiiiMzer.. Ignorance Coste Us j In a Single Year JO- , 1 OOOIUma TO TOD latest obtainable statistics, the farmers , of -J ' tlx ; coatisttona Gouthern Ctates Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, the Oarollnas and Virniepend over $50,000,000 a year for commercial fertilizer. 7 Tbe total public school fund of these States amounts to C11CC0,C00. ! And of tha CZ0,CS0,CC3 paid for fertilizers, It Is not too much to say that oyer Q11,CCO,C30 13 wasted through ignorance of crop and: soil needs. ' In other words, our Ignorance Tax on the one single, solitary Item A of commercial fertilizers alone Is more than jthe total amount we are spending on public schools for Increasing the j Intelligence of our chll- drenJ It may be worth; while to examine the figures more in detail: ? ' - Tons of Commer- Value at '. Total School , State.. . cial Fertilizer. C26 a Ton. Fund of State. ' Mississippi 187,000 .5,740,000 t , $1,868,544 ' Alabama , 812,000 6240,000 , 1,475,000. Georgia; , . . ; . 757,000 15,140,000 , , 2,827,003 4 South Carolina , . .T.r. .r.t 5C5,000 - 11800,000 -1,404,074 i North Carolina . , 507,000 10,140,000 1,035,024 . Virginia i . , . - . 210,000 ' 4,800,000 ; : 2,377,024 " A XK--l'yK 1 !'u' '-v , -.4: 1 - ' 11 v. " . ' . ; Total . . ; ....I. 2,518,000 . $50,360,000 I 911,388,827 It Is not the purpose of The ProgressiTe Farmer and Gazette to protest against spending 50,000,000 a year for fertilizers It is our purpose to protest against the ignorant use of this $50, 000,000 purchase. ' . : : - ! If the $50,000,000 spent by hese States is profitable now, reason able knowledge of : fertilizer facts ' would 'make it twice as profitable Or to put It differently: j reasonably, careful study of soil .needs, crop . needs, the functions of different fertilizing elements, etc., etc., would u add - $50,000,000 a year to : the; profits of our Southern farmers. ! ; : ' And $50,000,000 a year properly expended in bond issues, as in- terest and sinking fund,4 would put' an eight-months centralized graded f school within reach of every , farm boy and girl In these States; would put ; a macadam, gravel, or srind-clay surface on every 1 Important road ; In 'these States, : and would Scarry on a campaign against tuberculosTsf t typhoid fever," malaria and 'hookworm disease that would probably increase by one-fifth the average length of human lIlfe.'v ,vl'r ; 'CJ, .ill, '1 ' r' .n uo w fearful - the waste of ignorance on one despised commodity t .; We must make up our minds to stop this waste -not to spend .less f or f eitiUzrs, ..but .to (spend it more wisely ; SS'SS''SviS:' And to do this, , we must simply buckle down to learn the ele- mentary , facU about fertilizers as - we ; would iearu , a hard lesson at f chool.. Potash, phosphoric add, nitrogen, ammonia, sulphate, muri-1 etcj etc, there uro only a dozen or so terms that we need to under' ; stand, and little dcUbcrato, hard' ' tldnking 'win; enableVui,'ti !mter .,tises3- if: . , Your boy, if , he Is studying agriculture as he should is learning these things in school, but you didn't. . , You can read the excellent VReading Course on Fertilizers, no running in this paper from the pen of Managing Editor Miller, how ever, and you can read the many, other illuminating articles in this , ' I - ' Issue. You can also write your State Experiment Station and Depart- .ment of Agriculture for, their, free bulletins on fertilizerst and a postal card addressed to "Department of Agriculture, Washington, 1. : OX wiU'getypifree copies ofr Farmers.: Bulletin No. ,44, bnX0oa mercial Fertilizers ;' No; 77, on "The Liming of Soils;' No. 102, on 1 "Barnyard Manure;,' No.c 257; on VSoii Fertility,' , and No, 278, on "Leguminous Crops for. Green Blanuring." - i: . And you might also get your boy's text-book on agriculture and - both of you study together the sections on ' fertilizers and aU the ' ; rest of it, ; for' that matter. ' It would help both of you and put you Into closer harmony in all your farm work. . - Numerous 'other, phases of the fertilizer problem are handled by ! experts In other parts of this i Issue.: The big. fact we ,wish . to drive home on this page Is simply that our Ignorance Tax on this item lb enough to make the South a veritable Garden of Eden, ' If It were saved and properly applied. , . , . v 1. We waste hundreds . of thousands of dollars because - we - won't leam that names of brands mean ' nothing at all as Prof. Massey' ? - illustrates In such ' telling fashion on our next page. It's only r the, analysis that means anything. ; . c , , , 2. We waste other hundreds of thousands because we use little 'dribbles of low grade' fertilizers,', whereas ' theP same quantities of, potash, phosphoric acid and nitrogen could be purchased more cheaply. T In a higher grade fertilizer. , 0 r,f(, j 8. We lose enormously by trying to make commercial fertilizers ; alone pay a profit on thin, long-cultivated lands that are literally f am- Ishingfor humus, vegetable matter have r water - or die. And these soils must have, humus or die, so far : as profits are concerned , i ' 4. ' While : It Is Often . profitable ; to ; buy :. nitrogen as a commercial ' ' fertilizer, we ' have loU millions by the Indiscrimlnato purchase' of ' it for: every , crop, whereas , scientists, . tell us there are 88,000. tons of , nitrogen $11,000,000 worth in jthe air . above every acre of land) you owni and you hAte only to set th'ef legumes '( 00 wpeas, Clover, soy . ' beans, etc.;) rto work 'gaihering' Ids nitrogen from the air and florins7 " It In the soil free of charge. , v.-' V'Vv'V". ;.': 11 r; .v" - : But we cannot. coer this, big question on our first page. There arej 'nineteen ' other. 'pages ; of this , Issue - and nearly every' one "of thcm -has some bis fact tlut should go far toward saving that" jil,boO,CCOT and more how wastcdf, annualty 1 hrough ignorance of ,a.compars,tivciy . i, ,timpl8 jtJCSt. Knurl-i-i:' A ',': -.; S
The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Feb. 26, 1910, edition 1
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