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Reg'd U. S.
Pat. Office.
A Farm and Home Weekly For the Carolines, Virginia,
Georgia and Fk o a.
FOUNDED, 1886, AT RAi VH, N. C.
Vol. XXVIII. No,421.
SATURDAY, MAY 24, 1913.
Weekly : " $1 a Year.
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X
You Pay Three Prices For Phosphoric Acid.
NO, we are not saying that the fertilizer
companies are charging you too much
for phosphoric acid. The trouble is
that you buy phosphoric acid in an expen
sive form instead of a cheap form. The
same amount of phosphoric acid in acid
phosphate or basic slag costs you four
times as much as it would in ground phos
phate rock.
"Do we advise ybu then to stop buy
ing acid phosphate and buy ground rock
instead?"
Certainly notat least, not until you
have done some other things.
The fact is, that on the average South
ern soil acid phosphate is a cheaper source
of phosphoric acid than ground phosphate
rock, altho a pound of phosphoric acid
costs four times as much in the former as
in the latter, as is pointed out on page 7.
It is this way : The phosphoric acid
in the acid phosphate is in soluble form
the plants can use it. That in the phos
phate rock is insoluble crops cannot use
it save as it is slowly made available by the
decay of organic matter in the soil. The
cotton crop on your thin, dry land re
sponds at once if the season is at all fa
vorableto an application of acid phos
phate. It might never know you applied
the ground rock. Even in the poorest soil
there is enough phosphoric acid to make
many bigger crops than you are likely to
grow. The trouble is, it is unavailable.
But and here is the point you could
' have your soil in such condition that the
insoluble phosphoric acid in the soil and in
the phosphate rock would be becoming
available all the time ; and then, instead of
paying five or six cents a pound for this plant food in acid phosphate,
you could get it for a cent and a half a pound in the treated rock. You
could afford then to apply larger quantities and thus guarantee an
abundant and permanent supply for all your crops. As it is, the un
used portion of what you apply this year may be insoluble next year.
Wouldn't this be worth doing? Wouldn't it be good business to
reduce your phosphoric acid bill which is fully one-third your total
fertilizer bill to a third of what it now is?
Of course it would. There's literally M millions in it " for the farm
ers of the South, and you can have your share of it.
"But how can you do it?" There's just one way: Fill your soil
full of humus by turning under green manures or applying stable ma
nure. Then you can apply the ground phosphate rock and rest assured
that your crops will be fed and your land built up. If you keep your
soil poor in humus by continued cropping and neglect of the legumes,
you must continue to pay high prices for phosphoric acid.
FINISHING UP THE EDGES.
FEATURES OF THIS ISSUE.
"Better Farming; Better Business; Better Living" They All
Go Together and You Should Work for All 11
Colic of Horses Different Kinds and Treatment of Each . . . . 12
Feeding Problems of Farmers Dr. Butler's Answers to Inquiries 3
Grow More Figs Good Fresh, Canned or Preserved 4
How to Hold a Baby Show Directions by Mrs. Hutt .... 8
How to Transfer Bees By Mr. J. O. Hallman 18
More About Lime Kind to Use, How and When to Apply ... 6
New Rules as to Cotton Baling How the Farmer Stands to Lose
by Them 14
Use the Torrens System Information of Interest to All North Caro
lina Farmers 5, 10
What Secretary Houston Thinks An Interview .11
Where Shall We Get Phosphoric Acid? Dr. Hopkins' Views
and Some Editorial Comment 7
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