Kankakee Valley Post, Volume 9, Number 50, DeMotte, Jasper County, 2 November 1939 — CHEMICAL SCIENCE REDUCES COST OF SOIL IMPROVEMENT [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

CHEMICAL SCIENCE REDUCES COST OF SOIL IMPROVEMENT

CHICAGO. —New developments in chemical' science and improvements in process of manufacture have resulted in a decline since 1920 of 49 per cent in the prices farmers pay for commercial fertilizer. At the same time the plant food content -of the average ton of fertilizer has increased 33 per cent, ac- ’ cording to a survey made public here “Farmers of the United States spent $192,000,000 for commercial fertilizer in 1938,” says a bulletin. “Based on 1920 prices, the same amount of fertilizer would have cost

$431,000,000 if new developments had not lowered production costs. “These savings, passed on to fertilizer users, amounted to $239,000,000. “The outlay for fertilizer represented an average of little more than S3O per farm in the United States last year. Yet records on the use of fertilizer on farms throughout the Middle West reveal that every dollar spent for fertilizer re-, suits in an average increased value of crops amounting to about three and a half dollars.” Steadily increasing efficiency in the production of fertilizer in the

past twenty years, is indicated by the fact that production costs have been cut and fertilizer prices have been kept more closely in line with farm prices than practically any other commodity. New’ formulas have been developed by manufacturers providing a greater percentage of plant food. Economies in transportation and distribution have been effected. The number of recommended analyses has been reduced through the cooperation of agronomists, state agricultural colleges and experimental stations with the manufacturers.

It Pays to Fertilize Oats.