Rensselaer Journal, Volume 12, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 December 1902 — FERTILIZING WHEAT. [ARTICLE]

FERTILIZING WHEAT.

Complete Fertiliser Versos Phosphate and Clover. The marked effect on the growth of the wheat plant which is usually observed after the application of fertilisers carrying soluble phosphoric acldj such as acid phosphate or dissolved boneblack, together with the low price at which plain acid phosphates can be bought, as comparted with fertilisers containing nitrogen and potash, have led many farmers, to the use of this material alone, believing that they can supply sufficient nitrogen by growing clover and that potash is not needed. On these points the field tests of the Ohio experiment station are beginning to offer useful suggestions. Since 1898 the station has conducted two series of experiments on the light, somewhat sandy clay soil of its central farm at Wooster. In these experiments fertilizers of various composition have been used on crops grown in rotation, the rotation consisting in the one series of corn, oats and wheat one year each, followed by clover and timothy two years, and in the other of potatoes, wheat and clover one year each. Since 1896 both these tests have been duplicated on the heavy, white clay of the northeastern substation in Cuyahoga county. In every case the substitution of tankage tor part of the acid phosphate has produced a large gain in the increase of the wheat crop, the average being a gain pet acre of 3.78 bushels for the complete fertilizer over the add phosphate alone. At sls per ton for acid phosphate. sl9 for tankage and 2*4 cents per pound for muriate of potash, these being the prices actually paid for the fertilizers used in these experiments, including freight, we have reaped in the average 3.78 bushels increase of crop for 65 cents additional cost. This, however, is only part of the gain, as the com and oats crops, preceding the wheat, are showing a large gain in favor of the complete fertilizer, as do also the hay crops following. It appears, therefore, that the clover is not furnishing sufficient nitrogen to meet the demands of a full crop and that it is more economical to use a fertilizer containing a small percentage of nitrogen (ammonia), even though the cost be somewhat increased,, than to use one which carries only phosphoric acifi.