The Monmouth Inquirer

(How to) Adapt Fertilizers to Soils.
Select Kind That Will Build up the land.

It would be much better if the users of commercial fertilizers would get into the habit of adapting the fertilizer to the soil instead of seeking a fertilizer that is adapted to the crop grown.

The object in using fertilizer should be the building up of the soil rather than growing a certain crop and a fertilizer which will balance up the plant food already in the soil is an economical fertilizer to use on any crop since the effects of its application will show on any crop that is adapted to the locality.

A farmer cannot afford to buy all of the plant food that his crop will use in its growth. Then why should he buy anything that his soil will furnish to the crop in sufficient quantities?

True, some crops will take more of a certain element of plant food than another will. Some crops have the power of getting more food from a soil than others have.

It is better to remedy this by adopting a judicious rotation of crops in which legumes will supply the nitrogen and help to keep up the humus supply.

It is unfortunate for the farmer that the fertilizer manufacturers have adopted the plan of recommending certain mixtures for special crops and thus presume to adapt the fertilizer to the crop rather than to sell the goods on their merits for the nitrogen, potash and phosphoric acid they contain and leave the farmer to select the goods best adapted to his soil and conditions.

The plan of adapting the fertilizer to the soil would induce more study on the subject of fertilizers and would lead to a more intelligent use of fertilizers.

Too many farmers depend entirely upon the manufacturers of fertilizers to select the goods for them.