THE NEED OF FERTILIZERS
IN THE ARID WEST

GERMAN KALI WORKS

AGRIC. OfcPT.

15he Need of
Fertilizers

in tKe Arid West

y-^s^-— — ^^=^

The Need of Fertilizers
in the Arid West

PUBLISHED BY

GERMAN KALI WORKS

New York, N. Y. Chicago, 111. Atlanta, Ga.

New Orleans, La. San Francisco, Gal.

NOTICE

_^^_— ___^__i_

Every farmer can obtain, free of charge, a copy of
the following agricultural books :

POTASH IN AGRICULTURE
PRINCIPLES OF PROFITABLE FARMING
TRUCK FARMING
PLANT FOOD
THE COW PEA
COTTON CULTURE
SUGAR CANE CULTURE
SUGAR BEET CULTURE
TOBACCO CULTURE
VALUE OF SWAMP LAND
STRAWBERRY CULTURE
, 0^ ORANGE CULTURE

WHY THE FISH FAILED
FERTILIZING PEACHES

State which ,-frf c tjte<!afooy$- ingntioiied publications
you desire, and it willbe mailed to you free of charge.

ADDRESS:

GERMAN KALI WORKS

NEW YORK, N. Y. CHICAGO, ILL, ATLANTA, GA.

42 Broadway 1901 McCormick Bldg. 1212 Empire Bldg.

NEW ORLEANS, LA. SAN FRANCISCO, CAL.

903 Whitney-Central Bldg. 25 California St.

Fertilizers, What They Are and What
They Are Good For.

While "fertilizer" has become a household word in the
humid sections of the United States, it is practically unknown
in the arid and semi-arid districts of the West. This, in part
at least, is due to the fact that these regions have only in
recent times been opened to general farming, and that the
freight rates to most of these points west make the purchase
of commercial fertilizers too costly at present. There are
some other reasons, however, which will be fully discussed
further on.

Since fertilizers are so little known in the regions of low
rainfall, it will not be out of place here to give a few explana-
tions in regard to their nature and use. It is a well estab-
lished and undisputed fact that plants, just as well as animals,
cannot grow from nothing. While no farmer would ever be so
foolish as to withhold food from his stock and let it starve,
there are still many farmers that will leave it to the plant to
get its food supply as best it can. Everyone knows that if he
wants to get top prices for his cattle, he must fatten them up
and must let them have plenty of food for this end. The
same is true of plants. You may grow some kind of a crop
on almost any land if you give it a little care, but if you want
to grow a good crop and plenty of it you must not leave all
the work of producing it to the soil alone, lest it go back on
you in a short while.

320931

FERTILIZERS IN THE WEST

In order to be able to grow, the plant, in addition to the
water and the carbon dioxide taken from the atmosphere,
extracts from the soil a large amount of material to build up
its tissues. When the crop is sold all this material taken from
the soil is removed with it and is forever lost. . It is true that
all ordinary soils are immensely rich in some food elements
needed by plants, and that they are practically inexhaustible
in these. But there are just three elements; potash, phos-
phorus and nitrogen, that are of the greatest importance to
the plant, and it is exactly these same three elements which
are^wsually found in soils in only small quantities, and unfor-
tunately by far the larger portion of them is in such a state
of combination that the plant cannot get hold of them. It is
only logical that if you do not want to rob your soil and if
you wish to maintain or increase its fertility you must put
back into it whatever your crop has removed. Otherwise
your soil is bound to run down quickly. If you continuously
draw money from your bank and make no deposits, your
account will soon be exhausted. The same is true of the plant
food elements in the soil.

Take for instance oats, wheat or potatoes. A sixty bushel
crop of oats removes from the soil 55 pounds of nitrogen, 22
pounds of phosphoric acid and 62 pounds of potash, while a
thirty-five bushel crop of wheat removes, 59 pounds, 24 pounds
and 31 pounds, respectively, and a two hundred bushel crop
of potatoes, 46 pounds, 21 pounds and 74 pounds. In order
to compensate for these losses, every farmer should add to his
soil at least those quantities of the different elements that are
taken out of the soil.

FERTILIZERS IN THE WEST 5

All of the three elements,, nitrogen, phosphoric acid and
potash together are necessary for the successful production of
crops and no one of them can take the place of any other,
because each one of them has important well defined func-
tions. For this reason any fertilizer should, in all but excep-
tional cases, contain nitrogen as well as phosphoric acid and
potash in suitable proportions. In looking closer over the
figures given above it is easily seen that phosphoric acid is the
ingredient needed in the smallest quantity, whereas the nec-
essary amounts of potash and nitrogen are much higher.

Each of the three fertilizer elements has special functions
to perform which may be mentioned briefly as follows :

Nitrogen increases growth and favors the formation of
the green parts of plants, like stems and leaves. It is the
factor that exerts the greatest influence on the size of the
plant. The effect of an application of soluble nitrogen mani-
fests itself in a few days by a change of the color of the
leaves to a dark green. For the reason given, large quantities
of nitrogen are called for particularly, where leaves are the
principal product, like in the case of certain graden crops,
where it also improves the quality by making the leaves more
tender and crisp. On the other hand, where the fruit is the
important product, too large applications of nitrogen are
liable to bring about excessive growth of leaves, to delay or
prevent the formation of flowers and fruit, and to retard
maturity in general. Plants that are overfed with nitrogen,
have a tendency to be vsoft and to be less resistant to the
attacks of insects and diseases.

Phosphorus is an important constituent of the plant cell,
especially of certain proteid bodies characteristic of all seeds,

6 FERTILIZERS IN THE WEST

and for this reason alone a good supply of phosphoric acid is
necessary for the production of all plants and fruits. It
stimulates the growth of seedlings, favors the formation of
fruit and brings about early maturity. In this respect its
effect is opposite to that of nitrogen.

Potash is very important in regulating the vegetative
functions of the plant in a chemical and mechanical way,
being found in largest amounts at those points where actual
development is proceeding most rapidly. Potash is essential
to the formation of the so-called carbohydrates, sugar, starch,
and cellulose, and to the transformation of sugar into starch
and vice versa, without which vegetation could not exist. The
importance of these effects of potash is at once understood if
we consider that starch and sugar are the principal plant con-
stituents used as food for man and beast. Starch is the chief
component of potatoes, of corn and of the different cereals,
and sugar that of the sugar cane and sugar beet. The
formation of cellulose is essential to that of wood, and a lack
of potash manifests itself by the weakness and brittleness of
the woody parts of plants; this is of especial importance in
fruit growing. Here potash has the additional advantage
that it improves the quality of fruits, by making them more
fleshy and of better flavor. Fruit grown with the required
amount of potash also keeps and stands shipment better than
otherwise. Potash is of the greatest benefit in the production
of legumes and also of grasses where it favors the formation
of seed. It also renders plants more hardy and more re-
sistant to the attacks of insects and diseases.

Sources of the Fertilizer Elements.

Nitrogen : — This element can be supplied in two
different ways. The first and cheaper of these is to grow
leguminous crops like alfalfa, clover or cowpeas on the land.
These plants have the power of extracting nitrogen from the
air, and of accumulating it. By then turning the crops under,
either wholly or in part, all or the greater portion of this
nitrogen is saved. Moreover, in this way we do not only sup-
ply nitrogen to our land, but incorporate with it that indis-
pensible organic material necessary for the formation of
humus. Humus is essential in the conservation of the soil
moisture.

The second way of supplying nitrogen is by adding it in
the form of some commercial, nitrogenous fertilizer, like
nitrate of soda, sulfate of ammonia, cyanamid, dried blood,
cotton seed meal, etc. If nitrogenous fertilizers must be
bought, it will be best in the West to use those which have a
high percentage of nitrogen, in order to save freight.

Phosphoric Acid: — There are several forms in which
this fertilizer element can be supplied, Some phosphate
fertilizers, such as acid phosphate and dissolved bone are
easily soluble and can be utilized immediately by the plants.
Others are less available and their assimilation by the crop is
much slower than in the case of the first two. Among these
fertilizers we mention Thomas slag and bone meal. The
least available of the common phosphate fertilizers is ground
rock phosphate; this is quite insoluble and it is effective only
if applied together with large quantities of stable or green
manure. The acids formed by the decomposition of the

8 FERTILIZERS IN THE WEST

manure slowly liberate phosphoric acid from the rock phos-
phate and thus make it available.

Potash : — The only commercially important source of this
fertilizing element are the German potash mines which
furnish potash in a water soluble and immediately available
form. The crude salts, kainit and manure salt, containing
12.4 and 20 per cent of pure potash, respectively, are largely
used where freight rates are low or where they offer special
advantages, as kainit does as a remedy against cotton rust.
Muriate of potash and sulphate of potash contain about 50
per cent of pure potash; the muriate may be used for most
crops, while the sulphate is preferable for tobacco, orange
trees and potatoes.

In consideration of the fact that potash, phosphoric acid
and nitrogen are of so much importance in the nutrition of
plants it is not to be wondered at' that their use in the form
of fertilizers has given such excellent results wherever the
right kind of fertilizer has been given a fair trial. In the
following chapters we shall demonstrate by the results of
actual field experiments that fertilizers are just as necessary
and as profitable in regions of low rainfall as they are in the
humid zone.

Fertilizers Are Profitable in Dry Regions as Well as in
Humid Sections.

There is an idea generally prevailing in the Western
States that while it may be profitable and necessary to use
commercial fertilizers in the humid sections of the country, no

FERTILIZERS IN THE WEST

results can be expected from their use in the arid and semi-
arid districts of the West. This belief seems to be based more
on theoretical considerations than on practical experience.
An inquiry made by writing to the experiment stations
located in the sub-humid zone with the object of finding out
what has so far been done towards studying the use of com-
mercial fertilizers there, has brought out the fact that with a
few notable exceptions, the different stations have not yet
taken up the study of this question.

Although the few experiment stations that have experi-
mented with commercial fertilizers have found that it is
profitable to apply them even where the rainfall is low, the
consensus of opinion still seems to be that they cannot be used
to advantage. Two reasons are usually given for this idea.
The first is, that the soils of these regions are generally
classed as soils rich in plant food, especially so in phosphoric
acid and potash. The nitrogen is rather low, but it is, accord-
ing to Hilgard, available to a much larger degree than that
found in soils of the humid zone. However, from the com-
paratively large percentages of phosphoric acid and potash as
found by chemical analysis, we are not justified to conclude
that the soils are rich in these elements as far as the needs
of plants are concerned, because as a rule most of this plant
food in the soil is insoluble and cannot be assimilated by
growing crops fast enough to provide for the most profitable
crops.

Soil analysis, as practiced at present, discloses only that
portion of the elements of plant food that may be liberated
within the next thousand or ten thousand years, provided

10 FERTILIZERS IN THE WEST

that conditions are favorable. But this knowledge is of little
practical value, because plant food liberated in a thousand
years is of no use to us; and besides, we are in honor bound
to pass on our land to our sons and grandsons in at least the
same state of fertility in which we received it ourselves. For
these reasons we should and must return to the soil, no matter
how rich our land is or how much rainfall we have, the pot-
ash, phosphoric acid and nitrogen that we have removed from
it by cropping, if we want to at least maintain the fertility
of our land. But the intelligent and progressive farmer will
not stop here; he is not satisfied with just maintaining the
fertility of his soil, but constantly strives to attain that point
where a given acre yields him the largest possible profit.
This cannot be done without adequate fertilization.

The other assertion advanced to discredit the use of com-
mercial fertilizers in the arid and semi-arid regions of the
West is to the effect that the amount of moisture in our
western soils is not sufficient to allow of the proper utilization
of the fertilizer applied. This is true only insofar as slightly
more water is necessary for the production of the increased
crop raised with the aid of fertilizer, than for the small crop
grown without it. But the fertilizer as such does not only not
reduce the moisture present in your soil, but on the contrary
helps to conserve this moisture. This has been amply demon-
strated by scientific experiments as well as by practical experi-
ence. Dr. John A. Widtsoe, the well-known president of the
Utah Agricultural College, who has made a large number of
careful experiments on this question, came to the conclusion
that "the application of artificial fertilizers to a soil which

FERTILIZERS IN THE WEST 11

requires them will not only increase the yield of dry matter
but will make it possible for plants to produce dry matter at
a lower water cost than on similar soils which have not
received such artificial stimulus. This is a vital matter in the
agriculture of a region where water is an essential considera-
tion." Even on clay soils "the addition of fertilizers increased
the yield in every case. With the complete fertilizer the in-
crease was over six times the yield on the unfertilized pot.
The total number of pounds of water required to produce one
pound of dry matter was likewise in every case very much
smaller on the fertilized than on the unfertilized pots."

Practical experience has shown the conclusion of Dr.
Widtsoe to hold true under field conditions. Dr. K. W.
Thatcher, director of the Washington State Experiment
Station, states the following:

"So far as can be determined by chemical analysis the
typical basaltic loam soils of Southeastern Washington, the
so-called 'volcanic ash' soils, contain ample supplies of the
most essential forms of plant food for large cereal and forage
crops for many years to come. It has been demonstrated,
however, that where the moisture supply is limited, as it is
throughout the non-irrigated districts of Eastern Washington,
crops can frequently make much better use of the soil moisture
if increased supplies of available plant food are furnished to
them. For this reason, it is sometimes profitable to use fer-
tilizers even if the soil does contain a large supply of total
plant food/'

Dr. Thatcher then advises the farmers to make practical
field experiments with fertilizers and to find out for them-
selves.

12 FERTILIZERS IN THE WEST

The few isolated experiments made with commercial
fertilizers under irrigation and dry farming conditions in
Washington,, California, Colorado and New Mexico have
demonstrated that it is indeed profitable to use commercial
fertilizers in those States. Considerable quantities of ferti-
lizers are already being used in onion culture around Laredo,
Texas, and some in alfalfa culture in other parts of Texas.
The Arizona Experiment Station recommends the use of com-
mercial fertilizers on orange trees.

The results obtained with commercial fertilizers so far
in the States just mentioned above certainly ought to
encourage their use in the West, and should stimulate further
efforts in the same direction. This is all the more important,
since in other countries of low rainfall, which we are other-
wise apt to look upon as less advanced than our country, have
long since learned to appreciate the great value of commercial
fertilizers for not only increasing the yield and improving the
quality of their products, but at the same time enhancing the
fertility of their soil.

The table below shows the results of systematic experi-
ments made with complete fertilizers containing potash, phos-
phoric acid and nitrogen, by the Central Office of Fer-
tilizer Experiment Stations in Madrid, Spain. We produce
here only a few of the thirty odd experiments made in the
dry districts of Spain.

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14 FERTILIZERS IN THE WEST

One would have to be blind not to see the large monetary
profits derived from the use of complete commercial fertilizers
under the very dry conditions of Spain. But the most
remarkable result of these experiments is the fact that in
several of the tests the check plot received heavy applications
of stable manure. In spite of all this the profits derived from
commercial fertilizers were much larger than those obtained
with stable manure. This refutes the popular belief prevalent
in some of the Western States that stable manure is the only
hope to the farmer there, when it comes to increasing his
crop yields.

The Fertilizer, to Yield the Highest Profit, Must
Contain a Sufficient Percentage of Potash.

It has been remarked above that our western soils are
generally rich in total potash and that this misleading fact
is responsible for the theory that potash would not prove
profitable there as a fertilizer ingredient. The only way to
decide this question is by practical field experiments. A num-
ber of such tests have been made in the Canadian West, and
we shall mention here only two of them :

Mr. L. M. McLean, Innisfail, Alberta, Canada, carried
out one such experiment on potatoes, with the following
results :

No fertilizer 280 bushels per acre

Nitrogen and Phosphoric Acid 312 bushels per acre

Nitrogen, Phosphoric Acid and Potash ...409 bushels per acre

Potato Experiment by L. W. McLEAN, Innisfaif, Alta.

Yield per Acre- . 208

Increase directly due to Potash: 97 Bushels.

Plot 3

140 Nitrate of Soda
400 Acid Phosphate

- Sulphate of Potash
312 Bushels

FERTILIZERS IN THE WEST 17

In other words, 200 pounds of potash produced an in-
crease of ninety-seven bushels per acre. The net profit per
acre due to potash alone after deducting the cost of the same
amounted to $27.96.

In the light of these figures,, does it seem profitable to use
potash or not? Let us cite another example. The crop in
this case was cabbage, and the farmer who made the experi-
ment was Mr. John de Jong, Louise Bridge, Manitoba,
Canada :

No fertilizer 32,500 pounds

Nitrogen and Phosphoric Acid 37,500 pounds

Nitrogen, Phosphoric Acid and Potash 40,000 pounds

In this case, the net profit due to potash after deducting
the cost of the fertilizer was $37.00. In another experiment
as much as $47.71 profit was made by using potash in the
fertilizer.

But Canada is not the only country where such striking
increases in yields have been obtained with potash.

A very extended study on the effect of potash as a ferti-
lizer on wheat and other cereals, under dry farming condi-
tions, has been made by Mr. J. Farges, professor of Agricul-
ture at Philippeville, Algiers. He arrived at the following
conclusions :

"It is well-known that potash, the same as nitrogen and
phosphoric acid, is indispensible for all plants. But potash is
particularly essential for those plants which furnish starch, as
for instance, the cereals. In fact, it has been irrefutably
demonstrated that starch cannot be produced by sunlight un-
less a sufficient quantity of potash be present. . . . Experience

18 FERTILIZERS IN THE WEST

has shown that those crops which are richest in starch or
sugar, are most benefited by potash fertilization. ... By facili-
tating the formation of starch, potash fertilizers produce a
grain which is much better nourished, much larger and much
heavier. . . . Besides, crops fertilized with potash mature at
least a week earlier. . . . Further, the potash fertilizers play a
very important part in rendering the crop resistant against the
attacks of diseases and insects."

One of the most important practical results quoted by
Professor Farges is, that potash is highly profitable even on
soils that are naturally very rich in potash. On a soil contain-
ing as much as 1.2 per cent of acid soluble potash marvelous
results were gotten by Mr. Isman, professor of Agriculture at
Sidi-Bel- Abbes, Algiers, by the use of potash fertilizers.

As a further proof for the fact that potash fertilizers are
highly profitable under dry farming conditions we present
below another table showing the results of a few among the
100 or more tests carried out in countries as far removed from
each other and from this country as New South Wales, North
Africa and Peru. It will not be necessary to discuss these
results in detail since the table and especially the last column
of the same, giving the net profits due to potash, speaks for
itself.

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20 FERTILIZERS IN THE WEST

These figures ought to convince every western farmer,
that it is not only necessary, but highly profitable to use com-
mercial fertilizers with a high percentage of potash in the
districts of low rainfall. A trial by yourself will convince you
better. Start it now.

Summary of Advantages to Be Derived From the Use

of Potash Fertilizers Under Dry Farming

Conditions.

1. With the use of potash it is possible to produce a
larger quantity of grain which is thicker and heavier than
when no potash is used; hence larger yields per acre and
better quality.

2. Potash produces drouth resistance and decreases the
quantity of the water necessary for raising the crop. Owing
to this fact the culture of grain can be extended to dryer
districts than it were possible otherwise.

3. Potash produces resistance against the attacks of
diseases and insects.

4. Potash produces early maturity of grain crops.

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THIS BOOK ON THE °ATE ^ FOURTH

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