Profits From the Use of Fertilizers
The aim usually in the use of artificial fertilizers is to so supplement soil supplies of plant-food as to obtain a profit, and, as already intimated, the profits for the different crops will be in proportion to their economical use of the desired constituent. Still, one should not be deterred from the use of fertilizing materials, even if the conditions should render the application apparently wasteful—that is, the farmer should estimate the increase that it is necessary for him to obtain, in order to be regarded as profitable, and if only this is obtained, he should not be discouraged. Many persons seem to have gotten the impression that the use of fertilizers is a gamble at best, and are not satisfied unless the returns from the investment in fertilizers are disproportionately large. We very often hear the statement that by the use of certain fertilizers the crop is doubled or tripled, as if this were a remarkable occurrence, and partook of the nature of a mystery. Such results are not mysterious; they can be readily explained. In an experiment on celery it is shown that the weight of celery from an application of 400 pounds per acre of nitrate of soda is two and one-half times greater than on the land upon which no nitrate was used, and that very great profit followed its use. This result is not mysterious—the nitrogen applied, if all had been used by the crop, would have given a still greater increase; it simply shows that where no extra nitrogen had been applied the plant was not able to obtain enough to make the crop what the conditions of the season and soil, in other respects, permitted. These favorable conditions, however, are not uniform, and variations in return from definite application must be expected.
It is quite possible to have a return of $50 per acre from the use of $5 worth of nitrate of soda on crops of high value, as, for example, early tomatoes, beets, cabbage, etc. This is an extraordinary return for the money invested and labor involved; still, if the value of the increased crop from its use was but $10, it should be regarded as a profitable investment, since no more land is required, and but little more capital with this return. The waste of nitrogen does not result in loss.