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Show Farm News-Notes By LEW MAR PRICE County Agent Alfalfa Fields Benefitted by Fertilizer Practical tests on farms in several different sections of the country show that commercial fertilizers added to land for general farm crops returns $3.00 for each dollar invesed in fertilizer. fertil-izer. Plant food elements alone are present pre-sent in commercial fertilizer, and serve only as a stimulant to growth. Our barnyard manures carry the plant food elements, and are also particularly par-ticularly valuable in supplying humus to new soils. Soils lacking in humus are also lacking in soil bacteria which are so necessary in the liberation of plant food elements for the use of the plant. The lighter soils where drifting drift-ing is a problem are materially benefitted" bene-fitted" by the addition of humus in holding them against the action of both water and wind. In our county two years ago, six alfalfa fields fertilized with barnyard manure showed greater resistance to both disease and frost started earlier in the spring and grew later in the summer where the late water supply was short. Not infrequently an extra crop can be produced, and invariably the crops taken off are 40 per cent to 100 per cent heavier. Pastures, too, respond surprisingly to an application of barnyard manure. The best grasses and clovers in unfertilized unfer-tilized pastures tend to give way to weeds and grasses of lesser value as fertility wanes. Our neighbors in the St. George section have found that continuous croppng without fertilization is not practical, and have started shipping in commercial fertilzed at very high prices. Nevada farmers have been shipping barnyard manures from Cedar Ce-dar City for several years. Yet we still find these barnyard manures being be-ing dumped in the brush and on waste lands in Beaver County. A little extra attention given tn the ewes at lambing time or to the sows at farrowing time usually pays the biggest returns of any labor ex-peded ex-peded on the project. One lamb saved sav-ed is usually the greatest income from the ewe for the year. "There should never be a market for really poor producers, but there will be until dairy farmers are honest enough with themselves to buy only healthy cows backed by production records. re-cords. We have no tears for those who knowingly buy poor producer; because they are low in price, or that have not passed the blood test for abortion." |