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Scrap Iron As A Fertilizer

Categories: Soils, Fertilizers and Irrigation

Is cast or other iron in small pieces plowed into the land of any

benefit to trees as a fertilizer? If so, what would be the value as such

per 100 pounds? Junk dealers sometimes offer 25 cents per 100 pounds. If

it has any value as a fertilizer, I am satisfied it must be worth four

times that price. We pay three cents a pound for sulphate of iron as a

fertilizer. Of course, it is a salt and dissolves quickly, therefore, I

/> believe cast iron, even if it works slowly, has some value, and at the

same time farmers can clean up and get rid of a lot of rubbish.



In most cases the California soils are sufficiently supplied with iron

by nature. Iron scraps have a little and remote value because they are

so slowly available by the process of rust disintegration. It might,

therefore, be worth while for farmers to bury such scrap iron as

accumulates on the place below the reach of the cultivating tools. But

it would not be profitable to buy iron scraps at junk dealers' price,

nor would it be profitable to haul this material any long distance, even

if it could be had for nothing.



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