The gazette-times., July 09, 1914, HOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION, Page 4, Image 10

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HOME ANT) FATiM MAGAZINE SECTION
Problem of Soil Analyses
Plant Food Useless in a Soft so Hard and Dry That the Roots
Cannot Get It
READ EVERY WORD!!
By 0. F. HODGB, Professoi of Social Biology, University of Oregon, Eugene.
IT IS LITTLE WONDEB Hud values
slump in a section where yon can
put four cement posts and two men
en spike-tooth harrow and then simply
"mark" (not scratch) the- surface ef
the iron like soil, and where "fanners"
turn their straw and have not spread
load of barnyard mason (apparent
ly) glace the valley was settled.
It makes little difference, practical
ly, how much plant food ft soil con
tains, if it is so hard and dry that the
roots cannot get it, bence tha word on
lhe physical condition of sail? at the
close of this, letter. This physical con
dition we ean generally control by wise
handling. The necessary chemical ele
ments, if lacking in a soil, wt must boy
and spread.
Fifteen chemical elements enter into
or make up the plant body. These may
be studied in the per cent composition
of corn:
Elements obtained in abundance- from
eir and waters Oxygen, 46.008; car
bon, 45.000i hydrogen, 6.000.
Elements that the corn plant must,
get from tha soil anor whick we must
buy, if deficient Nitrogen, 1.160;
phosphorus, .300; potassium, .3.40.
Elements seldom lacking in the soil
in the small amounts required, except
calcium (Urne), in regions free from
limestone. It is also added to "sweet
en" or correct acidity of soils Mag
nesium, .125; calcium, .022; iron,
.008; Sulphur, .004; Silicon, .014;
Sodium, .013; Chlorine, .013.
Necessary Elements in Soil.
A plant cannot mak something out
of nothing any more than a man can,
and while most of the above elements
eiast. in air, water and soil in super
abundance for the plant's needs, the
threw elements, nitrogen, phosphorus
and potassium, practically limit and de
termine soil fertility. Nitrogen most
vital of all, does not exist as a mineral
in soil,, but must be added from decay
of plant nd animal bodies. Of the
other two, phosphorus is likely to be
the limiting element in a sell, but po
tassium compounds, as well as those of
calcium, lue so readily soluable that
tbey are likely to be leached away, as
is the case with peaty loam soils. No
matter what the abundance ef the
others, lack of any essential element
limits plant growth; it is like a store
house full of food with the key lost.
So a black peat soil is loaded with
nitrogen and may contain a good
amount of phosphorus but be so poor
ia potassium, that corn planted in it
will make only so much growth as the
potassium contained in the kernel will
permit perhaps three or tour stuntea
leaves. Add a few pounds of potassium
to- the acre a 100 bushel crop actual
ly takes 73 pounds of potassium out of
an acre and we get vigorous growth
and a large crop.
Similarly the case of lime as limit-
iing element is shown by the following
experiments made in Maryland:
Produce during eleven, years,, per
acre Four crops corn, no lime,, 98
bushels, limed (carbonate), 145 bushels;.
three crops wheat, no lime, iz busneis,
limed (carbonated 43 bushels; four
erops hay, no lime, 2.60 tons, limed
(carbonate), 4.29 tons.
Bich bottom, land,, season fairly dry,
1897 Plat I received 350 pounds of dis
solved rock per acre, yield 13,597
quarts; plat II received 700 pounds of
dissolved rock per acre, yield 20,Uub
quarts.
This shows that an addition of $7
worth of fhosphorus caused an increase
in the crop to tho value of $353.55.
The plain farmer's land rule is, or
has been in the past, "If the soil won't
crow crops, eo somewhere else where
it will." But this is a foolishly slow,
laborious and expensive method of find
ing out What might take a farmer
from erne to ten years to learn uncer
tainly and imperfectly may be deter
mined scientifically by a few hours'
work in a modern laboratory.
Thus we see that for agricultural pur
poses some land may be dear as a gift.
Agricultural nitrogen is worth 15 cents
a pound, potassium 6 cents, phosphorus
3 cents and ground limestone about 5-10
of a cent, besides cost of hauling and
spreading. With these prices in mind
w may compare two samples ol land
as follows:
Pounds in 2 million (i. e. per acre,
about 6 2-3 inches deep).
Plant food Manitoba. Value.
Phosphorus . . 2,530 $ 75.90
Potassium . 17,100 1,026.00
Nitrogen . 20,900 3,015.00
Calcium . 27,000 135.00
Total values
Bavarian Barrens.
Phosphorus, trace -Potassium,
trace
Nitrogen, trace
Caleium,. 1380
.$4,251.90
Value.
..$ 0.00
0.00
0.00
6.90
Total values .
$ 6.90
Of course' above the minimal limit at
which the plants can get ail they need
additional supplies of plant foods may
not be of immediate value, but the
above figures indicate a reason for the
rush of agricultural emigration into the
Northwest. And yet, with all the ex
perience of tba past with exhausted and
abandoned! lands, the peopl on these
rieh soils are still talking of "inex
haustible fertility," burning their straw
and manure,, or hauling the latter onte
the ies to befoul their streams. A eom
rjaxisos of virgin soil in the. Canadian
Northwest with soil adjoining it that
ha4 been cultivated ("mined"), for 22
year showed a loss of 2,200 pounds of
nitrogen, $330.00 wortn per acre.
This leads as to stuuy losses or. piani
foods in the soil due to cropping. Too
few have counted the eost of a crop te
MotheT Earth or thoight of making
any return.
None of the above data are new, but
farmers are not learning these facts and
nift takine them into account as tney
should. Nothing would, perhaps, bene
fit our farmers and- our country more
than the careful study of the problems
suggested above. If in each grange, or
rural neighborhood, the people would
get together and each family Duy a
good modem book and. then study the
problems, meet to discuss and compare
notes, we could increase soil fertility
an often double crops at the Bame
time. Most of the data above was taken
from. Soil Fertility and Permanent Agri
culture' by Professor Hopkins of the
Illinois Agricultural Experiment Sta
tion. Of course the problem is not so simple
as it might seem from this brief state
mnt. As Warren says: "The fertile
surface soil may be carried away by
erosion, by wind or water. iroDaoiy
more soil fertility is lost in this way
than by cropping." Soil may be too
dry, when any amount of plant foods
are- of no avail; or it may be too wet
and1 require drainage, and too free
Armmnan. mav rapidly leacB awa?
atTatM not.ash and lime. Humus and
Wtorial anntent of soils indicate mat
ters of great practical importance. It
may be almost as easy to Bpread the
straw of a wheat field as it would be
to sow the equivalent value ot cnemicai
fertilizer and the plant fiber in adding
to the humus would greatly increase the
power to hold water and the ease with
which the soil may be worked.
Soil Fertility Contained in Different Farm Crops Approximate Maximum
Amounts Removable Per Aere Annually.
Total
Crop Yield. Nitrogen Phosphorus. Potasium. Value.
Wheat, grain 50 bushels
Wheat, crop .
Corn, Brain,
Corn crop
Leaves, 4 tons..
Butter, 400 pounds
. 71 12 13 $11.79
. 25 4 45 6.57
.96 16 58 18.36
100 17 19 16.65
50 6.5 54 10.93
,150 23.5 73 27.58
.400 36 192 72.60
.. 47 5 57 10.62
.. 59 7 47 31.88
.. 6 2 55 1.26
..112 14 109 23.70
..18 3 1 2.85
, 0.8 0.2 0.1 0.14
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