Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1875-08-06

had for less sum. Clover is Away
cultivated with land plaster as reno
waiting crop, and doubtless it does muc
to draw phosphoric acid, potash, mag
nesia and even the sulphates OF Inn
and soda from the subsoil into tn
roots, stems and leaves of clover. Lan'
so poor as to have no available phos
phoric acid nor potash within reach o
clover roots viii not produce crop o
clover by the aid of plaster
Let us suppose a farmer hsi
soil naturally good wheat, corn and
clover land; but it is about half won
out. How viii the sulphate of lin,
and clover ,recuperate it? Sulphatei
being soluble salts, are not difficult e
lessen in quantity in the soil, and need
renewing like manure.
1t may happen that the roots from g
clover seed viii fill 81 cubic inches Of
soil, equal to a cube Of three inches
square, without any help from gypsum
or other fertilizer, and no more. Sui.
phur and lime are elements positively
needed by the young plant, and land
plaster supplies this natural want
The roots push their way with this aid
into perhaps so or 100 cubic inches
deeper in the ground, and in earth
mach less depleted of all mineral food
of plants. The long top root of clover
sent deep into the subsoil by sprink-
ling Of gypsum, is ike horse turned
loose IN a fresh pasture. When a
special fertilizer develops as above
briefly described a good crop of clover,
cow'peas or other legume, it is the de-
composition Of the latter on the ground,
with many decaying roots in
the soil, that manure the
land with elements drawn from
air, water and subsol 1t matters
not whether clover, sedge, or the falling
leaves of old field pine give fresh mold
and minerals to a new soil, but it is
important to see and understand that
this gain Of plant food is in no sense a
creation of new matter.
1t has been demonstrated in Germany
very recently that 136 pounds of nitro
gen are left in the stubble and roots
Of lucerne per acre to the depth of ten
and a half inches, while red clover
leaves 191 pounds. Wheat, which
consumes more nitrogen than is found
in the harvest, yields 234 pounds per
acre. Inthe tenth annual report from
the Massachusetts Agricultural College
Prof. Goessman states that the price
fixed by dealers in commercial fertiH-
zers is thirty cents a pound for assini-
liable nitrogen. This makes the nitrogen
alone in an acre Of clover stubble and
roots worth $50 in Massachusetts,.
The intelligent farmers Of New York
buy some 100000 tons of gypsum a
year, at about four dollars ton. to en-.
aLle clover to draw nitrogen from the
air, rain water, soil and subsoil, in the
form of nitrates or ammonia, at a cost
too small to be fairly stated. Every
thing sold for pure commercial gypsum
is by no means what the purchaser has
a right to expect. Although cheap, it
is easily adulterated; or it may be
quite impure in the rock before it is
ground. On the writer's land COW peas
are doing better this summer than
clover growing IN the same field. The
Dolichos, or Southern pea, has very
penetrating, long roots, broad and nu-
merOus leaves, Is hardy, and may be
made to enrich land with great econo-
my. On many soils the deficiency Of
phosphoric is so great that something of
the kind should be bought and applied
say at the rate Of one or two hundred
pounds per acre Of a South Carolina
superphosphate. On soils o. better
quality, one may draw on the subsoil
for this acid, saltpetre, EPSON and
CHAMBER salts, common salt and lime
salts, with success. Many Of these
salts and others, such as alum and
copperas, rise up If springs and the
seep Of side hills from great depths of
rock and earth. The water from the
deepest artesian wells often holds land
plaster IN solution. Hence meadows
Irrigated for centuries in Europe with
clear spring and well water, never be-
come impoverished; for the water holds
rich fertilizing salts in solution. The
farmers of New Jersey use nearly a
million tons of mari a year Like
gypsum, this is q special fertilizer.
Hay grown en- irrigated meadows
with no other fertilizer than that con-
tanned in water, gave Boussingault by
careful analysis the following elements
in pounds per annum:
Phosphoni acid...................l,25 4 lbs.
SUlphurlc acid............... COCO. 627