Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-09-24
Chemistry Of Fertilization.


Decaying organic substances also act ben
e6cially on the physical condition Of the soil.
They arc source Of heat,in consequence Of
their gradual combustionl As liberal
source Of carbonic acid they aid in the dis
integration Of the soil. Aud, on account of
their highly carbonaceous character ia an
advanced state Of decay, they render light
soil more retentive. When properly incor-
porated into heavy soil they couuteract lis
retentiveness by their own shrinking. Not.
withstaning all these beneficial chemical and
physical reactions of organic matter on the
soil no controlling Importance is any longer
accorded to its presence for without cor.
responding amount Of mineral plant oonstit-
uents, its influence on the productiveness of
the soil can be but slight. The humus the.
ory has had Its day, aud the nitrogen theory
has followed suit Each fertilisiug sub.
stance has its own limit 10 advancing growth
an undue accumulation Of any of them in the
soil is, to say the least, bad economy, If not
directly hurtful. Tie fact that phosphate
fertilizers sometimes, after years Of liberal
use, do not produce the large crops which
were obtained when they were first applied,
is a natural consequence of supplying
manures without due regard to the demand.
From the previous remarks it will appear
quite conclusively that special commercial
fertilizers deserve the attention Of the farmer
On account Of their peculiar fitness to make
barn.yard manure a complete fertilizer for
any crop, and to produce thus the highest
yield which the land is capable of. These
fertilizers favor, on account of their concen-
tration and solublity, speedy enriching Of
the soil. To restore farm lands, which have
been reduced in productveness, to state Of
fertility, even when possible by means of
barn-yard manure, requires years of high
manuring. The quality Of animal secretions,
and the properties Of the soil to be enriched
each have their specie influence upon the
final result. Manure obtained from horses
or high fed animals is richer and disintegratcs
more rapidly than that from cattle and
poorly fed stock. Heavy and compact soils
require larger amount Of plant food, to be
thoroughly fertilzed, than a less retentive
one. Light soils, as sandy loans etc, are
known to show sooner the effects of manur-
ing than heavy soils they are also more
readily exhausted. An average loamy soil
pays the best returns with commercial fer
tillzers; and extremes in soils are little fit
for remunerative farming. As the farmer
has to deal more or less with all kinds Of
soils in varying state of productiveness,
he fuds himself surrounded with serious diff
iculties when attempting to bring his lands
to their highest yield with barn-yard manure
one reason IS that such maDures require sew
eral years for their disintegration. Prop
erly selected mineral fertilizers will, in a
much shorter time, impart to the soil what
is wanting its rapid distribution will at
once turn to account the latent and inactive
plant food of the soil, and thereby secure
paying returns even the first year.-[Prof
Goessman's lectures, in Scientific Farmer.