Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1877-07-25
Analysis Of Soils.

MI JdlntSOn stuuS US an dlblClt VII tnt
above subject recently contributed by him
to the Maine Farmer. In it he quotes nu-
merous authorities agreeing in the state
ment that soil analysis is of little or no
value to the pratical farmer. He also quotes
from an address by the President of an
English agricultural society, who says
Chemistry has done nothing for agricul-
ture but give recipe for increasing the eff
fcacy of bones by the aid of sulphuric acid"
Years ago, when agricultural chemistry
was in its infancy, some enthusiastic per
sons were led hastily to believe that by
simple analysis of specimen of soil it
might be easy to say what fertilizers would
be requisite to bring it to state of profta-
BILE production. But the attempt to put this
method in practice speedily revealed its de-
fects,-defects so serious that now for many
years no intelligent agricultural scientist has
advised its use Indeed, they have all united
to pronounce it worthless, yet unscientifc
writers in the papers have "kept it before
the people," ignorant that it never was ad-
vised but by few chemists, and by them
only for short time.
The real reason why soil analysis is prac-
tically of no value constitutes no reflection
upon chemistry. The chemist can analyze
a soil so as to give every constituent even
to the fraction of grain. The analysis, as
an analysis merely, will be perfect The
60, ;,,t h., a. 80,
practical application. For instance, a chem
list may find an abundance of potash and
phosphoric acid in soil where the roots of
a plant will be able to obtain very little.
Potash-feldspar rich in potash, and apatite,
rich in phosphoric acid, may constitute so
large a portion of the soil as to contain
enough of those fertilizers to supply heavy
wheat crop for hundred years, yet wheat
may not be able to grow there, because these
substances may be in an insoluble condition.
Or they may be soluble, and yet the locality
may be too dry for wheat like the Colorado
lands, which, though utterly barren, yield
great crops of wheat when irrigated. Or
the land may have plenty of pant-food in a
soluble condition, but be too cold and wet
for the wheat plant to thrive. And so with
other crops.
Besides these facts there are others, equally
important, why mere soil analysis, how,
ever correct, may be valueless to the prac-
tical farmer. The soil often differs greatly
ON the same field, even in distances of few
feet We have now growing field OF
wheat (of the" Lost Nation VARIETY which
is very fine, some good judges having set
the probable yield as high as forty bushels
per acre. Yet there is spot in it about two
yards square where the wheat is only foot
high and the ears about an inch long. 1t is
where some deep-rooted nursery trees were
dug, and the sub-soil turned to the top
Then, as regards very soluble fertilizers, like
the nitrates, the quantity near the surface
varies with the season. A wet season
will wash them down, while dry season
will bring them up; so that, as in an in
stance given by Mr.. Jameson, at one time
the analysis may show only thirty-eight
pounds to the acre, and a few months after one
thousand two hundred and ninety pounds.
All these difficulties, however, are prac
tically obviated by the new method OF
making the plant itself analyze the soil, il
the way devised by Professor Vile, and re
Gently described in these columns. BY
planting small squares or strips of crop
each with different special fertilizers or mix
lures Of fertilizers, the soil answers for it
self what is needed for that crop. Thi,
analysis does not tell, as the chemists does
what is actually in the soil, but tells wha
the plant finds and can get.
The quotation made by Mr.. Jameson from
the English agricultural presidents speecl
reveals the man who made it as a very ill
informed person. Perhaps they make a
poor selections for presidents of agricul
tural societies in England, sometimes as the,
do in this country. No doubt English ag
iculture has been immensely benefited b,
Liebig's instructions as to how to make tn,
phosphate of lime in bones soluble by tn
use of sulphuric acid. But is not agricul
ture benefited also by the chemical discov
cries of the immense stores of mineral phos
pilates in South Carolina, Canada, Englan,
and Russia Are the great potash mine
of Germany, aud the chemical preparation
of their products, of no use Is the analy
sis of plants, by which we learn what the,
are made of and consequently what food the,
require, valueless Are we not beneftte,