The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1878-08-01

they DO hot take .nlO account the
materials that tGr soil can furnish
they can bot 30 this because ,oIl,
Vary III their supplies Of plAnt-fooi.
Some lach one ingredient. Others
another. aii the fertilizer winch
covers all cases must include ma
t~eril!s that wi hg -upvrtluou- FIR
some soils. The at.tr arpllcs to
formulas based >oIcl ID til, SOM
, position Of the crop; u, w. ,h... the,
ignore what may lc called
THE SEEDING CAPACITIES fle
FEHE<I CROPS.
Plants VARY widely 5n their
power IT, a,A' thcm>clhc, Il tic
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS., u the ar AMI
sod. l. -lfnluou> crops. like
clover. NIL. somehow 81 other.
gather = good supply r nitrogen
where cereals, ,nel i, wheat. bar
Icy, rye. and oats. would half
sttrye for lack ot it. and this ia The
f.ae II the fact ths., -tmlLau,
plants contain i great Il, ! Of Ill
trogcn. and cereals rclatN .ly htt,c.
Hence a heavy nItroLcnna, m.nur-
mglmay pay we'll for wheat and be-
IN arge pant lost Oh clover.
This fact i most ,trikin-ly
shown in the classic experiment., ol
Mcssrs. I.awcs and Gilbert. m En-
land. by bringing ont OF the details
of which. III ms book on Manurcs.
just announced by the Orange Judd
Company, Mr.. Harris is rendering
to the farmers OF ms county most
excellent service. In their expert
ments. wheat. which has for thIrty
years received mineral manure,
alone. has averaged lt4 bushels per
acre yearly, against II bushels uu-
MANFRED. Tie addition of sui
phate ammonia, with repeated
cropping of the same land, brought
the average up to SO bushels per
acre. The leguminous crops have
told just the opposite story. Though
they contain IA good deal more NJ
trogen than wheat, they respond
but slightly to nitrogen, and are
greatly aided by mineral manurcs.
In an experiment on the mixed her
bage of grass land, continued
through twenty years, mineral
manures without potash brought
up the total crop l. per cent, and
tie nitrogen IN the crop 3o lbs.
per acre annually above the NINA
nur,d. And when potash was added
to the mineral manures, the crop
was 6. per cent. larger, and con-
tanned Sc lbs. more nitrogen per
acre than the unmanured. Such
facts explain why it is such good
farm practice to use mineral fc! til
lzers, as plaster, bone, ashes, and
potash salts, for mixed grasses and
clover: and heterogeneous materials,
like guano, sulphate Of ammonia,
and nitrate Of soda, for gram crops.
They help Us to understand why
clover is such an excellent prepar-
atory crop for wheat, and 50 eco
nomical generally for plowlng I'M
der to bring up poor soils. 1t
gathers and stores plant-food, par
ticularly nitrogen, and thus is it
self a fertilizer.
THE "oTOChBRIDGE MANURES.'
In the Annual Report of the
Mass, Agricultural College for
1876, Prof. S~tockbridge gives for
mulas for fertilizers based upon
the composition of crops, and ac-
counts of a long and laborious Sc
ries OF experiments made with
them, on the College farm, in
which the crops averaged better
than the fertilizers were calculated
to bring with many other valuable
details. These formulas provided
for all Of the nitrogen, phosphoric
acid, and potash. contained IN the
crop. The preludes to the formu-
las read: ITO produce p bushels
Of wheat and the natural yield,
and SO on for corn, clover, and
other crops.
In such fertilizers the potash and
phosphoric acid not used the first
season, will be held BY the soil
until they are taken up by the
crops that follow. But more or
less of the nitrogen will probably
be leached away IN drainage waters,
enter into inert combinations In
the soil, or escape and be dissipated
in the air. Nitrogen Is the costll-
est ingredient Of fertilizers. In
the better articles in the markets,
farmers are paying from t to 5 cts.
per h., for potash. from ) to -
cts. per H.. for phosphoric acid,
and from /. to ?. CT. per lb. for
nitrogen.
Such crops Is wheat, barley, rye,
and oats. bring the largest returns