The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1879-01-23
We are not going out

iIIIGfiEi1dtt uCt. We dIS - III oAA
Of the way in applying superpho--
pilates t. wheat crops in Western
New-lork. The almost uniformly
favorable results prove the need oil
this fertilizer. But it will do no harm
to know precisely what we are accom-
p'ishing by this policy. We are sup
plying phoSphoric acid and lime to
enable us to grow large wheat crops
ana thereby exhaust the soil of nitro
gen and potash. Some piosphates
contain these elements in small guam
titles and some do not-but it would
hardly be called superphosphate which
contained potash ana nitrates in pro
portion to the phosplloric acid which
it furnishes
On some soi'S there ) ems to b. lit L.
benefit from the use of p~hosphatr>.
These soils are OF two c~lasses-one IN
which other elements of the wheat
crop tmainly potash are 50 deficient
that the supply of phosphates VIII not
perfect the plant: the second more
rarely. in which the soil Is so rich IN
phosphateS and other elements that
the addition of more viii do little or
40 good. Sandy soils are often of the
first class. A heavy dressing of ashes.
leached or unleached, or of German
lotdDh ooIls, 4 0StolC liz
and after this | do not doubt that
superphosphate will benefit such soils
as much as it daes our clays. l have
never felt much need on a rather hea-
w loamy soil to use potash, except
from ashes made at home: but if |
found that phosphates would not pro-
duce large crops, | should certainly
use them. | expect to buy ashes, or
potash salts, to supplement the phos-
pilates when they begin to fail of their
usual effect. After using phi sphates
twelve years see no signs of any such
result. But my use Of phosphate has
always been in connection with all the
barnyard manure | could make. What
phosphate | haye bought has every
year made the anu pile bigger and
richer. and l fee! safe IN aaying that
the soil of every field is richer than it
wouid have been had no ~phosplates
been purcha ed.
There is ano her important fact in
this conn elton use phosphates and
gy pSum to increase the giOwth of
clover. Were | OH sandy soil, | should
add potash III some 70 III for the same
purpose. Whoever vs. clover freely.
and either feeds it on the farm, or
p'ows it under, can add almos indefi-
ni'ely TO the available fertility of his
soil. Glover roots strike deeply. and
take from the subsoil, especially if
clay. the mineral fertilizers which
have been carried there. | do not
know how long or how far this pro-
cess may be continued. On heavy
soils there IS much fertility locked up
in clods near the surface, exp sed to
the action of frost and air. De per
down, the soil. in mineral fertil tv, is
often as rich; but it needs air and
decomposing vegetable matter to make
it available. Decayine clover roots
unlock these sto ehousees Of plan food.
Every successive clover crop trikes It's
roots deeper down, and makes more
pant fold available. The grain is far
greater than analyses of the clover
plant would indicate. In fact We are
Increasing the mineral fertiii'y of soil
by using clover, just as truly ~ if We
directly added it.
On the other hand, whenever We
use mineral fertilizers to make clover
grow. we are thereby addIn. 10 the
amount Of vegetable matter in tn,
soil, increasing its fitness as a home
for plant roots. as Well as the amount
of feed stored therein. The use of
Sp8Pt3DiP ana 1llIlSIaI uldlliIcS Is.
therefore. under such q system. msep-
arabic. 10 dispute which Is first Oh
most important Is AZ fluitleSS rs the
cd controversy ia to whether il was
tho first Z from which the first hen
was Matched. or whether the hen was
made first and then laid the first egg.
So long As we are using and making
the manure needed t o grow increasing
crops aud using clover freely, there is
no danger of going very far wrong
Monroe Co n "