Huntsville gazette., 1882-05-20
Is Our Soil Being Exhausted?


DIR. Peter Collier, chemist of the De-
partment of Agriculture, contributes a
valuable paper to the forthcoming 4gri-
cultural Recieac, under the above head
ing. By the careful comparison of an
array of crop statistics covering series
of years he finds undoubted evidence Of
lessening production due to soil impoy-
erishment. DIR. Collier makes some in
teresting statements concerning the
relative fertility of the East and West,
showing that while the soil of the latter
is growing more and more impover-
ished, that of the former, through the
use of fertilizers, is becoming richer and
outstripping the West in productiveness.
On this subject he says:
If We contrast the New England and
Middle States, for example, with those
of the Central or the Northwestern and
Western States, we shall find that al
though the former were but few years
ago surpassed in productiveness by the
latter, during the short period of 10 or
20 years the yield of the latter has fallen
off, while that of the New England and
Middle States has increased, so that at
present the acreage yield of these New
England and Middle States surpasses
that of the Northwestern and Western
States and of the Central States. This
is the more remarkable in view of the
fact that these same lands which have
so increased in productiveness have been
under the plow for at least century
longer than those of the West.
This result is probably due largely to
inherent differences in the soils of the
several sections; the rocks of New
England, which by their gradual disin-
tegration have formed these lands, will
probably be found richer in the mineral
constituents Of plant food than the rocks
of the West. But it is beyond question
that the early settlers upon these West
ern lands found them rich in the ele-
ments of plant food which through ages
had accumulated. The continued crop
ping and wasteful methods which char
acterized the early years of Western ag-
riculture appear, however, to have part
ly, at least, exhausted these accumulated
stores of food, as evidenced by impov-
erished crops. 4o y.sy
AS of course is we'll known, the cere-
ais require for their development large
quantities comparatively of potash and
phosphoric acid, and, as is also well
known, these two mineral constituents
exist in comparatively very small guam
titles in the rocks or in the soil derived
from them 1t follows, therefore, that
those two constituents would naturally
be soonest removed from the soil by
continual cropping, and, as is known,
this removal has necessitated the resto-
ration to the soil of these constituents
through the application Of those pro-
ducts containing them. ~
The so-called commercial fertilizers
which have within the past few years
been manufactured and sold in the
country, especially in the New England
and Atlantic States, are chiefly valuable
for these two constituents. The manu-
facture and sale of commercial fertil-
izers has rapidly developed during the
past few years in our country, and al
ready reaches an annual aggregate of
many millions of dollars. In Great
Britain there was imported in a single
year 3O4, ,S43 tons of fertilizing materials
worth $40, ,049,042 Every corner of the
earth and island of the sea has been
ransacked, almost, to supply her with
the means for increasing her crops.
Within five years from the time when
Liebig called attention to the deposits of
guano, her importation of this most
valuable fertilizer reached the enormous
amount of 2S3 300 tons in single year,
and her consumption of superphosphate
is estimated annually at 100000 tons.
But in addition to this, her importation
of cereals and breadstuffs for consump-
ton within her borders has added great
ly to the aggregate supply of her mate
rial for the enrichment of her farming
lands. As result of this enrichment
of the soil, we have seen the productive
ness of these farming lands of Great
Britain, within the past thirty years,
enormously increased, until it appears,
according to the authority of one of
their foremost agriculturists, they have
reached about the last limit of profitable
production in their agriculture. hH
In connection with this subject of
commercial fertilizers, it is interesting
to consider the results which have fol-.
lowed the chemical control which has
been maintained over this great indus
try. All will understand that the de-
uormtndClOn III Il COHlulcrCldl 1eTtlllZer
of the amount of those constituents of
which our various crops are composed,
as we have already seen, is a chemical
question, and we have in most of the
States chemists appointed whose duty it
is to analyze and report upon such fer
tilizers as are offered for sale. The re-
suit of this chemical supervision gives
abundant evidence that this work of the
agricultural chemists of the country has,
even in a pecuniary sense, very greatly
added to the profits of the farmer. m -
From the tabulated results of analyses
it will be seen that within the past Is
years the average price per ton for fer
tilizers has fallen from $59.47 to S34.79,
or 41.5 per cent, while the intrinsic
value per ton has increased during the
same period from an average value Of
$21.36 to S32.93 per ton, or 54.2 per
cent. In other words, did the same re-
lation of value to cost obtain to-day
which existed in 1868 the average cost
of the fertilizers analyzed by DR.. Genth
would have been $91.6 per ton, where
as it is S34.79, equal to SO per cent
only, thus showing that the purchaser