The patron of husbandry. (Columbus, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1882-04-15
FERTILIZERS.
BY s NEW RON BERRYHILL.

& divided into two general classes,
FooD and PHYsIc.
A fertilizer is FooD, when it con
% ms the mineral elements of which
the substance of plants and their
fruit is composed, in soluble state,
or in state in which they can be
made soluble by the action of light,
heat and the atmosphere only.
A fertilizer is PHYsIC, when it
oes not contain within itself the
clements of plant substance, but by
Is chemical action on the insoluble
compounds of these elements al
ready in the soil, it converts them
into soluble compounds.
Fertilizers may, and, indeed,
most of them do, act both as food
and physic.
They are 10 be clsSseIas the one
or the otherA according to the prop
erty which Rargely preponderates.
FIsnts takelup their mineral food
from the eartiS by means of their
fbr,Is-small hair-like fIaments
near the ends of the Nootlets. These
fbrils have not erificaS, at their ex
tremities to admit the particles, but
the food is taken through Me integ-
umert of the fbril's by absorption
or. more correctly speaking, by a
process known in physiology as
endesmosis-the same by which
the aliment of animals enters the
blood. That it may do this, it
must be in liquid state-IT MUST
BE DISSOLVED IN WATER.
\ substance is dissolved in water
when it is chemically united with,
the water, and can not be separated
bv filtering.
It's only MIXED'with water, how
ever infinitely its particles may be
divided, when no chemical union
has taken place, and it can be sep
arated from the water by passing
the liquid through a filter,
To illustrates: pass lime water
through filtering paper. 1t will be
unchanged, as you can learn by the
taste Pass through filter mix
ture of water and chalk-carbonat
of lime. The mixture has a milky
appearance but the water after fill
tering is clear and tasteless, and the
small particles of chalk are left on
The filtering paper. Common lime
is soluble in water; chalk-carbo-
nate of lime is not.
1t is essential to the normal
growth of plants, that an adequate
quantity of the mineral elements of
their substance be present in the
soil-within the reach of the root
lets-and in a state that fits them to
be taken up and assimilated by the
plants-that is to say, they must be
soluble in water.
IF any of these essentials is want
ing it must be supplied by tillage or
by the use of fertilizers. Tillage,
closely as it is connected with the
subject under consideration, can
not be discussed in this paper.
If the elements of plant food are
not present'in the soil in either SOL
uble Cor insoluble compounds, they
must be supplied by the applica-
ton of fertilizer of the class first
mentioned. To apply a fertilizer of
the second class, would be like
pouring physic into carcass.
Fertilizers of the first kind-those
which l term food-are oftwo sorts
GENERAL and SPECIAL. General
fertilizers are those which contain
all, or the most of the elements of
plant food: special fertilizers are
those which contain one or two eIe-
ments that are wanting III other
wise fertile soil, or if present are not
sufficient in quantity to meet the pc
culiar demands of certain plants.
When all the elements of plant
food are present in the soil within
reach of the plants, but some or all
of them as insoluble compounds, a
fertilizer of the second kind is re-
CURED. The soil needs, not food,
but physic to convert its inert mat
ter into fit material for building up
the plants that have sprung up from
1t. Unproductive soils can be made
to yield large crops in this way,
without the addition of the elements
OF plant food. In this case however,
1t is evident that the soil is impov
erlShed to the extent of the quantity
OF plant food taken from the soil in
the crops carried off the land; that
the larger the crops are, the more
rapid in the exhaustion Of the soil;
and that its ultimate total exhaus
non is mere question of time.
VI couise, if the soil is shallow res
ing on a sandy substratum, the to-
tai exhaustion soon occurs; for not
only is the supply of the compounds
OF plant food to be acted on by the
re-agent fertilizer small, but being
rendered soluble it is taken down
ot,y the water which percolates
through the sandy substratum, to
impregnate the waters OF springs
and streams,
The gaseous compounds of nj
uogen are the principal reagents
IN the so-called stimulating" COM
mercial fertilizers. The character
OF these fertilizers as food or physic
uuepends on the proportion which
heSe gaseous compounds bear to
the mineral plant food contained in
me tertiiz ers. If the proportion