The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1883-02-03
Glte 8armer,
Chemistry and Agriculture.

The time will come, if indeed it has not
already, when it will be necessary to prac-
tice economy in providing fertilizers, espe-
cially in the Eastern States. Heather
China might teach us lesson in agricul-
ture, for there even the clippings from the
BARRIERS shop are saved to enrich the soil.
We Americans, with our slipshod haste,
are wasteful in everything. If a family
were compelled to get a living from an
acre, as is sometimes the case in England,
they would be more careful Of the odds
and ends. 1t is useless to disguise the fact
that the fertility of our soil is being rapid
" exhausted while we are yet in the in
fancy of our national existence, and the
sooner we begin to realize this and reform
the better will be our prospect for long
career of prosperity. We must initiate the
Dutchman, who gets rich on two acres,
while many an American grows poor on
two hundred All the former needs Is
space, while the latter wants an inexhausti-
BILE depth of fertility.
But it would be mere croaking to call
attention to these dangers without also call
ing attention to remedy. The time for
sneering at ''bOok farming is past, and the
most intelligent farmers believe in tudying
the theory as well as the practice Chem
istry stands ready to unlock hidden riches
and reveal to the farmer sources of wealth
hitherto lying dormant it tells us that on
the most barren piece Of land nineteen
twentieths of the ingredients which sustain
luxuriant vegetation are present, while 10
norance of the missing element attempts to
help matters by putting upon the ground
one of the nineteen already present, and re-
marks that farms are all running down"
Yes, they are running down, running down
the rivers, and through the great cities into
the ocean. There are few farms east of
the Mississippi which, if left entirely 10
Themselves, would not become fertile under
Natures cultivation. Our predecessors
stripped the hills of their forest crown, and
they are now suffering from droughts or
losing their soil by erosion, and their bald
SUBMITS are either glaring with the relent.
less heat of the sun or exposed to the stern
est blasts of winter. These causes conspire
with shallow soil to prevent the vigorous
growth of crops.
This is one of the many instances which
show how little provision has been made
for the future, as if our interests Onl y COW
cred few years, and we had no care for
our descendants. An old man refused to
plant apple-trees because, as he said, he
should never live to see the fruit but his
grandson planted some, and the grand
father. father, and son all ate the apples.
So it may be that even in our day we shall
be obliged to resort to science more deli
nitely to assist us in renewing the old farms,
and it is certain that it will pay now.
Chemistry teaches us that if the hills which
are being denuded of their soil are allowed
to shield themselves again with forests,
these forests, besides holding the soil firmly
in position, will draw from the air some OF
the carbon and nitrogen which has vanished
in smoke and poisonous gases and return 1t
to the earth.
1t may be stated as general principle
that but very few elements are needed on
most worn-out lands to produce vigorous
growth of crops it may be that only pot
ash is needed in a certain locality where
there is plenty of lime and phosphates but
if lime fertilizers are unwittingly added,
the result is unsatisfactory.
This brings us to the analysis of soils as
the best way out of the dilemma. In study
ing chemical analysis, we should find that
it is reduced, in nearly all substances, to
search for metals and acids which combine
to form all inorganic compounds, and 1t
should be added that the analysis OF inor-
ganic substances is all we need or can hope
to attain in such course. 1t is evident |
that certain mineral constituents are abso-
lutely necessary for every plant. When
burned, they yield an ash which is almost
entirely mineral, and though the earth
Yields these in small amounts, some are SO
far lacking that successful cultivation is
impossible without some additional mineral
plant food, not to speak of the common
fertilizers which contain ammonia and can
be applied with profit to nearly all soils.
To be more specific, the ash of the apple
tree contains approximately twenty nine
per cent. of carbonic acid, eighteen of lime,
seventeen Of potash, eight Of magnesia,
three of soda, and seventeen of phosphate
of lime, together with small quantities OF
common salt and oxide of iron. We may