Sharp County record., 1888-08-02
SOUTHERN AGRICULTURAL.
Soils Turning to Gold.


chemist of the Royal Agricultural So
ciety with interesting results. A square
acre of ground, eighteen inches deep,
was dug and divided into three par
cells six inches in depth each. The
first, or surface soil, contained 1850
pounds phosphoric acid, the second six
inches of soil had 2,725 pounds, and
the third six inches, 1915 pounds.
Add these sums together, and this
wheat and clover soil has, within
eighteen inches of the surface,
per acre, and within the reach
of clover roots, II, $50 pounds of phos-
phoric acid, which forms nearly one
half of the earthly part of wheat grains
the part that vii not burn, but re-
mains as ashes. The farmer buying
this acid would pay at least five cents
pound. At this price, the amount in
an acre is worth 1862
OF nitrogen, the first six inches had
1850 pounds, the second six inches
1875 pounds, the third six inches l,325
pounds. Estimated as ammonia, the
eighteen inches of soil over an acre
contains 1926 pounds, worth at mar
ket prices 1885. An acre of two
year-old clover, with roots fully
developed, adds about fifty
pounds of ammonia, or assimllable
nitrogen to an acre of land. This fer
tilizer, so important in forming wheat,
human brain, bone and muscle, clover
takes from the atmosphere, and it
costs the farmer next to nothing who
makes the most that can be made OF
clover as a renovating crop. Ken
lucky offers the most inviting field for
the study of rich soils at this time
M. A. Scovell director of the Kentucky
Agricultural Experiment Station, read
an instructive paper before the Farm
ers Institute at Lexington KY, from
which we derive our facts He says:
"a good average soil contains per acre,
approximately 6,900pounds potash and
4,50O pounds phosphoric acid, II we
calculate the soil to the depth OF
nine inches. On this basis the aver
age of 234, Kentucly's soil would con-
tain 5,310 pounds phOsphoric acid and
1850 pounds potash per acre, Our
bluegrass soils, covering an area OF
ten thousand square miles, average OF
phosphoric acid, 9,S40pOundS; potash,
1920 pounds per acre, or as rich
again as the average Of soils. Our up
per stratum of soil contains 300
pounds of phosphoric acid and 7,20O
pounds of potash per acre. Our al
luvial soils contain 1900 pounds phos-
phoric acid and 1000 pounds of potash
per acre. Our quartGnary soils fall
below the average in phoSphOric acid,
! hut rank above in potash. Our sub
I oarniferous soils rank as a good aver
iii. Thuswe not only find ourselves
sdo;qMrly fcrtunate in our climate, but
At '0iiS'' likeESe in the fertility of our
no4 "A soil X
POI potash Per acres $4,000 pounds of
oee' fos n@S ~por5 r5ns potash en2' G IN
The 9rs sn5.a5 and not generations fE3t o,1 of
the first Uino for r. twenty inches ses I,err below
noression-H Sa HS "ilcab 90 NNely to be quite as
tS of ~ p potaslr' ,,s' the surface soil
~ . of this potash must exist as an
l..>Sluble silicate.
If potash is so abundant in nature,
why may it not come to the farmer as
cheaply as lime? Phosphoric acid and
potash form nearly eighty per cent. OF
the ash left on burning wheat. The
phosphate of potash is an exceedingly
valuable fertilizer. Let science and
art put their wits to the task Of extract
ing crude potash and phosphorus from
clay, bog ore or rock, very much as
phosphorite of lime is made in
England from iron slags separated
from iron more than two centuries ago.
English farmers are now using i've
hundred tons of this old phOsphorite
every week, simply ground very fine
to render the mineral soluble in rain
water. The earthly substances con-
sumed in forming our several crops
should come to the scientific farmer
far easier and cheaper than iron and
steel came to our industrious fore
fathers. One new attainment helps
new thoughts and new achievements.
What could we now do without either
iron or steelP | remember the time
when there was not a plOw with an
iron mOld-bOard in America. Science
affirms the existence Of ten thousand
square miles in Kentucky on every acre
of which, on q fair average, there
is one thousand dolla"s' worth Of
potash within twenty inch IS of the sur
face of the ground Enter prise need
not bore deep down into the earth to
find wealth in oil, gas, cOaL gold Or
silver. Agriculture calls for 10Th al
dalies and acids, of which the pregnant
air is full There is much to be Learned