The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1888-09-22
SOUTHERN AGRICULTURAL.
Soils Turning to Gold.

UuSl6lS VI WHcdb duQ lOui ociAS - |
clover hay at two cuttings per acre in
successive years was analysed by the
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 viii not burn, but re-
| mains as ashes. The farmer buying |
this acid would pay at least five cents
a pound At this price, the amount In
an acre is worth 1862.
OF nitrogen, the first six inches had
$3.50 pounds. the second six inches
| 1875 pounds, the third six inches 1,325
pounds. Estimated as ammonia, the
eighteen inches of soil over an acre
contains 1925 pounds, worth at mar
ket prices $1,5S5. An acre of two
year-old clover, with roots fully
developed, adds about hfty
pounds of ammonia. or assimilable
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 1t
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. 4. Scovell, director of the Kentucky
Agricultural Experiment Station, read
an instructive paper before the Farm
7 ers' Institute at Lexington KY. from
which we derive our facts. He says:
"a good average soil contains per acre,
: approximately $500 pounds potash and
: $500 pounds phosphoric acid, II we
Q calculate the soil to the depth OF
Q nine inches. On this basis the aver
q age of 234, Kentucky's soil would con-
n tain 5,31O pounds phosphoric acid and
8 1850 pounds potash per acre. Our
bluegrass soils, covering an area OF
n ten thousand square miles, average OF
" phosphoric acid, s,S40pounds; potash
Y 1920 pounds per acre, or as ricf
o again as the average of soils. Our up
. per stratum of soil contains 5,7O
d pounds of phosphoric acid and 7,2O'
If pounds of potash per acre. Our al
!. luvial soils contain 1900 pounds phos
" phoric acid and 1000 pounds OF potasl
is per acre. Our quarternary soils fal
1, below the average in phosphoric acid
10 but rank above in potash. Our sub
}, carniferous soils rank as a good aver
III AGE. Thus we not only find Ourselve
Or singularly fortunate in our climate, bu
Is favored likewise in the fertility OF ou
soils.
I'd A soil that has $4,000 pounds G
ye potash per acre within nine inches Q
It, the surface may export potash l
IT tobacco for indefinite generations
lie farmers and not exhaust this alkal
ay The subsoil for twenty inches belo
st, the first nine is likely to be quite
re rich in potash as the surface sol
Ii Most of this potash must exist as a
he insoluble silicate.
er If potash is so abundant in natur
why may it not come to the farmer {
cheaply as lime? Phosphoric acid al
potash form nearly eighty per cent.
che ash left on burning wheat. II
''' phosphate of potash is an exceeding
81 valuable fertilizer. Let science al
al art put thes- wits to the task OF extrat
I a ing crude potash and phosphorus fro
The CLAW, bog ore or rock, very much
arc phosphorite of lime is made
esp England from iron slags separat
or from iron more than two centuries ae
nh English farmers are now using II
Fl hundred tons of this old phosphor
he every week, simply ground very Fl
rst to render the mineral soluble In ra
arc. water. The earthly substances CT
nor sumed in forming our several ere
md should come to the scientific farm
nj far easier and cheaper than iron a
Nh. steel came to our Industrious TO
NJ fathers. One new attainment he
hat new thoughts and new achievemer
emf What could we now do without eitl
IN IRON or steelp / remember the II
not when there was not plow with
ba iron moId-board in America Seize
hat aflirms the existence Vi Ten 'hou''
ex- square miles in Kentucky on every a
hat of which, on fair average, tn
of is one thousand dollars worth
ans potash within twenty inches of the
and face of the ground. Enterprise n
Il 4 int rfl