St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1888-09-15
SOUTHERN AGRICULTURAL.
Soils Turning to Gold.

Soils Turning to Gold.
A soil in England that produced forty
bushels of wheat and four tons of
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, 1875 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, IL. $50 pounds of phos-
phoric acid. which forms nearly one
half OF the earthly part of wheat grains,
tho part that viii 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
$3.50 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 1925 pounds, worth at mar
ket prices el,5S5. An acre of two
year-old clover, with roots fully
developed. adds about fifty
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 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.
NJ 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 $500 pounds potash and
$500 pounds phosphoric acid, if we
calculate the soil to the depth of
nine inches. On this basis the aver
age Of 2S4, Kentucky's soil would con-
tain $50 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,
1890 pounds per acre, or as rich
again as the average of soils. Our up
per stratum of soil contains $500
pounds OF phosphoric acid and 1900
pounds of potash per acre. Our al
luvial soils contain 1900 pounds phos-
phoric acid and 1000 pounds of potash
per acre. Our quarternary soils fall
below the average in phosphoric acid,
but rank above in potash. Our sub
carniferous soils rank as a good aver
age. Thus we not only find ourselves
singularly fortunate in our climate, but
favored likewise in the fertility OF our
soils.
A soil that has $4,000 pounds of
potash per acre within nine inches of
the surface may export potash in
tobacco for indefinite generations of
farmers and not exhaust this alkali.
The subsoil for twenty inches below
the first nine is likely TO be quite as
rich in potash as the surface soil.
Most of this potash must exist as IN
insolublc silicate.
If potash is SO abundant in nature,
Why may it not come to tho 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 five
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
steal came to our Industrious fore
fathers. One new attainment helps
new thoughts and new achievements.
What could we now do without either
iron or steel? / remember the time
when there was not pillow with an
iron mOld-bOard in America. Science
afirms the existence Of ten thousand
square miles in Kentucky on every acre
of which, on fair average, there
is one thousand dollars worth of
potash within twenty inches of the sur
face of the ground. Enterprise need
not bore deep down into the earth to
find wealth in oil, gas. coal. gold or
silver. Agriculture calls for both al |
kalies and acids, Of which the pregnant
air is full. There is much to be learned
about American soils, As well rs much |
to be done. Land resting In clover.
gains in fertility from five to ten times |
faster than soils urned out to rest in
sedge and old-field pine. In forty |
years experience and observation in |
the South, have never failed to
get satisfactory stand OF clover
from seed sown in standing corn at the |
last working of g crop. / sew a