Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1889-04-16
pHOsPHoa,c Ac,n
iss value AS Fertilizer as Established
bS Recent Experiments.


b5 Recent Experiments. +
In one regard the yarious evneri-
incnt stations Of the country are doing |
valuable service TO farmers. and that !
Is In the line Of thinking, studying and |
experimenting for themselves pr,f
Johnson, of the Connecticut State Nv.
pertinent Station. stated at the recent
farmers convention that it was pratifv.
ing TO mark the progress that had
oeen made among farmers ia the last
twenty-five years That whereas at
one time talk upon fertilizers and feed
ing rations was as Greek almost to the
average farmer, he can to-day talk in
teillgehtiy upon these subjects, and
discuss them with credit to himself.
III IS far better that this is 40 ba-
cause the farmer has actual practice
to deal with. and it is frequently the
case that scientific theory requires
some modification in order to CORE
spond with practice; and the intel
llgent farmer who understands scien-
tho declarations, and can Judge of the
causes and results which he obtains
can not only adopt any particular
mode OF procedure to the necessities
OF the case. but can also point out the
| probable point in which science is in
correctly interpreted.
For some time there have been
tables in existence arranged by the
German scientists in the course OF
their experimentation, giving the
amount of manurial substances taken
from the soil by average crops of vari-
GUS kinds. By these it appears that
phosphoric acid is quite largely re-
/ qulred in the production of grain:
that is, the tables show considerably
larger proportion of phosphoric acid
in the grain of crops than in the
straw, with the exception of corn,
where the percentage of phosphorie
acid in the grain is given as five and
line-tenths, and of cogn-stalks as five
and three-tenths, and in buckwheat
! where the grain has five and seven.
tenths and the straw six and one.
tenths; the other grains range from
over five to nearly twelve. with &
( range of two to three and fve-tenth;
= in the straws Whether this proper
ton is true regarding buckwheat, i
is yet difficult to determine, but there
is an experiment with regard to corr
, that seems to denote a limit to tn,
: value of phosphOric acid for the pro
/ duction of grain.
t In field that had not been cropped
for some time, with the exception o
the previous year to buckwheat. tn,
soil was supplied with an amount o
j nitrogen and potash estimated to b.
e sufficient for the production of al
/ average crop of corn, the nitrogen il
u the form of sulphate OF ammonia. ant
potash as high grade muriate, bein,
i spread broadcast after the ground wa
q plowed, and we'll narrowed in. Upol
one section of one-sixteenth of an acr
dissolved bone black was employed a
She rate of two hundred and fifty-si
Funds per acre, another with moth
ing. another with double the quantit
of bone black. and still another wit
g nothing. The nothing plots were neal
~ identical in their yield, giving oal
IL small quantity of grain, as we'll a
, small stalks, but there were some pt
lie culiar features with the other tw
n pots. The one with the lesser quar
e. litv of the bone black, which containe
is the element phosphoric acid, gave
ia good development of stalks, while the
ia produced well-developed and wei
: cured ears of corn, many STALK
-. -, furnishing two ears perfectly cappt
~ over In the case of the larger qual
1t tity of phosphoric acid there was
Is considerably increased growth
le stalks, being in the proportion
a. 52672 for an acre to 3745.6 of Il
Id former quantity, while the yield
no ears of corn was actually less; II
to ears were somewhat lager, b
be scarcely stalk had two ears, and Il
proportion was 1882 to 3902.4
is the former This would seem to
ut licate that so far as the chemical u
re of phosphoric acid is concerned the
re is limit in grain production, al
in that beyond that point it only sefv
u to give an increase of fodder, the eco
ry omv of which is questionable. w.
ed Yeomans. in n Y. Observer.