The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1889-10-04
BURNING sTussLE.
According to Professor Chambeflein
Robs the Soil OF Fertility.

Cn8m06xk8ln
koSs the Soil of Fertility.
Burning destroys practically all tho
carbon and nitrogen, all the AERIAL ele-
ments, and saves on the surface nearly
all the phosphoric acid and potash.
the inorganic or mineral elements. Ao-
cording to trade values in commercial
fertilizers the nitrogen in. straw (stub-
ble) il worth just about Is much as the
sum Of the phosphoric acid and potash.
That is; burning stubble wastes half Of
its value as manure. Still worse. the
carbon Is not usually given q manure
value Nearly all the stubble is car
bon. II plowed under it rots and helps
to form and replenish the vegetable
mold or humus, the dark and loamy
part of the soil. This holds the nitro
gen and keeps it from waste. 1t holds
moisture for use. loosens and fines the
soil. and gives it physical condition
best fitted to make it feed the plant
roots rapidly and we'll. 1t is Of extreme
importance and Of great value.
To burn the stubble il to lose all the
carbon and nitrogen in 1t and in the
rubbish growing in it To burn dried
clover crop is far worse. 1t loses more
than half its chemical value, and al.
most its entire mechanical value. The
advantage claimed is that it gets the
rubbish out Of the way and destroys
insects and weed seeds The latter end
can be secured by moving the stubble
in August and leaving weeds, stubble
and clover as q mulch to mat and rot
down. This saves the entire manure
value on the ground. Or it may be
plowed under before the weeds form
seeds. If one wants the ground plowsd.
Still. if the ground is not foul, but clean
as the good farmers land should be. the
weeds will not trouble much when the
wheat is seeded thick to clover and
timothy. There may be places on deep
black soils too rich relatively in nitro
gen where the present effects Of burn
ing crops or parts Of crops would be
beneficial, leaving better proportion
OF elements. But it would be q serious
permanent loss, as science seems to
show.
In this State it is quite common to
burn in the spring whole fields of corn
stalks. whole swamps Of rank full
growth of grass. and the dead old
growth of blue grass to give the new
pastures start In the spring, for days
and even weeks, fires of this sort can
be seen from my house in all directions
in the distance at night Considerable
observation convinces me that science
is right in saying it is a most serious
loss and mistake. l give single illus
tration among many that l might give:
Directly in front of my study windows
as write, lie the college campus" or
park, and the farm. This spring about
three acres of the farm. on which was
built our treasurer's house last fall, was
by the removal of the fence thrown into
the campus adjacent This three acres
has been sheep pasture for years and
was richer than the adjacent part Of
the campus that had had its hay re-
moved each year usually twice with no
return for several years Last year the
grass in the pasture was heaviest; so
heavy that it was not pastured close.
but had heavy crop standing dead this
spring. This we burned of early this
spring to get it out of the way and give
the grass start. Note the result The
adjacent campus had fully four times as
much hay per acre as the burned tract
l hesitated about burning 1t, but yield
ed to the advice Of the oldest settlers,
especially since we didn't want the un-
slightly mass of dead grass in the
campus, where it was as soon as the
fence was moved
1 don't believe in getting or leaving
useless rubbish on the farm, and don't
believe in burning it, if there. 1t is the
great agricultural sin of the rich West.
1t will in time rob any soil of much Of
its fertility.-W. L Chamberlain, in
Ohio Farmer.