The Fort Worth gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-189?, 1891-05-21
A TALK ON GYPSUM.

some. Then I well know that the great
and brilliant future of Texas that we are
all talking about must spring from her
agriculture. Agricultural prosperity is a
permanent prosperity. II is the very bed
| rock OF all other forms of permanent pros
perity. This fact of itself ought to be
enough to lead every thinking well-wisher
| of Texas into an appreciation of the efforts
now being made by the Fort Worth GA
| ZETTE, through its excellent agricultural
department. to level off that bedrock and
| fit 1t for taking on the great structures that
| it must eventually sustain.
| was much interested in your remarks
on the uses of gypsum, appearing in last
| Sundays GAZETTE as reply to letter
| from Mr.. Jas. z. Warren of Pecos City.
| You speak of gypsum as q valuable fertiliz-
| ing agent, and intimate that the day may
soon come which will find it extensively
used in the South. There ara many very
| rich gypsum deposits in Texas, and might
| you not contribute to its earlier utilization
| by giving US an article telling all about gyp-
| sum, or land plaster, as fertilizerl It
strikes me that way, and il you can look
| ton l. with others, would much like to
| hear from you. REGULAR READER.
| Ward county, Tex.
Mr.. John NJ. Stahl of Quincy, Ill, an agri-
cultural writer of much note, and first
|
! says gypsum, or Gland plaster" is not only
a manure nightly advantageous to crops,
| but manure gatherer as well. 1t not only
| gives to the crop that part of itself which
| is food for the plants, but it also gathers
| plant food from the atmosphere and soil
| much more than is contained naturally
| within itself. And yet land plaster, which
| is simply ground gypsum, is to great ex-
| tent, non-appreciated substance, for the
| reason that so many fail to recognize the
very important Office it is capable of filling
| in agriculture. There are hosts ready to
even deny that it is a manurial agent at all.
That it has little direct value as manure
| is perhaps correct. This is shown by the
fact that about bushel to the acre gives
as good returns as a larger quantity; if
more is sown it is wasted. Hence what
ever of itself is given directly to the plant
is of such character that but little is
needed; it must be some important element
of which the plant uses but little. Nor is
it correct to say that it is only
stimulant; for hundred years trial
has shown that it permanently i'm
proves the soil, if the vegetation pro-
duced by it is not removed from the land.
Nor can the benefit result from its effect
upon the mechanical condition of the
ground. The small quantity used could
have no such effect upon the mechanical
condition of the soil as would produce the
increase in the crop that an application of
land plaster causes, and if its good effects
were due 10 its action upon the mechanical
condition of the soil, then larger quantity
would give better results, which is not the
case. The rather airy theory that it acts
as the saliva or gastric juice Of the plant
has even yet less foundation, for if this
were true an overdose would prove hurtful,
which is not the case.
What explanation, then, have we of the
phenomenal results common from the EN-
ployment of land plaster as a fertilizer
asks Mr.. Stahl, Phenomenal is the correct
word, for Leibig found that four pounds of
gypsum or land plaster produced 100 pounds
of clover. We know what part ammonia
plays in plant growth; we also know that
there is free ammonia in the atmos-
phere and some in the soil, and the
problem Is how to gather it and
hold it for the growing plants. Gypssm is
q compound Of su!phuric acid and lime.
Ammonia has a stronger chemical affinity
for sulphur than lime has. The result is
that the ammonia dissolves the gypsum
and unites with the sulphur, and the result
of this action is two new compounds-sul-
phate ammonia, a very powerful manure,
and carbonate of lime. Such must be the
case. And this is further proven by the
fact observed by Liebig and many others
that the good effect of plaster is in no wise
diminished by applying it to a soil having
an abundance of lime hence its good effects
must be due rather to the action of the
sulphuric acid, which could be, as it must
be, only in furnishing sUlphate of ammonia
to the plant.
Here is something well worthy of pom
deration al the hands of Texans. Generally
speaking our soils are very rich as lime
soils. They do not seem to need anything
moro in the way of lime, and, as a rule, they
are not much in want of phosphoric acid.
Land plaster does not appear to supply
either Of these, and yet it acts as great
increaser Of crops, even on such lands as
are ranked among our best lands in Texas.
Strange as the thing may sound, it is fer
tilizer with which to proftabiy fertilize fer
tile lands.
This peculiar showing, adds Mr.. Stahl,
explains why the action of land plaster is
out of all proportion to the quantity used;
why only small quantity is needed. It is
an ammonia supplying mineral. Every
thing points strongly to this theory all
along, and We find the theory well nigh
converted into positive fact when we re-
feet that gypsum benefits no crops more
than clover or field peas, and that no other
crops more greedily feed upon ammonia
MIR. Stahl thinks the people Of the South
will find il profitable to use plaster not only
upon crops Cor green manuring, but for
other crops. There is no better fertilizer
for potatoes. It las a wonderful effect upon
wheat, especially if sown in the spring,
when the plant is weakened. Plaster sown
on wheat, badly damaged by FROST in the