The Opelousas courier., 1892-04-30

acid and potash are unquestionably the
three ingredients of plant food most
generally deficient in our soils, it is very
certain that they are not the only sub.
stances thot will increase the growth Of
our crops. Lime renders the nitrogen
md potash of our soils more available;
plaster makes clover and corn grow more
luxuriantly, and | have seen a decided
benef: from an application Of salt on
mangel-wurzel, barley and wheat.
John Johnton, tsthe father of under
draining" and one of the most successful
armers Of his time, used salt on his
inter wheat for many years. He sowed
about four bushels per acre hroadcass on
the land at the time Of SO owing the wheat
in the fall. He once showed me a large
field of wheat that was also sowu with
salt as above, except a narrow strip run
ming across the field. The effect was
most marked and beneficial. The wheat
on each side this unsalted strip was
taller, the straw brighter and sitter, and
the heads better filed. "Why did the
salt do so much Food2' Frankly, ] do
not know. The}f are hundred OF in
stances where SAP has had a decided eff
feet; there are more instances where its
application has done no.good. "Agri-
cultural salt" has been offered our farmers
at very low prices, and many have tried
it; but for some reason or other its use
does not extend. "Do / use it2" No.
"Do my neighbors use lt?" No, certainly
not, as a rule. Where one farmer uses
salt, a hundred continue to use, year
after year, superphosphate.
Hundreds of experiments might be
cited where salt has proved beneficial.
Why it is sometimes valuable aud often.
times not, we do not know. We do no.
understand its action. We are nearly as
ignorant in regard to the action of plas-
ter. For some years we have supposed
that salt and plaster checked the evapo-
ration of water through the leaves of the
plants, and thus lessened the injurious
effect of drought. Some recent expert
ments would indicate that plaster was
favorable to the growth of the bacillus
or t'nitrate yeast" that converts organic
nitrogen and ammonia into nitrates and
thus rendered the nitrogen Immediately
available for the growth of our cultivated
crops. Possibly salt acts in the same
way. All that we know at present is
that SALTS frequently very beneficial on
some SO Is and some crops. One of my
neighbEEB who grows cabbage, onions,
carrotssh .tc., on low, mueky land de-
ponds almost entirely on salt as a fertil-
izer. B frequently raises a fine crop OF
late ca t,age with salt alone. On similar
land oy my own in the same swamp
find suoUrphosphate and a little nitrate
of sod; highly beneficial. So that it
would seem probable that salt develops
plant food from the soil. And it is d
question for consideration and expert
ment whetheri it is cheaper to furnish the
phosphorlc acid and nitrates in the form
of manures or fertilizers, or whether we
should use salt, lime or plaster to develop
them from the soil. Ii a given amount
of money in superphosphate and nitrate
OF soda will produce as large crops as tbs
same amount Of money expended in salt,
lime or plaster, then, of course, the fer
t~ilizers are to be preferred because they
furnish the plant food rather thar
| develop it from the store of organic mat
ter in the soil.-American Agriculturist