The Delaware farm and home. (Wilmington, Del.) 1885-19??, 1895-08-22
ThBDGlaVarGE arIald HOnR,
Published Every Thursday
Ar
Wilmington, Delaware
Publication Office,
10 and 112 French Street.
Subscription Price so CGntS a year
in advance.
FERTILIZERS FOR WHEAT.

1nefe seems TO De popular luea
that fertilizer for wheat should con
sist chiefly of phosphorlc acid. Com
mercial fertilizers for tins crop con
tain on an average, from ? to 3 pei
cent. Of ammonia; s to 10 per cent. OF
available phospholic acid and about 2
per cent. potash. That this proper.
ton Of the fertilizing principles is
absurd becomes clear upon little
reflection.
While the analysis of plants is not
an invariable Indicator OF tertlllzing
proportions, it is more nearly so than
any other SINGLE item of cultural
data. There can be no question bat
that the plant must have these prln-
ciples, and III approximately the pro
portions found by chemical analysis.
There are soils 50 rich in some par
ticular element Of plant food that
some may be largely omitted from
the ferullzlng material used. | his
condition, however, IS almost wholly
confined To ammonia alone. Legumln-
GUS crops, by the usual rotation fol
wheat, supply largely the necessary
ammonia, but there Is no way Of get
ting potash and phosph ric acid tol
nothing, SO to speak. Whatever may
be the allowance for soil nitrogen
under the average condition of farm
land i'll the United States, the potash
and phusphorlci acld, removed by
cropping, lust be uniformly returned
to the soil 1T therefore, becomes
an important matter t. know whal
the demand Of an ordinary crop d
wheat upon the soil is i'll pounds a
we'll as per centages
In computing the demand Of tht
soil, of any crop, tie whole plan
must be taken INTO consideration,
careful anaiy Sis If the whole plant
grain, straw, chat1, stubble and root
shows the following requirement q
potash and phosph 1ric acid, for eacl
100 pounds Of gram!
Potash, II lbs.
Available puosphoric acid ID lbs
This may seem like small guam
tity of fertilizer TO produce Il LOO
pounds of grain, and it is all tina
would be necessary If the wholt
amount could be SO managed as to i,
applied to actual vegetable growth
This is plainly impossible in tielC
operations; the data is more useful ii
showing the relation between the
different elements of fertility, INSTEAD
of wheat fertilizer, requiring al
excess of phosphoric acid, it plainl,
required more potash than any othe
mineral A fertilizer for wheat SHOULD
contain phosphoric acid and potasl
in approximately equal quantities.
There is one more point to con
slider: What is the particular etfec
of deficiency of each individual ele
ment? OF the ammonia i'll the whea
plant taken as whole, 63-6 per cent
is found in the grain and the remain
der about equally distributed througl
the straw and roots etc. The effec
of deficiency of nitrogen, the othe
elements being present in ampl
quantities, would be to produce stray
at the expense Of the grain OF th
phosphorlc acid III the whole whea
plant, II per cent is in the grain,
per cent, i'll the straw and chat, an
81 per cent, in the roots and stubblt
1t is evident that deficiency of TIL
element, the others being in full SUI
IL. ,,,o,,1l 6re+ ,l;y,ip;el, +bo oYoI