The leader., 1895-10-29
FARMER ANDPLANTER
SOURCES OF PLANT FOOD.
A Subject Upon Which the Farmer shoz,t
be Fully Iaforrneu.

A Subject Upon Which the Farmer shou,d
be Fully Iaformeu.
1t Is net simply Interesting. but is
also very helpful, for a farmer to
know the sources from which his
crops get their plant food. remem-
Der very we'll how much was sur
prised when | first learned that Tie
Soil furnished only ~ sssrage of three
POUNDS in "a leo Of growing crop and
that The atmosphere and water furn-
ished the other o. pounds. suppose
that had thought, like Jcthri5 1uii,
that the vital force Of The plant
took small PARTICLES OF the soil
and carried them to the part
of the plant needing GROWTH not know
ing that the atrnoerhsre furnished any
thing. IL ne End forest tree that
With its body and limbs weighs >,eo5
pounds and burn ~ Vt will have 60
pounds of ashes, while the 1,940 pounds
have gone into the atmosphere from
whence they came. In this process
each department of nature seem. to I've
claiming its own, The % bounds of
ashes represent the very ingredient
that the soil gave to the growth OF
that tree. Then shall THE dive. e.snes)
return TO the Garth as II was"
All plants, whether taken from the
garden, field or forest, are found rpon
analysis to be compoee3 OF fourteen
elementary Substances, each of a
diverse nature. The chemical names
are carbon conspicuous ysrepresented
in charcoaD. oxygen and nitrogen (be-
ing the two constituents of pure air),
and hydrogen Tone OF the two com
stitucpts of pure wateri These four
are fed to the growing plant through
both the root and the leaf by the at
inosphere, and called organic, because
they furnish the framework of ali
vegetation, These four return to the
atmosphere in volatile form whe.
the plant is consumed by Gre or by a
slow combustion re call rotting on the
surface or under the soil.
The other ten constituents of all
plants are fed through the roots from
the ingredients OF the soil and fur
nished from one to ten per cent. Of all
vegetation. They are. potash Nhe
most valuable Ingredient of wood
ashesl phosphorus (the chief ingrc-
dent of all animal bonesh silica Same
as sand), lime lin its several forms).
soda and chlorine these last two are
the constituents that make common
s&lo, iron, sulphur, magnesie M man
| ganese. The last eight here mentioned
are In sufficient supply in all soils.
But potash and phosphorus are more or
less deficient In most soils. 1t is these
two, together with nitrogen with some
of its various combinations, thnt make
the valuable ingredients OF all COM
mercial fertilizers.
But some good, working farmer
while reading this may say to himsel +
that it is not worth my while to trou BILE
my mind to learn these hard words
and the ideas they carry because
have been and / expect to raise good
crops without mixing any book-farm-
ing in it, To such farmer am very
glad to say that good working man
is very apt to succeed In anything he
undertakes to do. If he does the
right work in the right time and in
the right way his crops will grow
whether he did this work by rote and
in imitation of some other man or
from knowledge of the principles of
agricultural Chemistry. But if he
knows under what conditions nature
will do for him her Der best work, then
he will have more successes and fewer
failures. II he knows that every green
leaf is lung inhaling plant food
from the atmosphere, then be will
surely try TO give that leaf fresh air,
dews and sunshine. If he knows that
every rootlet has little mouth at its
end that takes it's food in solution
and gaseous form, then he will surely
cultivate his ground so as to give it air
spaces as well as moisture. Not
air chambers made by clods, for clods
in the neigh borhood of the roots OF
plants are always nuisance. But
there is another direction in which the
farmer may make. or rather save,
money, that is, in the matter of buying
commercial fertilizers. little book
learning will help him to decide what
ingredients to buy and what not to
buy. But this subject is sufficiently
large and important for another man.
uscript, that is if / ever write.-N. Il.
Dudley, in Farmers Home Journal.