The herald., 1896-10-03
THE STATUS OF SOIL. ANALYSIS
By M. l.. Wade, B. e.

Having ia ken a great interest in what
has been written in The Herald on the
subject of agriculture, and especially
soil analysis, willingly comply with
The Herald's request to write an arti-
Gle on the above mentioned subject.
1t Is not my intention to contend
that an application of nitrogen will
make the skin of an orange or lemon
puffy or that phosphoric acid will give
out. under the continuous exhaustion of
any one crop before nitrogen; neither
dol contend that irrigation waters will
or will not, when laden with soluble
potash, furnish all of that ingredient
necessary for a growing crop.
While all of this discussion has been
going on as to whether a soil analysis
will furnish all necessary data to guide
the agriculturist in the. proper applica-
ton of fertilizers to. the, soil, the idea
was suggested that it would be well to
investigate th9 present status of soil
analysis and to see even if we were,
with the correct results before us, en-
'abled thereby to give correct diagno-
sis of the condition of the soil and to
make a. proper application of the rem
edy decided necessary. whether the ac-
curacy in the analytical operations in
the laboratory were developed suffi-
GENTLY to guarantee reasonably relia-
BILE results and in the space of time
that would make it worth while to put
the soil to that sort of a test.
While I have for a number of years
made study of this special subject as
far as pertains to the laboratory work,
in the analysis of soils, and after thor
ough investigation of all important au-
thorities on the subject, am compelled
to say that there is really no standard
method of analysis that will meet the
requirements of accuracy, dispatch and
economy.
In this brief article it would be impos-
sible to cite all of the authorities, so I
will bring forward the leading ones of
this country whose statements will
not be doubted by anyone. l refer to the
works of the Association of Official Ag-
ricultural Chemists and to the latest
work of Prof. H. w. Wiley of the agri-
cultural department at Washington, D.
G.
The first Investigations of the associa-
tion were commenced within the past
very few years. This association began
by first investigating all the different
methods of soil analysis with view of
selecting the most reliable in order to
carry on a scientific investigation and
at the same time improve the methods
of procedure.
letin 81 of the United States department
of agriculture, 1891, shows that it's time
was consumed in fixing the size of the
hole in the sieve to be used in soil ana
lysis. This was the beginning of the
practical Investigations. This report Is
about as important as the size of the
hole in the sieve recommended, which is
the one-sixth hundredth and twenty
fifth part Of square inch.
In the report for 1892, bulletin 35 the
reporter says in regard to the method
adopted by the association since so few
of the members had reported on the
samples sent out the previous year, that
therefore,. N
recommending changes on adopted
methods, even when the necessity of
such changes was convincing to his own
mind"
Here are q few of the results of the
most important determinations, page 95: