Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1896-01-05

n. L. nUrs MAN. Editor.
AMMONIA AND SILICA.

To Subscriber we would say that in
stable manure ammonia does not exist
In free state. but as q carbonate In
the form OF salt. II is n stlmulant
TO plant growth OF much power. and IL
found In most clay soils. Our black
prairie soils contain It. 1t Is a danger
Gus fertilizer for the inexperienced to
use. II tends to RAPID growth of wood
or Vine and thus destroys fruitfulness.
As Is said above. ammonia in the ma
nure of the horse lot is not volatile.
being In the form of a salt. and the
rotting of the manure before using is
best Tor many reasons.
Sowing sand In soils would be n
waste OF time. Our high winds do that
for us the whole year through. The
glaze on the wheat and oat straw and
the corn stalk is silica. 1t abounds In
our soils In soluble state. Taking
the black, prairie soils we ind IN Vic.
toria county out OF sa.5l1 parts. q. il5
is soluble silica. In Washington coun.
ty. 12,lS3. In Limestone county, li2l ,
Navarro. 6iSS. Collin, 1924. Johnson
county. 55G3. Out OF 100 parts, Travis
county, 10 Is soluble silica, Williamson
county, 20. In Tarrant county we
have several kinds OF prarie soils. but
the above from Williamson county and
from Navarro about express them us
to silica. Surely there Is no deficiency
In the state.
The conserving and Increasing the
soils fertility Is of much Importance
Nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash
constitute the principal elements oil
plant food. Ten miles north Of Fort
Worth q level black waxy. prairie, hog
wallow farm was offered for sale In
1894 at si3 per acre. Raw land OF the
same class and near II was selling nj
500 per acre. This farm had been
rented for fifteen years to one man
l.uI
ly on 1t. His average. he said, had
been fifteen bushels per acre. The
straw was stacked In a pasture near
by and the wheat sold In the Fort
Worth market. Nothing had been re-
turned to the soil. In that fifteen years
there had been removed from every
acre of that farm 1910 pounds of
nitrogen. 1916 pounds of phosphorlc
acid and 2i3 pounds OF potash. This
Is worth s96.l5. The soil showed that
ruthless hand had struck It, and Il
eventually sold for mush less than SIS
per acre.
Again, we would advise that the Job
of feeding plants is a delicate one
Prof. Robert Peter of the University
OF Kentucky as an analytical chemist
had no equal In this country. He an.
aly2ed plants to obtain knowledge of
what they fed on. and he analysed soils
to determine what they possessed of
plant foods. In rash moment he
bought a farm some eight miles out
from Lexington and started In to feed
plants as one feeds the horse or the
COW. He told his class in 1874 that
he made a perfect failure in crop pro-
duction. and that 1t took some freed.
men three years TO get that land back
to productiveness. This is the only
report we ever knew scientific pro-
fessor to make where he absolutely
failed, and we wish 10 state that no
salary depended on this experiment.
There Is. however, a position between
the tenant mentioned above and Prof
Peter. II combines the mechanical
treatment OF the soil with the chemical.
MIR. V. Green IN his watermelon
growing has the idea exactly. When
the black prairie soils are properly
treated and the plants thereon prop,
erly fed the rarest results always fol
low. The same OF sandy land. All
treatment or culture or all fertllizlng
Will fail on any soil.
Trees are very exhaustive to soils
So are vegetables. What one plant re-
quires another does not. We will
gladly answer questions on this sub
jert. The Fort Worth packery makes
a valuable fertilizer, but there Is no
market for II in Texas. 1t Is all sold
in other states. Texas is now engaged
in the depicting of It's soils. Fcrtilising
and conserving the soils fertility are
not live questions.