The advocate., 1897-10-13

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ute more to the production Of large
crops Of grass than all the manure which
farmers can put upon their land, and
that with dry springs fertilizers of what
ever sort and however applied are OF but
little avail. So, too, four weeks of CO.
piOus and timely warm rains falling
upon fields OF potatoes after the tubers
begin to set and on corn after the tas-
sells and silk begin to form is certain
to be followed by enormous yields, even
when the soil is poor, unless frost or
disease interYenes. On the other hand,
let the tuber and grain-fOrming sea-
SON Of these crops be one Of drought,
and it is only those soils which are
most retentive of moisture and which
have been most skillfully handled that
are able to mature moderate yields,
even though the land be moderately rich.
What, then, do spring and summer
rains and warm, sweet irrigation waters
do in the soil, which contribute so much
to plant growth?
l. They carry atmospheric oxygen
into the soil, where 1t is Indispensable
in those processes by which inert nj
trogenous matter is converted into the
readily available nitrates so necessary
for the majority Of plants of the higher
orders.
g. They carry carbOnic acid into the
soil and absorb that which has been
produced there, enabling it to attack
the extremely insOluble phosphates and
silicates Of the soil, setting free the
phOsphoric acid, potash lime and mag
nesia compounds, without which no
plant is able to mature its fruit.
3. They carry atmospheric nitrogen
into the soil, and thus help to replace
the nitrogen which is constantly run
mig to waste in the drainage waters or
escaping back into the air.
4. Coming from the warm air and
soaking through the hot surface, they
carry deeper into the soil the warmth
which makes the root action of plants
more powerful, causes the phOsphates
and potash to be dissolved more readily,
and greatly stimulate the production Of
available nitrogen compounds by the
microscopic organisms which abound in
the soil.
5. Then, again, rains as already eX-
planned, carry small amounts of nitrogen
compounds with them into the soil, and
most natural irrigation waters, in adj
dition contain some potash, phOsphoric
acid, and considerable quantities Of lime,
magnesia and sulphuric acid.
1t is not strange, therefore, that an
abundance Of warm, sweet waters ap-
piled to fields at oppOrtune times and
retained there by judiCiOus and thor
Ough tillage, enables even poor soils to
bring forth large yields.
1t is the possibility of supplying an
abundance of water to the soil at the
right time which makes irrigation farm
ing so much more certain and the aver
erage yields so much larger than OBJ
tanned under the ordinary conditions and
methods of humid climates.
The plant feeding and growing in the
soil is like the animal coming to matur>
ity and fattening in the stable-it can
not at any stage receive a serious check
to it's growth and come out at the end
of the season with that vigor and total
product which result where no him
drance intervenes.
Just as soon as the amount Of soil
moisture in the surface foot Of a crop
bearing field falls below a. certain per-
centage, the soils ability to supply food
is decreased and the growing crop soon
reaches a point where 1t is not furnished
with plant food as fast as it demands
it, the inevitable result being a dimin
ished rate of growth and ultimate star
vation Professor Hays in Irrigation
Review.
An Advocate representative called last