The Bryan daily eagle. (Bryan, Tex.) 1895-1898, 1897-06-22
ealture

farmer or the horticulturist pro-
iuces. II the quantity that the crop
Fan get Of any one Of them is too small
Tor the making Of a good yield, the
Yield will not be sufficient no matter
how much there may be Of all the
others. II the quantity Of any one oil
them Is more than enough for q gooa
yield. Il Is only foolishness 10 supply
any more Of that substance In fertii-
lzers. The supply OF water and its
constituents. and Of carbon. are prae-
tlcaily beyond the control OF the crop
grower except In 20 far as water may
here and there be supplied by irrisa.
Ion. or may everywhere be conserved
~ shallow surface tillage properly
managed. The supply OF lime 10 usu-
Ally large enough In ordinary arabic
soils. Therefore only nitrogen. phos-
phorlc acid and potash are LETT TO DC
ooked after. these. as every consumer
u commercial fertilizers knows. are the
things that he pays for In whatever OF
,hese fertilizers he buys. by the In
PRODUCTION Of legumlnous plants. such
Is clover. veteh. lupine. peas. bean and
he like. into bis rotations, be may save
himself from the necessity Of buying 20
much nitrogen a. he might otherwise
lave 10 get IN order 10 preserve the
proper balance OF the plant foods 10 bis
soils. These crops. as almost every
'armer knows. can get a part OF their
nitrogen from the air; and they viii
general get more Of u from the air
and less from the soil the poorer the
ioll Is In available nitrogen, and the
'lchcr Il Is within certain limits In
potash and phosphorie acid Every
ordinary arabic soil has FAR more than
inough OF nitrogen. phosphorie acid
md potash for the production Of a good
many crops. and yet there are many
mch soils which VIII not yield paying
rops unless fertilized With one or more
u these very same plant foods. Il may
% taken for granted that an acre Of
very such soil contains In the upper
most twelve inches az least 5000 pounds
u nitrogen. 5000 Of potash and $500
u phosphorlc acid. These quantities.
IRE from 80 10 800 times greater than
hose sold of the farm In any crop
There Is az least 90 times as much nj
rogen In such a soil as Is sold In any
,art Of any crop. and much oftener i0l
u even 200 times as much. There ii
II least 100 times as much potash as Il
carried on the farm In any part Of .
rep sold. and oitener 900 times q,
much. similar figures might bo giver
or phosphoric acid. Why. then. mus
AZ fertllize our soils In one way or an
| ltheri
The one most important reason Il
hat these plant foods In the soil are foi
be most part 10 an insoluble. or a.
scry commonly said. unavailable form
md tha; they usually become avallabl'
lnly little by little each year. Thai
hey d. thus become gradually avail
able is clearly shown by some Of th,
apartments o. Lawes and Gilbert. o.
/ England. some Of their plats hav,
fleldcd crops OF wheat and other Ger.
,als now Tor ifiy years and more
without any manure. q may be. how
svcr. that one OF these foods does be.
.ome available year by year In larg'
,nough quantities 20 contribute 10
hare towards a good yield Of sons
.rop. provided that there Is enough ol
he other two. but that there Is In fac'
,ot enough Of the other two; or Il mag
,e that enough Of two Of the foods vii
become available fast enough each sea
ion Tor a good crop. but that the othel
,ne VIII not: there viii be only a pool
,rop Ia either case.
There are cases In which Il would b,
,nly folly. with some thousands o
pounds OF the one or the two foods II
The soil. and In such a condition tha
ne crop grown on Il can set all q
seeds Tor a good yield Cat least Tor on
year. and probably Tor the next year
and even Tor a few years morel. TO bul
hose foods In commercial manure: no
would Il be the holgh, Of wisdom 4
Socp putting them on the soil year afie
year IN stable manure. since that ais
| ,onialns the three foods under conald
Grafton. as well as other useful sub
stances.