The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1898-06-28

4eAl0 Al 84s9AA aAA AuuU0E, 80 POUNDS OF
nitrogen, 90 pounds Of phosphoric acid
and so pounds Of potash. A crop Of
peas Of 80 bushels will remove no III.
trogen from the soil, but viii increase
it, and remove 25 pounds of phosphoric
acid and so pounds Of potash and rs
pounds Of lime A crop of potatoes
making 80 bushels per acre, will re-
move from the soil 40 pounds OF nitro
gen, 90 pounds Of phosphoric acid, 10
pounds OF potash and 25 pounds of
lime.
These figures are suggestive, for
they chow the great relave Importance,
SO far as the mineral plant foods are
concerned, of the straw from the crops
of small grain. They show, also, that
the farmers are right in attaching
special importance nitrogen and
phosphoric acid for the production Of
wheat.
But it might be said, why ere these
not OF equal or greater Importance
with the corn crop, which removes 10
much more nitrogen from the soiIg We
must refiect that the corn crop is
grown during our long and hot SUM
mers while the nitrifcation il most ac.
tive in the soil, and wheat draws upon
stores Of nitrogen accumulated there
beforehand. The relative Importance
Of the draft Of corn on the mineral de
ments Of the soil, particularly potash,
is far greater than the draft on the
nitrogen, which is accumulating there.
The phosphoric acid and potash are
drawn from the store in the soil, and
represent actual Withdrawals that cam
not be replaced except by the cuItiva-
tor himself. Hence in all artificial
manuring for the corn crop, we dnd
that the phosphoric acid and the pot
ash are the chief needs that should be
provided for. The same may be said
to greater extent Of the potato crop.
While larger percentage OF nitrogen
is demanded for the early potato crop
grown in the South for Northern ship
ment, the crop in the North is grown
during the same nitrifying season az
the corn crop, and being commonly
planted on cod land, has the advantage
of the nitrifying decay Of the sod. But
the potato crop draws greedily on the
accumulation Of mineral matters In
the soil, particularly the potash, and
while the plant can get part or all
the nitrogen needed from the vege-
table decay in the soil, the entire
percentage Of the mineral matters
must be gotten from the store already
in the land, and is an actual withdrawal
Of matters that cannot be replaced
without cost. It will not do then to
assume that in compounding a fertilizer
mixture we should adopt the proper
tions of the three principal plant foods
shown above, for jf we do we will in
many cases have too large percent
oge of nitrogen, end hence increase too
largely the cost of the fertilizer.
The whole trend Of modern farming
is towards the economizing Of fertiliz-
ing matters that can be had without
expenditure, and which costs when pur.
chased more than others that must be
replaced by man. And yet the makers
Of fertilizer uniformly go upon the sup.
position that all the matters shown To
exist in the crops should be placed In
the fertilizer in nearly the proportion
in which they occur in the crop, 90 far
as the nitrogen is concerned. And
this, az we have said, ID the very in
gredient which costs the farmer most,
and in which there is the greatestroom
for fraud.
When the fertilizer makers come to
the mineral plant foods, the practice ID
too reverse. In almost all the mix
lures advertised for potatoes we find
that the percentage OF phosphoric acid
/ is far higher than that Of potash, while
in crop like the potato, the amount
of potash removed by rhe crop is more
than three times that Of the phosphorfc
acid.
In fertilizers mixed for the corn crop,
the discrepancy is still greater, for
while the corn crop removes exactly
three times the amount of potash that
it does Of phosphoric acid, in most Of
these mixtures there will be more than
double the percentage Of phosphoric
acid than potash. Hence arises the
Importance of home mixing Of fertfEi2-
ers, il we want to get just the thing
our crops need. While by proper
farming and the use OF legumes We can
get all the nitrogen needed By the or
dinary farm crops, there is no way ii
which we can replace the waste Of
phosphoric acid and potash except by
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