The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1898-08-02

hastened the consumption of humus in
the soil.
While the humus lasts the soils re
spond well to the fertilizer, if the lat
ter is properly compounded, but sooner
Or later, according to the original
strength of the sell, the hunus gives
out, the soil loses its governing factor,
and the crops fail to yield as much es
formerly, even when the dose of fertil
izsr is increased.
As commercial fertilizer is always
expensive, by attempting to grow
crops with such stimulation on worn
soils, the farmer is apt to lose money.
A great deal Of N oney is also lost by
purchasing fertilizing material which,
while necessary for securing crop,
can be made at home and On the same
land al little cost.
The most expensive ingredient in all
fertilizers is nitrogen, which costs from
Is TO 18 cents per pound, Ali crops re
Quire nitrogen; but one Fl ,th OF the air
we breathe consists of this substance,
and there is no more need to buy it
than to buy the light and heat also re-
quired by crops. It pays to buy even
these for certain high-priced crops, as
is the case when fruits, vegetables and
f0wers are grown in hot houses, but
for staple market crops this would
prove ruinous practice.
By utilizing leguminOus plants as
green manure we can at once supply
our soils with both humus and nitro
gen. Moreover, we can, by selecting
the most suitable green manurial crops,
grow these between two successive
money crops without missing any crop.
The manurial crop can be grown at the
season when the land would otherwise
remain idle. Green crops do even
more than this. Besides adding to the
fertility in the coil, it prevents tie
washing away of much of the fertility
already there. Unless the soil be frc zen
hard, an idle soil is a deteriorating
one.
It must always be borne in mind,
however, that while legumines can col
lect nitrogen from the atmosphere,
they can find the other ingredients of
plant food only in the soil. A complete
plant food consists Of nitrogen, phos
p1oric acid and potash, to which, for
some soils, lime must be added. Phos
phoric acid exists in soils in only very
small quantities, and is Gs a rule the
first to become exhausted. But plants
consume very much less Of this sub
stance than they do Of potash. Potash
is always present in clay soils, but
often in an insoluble form. Sandy
soils are always deficient in potash as
we'll as phosphosic acid. No cultivated
soil has surplus of nitrogen, except
Immediately following a leguminous
crop that has been turned undec. Nj
trates are very soluble, and those not
fixed in the tissues Of growing plants
are soon washed out of the soil in drain
age water. Soils retain phOsphoric
acid and potash with more tenacity,
especially when there is present a suff
cient supply of humus.
In growing legumines to improve
the soil it is always profitable to give
these more phosphosic acid and potash
than they can in any case consume.
The more they consume, the faster
they grow, and the greater the quantity
Of expensive nitrogen they absorb
from the atmosphere. When the green
crop is turned under, all the fertilizer
given during it's growth remains for
the succeeding money crop. In this
way we secure double use for the fer
tilizer. heterogeneous fertilizers, such
as nitrate of soda and stable manure,
should not be used on leguminous
crops, except a little to start the
growth of the seed, and on fair soils
even this is not needed.
The following figures show the
amount Of fertilizer contained d in one
ton of hay made from the plants
named:
Nit'g'n, ,Phos. Acid, Potash,
Plant. Lbs. Lbs Lbs.
Pad olrvor 30 & 76 II n