Hutchinson gazette., 1901-08-08
The Philosophy Of Mauurlns.

|
atroy the health, but the fitting amount
| produces ana preserves them"
The philosophy OF Aristotle In per-
hapa as applicable TO plant develop
ment as TO tho human or other AMI
mails. But we cannot address ourselves
directly 10 the plants, which are con-
trolled by the yolltlon of men, 30, In
making a plea for the proper feeding
OF farm plants II 10 the farmer with
whom we must reason. The plants OF
the field must take their food as II 10
presented 10 them, They cannot re-
+, Ject any portion OF the compound, II
II Ia sufficiently dissolved, Their power
OF selection ends with the slight dis
solving action OF their root acids,
which reduce some forms Of ingredl-
ents more readily than others, and
with the hneness Of their stralners,
Man, the farmer, the herdBman OF
plants, consigns the plant to q particu-
lar spot whore II Ia anchored, imprls-
0ned, II you like. II there IL sufficient
available food stored for It's nourish-
ment, and that food In In q condition
| In which the plant can take II, all well
and good, The farmer is responsible
for that plant and he has no moro right
to be ignorant OF It's wants, nor TO neg
lect its wants than II II were horse
COW, or any other animal tied
up In tho barn; consequently he must
sec TO the proper preparation and
storage Of food for the plant,
Suppose then, he puts corn In tho
ground, and the balance OF food TO
properly nourlsh the plant and produce
grain Is us four parts Of nitrogen, and
three parts potash, to one part OF phos-
phorlo acid, II the available food pre-
serted TO that plant stands as, say! Ave
or six parts Of nitrogen, or FIVE or six
parts Of potash to one part or even loss
OF phosphorlo acid, the result must bo
too much growth and wood, and too
little grain, II the reverse were the
case, and the nitrogen and potash were
below the requirements, while the
phosphorlc acid was sufficient, then the
plant would begin 10 grain before IL
had attained full growth, and while the
grain might be considerable in proper
tion to the straw, the yield would be
uneven and unsatisfactory. While 1t
Is wise to restore to farm soils q per-
tlon Of the phosphorus, nitrogen and
potash removed from time to time by
cropping, 1t Is more important 10 take
into consideration what ingredients
are being more freely carried away by
the class Of crops and system Of farm
Ing being practiced, SO long as we do
not neglect the replenishment of hui
mus giving material, such as can be
supplied by barn manures and green
manure crops, the chemical changes to
the depth of air penetration can be
counted on to free q little plant food
from the earth every season. But We
must not deceive ourselves into the in-
dolent belief that nature thus provides
all that is required. When vegetation
was not garnered but allowed TO die
on and In the soils each year, except
for the amount taken by wild animals
and birds, each seasons natural re-
lease Of soil food was sufficient. With
the multiplication on the earth of peo-
pie, full Of wants and even selfish
greed, this natural plan Of providing
vegetation with food proves altogether
insufficient and Adams race while
drawing their living from the SOIL
must replace considerable portion Of
the fertility withdrawn in harvested
crops.
II we remove more bone, muscle and
flesh and wood and starch from the
soil than the provision of natural law
furnishes available yearly in the soil,
the ingredients to enable the plants
to reproduce them must be returned.
In returning fertility to the soil, judg-
ntent must be used as the mere pour
ing In Of large quantities Of material
may entirely defeat our object. BY
grain growing, for instance, we do not
remove much potash from the farm;
consequently the amount Of II required
for renewal is slight as compared with
the phosphorus and nitrogen,
In dairylng ana STOCK farming tho
loss Of nitrogen and potash is slight
In proportion to the phosphorus which
enters into the milk and bone. In
fruit growing, there Is q considerable
waste Of potash and nitrogen to pro-
duce the tree, but II these are provided
for, the care In manurlng while fruit
producing Is mostly to be bestowed on
phosphorus and nitrogen.
In root production the whole three
ingredients must have attention con-
Btantly, but we must be careful not to
lay too must stress on the potash as
an OVERRIDING Of 1t produces q poor
class Of roots and may even curtail
the yield. The character and condi-
tlon of the soil must be carefully con-
sidered, In rich humus clay soil will
be so rich In potash and nitrogen as
to carry such surplus that the phos-
phorus may need renewal many times
In proportion to the other ingredients.
A light sand although rich In humus,
may require constant potash renewal,
and even indeed phosphorlc acid,
while 1t will only require occasional
nitrogen dressing or the use Of legume
crops for manure, In addition to the
potash and phosphorus.
There may indeed be soils of the
moss bog structure, which are
almost II not entirely, without potash,
and yet have so much nitrogen that
clover would be wasted on them. These
soils eventually become poor in phos-
phorus, but 1t would be wasteful to
apply nitrogen to them. The market
for the produce Of the soils must also
govern, or at least have full weight
In our Judgment in manuring. For in
stance, II the roots TO be grown are
more valuable In that they carry sugar
and have juices fine and rich, then the
phosphate manuring must be literally
attended to. II the fruit Of the trees
ahnmld he rich In hnn nnrn ininnn hnun