The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1901-05-21
Living Issues.
TIE SYSTEMATIC INVESTIGATION OF
SOILS.

for Commercial Fertilizers How Much Is
Spent Unwisely?
4. G. Department of Agriculture, Before Nc.
Chemical Society, Raleigh n. c., May l, 1901
In our own country, system and
uniformity of methods have entered
into soil Investigations, and results
of great value are being recorded.
Too much credit cannot be given to
the labors of DIR. Hilgard, which have
been so effective in bringing about
this favorable state of affairs. In
1850 he published his report on the
Geology and Agriculture of Missis-
sippi, and for more than forty years
he has not only been a strong advo-
cate of the chemical and physical eX-
animation of soils, but has been our
most active worker in this field. His
methods or rules for Interpreting
soil analysis have been widely copied,
but he insisted that not only should
the chemical and physical data of
the examination be considered, but
that the climatic, culture and vege-
tation conditions should also be taken
into account. In the tenth census
he uses this language:
GA soil naturally timbered with u
large proportion of walnut, wild
cherry, or, at the South, with the
poplar or tulip trees, is at once Sc
lected as sure to be both productive
and durable, especially if the
trees are large. He (the farmer)
knows we'll that the black and Span
ish oaks frequent only Strong soils,
and that the admixture of hickory is
a welcome addition, while the occur
renee of the scarlet oak at once low
ers the land in his estimation, and
that of the pine still more. How
ever much opposed to the cOcklebur
in his felIs, he welcomes it as a sure
sign of a good cotton soil, as much
as though he had seen, the latter
itself growing for a series of years.
= = Taking for granted the sound
ness of the principle involved in
judging the prOductiveness and the
peculiarities of soils from their nat
ural vegetation, and having gained a
large array of additional data from
personal observation in the field, /
have then sought to ascertain by
close chemical and physical exami
nation of the soils in their natural
condition the causes that determined
this natural selection on the part OF
certain species of trees and herbace-
plants, while, at the same tine,
observing closely the behavior of
such soils under cultivation, their
special adaptation, etc."
For a number of years his work on
the soils of Mississippi was prOduc
tive of but little good, but it must be
a source of qualification to him in his
advancing years to know that the
work has been taken up anew, his
old classification adopted as a basis
of operation, large numbers of sam
pies collected from the several areas,
and examined physically and chemi-
cally and the results compared
with actual trials with crops and fer
t~ilizers in the field, though the
amount of the latter work thus far
has been rather small. From Il re-
port on the "Soils of Mississippi /;
Plant Food and Productiveness, " is
sued in February of this year, l take
the following statements, which are
full of significance and of greatmag-
nitude TO the farmers of that State :
Except on spongy reedbrake soils,
consisting largely of organic ma ter,
the application of lime has not helped
any crop on any soil in this State.
considerable areas need phos-
phoric acid.
Heterogeneous fertilizers increase
the yields of the soils in the State,
and where nitrogen is added by grow
ing cowpeas, velvet beans, vetch ana
melilotus, which also adds org mic
matter to d soil and improves rs
texture, results of the most sati-fac-
tory kind are obtained.
"The supply of potash seems 10 ne
ample everywhere in the State, and
we have no evidence that any o. or
soils require the use Of fertilizers
containing potash to increase the
yields. The results do not Indicate
the minimum amount of potash in
500 Reward 800.
The readers Of this paper viii be pleased to