The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1901-08-17
IA .RM A N ID g e ID
MATTERS OF INTEREST TO
zssIsAGRICULTURISTs. 5
Some Up-to-Date Hints About Culttva-5
So ton OF the soil and Yields Thereof.
# q. = 'o'r1tics,lture. yiticulture and Florioul-
tnre t
Notes on Soil Nitror,

LIE HOST advanced investigators IN The
domain Of agricultural science. Lit
tie by little the puzzles have been made
plain, but the progress has been SUR
prisingly slow. A generation Of think
ers makes but little Roadway. The ag-f
gregate is, however, large. NitrogenNh as
SO many forms and so many changes
that it has proved a most difficult ele-
.ment to bind and analyze. To follow its 1
transformations and learn the causes
OF those transformations have proven
still more difficult. The experime nters
start out to prove one thing relative.
GO soil nitrate, and find, before they
finish li their tests, that they have proved
a part Of something else. A vast
an of experimenting along these
lines remains to be done, even to reach
few certain conclusions. HI
For years the Wisconsin station has
been carrying on experiments having
In view the determining Of a number
or things relative to nitric nitrogen IN
the soil. Among the things to be
found out were (1) the variabl7ness
OF nitric nitrogen in the soil during
the growing season; (2) the difference
in amounts Of nitric nitrogen In ffal!oW
soil and soil in crops; 60 the infu-
ence of cultivation on the formation
of this, element; (4) the influence Of
nltrates on the thrifty versus The yell
low and Withered plants; 60 the va
riableness Of the nitric supply in and
between rows of corn; (6) the differ
ence in supply of nitrogen in soil and
well water; CD the discovery of an
accurate method of determining the
nitric nitrogen in soils. -.
I A few Of the conclusions reached
may be summarized as follows: In
dividing the soil into foot layers to a
depth Of four feet, the greatest changes
were found in the foot next the sur
fact. In this top layer the supply of
nitric nitrogen varied greatly through
out the growing season. The amount
in the spring was small, but increased
rapidly during the first three months
of growth, reaching their maximum
amount in June or July, according to
the kind Of crop being grown upon
the fields. During July, when, crops
are growing most vigorously, the nitric
nitrogen rapidly decreases till the first
part of August, after which it remains
quite constant in the surface layer.
In the other layers little change is
observed.
The value of frequent cultivation is
apparently in the more rapid accumu-
lation of nitric nitrogen rather than in
the mere conservation of moisture. It
was found that stirring the soil once
per week, as compared with the stir
ring Of it once in two weeks, left the
soil stirred, after 81 days, with 98,l6
as compared with 53.O1 pounds of nj
trio nitrogen per million of dry soil.
In the second series of experiments
which covered 258 days the soil stirred
once per week had acquired mean
of 225.41 parts and that once in two
weeks 1879 parts per million of Srv
soal showing the largest gains with the
more frequent cultivation. 1t was
found that stirring the soil to depths
OF one inch two inches, three inches
and four inches during an interval of
258 days resulted in an increasing
amount of nitric nitrogen until the
three inch depth was passed, but that
cultivation four inches deep gave a
smaller nitrifcation than the three
inch depth did. Thus in a soil stirred
once a week the action of the forces
that create nitric nitrogen is stimulated
exceedingly. The increase of these nj
trates results in decided increase in
growth OF plants, all of which has
hitherto been credited to better ,direc-
tlon of the water supply. Z"
The amount Of available nitrates at
fleets the thrift and color of the leaves
From the experiments referred ia we
draw the conclusion that leaves tucn
sere because the supply Of nitrates is
Virtually cut off; and this lessened ;s,rn-
ply of mitrates is a provision Of ma
ture to assist in the elaboration ar
seed. The amount of nitric nitrogen
lett Mn Hthe surface foot Of soil before
crops begin to turn yellow for lack
OF available nitrogen becomes verv
small, the amount found being 21a
parts per million where oats were vet
green, and .025 parts per million where
tney We're turning yellow. In corn it
WAS found as low as ..95 parts where
conn {. was green, and 10 parts per mil
Lon IN Mhene it was strongly yellow. The
f g sro s Of stalks just before ma
11AIlty apparently has the result Of TAX
ing out OF the soil about nine-tenths
1o1 The nltrates available in the SIM
face soil. I'd NTH 51 .>55..s. s,
Inc amounts aUf nitric nitrogen wp,,n .
t aztllv greatest between the rows off
corn, as they were coming into tassel i
ana least directly beneath hills. excent i
10 the surface six inches, and in tbes5
1aoarth foot where the relations were
s 81 reversed. The amounts. of nj
tr 1s nitrogen are less il the deener
g ,o''llt water wells OF this vicinity
IMAM llsl1 40 e the soil, moisture of the fourth
1000, the nitric nitrogen being only
about ado one-third OF che amount. tObser-
vatlons Indicate that when the textural
equ y bri,lna CT soils is destroyed II
the presence Of salts In solution.
ion and reorganization OF the
soil may take out OF solution a portion
OF the salts lea wing a smaller per cent
present after blishing thes new