The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1902-07-30
ANALYzING The SOIL
Method by Which Farmer
Can Do This Himself.
Mr.. McCANOLESs' LETTER.
Farmer Can Tell Whether His Soil
Needs Lime, Phosphoric Acid,
Potash or Nitrogen as Does -
the Chemist.

Potash or Nitrogen as Does
the Chemist
Referring to the statement IN my
last letter that if any one element III
a soil essential to plant growth lie
lacking in an available form, then that
soil cannot produce a good crop, no
matter how rich the soil may be in the
other essential elements. You natu"-
ally exclam then, why not have a
chemist aualyze the soil, and tell the
farmer what element or elements are
lacking in his soil and what are abun-
dant. so that he will know how to fer
tilize-whether he ought to apply acid
phosphate, or kainit, or cotton seed
meal, or lime, one OF all, to his land,
so as to get the best results, and at the
same time use the wiset economy in
the purchase and application of fertil-
izers. Yes, this is a very natural
idea. and it was at one time, in the
earlier DAYS of agricultural science,
thought that by means of chemical
ANALYSIS of tie soil, that the key had
been found by means Of which we
could unlock the secrets Of Nature,
and solce all the problems of practical
agriculture. 1t was found, however,
on trial. that this idea, so beautiful
in theory did not work well in prac-
tice. 1t was discovered for instance,
that a soil which was producing poor
crops contained one-tenth of one per
cent. of phosphoric acid, or, calculating
to a depth of nine inches, about three
thousand pounds of phosphoric acid
per acre, and yet this soil was IN
ned of phosphoric acid, because when
acid phosphate was used on it as
manure it responded with largely in
creased yields. Evidently the pros
phoric acid in this soil, although abun-
dant in quantity, 5000 pounds per acre,
was not in a condition available to the
plant, so that it could be absorbed by
the roots
Elements Soluble in Acids Not Always
Available.
Still when the chemist came to treat
this soil with his strong chemicals.
he could dissolve the phOsphates in
it readily. Thus, it would happen
that a chemist analyzing a soil and
finding in it, say. 5000 pounds of phos-
phoric acid, 5000 pounds of potash,
and 1000 pounds of nitrogen per acre,
and knowing nothing else about the
soil, except the results Of his anasy-
sis, would report that the soil contain
ed ample plant food Tor producing
good crops, and was a good soil, not il
need of fertilizers, when, as matter
of fact, the soil might be so poor as
hardly to 'sprout peas" After many
trials and efforts to initiate the action
of Nature in the laboratory, the con-
clusion was reached that it was not
possible to tell by chemical analysis,
in the case of cultivated soils, wheth-
err the soil was fertile one or not, or
what particular elements should lie
added to it for the production of full
crops.
Analysis Shows the Ultimate Resources
of the Soil.
Whilst the chemical analysis is a
failure from this standpoint, still it is
of value from another. For instance,
if l make an analysis 70 your soil and
tell you that it contains 5000 pounds
phosphoric acid $500 pounds pot
ash, and 1000 pounds of nitrogen, then
you would be encouraged to go ahead
and make this plant food more avail
able oy judicious cultivation and treat
ment, such as lining, the turning In-
der of green crops, etc, feeling as
sured that in the end you could bring
that soil up to point where it would
yield bountifully. But if as the e
suit of my analysis l should tell you
that the soil only contained $50 pounds
of phosphoric acid and 200 pounds of
potash per acre, why then you would
know that the best thing you could do
with that land would be to abandon it
or give it away, and not waste fur
Their time and labor on it. There is,
however, a practical method by which
you can analyze your soil for yourself
far better than any chemist can do it
for you, and by means of which YOU