The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1904-04-15


if they wish. If they impose on the
they should be punished. Let no gull
ty man escape.
The orchardists of Washington will
be compelled to study the question of
soil fertility sooner or later or be
doomed to disappointment. This is es-
pecially so in all that vast stretch OF
country east of the Cascade range.
The same thing is true in eastern Ore
gon and all of Idaho Just here
shall not now enter into any consider
able discussion of the different ele-
ments of fertility that are needd in
any soil. The three chief ones are nj
trogen, phosphoric acid and potash.
At present only nitrogen will be con-
sidered. This is one of the elements
of fertility that we must have in order
to make any plant growth. Some
plants have the capacity of gathering
the needed nitrogen from the air but
others have not this capacity. The
nitrogen gathering plants are called
legumes, which means that they bear
their Sc eds in pods Hence, beans, peas,
vetch, clover and alfalfa are the princi-
pal nitrogen gathering plants Trees
and the grasses do not have this ca
pacity. Hence our orchards may use
up all the nitrogen in the soil or all
that is in available form and as re-
suit become feeble to greater or less
degree. To supply this deficiency in
nitrogen we must raise the legumeS
and pillow them under to get the best
results. The capabilities of the le-
gumes to gather nitrogen from the air
and to store it up in the soil is owing
to certain forms of bacteria that work
on the roots. If these legumes are
mown off or eaten by stock the nitro
gen will remain in the soil. But if the
tops are plowed under they add what
is called humus to the soil and that
contributes some fertility but it's chief
benefit is mechanical; that is, it rem
ders the soil loose and admits the cir
culation of the air. By the use of COM
mercial fertilizers we may add to the
soil the nitrogen that is needed. But
this is expensive when compared with
the other way. Hence, it is best to
SOW in our orchards what are called
cover crops-some kinds of legumes-
and let the bacteria carry on the work
of getting the nitrogen from the atmos-
phere.
1t is now claimed that a certain
German chemist by the name of Erl-
vein has discovered a method of gath
ering nitrogen from the air by artifi-
cial means. He passes a current of air
over red-hot copper, when the oxygen
combines with the heated metal and
leaves the nitrogen free. This free
nitrogen is combined with charcoal and
lime in an electric furnace. The re-
suit is black substance which can be
spread on the land and which has the
fertility of saltpeter (nitrate of po
tash). This new discovery of Erlwein
is yet in it's infancy and it does not
appear whether it can be produced
cheaply enough to be of any practical
value in farming. 1t was long time
before we could take the electricity
out of the air and the earth and use
it to run our street cars and various
kinds of machinery and to light our
houses. So we need not be surprised
if considerable time elapses before we
can profitably use this German chem
lists discovery in fertilizing our farms.
But it is not unreasonable to suppose
some way will be found to do this