Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-05-10
SOIL INDIGESTI
WORN OUT GROUND SUFFERS
FROM COMPLAINT SIMILAR
TO HUMAN ILL.
Experiments Carried on At State and
Governmental Agricultural Stations
Bring Curious Things to Light - A |
Peculiar AiIment.


That a worn out soil is simply a
soil suffering with indigestion" is one
of the new and novel theories which
have sprung up as result Of the meth
iodical and scientific study of soils car.
ried on at the many state and govern
mental agricultural experiment sta
tons. That the ground may suffer
from an ailment similar to that which
affects the bodies of the men who till
this same ground may provoke a smile
OF increduosity but the opponents of
the theory apparently have some
grounds for their claims.
When the nature or quantity of food
taken by man Is such that the normal
digestive fluids have difficulty in act
ing upon it, he suffers from indiges-
ton. This is also the case when the
secreting cells of the digestive glands
become SO weakened in function that
they fail to produce the necessary
quantity of the various digestive fer
ments.
Prof. Frederick ID. Chester, noted
student of soils, says that plant food
digestion in the soil is along these
same lines. Indigestion in the soil
may be due to too much vegetable mat
ter or humus, or to it's existing in an
indigestible form, but more generally
it is due to the failure of the digestive
bacteria to develop, or to the wrong
kind being present, and those to the
absence of the necessary quantity Of
the digestive ferments. 1t also implies
the presence of crude plant life,
which remains in an unavailable form.
1t implies also a greater or less de-
gree of potential fertility, but low
active fertility.
The correction of soil Indigestion
means the conversion Of potential into
active fertility, according to Prof .Ches-
ter.
According to the average results of
forty-nine analysis of typical soils in
the United States, the first eight inches
of surface per acre contains $500
pounds of nitrogen, 1890 pounds of
phosphoric acid and 13,40O pounds of
potash. The average crop of wheat
removes about twenty-nine pounds of
nitrogen, nineteen and one-half pounds
VI puOppAOllC dClu I'LL IOCH anu
one-half pounds Of potash. Although
this means potential soil fertility, yet
such a soil may, under certain condi-
tions, be SO actually barren of results
as to lead the farmer to believe it to be
absolutely devoid of plant food.
Successive cropping uses up the
store of available phosphoric acid, nit
rogen and potash, and this is what is
meant by soil exhaustion-that is to
say, these supplies are consumed at a
greater rate than they are manufac-
tured in the soil. Most of the older
lands of the Atlantic seaboard, gener-
ally regarded as worn out, are in much
the same condition. These lands, how
ever, still contain large stores of I'M
available plant food, which require
only the application of modern agricul-
tural products to unlock. The great
problem Of modern agriculture is,
therefore, to convert this unavailable
plant food into available forms.
Prof. Chester says that the nitrogen
problem is an important one; that ag-
riculture is in more danger of nitro
gen famine than of any other; that
clovers and other legumes are the best
soil enrichers. Tillage is one of the
chief means Of fastening digestion of
plant food, but as this has a strong ten
dency to burn humus out Of the land,
the addition Of fresh supplies Of humus
must be proportionate to the amount
of tillage the land undergoes.
Some remarkable examples of the
enormous increase of soil bacteria as
result of frequent pulverizing are
given. Different applications of lime
also produce tremendous increase in
bacteria, showing conclusively that GER
tain fertilizers are necessary in retain
ing the properties Of plant food and
supplying the elements which have
been removed by crops.
Bacteria in the soil can be increased
by the introduction of sufficient humus
to form food for the bacteria, and by
stimulating their growth by active till
age. BY deep blowing more soil will
be brought under bacterial action.
More frequent cultivation means bet
ter aeration and better conservation
of moisture, all of which means that
by proper fertilization, industrious and
intelligent cultivation, the so-called
worn out lands that have been exhaust
ed by continuous cropping can be re.
stored to the original fertility.