Middletown transcript., 1905-12-09
SOIL FERTILITY

Zone hundred years ago, the farmers
who lived near the Hudson River made il
practice to draw the manure from the
stables onto the ice of the river that the
spring breakup might remove 4 lot ol
troublesome material. Twenty years ago
the Minnesota millers dumped their bran
into the river as waste product. The
farmers OF both states know better now,
but in other states there is large class Of
men who look on the soil OF their farms
as an inexfaustible bank, that will always
honor the crop checks Of the owner.
"To this last class we recommend the
following words Of wisdom by Prof. Hop
kins Of the IllinQis Station
eat commercial prices there is more
than $40, ,000,0Q0 worth Of nitrogen resting
upon every acre Of the earth's surface,
which can be drawn upon at will by the
farmer il he will make proper use Of le-
gume crops, and there is usually an actual
profit in growing legume crops for their
own value.
"The plowed soil to depth Of seven
inches, on the ordinary land in the corn
belt, contains sufficient total potassium for
100 bushels Of corn eaeh year for ] 800
years, and it should be the business Of
the farmer to liberate sufficient potassium
from this immense store by means Of de-
caying organic matter from tarm manure
and green manures to supply the needs Of
large crops.
"The total phosphorus content Of the
ordinary corn belt soil to a depth Of seven
inches would be>entirely exhausted dur
ing the life time Of one man (~eventy
years) if it could he drawn npon fnr 100
bushels Of corn per acre each year, and
the subsurface soil is poorer in Phosphor-
US than the surface.
"These are fundamental truths and not
mere ideas. The facts in hand from the
absolute and ultimate analysis Of i'm
mense numbers Of representative soil
samples COLLECTED from the typical spis
in all sections OF the corn belt are amply
sufficient to justify these statements, and
it should be understood that these state
ments have No reference to so7caled
available plant food, but to absolute total
quantities, and in way they constitute a
set Of standards by which you can safely
measure any proposed system Of perma-
nent agriculture.
"There are soils which need potassium,
namely, peaty swamp lands and some
sandy soils, and there are soils in the corn
belt which are very rich in pho-phorus,
especially the so-called "gnmbo" lands.
and most Of the l.eavy, black soils which
have been put under cultivation during
the past twenty or thirty years by means
Of necessary drainage.
sI wish to mention one other fact which
may well be kept in mind, namely, that
three-quarters Of the potassium required
for crops of corn, oats and wheat remains
in the stalk or stra hich are commonly
used for feed or bedding or returned di-
rectly to the land and that animals return
practically all the potassium consumed in
feed~in the solid and liquid manure,
whereas three-fourths OF the phosphorus
required for these crops is stored in the
grain, and phosphorus is thus sold from
the farm by those who supply the world
with bread, and even II the grain is fed to
animals considerable part Of the phos-
phorus contained in the feed is-stored in
the bones of the animals. .'-Hoard's
Dairyman.