Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1905-04-21
Nothing Old Of Out
Of Date.
An Interesting Corn Question.
D. L Pascal. Of Clinton county,
Iowa, writes Wallaces' Farmer:

AN 10V0E0Ot1uB 10Th VO0SVAOns .
D. L Pascal. Of Clinton county,
lows, writes Wallaces' Farmer:
I'VE are al anxious to raise all the
corn per acre that we can. and I am
after information. A statement was
made on the corn gospel train N reply
to question asked by newspaper
reporter, that tho man who raises
seventy five bushels of corn or more
per acre practically did not exhaust
the fertility Of the soil any more than
If he had raised half as much. Ac-
cording to oil works on soil, it would
take moro nitrogen. more actual pot.
ash and moro available phosphorus to
produce the larger yield Of corn, and
we oil know that when we manure our
land and increase it's fertility we get in
return lsrger yield Of corn, while If
We keep growing corn each year, which
only means more bushels Of corn of
the Same land. We keep reducing our
yield per acre until we manure our land
to build up its fertility. I would like
to know under what conditions such
. statement would hold good"
Our correspondent asks some ques-
lions which 60 down pretty near tho
root Of things. and on which there
may not be "a exact agreement be.
tween scientists and practical farmers
Seventy five bushels of corn will take
fifty per cent moro nitrogen. potassium.
and phosphorus from the land than .
crop Of fifty bushels. This is ss plain a.
10 pike staff. It does not. however,
follow that it will decrease to any con.
siderable extent the actual fertility Of
tho land. and We will endeavor to ex-
plain why.
/ Nitrogen, tho most valuable element
In soil fertility, 10 found in compara-
lively small quantity in even the most
fertile soils. It 10 available for plant
food only in the form OF nitrstes Nit.
RACES, being readily soluble in water,
will be largely wasted if not used BY
growing plants. When we visited Sir
John B. Lawes at Rothamstsd some
years ago he called our attention to one
Of his fields. divided into hall. acre plots
through each Of which ran 8 tile drain,
ard which he had been manuring with
practically the same kind Of manure for
fifty years. He had chemical labora-
tory In the field. and told Us that dur.
ing the winter months half of the nitro
gen applied in the TALL was lost in the
drainage water summer months when
root growth was active. Therefore,
when you get field rich In nitrogen,
%. for example, clover field. you
want to harvest 1t by corn crop; and
the bigger the crop you grow the more
Of it You harvest; and If you don't hsr-
vest it you lose q good deal Of it the
next year. Therefore it may be safely
said that there 10 no loss in nitrogen
from growing the larger crop.
There is unquestionably = loss In
potassium and phosphorus. There
don't waste readily from tho soil by
heavy rains. They are taken up by
plant roofs in very minute quantities,
liquid Of course. whether dissolved by
. solvent furnished by the plant roots
OF not; that is another Of the points on
which there is dispute among scien-
lists. The portion taken up by any
crop. however, is exceedingly small %
compared with the portion which the
chemist can find in the soil. Most
Iowa soile. If At oil fertile, on chemical
analysis will show enough either potas-
sium OF phosphorus 10 furnish from
two to four hundred thirty bushel
crops Of wheat or fifty bushel crops Of
oats OK corn. In short, the available
potassium and phosphorus is slowly
weathered out Of the soil; and the bet
ter it is plowed, the more thorough the
culture, the more Of these are put into
available form; and hence the only
question 10 whether You are to get
these big crops, or whether your
grandchildren or great grandchildren
are to get them. Hence we think the
question Of the possibility Of exhaust.