The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-01-30

Influence of Season on Fertilizer. Farm and Ranch.
 l Farmers frequently assert that a ! certain season prevented crops from ob- | taining full value from the fertilizer \ applied. It is likewise common to hear
 satisfactory yields explained by the | fact, that the season in question en- | abled the crop to secure full benefit ! from the fertilizer used. The direct l effect of the season on the results of | fertilizers Is generally recognized. This ! influence of the season is important and its actual character should be un-
 derstood, that possible benefits may
 then be secured, and its dangers be
 avoided. Methods of planting. working
 and harvesting any crop, entirely satis- | factory in one season may be wholly | unadapted to the conditions of the | next season. It is equally true that | fertilizers and their treatment, should I be varied to meet the conditions of diff ferent seasons. if best results are to be l expected. This relation between fertilizer and season depends almost entirely on the 1 influence of heat and moisture. Each ! may interfere seriously with the na- ! tural effects of fertilizing, and each | may often be so influenced as to mate rially change the results which would follow the usual practice.
 Heat materially influences the &C., tivity and availability of fertilizers Its influence on phosphoric acid and potash compounds simply affects their solubility The dissolving power of | water is determined by the temperature | at which the water acts. This is true | of both mineral and organic substances. 1 Salt and sugar each dissolves faster | and in larger quantities in warm water
 than In cold. Many farmers familiar l with this fact as a daily experience fail ] to recognize its bearing upon the mat ter of using fertilizers. Phosphate and l potash compounds become available | more quickly and completely in warm seasons than in cold. Applications en- l tirely consumed in warm weather may remain in the soil unused and useless In cool seasons.
 By far the most important influence of differences in temperature, as re-
 lated to the use of fertilizers, is in the case of nitrogen. The effect on min eral nitrate. chiefly nitrate of soda, is
 the same as on phosphate and potash compounds. On all sources of nitrogen, like the common animal and vegetable ammontates, where the ammonia must be changed into nitric acid before it is available to the crop, temperature ex- erts a most important influence on re- suits. This change is produced by liv- ing organisms in the soil. Practically | their entire work must be performed at temperatures above 50 degrees. It fol- lows, therefore, that in cold seasons comparatively little nitrification occurs. | The important applications of this fact
 is to depend chiefly on mineral forms | of nitrogen. especially nitrate of soda, | for crops grown during the cooler parts
 O fthe year. and use tankage, cotton | seed meal and similar ammoniates dur | ing warm seasons when the change of | ammonia into nitric acid Is most rapid
 and complete. It Is also well to re-
 member that the depth at which this
 change takes place Is limited. It must l be apparent that the time of year has
 very important bearing on the form | of fertilizer which will give most satis- factory results.
 l The influence of moisture on avail
 ability of fertilizers is more generally
 recognized. The plant food ingredients tof mineral fertilizers are more easily
 soluble than the organic forms. When
 1t is remembered that till dissolved, no fertilizer furnishes actual plant food
 or can be used by the crop, 1t is easily
 seen how, in a dry season, cotton seed
 meal gives results inferior to those | hhOAA ViuANdiShl OL illhSl d | ammoniate, like sulphate of ammonia
 As phosphates, whether of bone or rock
 origin, are all mineral int character
 they are comparatively free from other | influences of moisture than the mere
 dlssolving action.
 Potash salts are likewise minerals
 and their potash Is easily soluble in
 water. Certain potash salts, however
 possess a most important relation to
 the disoslving action of soil waters
 The water which supplies crops is prac- tlcally all capillary water, which moves upward from the subsoil by capillary
 action. This action is greatly increas- | ed when the moving water contains chloride of potash. The greater this movement upward, the more water be- comes available to the crop. The prac- tical application is apparent. Muriate | of potash and kainit in times of drouth
 or dry seasons, increase the amount of
 water needed by the crop. At other l times and during other seasons rela- tive cost of the different forms of pot
 ash is the controlling factor for most crops, but on dry soils, or in dry times
 the form which increases the water
 supply may turn crop failures into sue cess.-H. F.. Stockbridge.
 Agricultural Instruction in Wisconsin l have been pushing along this road for years, striving to have the ele-
 ments of agriculture taught in the common schools of my own State, Wis consin. 1 have seen something done No teacher Is now allowed to graduate from our Normal Schools until he or
 she has taken a course in Elementary Agriculture Furthermore. we have
 established several county training
 schools, whose particular function is to educate the teachers of the country
 schools for the teaching of Elementary Agriculture. We have also began the erection of County Agricultural Schools
 which take the country farm boy and give him instruction something like that now given in the short course oi
 our Agricultural College. France Germany and indeed nearly all Europe are doing this work of teaching Ele. mentary Agriculture in the primary schools. These nations are fifty years ahead of the United States in thei1 comprehension of how it is to be done and in the doing of 1t.
 As a people. we have gone mad in our pursuit of 'so-calIed higher educa-
 ton" Rightly understood there is nc
 such education. A better term would
 be wider education" Our teachers
 even in the country district schools | unwittingly educate the boy and girl
 away from the farm If they seek tc inspire in them ambition in the
 pursuit of knowledge, it is for the purpose, as they say, of en- coura ging them to rise in the
 world" What American agriculture
 needs more than anything else is that 1t become mathematical that 1t bt