The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1905-05-05
A Visit to a Nearby King.
dom.
By G. d. Smith, of the Agricultural
College.
CHAPTER XIII.

Turning next to the application of
nitrogen to the soil you will remember
at once that the two most common and
most advisable forms of nitrogen to
add TO the soil are barnyard manure
and green crops. The former barn
yard manure, contains other elements
as WELL but finds its chief valuable
plant food in the nitrogen Barnyard
manure varies in its contents of nitro
gen according to the feeding of the
animals producing it and according to
its treatment If the manure is left out
of doors and is washed by repeated
rains, its contents of nitrogen must fall
very low indeed. Roberts has shown
that perhaps half Of all the nitrogen
which given quantity Of manure con-
tains may be washed away and lost if
it be left exposed to the washing of
rains Again if the manure is allowed
to decay rapidly, the nitrogen will be
lost, it may escape into the air as am
monia or even as free nitrogen. The
best and safest way is to haul the man
ure TO the fields as fast as possible,
spread if ont on the land as fast as
hauled and plow under, not too deep Of
course, but get it into the soil and well
mixed with it as soon as possible, There
the decay of the manure will warm the
soil and its organic compounds will
slowly decay into the much needed
humus The bulk Of the manure will
be made in the winter and the effort
should be to save it all by tight floors
and plenty of absorbents and to get it
at once to the fields where the losses by
washing away are not great
The farm supplies of nitrogen are
supplemented from the markets in var
ious ways. The best way, naturally,
is by the purchase Of feeding stuffs rich
in nitrogen, feeding them to stock and
applying the resulting manure to the
fields
Nitrogen may be applied directly to
the fields in the form Of cottonseed
meal which contains ZOO percent nitro
gen or it may be bought in the form of
dried blood 1875 percent nitrogen.
There are many other organic sub
stances which will furnish NITROGEN
cheaply to the farmer These organic
substances should be bought for sandy
soils and for crops requiring long time
for growth like fall wheat. For
spring vegetables or for crops Of short
periods of growth where an immediate
and forceful effect is desired, nitrate of
soda, is recommended THIS salt con
taius Ii to 1G percent of nitrogen.
The next essential element Of soils
that we shall consider is, LINE, We
noted in tho earlier observation. made
in this Journey that the PARTICLES of
clay.Yere too fine to Serve good puryose
unless organized into kernels. They
must be built up into orderly masses
to allow free streets Of sufficient size to
allow the free movement of air and
plant roots. In the soil as in the city,
the great factor in holding the parti-
;ties togethex or the bricks together into
buildings, is lime. If clay soil is
plastiG'and will not build itself into the
desired kernels, will not break down
into fine friable soil when narrowed and
cultivated, it neais lime If dirt be
mixed} with water and allowed 20
settle the water will be "roily" or will
have multitude of the finest particles
floating in it. Now if lime be added
these fine particles will rush together
into kernels Of sufficient size to settle to
the bottom within a few minutes. So
when clay is sticky and refuses to break
down into SOIL the addition of lime will
cause it to do so. For this purpose as
much as four to six tons of slaked lime
per acre may be added to very sticky
clay.
Many of both the upland and muck
soils of Michigan are sour or acid, as it