The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1906-06-16
Nitrogen,

Just what amount Of nitrate OF soda
is used in this country for fertllizine
purposes we do Lot know. but the
amount is certainly very large. The
Whole output has been in the hands Of
a comhiIa ton. which is composed Of
| English capitalists. who on Il capital
| iZat.on OF S>Na,Gnp have cleared s..
| 10000 Now we are Informed that
tie combination is about to break W.
/ and ii may result III lower price for
the nitrate. The Chilean Government
| gets S25.oG0,No annually from the ex-
! port duty on nitrate Of soda. Now We
! are sure that q very large part of the
enormous amount OF money that has
been spent Oh nitrate Of soda has
! been wasted. hy reason Of bad
! farming. It is Doubtless that Il is
early truck crops. bat lis econoln cal
use in general farming is rot 50 Ger
tain. Farmers annually buy nitrate
a!l other forms q ritHG ru merely to
ct I !,t.e more 10 sell It once from
tie land. Wien by tie use Of The
le@ume>. and a proper rotation Of
crops, they could improve their soils
without tie purchase Of nitrogen in
any form. Ana Of Iate many have
been deiuded with tie notion that they
can. by few bacteria Oh dried cotton
induce the g.eater accamu.s ION Of HI
frozen ly the le-CMe~. ana theE have
paid $! per acre for what cost less than
-
ally worthless. There is 10 doubt that
if the soil is we'll supplied with the hac-
terra suited = tie icEume being grown.
there viii be q greater nitrogen fiXa-
ton by the le@uGe. But where the
bacteria already exist in the soil. the
further i.0calation could 10 10 good
And then. no matter how well the soil
may lie inocItatad with the bacteria
that live on the roots OF the leGuuleS.
if il is deficient in phospEoGtc acid and
potash, 10 amount of iHoculation Will
avail much. Now, # instead Of buy
so much Of the evaneScent nitrate Of
soda. and paying s. Tor a vest pocket
package Of raw Gotten, farmers would
devise 4 rotation Of crops that will
bring the leGume crop generally grown
in their section ard would literally
su!piy that le@uGe crop with phos- !
pEcric acid and potash. they could Get |
all the nitrogen which farm crops in |
general need. without cost In the
large section of the country where /!
clover has been the laGume crop. there !
is seldom any need for noculation with /
the clover bacteria. and in sections |
where the c0wpea has been crown for !
10 ilocUlation is needed |
for il. ard if there was. 10 amount of T
VIII be Of much use unless |
the soil is supplied with the mineral |
elements Of plant food. The fact is
that there are few of the ie@umes that
viii not finally inoculate the soil with
the germs carried on the seeds. and !
there are millions Of acres more in
need of the plant fools that the
le@umes need than of ihocu.ation.
Some years ago 4 German bacteriolo-
rist sent out under the name Of Mira
Tin laboratory culture of soil bacteria,
- -
little finger was to put AL the nitrogen
needed on an acre of land. In field
practice it was found entirely useless.
lust as the last veSt-p0cke1 packages
# cotton Lave proven. The fact re-
mains that we can GET all the nitrogen
ve need through the agency of the
egumes, if We supply them literally
With the plant food they require. phos-
1horic acid and potash. When this is
lone. there may be some good done
n many cases by soil taken from ;
.eld where the particular lGcune has
,aen long grown. and the soil better
than the one Sown last. \
luShel or two of this. scattered over an
ere, Will beat the cotton waas every
inc. but will not atone for any lack
f phosphoric acid AMI potash in the !
oil.-W. I. Massey. {