The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-05-03

TO IeTllllzefS rlcH III piloSphoIic dciu anu
potash. Without a doubt we have here
in the south a great deal of land that
Is naturally very fertile; that is. 1t has an
abundant supply of plant food, but the
soil Is in such poor mechanical condi-
ton the plants grown upon 1t cannot
reach this food, but when these soils, by
proper rotation of crops and the use
of manure. are stored with organic mat
ter, they become productive because the
physical condition of the soil is improved
When the humus in such soils has been
exhausted by the continuous cultivation
of one or two exhaustive crops then 1t
Is only by the practice of planting the
leguminous plants that we can eeonomi-
cally restore the original fertility to them.
The problem of which one or group
of these various leguminous plants is
best suited for our different types OF
soils and individual conditions Is local
one, and must be solved by the farmer
himself
"some soils may be deficient in lime
in regions where there is no limestone, or
where the lime is so combined that 1t
Is of no value as plant food, the hhode
Island experiment station reports Won
derfu1 improvements In crops that have
been fertilized with nothing but lime
"Phosphorus In fertilizers exists in
different forms. usually as phosphate
OF IRON, Ifnt anu -
phosphorus united with five parts of
oxygen is called acid phosphate. The
phosphates are ground to powder and
treated with dilute sulphuric acid, which
causes part of the phosphorlc acld TO
become soluble in water. This is called
water-soluble phosphoric acid. This wa
ter-soluble phosphoric acid, when incor-
porated with the soil. becomes fnsoluble
in water. In this form 1t Is called citric
soluble Phosphoric aoid In this from can
be easily used by plants. The soluble
phosphoric acid Is insoluble in water and
also ammonium citric. and when it is APP
piled to soils is of little value a fer
tilizer unless the soil is very acid. Ev-
cry farmer before purchasing fertilizers
rich in phosphoric acid, should thorough
ly post himself on the relative merits of
these different forms of acid phosphates.
The bulletins issued by the fertilizer de-
partment of the. experiment station fully
explains these values.
Potassium In Fertilizers.
Potassium exists in fertilizers in the
form of various salts. such as the sui
phate. carbonate. nitrate, silicate and
chloride of potash Potash is chemical
name of two parts. potassium united with
one part oxygen. The carbonate of potash
is the most expensive and the muriate the
cheapest form in which you can buy pot
ash Agricultural chemists say there Is
very little difference in the rate of the
absorption of the potash by the plants
from the different potash salts. However,
the form of potash influences the quality
of some crops, particularly tobacco and
potatoes. On these crops the muriate can
not be used, but for such crops as corn.
oats, ETC., that form should be used that
comes at the lowest price.
1.-THE value of stable and barnyard
manure is known to every farmer and
every farmer should utilize to the fullest
extent these home resources. To get the
greatest benefit from manure, 1t should
be spread with a manure spreader, and
not in too large quantity at a time.
To spread large quantities at O. time is
almost criminal waste. There Is no more
than enough manure produced in the
south than what is required by the truck
farmers and horticulturists. The plant
food and humus required by the field
crops must be supplied In a large meas
ure by commercial fertilizers and the
growing of legumes. Some one has well
said. The true policy in building up our
soils is that which utilities to the full
est extent every home resource, and then
supplements their use by the purchase Of
commercial form of plant food
Cultivation.
The perfection of soil conditions in a
large measure controls the profits to be
derived from the use of fertilizers Too
often farmers depend upon commercial
fertilizers to do too much. They seem
to think that good application of fer
tilizers will take the place of thorough
cultivation, whereas. whenever CONNER
cal fertilizers are applied the cultural
condition should be thorough so as to give
the fertilizers better show 1t may be
we'll to explain here what is meant by
thorough cultivation. The object of cul-
tivation Is two-folds. to destroy weeds
and to loosen and pulverize the surface
and to cause the soil particles to be
broken up into AS small divisions as pos
sible. Capillary action or movement of
water in the soil Is due to the tension Of
the soil particles. If the soil particles are
fine the capillary action is strong and
large amount of water can be held by the
soil, but If the soil particles are coarse,
only a small amount of water can be
held by capillary action. Therefore the
early cultivation or breaking of the land
should be as deep as possible and the
later cultivation should be shallow, for
two reasons. namely: to avoid disturbing
the roots of the growing plants and to
avoid losing any more Of the soil mois-
ture by evaporation than possible While
cultivation does not add water to the
SOIL 1t prevents excessive loss. Moisture
may be retained by narrowing the sur
face after each rain. II another rain fol-
lows in a day or so this cultivation may
do little good. but If a dry season fol-
lows the cultivation may save the crop
by preventing the evaporation of the mois-
ture. Judging from the experiments that
have been conducted along thia Ina Gull