The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-01-22

il uAf&SICA. AuS ALuucAdl COu0l6Io VI llLuc
potash, phosphates, iron, magnesia
aluminium and various other minerals
of less Importance.
i The organic matter includes every.
n thing that once existed as vegetable OF
animal matter.
4 Volatile matter consists of the mois-
ture, gases and organic matter, all OF
4 which can be driven of from a SPADE
full of soil by heating it or burning It.
Humus is that part of the organic
matter in the soil which has partially
decayed, such as leaf mould, rotten
roots and blades of grass, clover or
peas. Rotted manure is rich in hui
mus. Unrotted manure or green
| crops plowed in soon make humus by
rotting down in the soil.
The opinion seems to be gaining
| ground that much of the available
| plant food is the portion in the humus,
| and as the humus increases in the
soil the potassium, phosphoric acid and
other mineral products existing in the
soil in insoluble forms not suitable for
plant food are taken up by the humus
to form new compounds better suited
to nourish the growing plants.
In eight determinations of North
Dakota soils, Al per cent of the phos-
pilates was found in the humus, and
the proportions ranged from 10 per
cent to S91. Of the nitrogen from 46
to so per cent of the total was found
in the humuS, and on an average 81
per cent
What becomes of this nitrogen when
the humus is destroyed by decay? 1t
goes back into the atmosphere, or is
washed into the rivers, and so carried
out to the ocean. In these ways five
pounds of nitrogen are lost for every
pound used by the growing crops
If, then, the mineral matter taken up
by the plants and the nitrogen are
drawn largely from the humus of the
soil, 1t will be seen how important it
is to maintain we'll the supply of or
ganic matter in the soil, that 1t may be
transformed into humus as needed by
the plants under cultivation. Contin-
uOus wheat growing is a process de-
structive of humus and of all organic
matter in the soil. Not that the wheat
uses up such quantities, but, under
conditions of wheat-grOwing as gen.
orally practised in this state, there is
a rapid decay of organic matter, nj
trificatiOn under these conditions be-
ing very rapid, and the products es-
cape as gases into the air and are
washed out of the soil, or. in case of
the mineral products phosphates, etc.,
they combine in such forms as to be
no longer readily available for feeding
the plant.
An acre of soil to the depth of one
foot weighs about 3,225.000 pounds, or
1000 tons, and some soils as much as
1900 tons per acre. Experiments
have shown that soils containing the
most humus hold the most moisture,
are warmer, looser, mellower, most
easily worked, and most fertile.
Following is summary of this i'm
portant bulletin on soil humus:
l. BY twenty years of wheat grow
ing from 40 to GO per cent of the or
ganic matter of our soils have been
lost
2 For every pound of organic mat
| ter that has gone to furnish it's nitro
gen to wheat five pounds have been
lost.
8. Many of our soils that originally
contained from 5000 to 10000 pounds
of nitrogen per acre to- the depth of
! one foot now contain from 5000 to
5000 pounds.
4. BY the loss of humus our soils
have become less retentive of moist
ure, and give it up by evaporation
sooner than when they were we'll sup
piled with humus
5. Bare summer following and burn
| ing of the wheat stubble destroys large
quantities of organic matter and hu-
mates.
6. To keep the supply of humus in
the soil we must initiate nature and
grow for the present at least one year
in five grass crop on our land.
Z. BY keepiEs up the supply of hum
us in the soil, the crops will feel the
effects of drouths less than in soils
| poor in humus.
s. Clover would be an ideal crop to
maintain the humus in the soil and to
aid In collecting nitrogen from the air,
but any grass will serve the purpose
of supplying humus, and bromus iner-
mis- has done we'll in this state, and
may be used.-North Dakota Farmer