Carolina watchman. [volume] (Salisbury, N.C.) 1871-1937, 1906-04-25
NITROGEN,

Nitrogen.
JUST what amount of nitrate of soda
is used i'll this country for fertilizing
We do not know, but the
amount is certainly very large. The
whole output. has been in the hands of
d combination, which is composed of
inslish capitalists, who. on a capital
1zatlon. Of $80o.000 have cleared 81
iNo'oUo. Now we are informed that
the combination is aboutsto break up,
ana 1t may result in a. lower price for
the nitrate. The Chilean Government
gets s2o,GJo 900 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
peen spent on nitrate OF soda has
been wasted, by reason Of bad
farming. 1t is doubtless that it is
early truck crops, but its economical
use III general farming is not so GER
tam. Farmers annually buy nitrate
and other forms Of nitrogen merely to
get a little more to sell at once from
the land, when by the use Of tl3e
legumes. and a proper rotation OF
crops, they could improve their soils
without The purchase Of nitrogen in
any form. And Of late many have
been deiuded with the notion that they
can, by a few bacteria on DIED cotton.
induce the greater accumulation of nj
troSen by the Icgumes, and they have
paid 81 per acre for what cost less than
ten cents to make. and at that gener-
ally worthless. There is no doubt that
If the soil is we'll supplied with the bac-
terra suited to the legume being grown,
there will be a greater nitrogen fx2-
ton by the legume. But where the
bacteria already exist in the soil. The
further inoculation could do no good.
And then. no matter how we'll the soil
may be inocuiated with the bacteria
that live on the roots of the legunles.
II it is deficient in phospheric acid and
potash, III amount of incubation Will
avail much. Now, if instead Of buyin"
SO much of the evanescent nitrate of
soda, and paying So for a vest pocket
package Of raw cotton, farmers would
devise & rotation of crops that will
bring the legume crop generally grown
in their section, and would literally
supply that legume crop with ph0s-
phoric 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 legune crop, there
Is seldom any need for incubation with
fnn F{nVni. H. af6Tia anI in SootioIc
Where the cowpea has been grown for
generations, no incubation is needed
tor 1t, and if there was, no amount Of
1noculatio1l will be of much use unless
the soil GSupplied with the mineral
elements of plant food. The fact is
that there are few of the legumes that
will not finally inoculate the soil with
the germs carried on the seeds, and
there are millions of acres more in
need of the plant foods that the
legumes need than of incubation.
Some years ago a German bacterio1o-
gist sent out under the name of Mira
gin a laboratory culture of soil bacteria.
and a little vial Of this as large as ones
little finger was to put all the nitrogen
needed IN an acre of land. In field
practice it was found entirely useless,
just as the last vest-pocket packages
of cotton fave proven. The fact re-
mains that we can get all the nitrogen
we need through the agency Of the
legumes. If we supply them literally
with the plant food they require, phos-
ploric acid and potash. When this IS
done, there may be some good done
in many cases by soil taken from a
field where the particular legume has
been long grown. and the soil better
~inoculated than the Il soWn last. A
busllel or two Of this, scattered over an
acre, will beat the cotton a every
time. but will not atone for any lack
If p~hosphoric acid ana potash IN the
soil.-W, i. Massey.