The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1908-10-17

rAo 1natic i4.|l'i1ers 1enr 81 The
failures % get @ neafy stand o. slower
And oiAer lesumes may By lre % die
fact that The bacteria which play such
an important part IN tie growing Of
such crops cannot thrive in az acid
SOL. we even hear Of troubles In
getting 4 standof sra On which
.nnder normal esnditions would fpu to
blue grass i alone AM Of llese
3land ) dozen siit one other Sables
could notbe due ia an acid condition
/ u the sou.
The Station Is prepared to 10 Its
part IN fndirS out now mnc6 Il the
farmers tronblce IS due to spnr soils,
and would be glad to examine every
Z farm in the ssate. 1t only remains for
farmers tot send the samples 4; soil.
The Station ..grees T. examine care
fully every semple received, no mat
ter how many this may be. Il is not
the intention to make an elaborate
soil analysis in every case, bur sim
.ply 10 determine whether or not the
soil is sour, aid 5if SO how so,r. and
to report p .oinptly the facts to the
party sending the satriles, alony win
advice as to treatment etc. Aed Just
here Il Is to be observed that no mat
ter what may be anybody's opinion
as to the value OF soil analysis sener-
ally, there ar, two or three points
on which everybody is agreed.
Soils do son etimes become sour. 2.
So long as a sell IS sos. a lt=-nlal crop
is simply out Of the question. 3. A
chemist can lel1 whether or net the
soil is sour. and II sour, how sour,
and the remedy is chaap, quick, safe
and certain.
Acid soils will be considered at
length In bulletin to be published
soon. One point however, should be
noted here. Acldity is usually tae last
srouble suspected. AS a rule the own.
Ter Of an acid so'f has long since made
up his mind shat the SOL IS rat NAT:
urally poora or that It has been made
poor b. hard farming. That this may
not be the case, and that the only
trouble worth mentioning may be so
easily correct d sc. NC almost too
good to be true. OF the sick soi's,
which during the prst year found
their way to the Experiment Station
Gas the place Of last resort), thirty
per cent. were sour The parties sub.
hitting these samples were asked
what In their opinion was the matter
with the soil'? 1t was often suspect
ed that the soils were worn OUT"
run down." "farmed to DEATH" ETC.,
but acidity was not mentioned IN any
case.
Certainly it would be well wor.n the
few odd moments required to take a
sample or dozen samples Gin accord.
ance with instructions herewith en-.
cIosed) II only to know positively that
soil is not acid, nor likely to become
acid in the near future.
All samples vii be examined and
reported in the order received.
Instruetlcns for Taking Samples Of
Soil Cor Analysis.
Any method for sampling soils is
q good method If It secures a fair
sample. However, It Is not an easy
matter to secure a fair sample OF SO
large a mass Of material as. an. acre
Of soil. A ship load II ore ii about
as large a quantity as one IS usually
asked to sample in other industries,
and then an Expert Sampler is EN-.
ployed. The surface foot Of the soil
on a single acre weighs three and
half million pounds-a large quantity
to be sampled by inexperienced hands,
while sample is usually expected to
represent much larger area Than an
acre. But no matter what may lie the
quantity to be sampled. the sample,
II 1t is to be of atty value. mus, Iepre-
sent the soil as accurately as a sample
of ore is supposed to represent the
cargo. There are no short cuts. no
royal roads peculiar to soil worIe. and
those who undertake such work should
be willing to do the work right or they
would better leave 1t alone.
Fortunately. a large area OF soil may
be of fairly Uniform composition and
differences oi greatest concern are
usually manifest to chose eultivating
a soil.
This makes It much easier to get an
accura.. sample, provided only one
sort Of soil is included in a sample.
And tusi i",c It is to be observed that
only on kind OF soil must ever be al
lowed to get into a sample II marked