The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1908-11-15


definiteness in using the term land
plaster" Usually gypsum is meant by
this EXPIRE ssion. And what is gyp-
sum! 1t is the sulphate of lime. The
lime we use in building is the carbo-
nate of lime. BY burning this kind of
lime it becomes what is called quick
lime" This kind of lime is sometimes
used on our fields and is beneficial.
Sometimes this carbonate of lime is
called land plaster, but not correctly.
While the carbonate of lime may be
used proftably on land after it is
burned, this is not the case with gyp-
sum- When gypsum is burned it makes
plaster of Paris, which, when wet
with an equal amount of water, imme-
diately sets and becomes hard and
cannot benefit the land. Gypsum is
composed of 1886 per cent of lime;
1851 per cent of sulphuric acid; 20.93
per cent of water Gypsum is slowly
soluble in cold water and not much
more soluble in boiling water and
acids The benefit to be derived from
the use of gypsum is chiefly in its
action in setting free potash and phos-
phoric acid 1t also absorbs ammonia
from the atmosphere and transfers
it to the roots of plants and thus fur
nishes nitrogen in soluble form. Gyp-
sum is usually applied to land at the
rate of 100 to 200 pounds per acre.
Lime, either sulphate or carbonate, is
always beneficial to lands that are
sour-it is said to sweeten them. 1t
is we'll to test the benefits of land
plaster by trying it on the soils to be
treated Sometimes the benefits are
wonderful and sometimes no effects
are noticeable.
| have also been requested to state
some of the benefits to be derived
from drainage. Some of these are
purely mechanical. A swamp cannot
be worked, perhaps is miry to horses
and even to men in some cases. Ii
drainage simply puts the land into
better workable condition, we call
that a mechanical benefit. All wet
soils are benefited in this way more
or less. But, aside from making the
soils better in this respect, there are
other benefits besides the mechanical
ones. Many people have an idea that
all we need around the roots of plants
to enable them to grow we'll is water
Now, water is an indispensable factor
in plant life, but too much water is
"too much of a good thing" The
roots of plants need air, as well as
the leaves, not so much of it, it is
true, but without air to a certain ex-
tent the roots cannot perform their
functions. John Percival, in his mag
nificent work entitled Agricultural
Botany" says: Good, well-drained
collie xub;Jo tb,,c roto ipipo on adpoIIotp
supply of water, allow a free penetra-
ton and circulation of air within them
Only in water-logged soils totally I'M
suited to the growth of ordinary farm
and garden crops, are all the spaces
between the component particles OF
the soil completed filled with water
and air excluded" One of the bene-
fits secured by drainage is the circu-
lation of air about the roots of grow
ing plants.
Another benefit is the increase of
the temperature of the soil. No one
who knows anything about plant life
needs to be tod that warmth is an in
dispensable factor to the farm and
garden plants. 1t is also well-known
that wet lands are cold compared with
dry lands. Let me again quote from
Agricultural Botany. Percival says:
I'm consequence of the presence of
a considerable amount of water, which
requires much heat to warm it, the
temperature of imperfectly-drain
soils is usually lower than that at
which the roots of ordinary farm and
garden plants do their best work.
Moreover, such soils do not allow OF
the free circulation Of fresh air with
in them, and the respiration process
carried on by the living protoplasm
of the root-hairs is interfered with.
Without an adequate supply of oxy-
gen, or where there is much carbon