The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1910-12-09

become aVallable FOR plant 1000, they
too, must be made soluble, and this Is
partly accomplished by the carbon di.
oxide, of which large percentage of
the body of plants is constructed
This, too, has been gathered by the
plant from the air, and where the
plant dies and decay commences, this
element is released in the soil and it
attacks the minerals just spoken of
and makes portion of them avail
able to succeeding generations of
plants. | may say here that all this
fixation of nitrogen and it's transfer
nation into nitrates is done by minute
organisms which live in the soil, and
also that the release of the carbon
dioXide in the dead plant is through
the efforts of other busy little work
ers whose business it is to break down
plant tissue. In fact, these are what
we may well term the operators of
the fertility machine, and if these op-
orators are to do their work effective
ly, conditions in the soil, both as to
mineral supply, moisture and heat,
must be so blended together as to rem
der it congenial place for them to
live, multiply and do their allotted
tasks. So, in arriving at an approx
innate estimate as to the present and
future ability of our Nebraska farms,
we must ask the questions: What is
now present in the soil? What, ii any,
peculiar ability does it have to store
up moisture for future use? What
are the conditions as to warmth and
other things which make it a happy
home for the Industrious little work
ers l have spoken of?
If from an examination of the soil
we find that it does contain the min
erals necessary in abundant supply,
that it does have unique ability to
store up moisture and that it is a hap
py place for benignant bacterial life
to multiply and operate, then We can
say with assurance, this is a goodly
land, whose agricultural future is Sc
cure. In arriving at an accurate con-
clusion, We must apply the scientific
test as to what these farms of ours
actually consist of, and here l wish to
say that in applying this the severest
of all tests, do it because am most
upon and own our lands and those
who inhabit our towns and may per-
haps have pecuniary interests in the
country that they shall be advised as
to the actual value of what they pos.
sess. So that spirit of pride of pos
to use their possessions judiciously
aroused.
wish here to acknowledge my great
to and appreciation of
chemist, and Doctor Waite, soil bac-
teriologist of the state university, both
of whom are devoting their splendid
abilities to the service of our state.
The laboratory determinations are
theirs, so the figures / shall give tell
the exact story of the soil as we have
found it.
Contents Of North Nebraska Soil.
L
is typical of northeastern Nebraska
soil-the most of it has been under
about thirty years, and
record of the different groupings has
been kept. The surface foot of each
acre of the original prairie contained
about l22,500. pounds of organic mat.
ter, 7035 pounds of nitrogen, $4,000
pounds of potash, 1900 pounds of phos-
phoric acid, and from twenty to as
high as eighty tons of lime. During
these years on the fields that have
been cropped there has been no ap-
precable depletion of this mineral
In the second foot there is
3, 900 pounds of nitrogen, 21 900 pounds
Of potash, 2,400 pounds of phosphoric
acid, and also great increase in the
lime. There is a decrease in the nit.
rogen down to the seventh foot, when
it reaches 900 pounds, and from there
to the twelfth foot it remains about
the same. The total nitrogen con-
tent of the first twelve feet per acre
being 2l 900 pounds, the mineral con-
tent of the soil shows large increase
in the lower depths, there being in
the third foot 27,OOO pounds of potash
and 5000 pounds of phosphoric acid,
and from the fourth to the twelfth
foot 2S,5O0 pounds of potash and as
high as $4,000 pounds, the phosphoric
acid averaging $500 for each foot
from the fourth to the twelfth, the
total potash for the first twelve feet
being 34S,500 pounds, and phOsphoric
acid $4,000 pounds and the lime con-
tent being especially rich. The mar
ket price of all this fertility matter, if
we had to purchase it from the com.
mercial fertilizer manufactures, in
the first four, feet of each acre OF our
land would be for the nitrogen $4,000,
potash $4,725, phosphoric acid $64S,
$7,673. This is to depth
to about which the corn roots went
down in my fields this vast year,
But the total value of the elements
have just named in the first twelve feet
of each acre is $23,370, and all this fer.
tility matter is contained within the
area that the alfalfa roots penetrate,
Ia