The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1911-03-22
NITROGEN IS
A WEAK FACTOR
Percentage of This Valuable Plant
Food in Yakima Soil Is Not
Very Strong
SHOULD CONSERVE IT BY
FLOWING LEGUMINE
Table of Experiments at State Col
lege Shows Amount of Chemi-
Gals of Various Sorts

Yakima farmers have, in the con-
servation of nitrogen in their soil,
a problem before them equally as
important as the proper marketing
of their fruit Productive as is the
basaltic ash, and remarkable as are
the crop stories, the fact remains
that, according to chemical analyses
carried on by the state college at
Pullman, Yakima county soils show
a decided shortage of that most i'm
portant plant food, nitrogen. Indeed,
only two counties in the state, Ben
ton and Grast, have less. For King
county the nitrogen figures are IA
$50 as compared with 1,4S0 in Yaki-
ma.
Prof. Thatcher. of Pullman, in d
bulletin just issued primarily for the
benefit of the many new settlers in
the state, and which is a resume Of
several previous bulletins along the
line of soil analysis. thinks that by
blowing under each year the leaves
which fall from the trees, the nitro
gen supply may be prolonged, since
the leaves carry more than half the
nitrogen taken from the soil. To re-
place the supply, however, in guam
titles sufficient to prevent the soil
from becoming impoverished, it is
necessary to plant and pillow under
leguminous nitrogen-gathering crops
Strong in Lime.
The chemical in which Yakima
soil is stronger than any but OKan-
ogan Mason and Benton counties is
lime While lime is not of the
highest Importance as a plant food,
1t exercises very beneficial effects up
on the physical properties of the
soil and the ease of filth and upon
the processes which make plant food
available. The figures for lime ror
Yakima are $3.50 as compared, Tor
instance, with Spokane when mas
only 7,165 in certain graveily
benches. In phosphoric acid, this
county has $500 pounds per acre.
which is hardly up to the average Of
other counties. OF potash there are
$500 pounds, which is only about
one-half or one-third as much as is
contained in the soil Of nearly ari the
other east side counties, though gen.
orally more than is to be found on
the west side. Island county has in
places 27,040 pounds to the acre and
Benton 1880.
Doesn't Show Much.
While a chemical analysis shows
the percentage of plant food ele-
ments in the soil, it does not show
the proportion of this total plant
food supply in such form as to in
dictate what crops are best suited for
that particular section. 1t does not
show whether there is a sufficient
supply of available plant food for
immediate crop needs; nor does it
throw much light upon many other
questions about which a land owner
or prospective purchaser is concern
ed. The growth Of any given crop
upon any piece Of land depends much
more upon elevation, moisture sup
ply, air and moisture drainage, phys
ical conditions of the soil, etc., than
it does upon the chemical compost
ton of the SOIL
Leaves Hearty Eaters.
Experiments, however, showing
the amount of food elements taken
from the ground by various crops
have been made by this department
"A
wheat crop, fifty bushels to the acre,
takes from the soil 40 pounds of pot
ash, 80 of phosphoric acid and 100
of nitrogen. The basaltic loan of
Adams county, therefore, contains
enough potash to grow 430 crops of
such wheat, phosphoric acid enough
for los such crops and nitrogen
enough for only 20. Obviously,
therefore, nitrogen is the limiting
factor in wheat production in that
soil.
Similarly the fine sandy soil OF the
Yakima valley shows enough potash
for IS crops of 600 boxes each Of
apples, phosphoric acid enough for
100 crops and only nitrogen enough
for II such crops. On the other
hand the same soil if cropped to
alfalfa, which draws practically its
entire nitrogen supply from the air,
would be exhausted of its potash by
So crops of 8 tons each of alfalfa hay,
while carrying enough phosphoric
acid for 65 such crops.
The table shows that a whole apple
crop of 600 boxes of fruit per acre
takes from the soil 1874 pounds of
potash, 33 of phosphoric acid and
112 of nitrogen. OF this the tree
growth requires pounds of potash,
five of phosphoric acid and of nj
trogen; the leaves, estimated at four
tons, II pounds of potash 16 of
phosphorus and SO OF nitrogen, leav-
ing for the apples proper Sc pounds
of potash, II of phosphorus and At
of nitrogen. Potatoes, 300 bushels
to the acre, exhaust the soil to the
extent of 900 pounds of potash, % os
phosphoric acid and so of nitrogen.