Turner County herald. (Hurley, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1912-01-25
The Chemical Analysis
OF Soil and Its In
tegDretatiOn
1y Howard !0Oms, Anayst, Aeronomy De-
partHlent. S. D. agricultural Experiment Sta.


ical analysis of any soil is the deter,
mination of the amount of plant fooG
that it contains. either readily or ul-
timately available for the crops that
are to be raised. 1t must be borne
in mind, however, that :. chemical
analysis does not necessarily deter
mine The soil to be productive or non
productive. Many other factors
physical condition, soil type, characi
ter OF subsoil drainage, etc.-have as
much to do in determining soil fertili-
/ ty as its chemical composition. But
a chemical analysis of a SOL will show
the linIung element or elements, and
so may point the way to methods OF
treatment for maintaining or increas-
ing soil fertility.
The soil reported in this article came
to the writer's attention during the
past summer. and ii Was thought that
report Of the analysis of it might
give some idea of the relative value
Of knc Jing the chemical analysis of 2
soil. The salaple was taken from q
piece of ho.tcm land lying along the
Big Sioux river a few miles from I,s-
teNire South Dakota. Until this
spring ting land had mover been arti-
ficiany drained, at which time cpaN
, feld rs first steps toward claimins
the land Formerly, an occasional
crop Of wild hay, when a dry season
permitted. WIS the only yield. IT,
some s. ots tie Grass had been entire
ly killed OFT by ''ai'lali. which made
its airearaascc during dry seasons N
various parts cf the area. 4 curso7s
ph"sical eur inaticn VAS made alonC
With the chemical | analysis. which IL
dicates the type to be brown silt
loam.
The results of the analysis are cal,
cu'ateel to tie wator-free basis, ard
| the amounts of the elements are Civ
en- in pounds ner two million of water
free soil, which is approximately the
amount Of soil per acre taken to g
depth of seven inches. The nitrogen
and potassium reported represent the
| total amounts of these elements per
acre of soil The phosphorus. calcium
and magnesium represent the "acid
soluble" amounts of these elements
/ per acre; that is. the amounts of these
elements soluble in strong acid, the
aolution being made in accordance
with the official methods of the Unit
ed States bureau of chemistry. The
sample represents the surface soil
L g., ,,n1,N
The "acid-soluble" phosphorus repre-
sents probably s5 per cent of the to-
tai phosphorus. Following is the
analysis:
Lbs. per
Element Per Cent. Acre
Nitrogen (totaD ..... .0.4679 1858
Potassium (tota1l $50. .o.6s27 1864
Phosphorus (acid-sol) J. .O.o773 1876
Calcium (acid-so1.) 80. .s9o1O 17So2O
Magnesium (acid-solD .0.211O 1920
BY way of comparison we give the
following table, showing the average
! composition of five bottom land" soils
of the brown loan type found in cen
trail Illinois. On. Bull. No. 123.):
Element. Lbs. per Acre.
Total nitrogen ..-............. 490O
Total potassium .3996s
! Acid-solnble phosphorus. ...... 1856
The following ts BILE represents the
averages of large number of anly-
ses MADE on soils from different sec
tions of Minnesota (Minn. Bu1. No. AID
giving total nitrogen and acid-soluble
phosphorus and potassium: