The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1912-04-11
LARGE PHOSPHORUS SUPPLY
IMPORTANCE OF MAINTAINING
THIS ELEMENT IN THE SOIL.
NJ. r. Miller, Professor Of Agronomy,
University Of Missouri.

The careful farmer need seldom or
never use commercial nitrogen on his
soils. lie can put it there more cheap
ly by using lcgumc crops. Unlortu-
nately, no such simple means X avail.
able for supplying phosphorus to coils
Soils contain certain definite quaint.
ties of this element, and when it Is
removed from the soil by crops there
Is no means OF replcnishinG this sup.
ply except by feeding the crops and
returning the manure, or by buying
the phosphorus in commercial form.
Moreover, II Is this element which, to-
gether with nitrogen, is most strik.
ingly deficient in Missouri soils. I'm
fortunately. too. the grain OF our com
mon crops contains the largest pro.
portion of phosphorus in the plant. SO
that when grain Is sold from the farm
the soil is being depleted of an Gle
ment In which ii H. most deficient.
The loss Of total plant food from
soil h not the most immediate cause
Of unprodnctiveness but the continued
removal of phosphorus from soils al
ready deficient in this element will
sooner or later have its effect in pro.
ducing n decreased yield. II is there
fore highly important that Missouri
farmers learn the methods OF main,
tanning not only the available supply,
but the total supply Of this element in
the soil.
The feeding back Of crops is one Of
the easiest methods of preventing the
loss Of excessive quantities Of phOs-
phorus from the land. but reference to
a table on fertiliZing constituents re.
covered in manure will show that OF
the three main elements phosphorus
shows the least percentage return.
This il due TO the fact that n con.
siderable per cent of the phosphorus,
especially in all but mature animals.
is fixed within the bones of the car
cass. Such phosphorus comes on the
market later as bone meal to be pur.
chased by land owners and returned
TO the soil. In spite Of ones best eff
forts to save the phosphorus by feed
lbN iH' NN'I's' vi W. 'f''' ~ 'l'''' -
still an appreciate loss and one which
will ultimately he felt unless phoS
phOrus is brought on the farm from
without, either In the form Of fertilizer
or of purchased feed Naturally, the
loss in this care is much slower than
whore the crops are sold, and II the
humus is maintained many years viii
clapsc before the effect OF tn" slowly
waning phosphorus supply will be felt.
with the low actual content of phos-
phorus in most Missouri soils, coupled
with the low humus supply for keep.
ing this available, tn" need for phos
phorus is becoming strongly felt over
u great deal of Missouri today.
1t remains, therefore, for the farm.
or to supply either phosphorus
through commercial fertilizers or to
build up the humus supply of his soil
The wise farmer viii build UP the
humus supply and In addition he viii
seek to prevent the loss of phosphorus
from the land in SO far as possible
He will also accompany his efforts in
this line by the return from outside
sources, either in feed or commercial
phosphates Of a sufficient amount Of
phosphorus to at least balance the
loss