Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1912-05-09
The Seed Bed.
(By DR.. W. E. Taylor, Director
Soil Culture Dept, Deere &
co., Moline, Illinois.
CONTINUED from last week.

essential to the growth of the
plant as water; in fact, they are
inter-dependent, and it must be
remembered that the ability and
amount of plant food depends to
a great extent upon the condi-
ton OF the seed bed. If the
plants receive their food from
the seed bed, it stands to reason
that deep bed would contain
more food than a shallow one.
1t is also plain that plant roots
seek the course of least resistance
and their abundance, energy and
strength depends upon the free
dom they have and the amount
ofnourishment provided for them.
Hence. it should require no argu-
ment to convince the farmer OF
the advantages of deep, thor
oughly made seed bed, well
stocked with the elements that
90 to make a balanced ration,
and keep in mind the fact that
the availability of plant food de-
ponds upon the chemical and ply.
steal conditions of the soil.
Plant food compounds (and all
the elements must be resolved in
to compounds) are made by the
union of inorganic base elements
with acids, and the work is &C
complished by the action of air,
water, bacteria and humus.
We have discussed the prob.
lens of air and water, and will
now consider bacteria and humus
as factors in making the seed bed
productive.
Plant food elements must, be-
fore they can be utilized, under
go changes, and right here the
phenomena of plant development
is very exacting. Organic mat
ter in the soil is essential. Thru
the action of one form of soil
bacteria it is torn to pieces and
passed thru a process of decay,
forming carbonic acid and am
mouia substances instrumental
in dissolving inorganic materia'
and forming chemical combina'
tions. The organic materials
are charged by bacteria anG
chemicals into humate, another
substance absolutely essential
in fact, a prominent ingredient
in fertility, but rather as a We
hicle than a component part Of
plant food. Specific soil bac'
terra have specific duties to per-
form, and if conditions are not
right, the chain of changes is
broken and the plant food is not
made available.
To illustrate: Organic ma
terials, whether they are vege'
table or animal, in a measure
contain nitrogen-that is, organ
lie nitrogen, an element that is
not available until it has under
gone certain changes. One class
of soil workers tear organic mat
ter to minute particles and start
a process of fermentation which
results in the formation of am
monia. This class of soil BAG
terra has no substitute, nor can
the operation De eliminated if
nitrogen is made available. The
ammonia is Immediately taken
up by another class of workers
and changed into nitrogen Oh N
90. While this substance is,
in a way, poisonous to soil, the
step is necessary to place It in
shape to be further rectihed,
which is Immediately done by
another class of living organ
isms. These last workers trans
form nitric into nitrate 81 N o
3, or nitrogen, in the only form
it can be used as plant food.
These nitrifying bacteria are
very exacting in two particulars,
namely:
Their work is incomplete in
sour soil, and they cannot live in
soil devoid of oxygen. Hence,
the necessity of the first essen
tial operation in making a per-