Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1913-04-06
Ore o|Me MEZHH0WZC
Pots of Soil From Many States
Scientifically Treated to Show
a. What They Lack.

MINNEAPOLIS, Mimi, April G.
How James j. Hill, by turning his res
.idential greenhouse into a laboratory
and soil experiment plant, is bringing
about n new epoch in agriculture i'm
the northwest, and how the railroad
man, with a view to determining soil
need of the country has carried on
chemical experimentation, is told by
Joseph Gilpin Pyle in the current mum
Der Of Worlds Work. The visit to
Mr.. Hills greenhouses of a party Of
Minneapolis bankers and business
men at a time when grain on treated
soil brought from along the Great
Northern road was growing side by
side with grain on untreated soil,
was the first knowledge given the
world OF the work Mr. Hill had start.
ed. The scientific fcatI1res Of the ex-
pertinent and the results obtained are
set out In detail In the magazine ar.
ticle.
The Great Northern road began
some time ago to plan practical meas
tires for the improvement of agricul-
ture In the northwest. Neither In the
agricultural college of Minnesota or of
neishboring states did Mr.. Hill find
available the equipment for such ex-
pertinent work as he had planned, and
his greenhouses we're set aside for
the purpose. ,7 .
'Five.Acre Tracts Used.
i A tract Of five acres Yves selected on
every one OF the l51 experiment farms
OF the Great Northern road in Mime
sofa and North Dakota. F.. r. Crane,
who was for nine years head Of the
agricultural engineering department
or the University of Illinois and for
. i've years identified with the agricul.
tural school at Menominoe, Wis, was
! given charge. The owner of the five
acres agreed in every instance to
pillow, plant and cultivate the tract as
directed and selected seed was sup
piled. This was a work with which
the northwest is familiar. 1t not only
produced direct results, but was Of
] more generally beneficial influence be-
cause ii induced farmers to do all
their farm work a little better.
There was an absence of definite.
comprehensive information relating to
soil analysik and the needs Of the
northwest farms.
i. Soil Diagnosis First.
3 THE first step is soil diagnosis"
says the article. THE soil must be
prescribed for just as the physician
,prescribes for his patient. only after
careful physical and chemical examin-
atoms to fix the nature and progress
tof the ailment. TO determine the
quality, and therefore the needs, of cv-
cry individual soil, by physical and
chemical methods, employing these
methods Independently as a check I'D.
on each other, is the first duty of the
agricultural expert. Chemical analy-
sis will not tell how much fertilizer.
Tor instance, is needed; but it will
{ show in which elements a soil is weak
and in which it is strong. 1t reveals
many secrets helpful to the cultivator.
Such work for the northwest is now
, we'll under way.
! The laboratory was opened Sept.
Is, 1912. On Nov. 10 chemical deter
limitations were begun. Nine thousand
square feet is now under glass for the
growing of wheat, barley, oats, rye
and other grains in pots; and as much
more space as may be needed is avail
able. ... Fl .-I. .t
Samples Of Land Taken. :
After a farm plot has been select.
ed for cultivation. a man is sent to
bring in enough of it's soil for chem ]
ical analysis and pot culture. Ten
cores are taken with a soil auger from !
different parts Of the field, half of
them from the surface to eight inches |
in depth, and half from a depth of
eight to twenty-four inches for the pot /
cultures, from $50 to 200 pounds of
one surface layer are used.
For pot culture, the soil is thor
oughly mixed and air dried. Exactly
twenty-five pounds of it are weighed !
out into each of six galvanized iron
Jars ten inches high and twelve inches
in diameter. The soil Of the first six
Is left in its natural condition. The
soil in the other five is treated with
fertiiizing material Of different kinds
or combinations; the second jar being
for nitrogen, the third for phosphorus,
the fourth for potash, the fifth for.ni-
trogen, phosphorus and potash com.