Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1914-01-08
THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 1914.
Winter Soil Treatment
BY Karl Langenbeck.

Every season on the farm has its
duties, for in no business does work
interlock to the same degree, and
what is neglected today influences
profits next year. BY this time, the
mechanical outdoor work of the fields
is done and nature is left to her own
devices. Freezing, thawing, leach
ing, action of carhonic acid gas,
weathering, all the forces OF mechan
ical and chemical action on the soil
are most active now. 1t is we'll to
stop and consider what this means
and what the frosts and SHOWS and
thaws do for the land. Understand
ing opens the door for improving.
The last crop and the fall rains have
taken so much OF the plant foods out
of the soil as was in condition for So
luton and absorption by the rootlcts.
This has to be restored for the com
ing seasons growth.
The soil contains the necessary ele-
ments in abundance, but not in solu-
bic, or as we may truly say, in di-
gestible form. The cracking by frost
of the soil particles letting in the
water and acid of the air renders them
so. Whatever work has been done
on the land in breaking it up is sc
much to good in aiding these natural
agencies. This much, every man un-
derstands, that work on land, pillow
ing, breaking clods, narrowing, drain
ing, helps fertility by helping natures
mechanical forces unlock plant food
What the farmer is seldom or never
reminded of in simple unmistakeable
terms, is, that he can also aid ma
lures chemical forces for without
these, plant foods are not made di-
gestible or soluble in the soil in suf-
ficient amount to pay. TO remind
ourselves of what chemical forces are
and how they work, smell bottle OF
ammonia, put some I've or caustic on
the skin or take taste of sharp vine
gar. Then, think how ammonia
cleans, lye cuts grease and vinegar
will dissolve marble and other hard
stones.
Now, as physical and chemical
forces act together in nature, particu-
larly in winter, to make available a
new supply Of digestible plant food,
so must the farmer supplement the
work of tillage by the solvent or di-
gestive treatment of chemical agency.
European farmers, who well under
stand this and average 30 bushels OF
wheat to the acre as against Is bush
els in America, and other crops in
proportion, use the one chemical
agent for the purpose, which can
alone be applied. This agent is lime.
Its sharp or caustic property makes
it cut the insoluble silicates of potash
and phosphates of alumina and iron,
making potash and phosphates solu-
bic. Burned lime can do no harm
in winter to growing things. Where
clover and legumes have been plowed
under, it furthers their decomposition
correcting the first souring stage and
making good humus by Spring. Ma
nure, which is vegetable and animal
matter that has gone through this
initial decomposition, should be APP
piled some weeks after the lime. In
this way, and at any rate at this sea-
son, humus destruction by quick lime
is negligible factor. For these rea-
sons, use lime now. 1t can be put
on the frozen ground or on the snow.
1t will at once begin to work down
ward and get in its work. Winter
and fall enable it to exert its benefits
bringing out what is in the soil itself
thereby cheapening next seasons fer
tilizer bill.