Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-11-07
The Nutrition of Plants

Plants, like animals, have to be
fed. For many years we have been
studying meta boliS'' in animals and
endeaVoring to determine the best
manner in which to combine foods to
secure the largest amount of energy.
milk or meat as the case might be.
It took us a long time to discover
what we know about the digestive,
circulatOry and assimilative organs
of anim and still apparently we
have the greatest part of the journey
to go. It was at a more recent date
that we began to appreciate that the
processes by which animals grow
ana thrive were not dissimilar to
those employed by the plant in it's
development. Now we know at least
that plant and animal cells multiply
and m their functions in the
same general manner.
For centuries earth remained
as Of the earth, earthly, and we little
suspected that it W a teeming lab
orator in which millions of micro
scopic organisms worked out the lit
tie cycle of their lives and passed
away, leaving the soil either richer
or poorer, according to the peculiar
function they performed. It was not
until about 1912 that agricultural
chemists began to really ascertain
any. Of the information which the
bosom Mother Earth had SO long
concealed, and make plain and sim
pie many Of the abstaEtc facts and
truths on which the economic de-
velopment of profitable crops is now
| b. led. Our knowledge Of b"+any, Of
| bacteriology and of plant nutrition
generally is a relatively "ecent &C
QUESTION, and even yet we know COM
| paratively little of the great mys-
teries of nature, and in most in
stances are still guessing as to cause
and effect rather than being able to
definitely emonstrate and explain
our views and conten lions governing
| the reIa .ons which really do exist
or shl exist between plants and
soils. We certainly know, however,
| that the proper nutrition Of plants
| has now come to be of the greatest
| importance because it is basically re-
| lated to the high cost of living, and
| therefore our national destiny. 1t
has also been shown that while AMI
mails are of-the utmost Importance TO
mankind and to industries, trade and
commerce ~ much larger amount of
|
can be made available through the
intelligent and skillful cultivation of
6n acre of land than by the old plan
! of feeding the crop to an animal and
consuming the meat or milk obtained
| therefrom.
And so the consideration Of this
question Of plant nutrition has taken
| on international aspects and is even
| coicerned with the future progress
and development Of the worlds will
zation. Hense, it constitutes most
profound question and one to which
the best energy and attention Of the
savants of the nation may be di-
rected with propriety at this crucial
ii re in our history.
The soil is the beginning and end
| Of all things. 1t constitutes the
home Of the plant under favorable
conditions. Under certain circum-
| stances, however, it becomes an arid
plain with the well-known character
| istics of desert areas. It is evident,
| therefore, that soils may be normal
or abnormal, according to the pres
ence or absence of certain conditions.
Lands which are very rich ir' those
| elements which we know are neces-
sary to the growth of plants may
prove improbable under cultivation
because of their inability to supply
| the cotton growing thereon with a
| comparatively small amount of
water. A change in elevation or ir