The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1920-06-18

I
Chemical Changes Favorable
Another thing about the sander
soils that enters into their efficiency.
They apparently do not facilitate adj
verse chemical ordinations so readi.
ly as some other soils. This means
that il plant food in the soil becomes
water-soluble and therefore ready for
plant to use, there are not so many
I probabilities of it being changed into
an insoluble form before the plant can
/ get it. In an insoluble form 1t is, OF
course, not available to the plant az
food
Many soils are very complex and an
element of plant food may revert, or
combine with some other element and
not become available to the plants
again for some time or until some
other change breaks the combination
Generally speaking, therefore, Flor
ida soils do not wage an effective
chemical war against the plant. The
soils yield up a generous portion Of
applied plant food, as doubtless it
does of all water-soluble plant food
that is produced from its natural
state.
AS an illustration of how the sd1d
Ter soils are more efficient, it will be
found that the amount of phosphOric
acid put into fertilizers for sandy soils
is smaller than that in clay soils. The
reason is that it has been found that
the phOsphoric acid is used more free
ly in sandy soils, evidently because
it is not so quickly reverted or COM
bined into insoluble forms in these
soils as it is in others. If it is revert
ed as quickly in sandy soils as in
others, then the subsequent chemical
changes are such as to bring it back
into solution more readily than in
other soils In either case the sandy
soils are more efficient.
Organic Matter Needed
The most needful things about Flor
ida soils in general, is organic matter.
or humus This will increase the
soils efficiency by checking the leach
ing losses of plant food, thus making
possible the largest returns from APP
piled fertilizers. Organic matter dis
appears from southern soils faster
than from the more northern because
of the longer period of active decom-
position in the south. Therefore, the
UIODlGUl III hCGpAIS Wy tAAC supply -
greater. But it is not a serious prob.
lem where the growing season admits
of two or three crops year, the resi-
.ue OF which can go into the soil 1t
may be that the whole Of one crop
BE turned under. 1t is, however,
a more economical practice TO feed
crop to live stock and return the ma
nure 10 the Land than to turn under
the crop. Moreover, the manure Is a
better form OF organic matter. Ot
course a good deal of the organic mat
] ter OF the plant is lost to live stock,
but this loss does not equal the live
stock plus the value of the manure.
The bulk of organic material coa-
sists of elements taken from the air.
Ii is spoken of as "carbOnaceouS. 1t
is this that renders the chief benefits
in improving the mechanical condition
of the soil attributed 10 humus. Since
the air is free the cost of getting car
bOnaceous material need not be great.
Ii is not considered an expense at all
when the roots and other residue or
live plants provide it. The greater
the crop, therefore .he more 0rSa mic
matter for the soil. l. the farmer fer
tilizes for greater crops, makes there
By greater profits. he Can also have
the assurance of adding To his SC il a
greater amount of organic natter. The
crops do not feed ON the carbOnaceOus
matter i'm the soil SO that the size
or number of crops will serve oniy to
Z increase II.
Bare Soils Become inefticisnt
A bare soil is one that IS on the
downward course toward inehiCielCY
The soluble plant foods it is p:cduc-
ing are being leached out. w'erea5
they ought to- be going into crops. On
the bare soil the organic matter is
also consumed. and there is no grow
ing crop 10 replenish it,
The highly efficient Florida soil,
therefore requires the constant pres
ence of feeding roots.
Considering the physical condition
of the soil. the climate. the long grow
ing season, with care to keep up the
organic matter in the soil, with proper
fertilization and well arranged crop
ping rotation. we have in Florida as
complete a set of conditions for right
soil efficiency as is to be found any
where.-Chas A. White Southern
Soil Improvement Committee in Flor
ida Grower.
Florida is Great State
The Flagler County Times publish
ed in the Everglades country where
Judge Ellis says sugar cane grows
as large as his leg THE Judge is
what may be called rotund) fur
nishes a picture of an Irish potato