Norwich bulletin., 1921-12-02

ly decomposing the air to get them. We came to the conclusion, that the only permanent and economicai source of nitrate supply was in the way nature has pointed out-the way nature has been producing 1t for untold thous- ands of years. viz, by the work of soil ], bacteria. We came to this conclusion, not because we particularly wanted to, | but because we had to just as soon as the real facts relating to the subject l were before us. Today, let's consider potash and phos- l phorus, two fertilizer elements of com- parable importance. While the nitrates which are founI in virgin soil have been due to the work of bacteria in sitting them out of the air, the potash In similar soils has us- ually been derived from the decomposi- ton of rocks. How It got into the orig inal rocks is another story and of slight bearing on the present discussion. Enough to say that they are full of 1t and, as they have been worn or ground or rotted into soil. the imprisoned pot ash has been released to become an es- sential constituent of that soil Says ona authority:
 "Potassium is very common ele- nnent. Only seven others are more abundant. There Is more potash in the crust of the earth than there is water upon 1t"
 All forms of rsck known to the Unit ed States are well supplied with potash, excepting onIy the coral rock of the Florida and Gulf coasts. Repeated an- alyses show such figures as the follow ing for the potash content per acre Of the upper seven inches of soil
 CosI, P-1 ,tsa 22,200 pounds; soils derived from Con- ! necticut river sandstonet 46 900 pounds i; soils derived from limestone 40,0 900 to 51.000 pounds; soils derived from shale 40.000 pounds sol s. derived from va , rious older sandstones 51,200 to 57,400 pounds. Don't forget that this rfeans | the amount Of pure potash-not suiphate 1 or muriate-in just the upper seven inches of plow-dirt on each acre. The 1 figures are mighty reassuring to any l farmer who is inclined to wonder what of potash is cut of. About the only soils i in the United States which are def- cient in it are the Everglades of Florida the Dismal Swamp Of Virginia. and rare patches of peaty swamp, land in other localities.
 i Now as to phosphorus. Striking a 1 broad average, t may be said that Yir- 1 gin soils contain about 2,000 pounds oi ! phosphorus to the acre.. seven inches deep. An average crop takes out from this reserve about tEe've pounds 2 year. Thero is less thciss enough for twc ; hundred wears supply you'N observe ATuch land in the eastern parts Of tat country has been cropped steadily fer ong aa that. -,...,-.,.4
 The perfectly natural thing has han rende on these old soils. Both tl1' chemist ard the fa.-mer have discovered it. Having robbed and starved them q the same time for six generations W. farmers now try to sneak out of ou own responsibility by saying that the: are worn out" In proof of the fact tha they have become practically useless We n the ten wears, between 1900 and 191G abandoned 2.350 900 acres of then T New England. New York, New Jerse, and Pennsylvania alone.
 Chemists who: have analysed then have found that the original reserve c 2.o00 pounds per acre has in man ca ses. been reduced to as little as ;5 pounds Der. acre. and: that in the !eas available forms. Both science an, practical farming therefore are agree, IS to the dep orable result.
 |. The remedy. 20 far as at present ,iI- derstood. consists simply in the rcstor atfon of phosphates to the phosphorus lacking soils. Fortunately for us of tn
 United States, we have in our own pho. phate mines a visible supply of appro, fmately 10000 pounds of rock, phasphat ; for every cultivated acre. That is, the promise a supply about; five times great CT than the original stock. ~Evii4ntl, there is no danger Of any in1med:at phosphate famine. But we've got to change eur phsspka, policy, or'all that Hitherto, we've bee
 using mostly acid phosphate Now, .ac; phosphate is simply a mixture of on
 ton of sulphuric. acid with one ton (
 rock phosphate. There are 2So pound
 Of phosphorus in a ton of the rock. (
 course. there Is no more in the two tor
 of acid phosphate which is made by adt
 ing ton of acid to the ton of rock.
 follows that the acid phosphate has on.
 just half as much, phosphorus In It. pt
 ton. az the. raw rock. Yet the cost ( l the acid and the manufacture cor,bir
 to make it much higher-priced, per to] | than the raw rock.
 The farmer pays more for 14o pounc
 of phosphorus in a ton of acid phospha,
 than for .230 pounds in a ton of "a ] rock.
 The only excuse for this wasteeulne,
 of money and fertilizer has been ths
 the acid rendered the phosphate moI
 immediately available.
 Yet hundreds oR experiments an
 thousands of practical farm tests fin II
 last dozen years have established tb
 fact beyond cavil that the raw rock.
 only 1t is ground fnely,.is as efsectt,
 as the calculated rock Not only ha,
 experimental trials in. this country ar
 Eng and indicated this, but .prsctic.
 Farmers on hundreds of farms. in. th
 west and scores cf farms right here
 Connecticut have proved; it. As one e.
 pert puts 1t, the discovery that pho.
 phate rock could be dissolved was
 benefaction, at the time, but the lat.
 discovery that 1t can he ground so A1
 "that the farmer can do his own snia,
 fating in the soil" Is of even greater ir
 portance.
 Drive 8 naf1 in, right shere, V.
 please. For this Is. where we hang ,
 another tribute to the work of bscteri
 The farmer doesn't "do. his. own ae:d
 lating." Not by a long shot. It Is tho
 same bacteria which do 1t for him. $,
 his own seil,'' of course, not in sa,,t, h
 manufacturing plant with acid made o of pyrites imported from Spain. Witho
 any charges for. freights or conrnissi,
 or wages either: s5$,,
 Prot. Estens thns summarizes Il
 new Declaration of Independence whj,
 he and his ."Indepepdept Fertility Fisl
 have eonjoined to submit to tine farInil world .aass# .,'. 1s sssgs..5.5
 We make the bacteria do, most of | Ifertilizing. aas s19s ! ge53f a,sf. !.
 Tn thes first place, they manufactu
 the nitrafes;-s ..ssA..s.