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ABOUT FERTILIZATION
CONCERNING THE SOIL. AND ITS
RELATION TO ATMOSPHERIC
CONDITIONS.
REGARDING- PLANT LIFE
important Subject of Interest to All
Agriculturists Further Discussed
e
by Georgia State Chemist.
j
LETTER NO. 2.
Ail living things, both plant and ani
mal, may be traced back to two sources,
the soil and the atmosphere. In the
last analysis every particle of which
they are oomposed must have been de
rived either from the air or the earth.
The food derived from the air is by far
greater in quantity than that from the
soil, bat as the elements of plant food
ih the atmosphere automatically renew
themselves, there need never be any
feat that the atmosphere will be ex
hausted of the elements of plant food ■
which it contains; the soil, however, J
is a different proposition. The elements
of plant food contained are ranch less
abundant than in the air; in fact, many
of them are quite limited in quantity,
and the best efforts of the farmer are
needed to improve the condition of his
soil so as to render the plant food in it
more available; to prevent suoh plant
food as exists from washing away,
and to add plant food from any other
available sources. The soil is any part
of the earth’s surface which is capable
of cultivation and of the production of
crops.
The geologists tell us that when
the earth first cooled down from a mol
ten condition there was no soil any
where, but only rock, great granite
boulders and rocks of other nature, but
that in the vast periods of time which
elapsed between the cooling down of
the earth’s crust and the time when
man aud other animals began to ap
pear on the earth, the rocks hud
rotted and crumbled away and pro
duced what we now know as the soil
and subsoil. The rain falling upon the
rocks sinks into the cracks and fissures,
and, freezing therein, tears and flakes
off small particles; these in turn, being
swept along by floods, are ground
against each other and gradually re-
.duced to powder. The oxygen of the
atmosphere also exerts a chemical effect
in converting Some of the minerals into
oxides. For instance, if you leave a
bright, new ax out exposed to the
weather you will soon note a coating
upon it which you oall rust; that is
produced by the action of the oxygen
of the air upon the iron of fhe ax, and
is really the oxide ef iron. In this way,
then, by the action of water in freezing
and thawing, in grinding and trans
porting the broken fragments of the
rock and by the action of the air m ox
idizing the minerals going on for many
thousands and thousands of years, pos
sibly millions of years, the rooks have
been gradually converted into what we
now know as the soil and subsoil.
The subsoil may extend down only a
few feet, or it may extend for many feet,
but when yon get to the bottom of it
you will strike the rock, usually the
same kind of rock from which the soil
was originally derived. Soils may be
divided into these general classes—
sandy, clayey, limy and peaty, accord
ing to whether their principal ingre
dients consist of sand, day, carbonate
of lime or vegetable matter. A soil
which contains over 70 per oent of sand
is called sandy. Suoh soils usually con
tain but little plant food. They are ill-
adapted to withstand a drought, as the
sandy particles absorb and zetain but
little moisture and the crops would
soon burn up in a long dry season; but
when the rainfall is abundant ar irri
gation is at hand these soils are desira
ble, because they dry out quickly, per
mit the easy cultivation of the crops
and respond quickly to liberal fertiliza
tion. They are especially adapted to
quick-growing crops.
A clay soil is one that contains over
50 per ceat-of clay, and is exactly the
reverse of the sandy soil. Water perco
lates through them very slowjg, and in
a very wet season the crops on them
suffer from the excess of moisture. They
are also more difficult to cultivate.
These lands, however, are usually rich
er in plant food. They are well adapt
ed to the grains and grasses. Limy
soils, lime soils, or oalcareous soils, are
those which contain over 20 per cent of
lime. The lime exists in these soils in
the form of carbonate of lime, and is a
very valuable element of plant food. It
is itself absolutely essential to the plane
and it also aids in breaking up mineral
combinations in the soil, and so render
ing other elements of plant food avail
able whiph would otherwise remian in-
' soluble and therefore inert.
Lime also aids materially in the
decay of organic or vegetable mat
ter in the soil; it also improves
the mechanical condition of the
soil; it is a great benefit in this way
both to sandy and clay soils. It causes
the very loose particles of the sandy soil
to adhere more closely together, and so
Improves its power of absorbing and
holding water; it also improves the tex
ture of a clay soil by preventing the
particles from stroking or adhering so
closely together and thus renders it
more porous and friable and easy to
work, and also enables water to pass
through it more easily, in a* measure
obviating the dangers of a wet season
on clay land. The limy soils are adapt
ed to the grains and grasses and fruits.
Peaty soils consist of organic or vege
table^ matter in a state of partial decom
position, with comparatively little min-
■ oral matter. Suoh lands are usually of
a deep black color and are very nroduc*
tiva.
The three kinds of soil just described
are the extremes of thei^kind, and the
soils which are generally preferred by
twiners are mixtures & tfcqse, and are
known as loams; a soil which contains
from 10 to 20 per cent of clay is called a
sandy loam, when it contains from 30 to
30 per cent of clay it is a loam, and
when it is composed of from 30 to 50
per cent of clay is a clay loam. An ideal
or perfect soil is hard to find in nature
containing just the right proportion of
sand to ktfep it porous and warm aHd
permeable to water; just the right
amount of clay to keep it cool and to
obviate the water running quickly
through it like a sieve or evaporating
poo rapidly from its surface; just the
right amount of humus or decayed vege
table matter to furnish nitrogen and to
hold jnst the proper quantity of moist
ure like a sponge: also just the proper
amount of lime in the soil to furnish
plant food to help liberate the potash
from the feldspar and mica minerals iu
the soil, and also to aid m the decompo
sition of roots and turned under crops
like clover and peas. Plenty of lime in
the soil will help convert these into
hnmus which is so highly appreciated
by farmers all over the world because it
helps to retain moisture, to convert the
insoluble fprms of nitrogen into the more
soluble, and to give to the soil that black
color which is usually found in most
fertile soils, and which certainly has the
power of absorbing more of the heat
rays of the sun and thus making the
soil warmer than the lighter colored
soils can possibly be. In my next letter
I will still write you more on this im
portant subject of the soil.
John McCandless,
State Chemist.
RESCUE OR ARCTIC GRASS,
New Crop For the Southern States Is
Suggested.
Rome, Ga., June 1, 1901.
Hon. O. B. Stevens, Commissioner of
Agriculture, Atlanta. Ga.:
Dear Sir—In reply to-yours of a re
cent date in regard to what I know
about Rescue grass, will say:
I have sown for the past four years
what you refer to as “Rescue grass,” or
what we locally call it, “Arctic grass,”
which of course is no proper name for
it, but only given to describe one par
ticular characteristic of its habit of
growth, and that is its extreme hardi
ness in winter.
Without knowing positively, my opin
ion is that this grass belongs to the
Bromus species of grass; that it is the
winter variety of this family as the
Bromus iuermis is the summer variety.
Bromus inermis, under successive ex
periments made by the United States
government in the hot and arid far
west, has proven itself to be able to re
sist the hot, dry weather of that climate
better than any other grass, and with
U6 it should prove a valuable pasture
grass in summer as well as a good hay
grass. It should be sown in spring,
however, to allow it to become well
rooted to enable it to resist the winter.
After cutting off a crop of hay in
summer it should be allowed to grow
until autumn, when it will afford abund
ant pasture during our usually dry
months. With this grass for summer
or autumn pasture and the Rescue grass
for winter pasture, cattle and sheep will
do well on very little other feed, except
during the months of January and Feb
ruary, when oar lands are usually too
wet for oattle to run upon. It would be
hard to find a better combination than
these two grasses afford for not only an
all the year round pasture, but for val
uable and abundant hay as well
I have said this much about the
Bromus inermis because it is a new
grass for the south, being a native of the
far west, and to suggest that it would
be a good scheme tb have your depart
ment introduce it here, for I am quite
sure not one farmer in a dozen knows
the value of this grass.
As for the winter Bromus, or Rescue
grass, as you are pleased to call it, there
s no grass that will make better hay,
and as a winter pasturage grass it is
incomparably the best. Not even rye
or barley will stand the winter better or
make more growth. It should be sown
on good land, for poor , land will not
make any good crop.
The seed bed should be well prepared,
as for any other grass, and the seed
wwn about a bushel and«a half to the
>cre, early in the autumn—say the first
week in September, of as soon there
after as possible, if you want early win
ter pasture. I should judge it might be
sown in spring, as it is safe to sow oats,
but the difference will be that yon find
between spring and fall sown oats. It
will not be safe to sow it late in the
spring, as it is not fond of hot weather.
It can be cut early in may. when fully
green, for hay, and then, if the season
is propitious, yon may harvest later in
June a light crop of seed, owing a good
deal to the strength of your land. But
left to seed it will bear an abundant
crop, say at- least 50 or more bushels per
acre.
If cut in the “dough” state, as we some
times cut oats, it will give you a feed
equal to that of sheaf oats.
There is no other grass that will stand
more water. It will remain unhurt for
ten days under 10 feet of water and
seem to continue to grow. Therefore,
it is valuable for low, wet river lands.
In reference to this subject Mr. W. M
Gammon of Rome says as follows:
“I am neither a farmer nor an agros-
tologist and don’t pretend to know, but
it would give me great satisfaction if
Mr. Redding was mistaken. I have 60
acres of it, am catting and have been
for two weeks, for hay. Am selling it
in Yhefieldfor $15 pet ton. Off of 1)4
acres of good land I cut five tons of hay
cured. All I know is that it makes good
hay and sells xeadilv.”
Yours truly,
J. Lindsay Johsson.
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CONDENSED STORIES.
"Bobs” as Sherlock Holmes and thei
Remark He Overheard.
A delightful story is told of'
“Bobs” in the role of amateur de
tective. Many the gallant;
field marshal Was coinmandiifg’a na
tive regiment in India. The men
were excellent fighters, hut their
moral standard was not. quite what
one would consider perfection..
Their peccadillos were regarded
leniently, but the line had to be;
drawn somewhere, and one day when
a sergeant complained that his
watch had been purloined by a com
rade Major Roberts decided that
the time had come. He accordingly
harangued the regiment at large at
evening parade on the heinousness
of the crime committed by one of
their number, and, knowing the na
tive character, he tried what could
be done by bluffing. Therefore be
fore dismissing the men he assured
them that he knew the thief and,
that unless the watch was restored
to its owner before the next reveille
sounded he would be tried by court
martial. The next morning the ser
geant reported that under hover of
darkness the watch had been restor
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naturally pleased with himself, but
during the course of the day he
overheard two of his men talking in
a way which somewhat lessened his
self satisfaction. “What a wonder
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them in a tone of admiration. “He
actually knew who took the. ser
geant’s watch and made him return
it!” “Ah', my brother,” replied the
other, “of course the sahib knew
where the watch was, and why ? Be
cause he stole it himself!”—Home
Notes.
Senator Scott’s New Shoes.
Senator Scott of West Virginia
wore a new' pair of shoes to the
White House one day recently. Ac
cording to him, they were giving his
pet corn “Jessie.” While he was
i TOE offending shoe was cut.
waiting to see the president he slip
ped off the offending shoe. When,
he tried to get it back again, it
would not go on. At this juncture
Secretary Cortelyou said:
“Senator, the president is now
waiting to see you.”
The West Virginian looked per
plexed. It would not do to keep the
president waiting. In a few mo
ments he reached in his trousers
pocket and pulled out a “Billy Bar-
low” knife. With this the offend
ing shoe was cut, and Senator Scott
was thus enabled to slip it on.
Druggist Takes Customers’ Advice.
. Mound City, Ran., Oct. 22,1900.
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