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ELEHENTS OF
PLANT FOOD
Letter f rom the State Chemist
in Regard to
ANALYSIS OF A RICH SOIL
I I arm*;!- itas it in His Power to
improyi' His Soii by Proper
Tillage a ad Per
tliiviu g.
rt cur -j.*
T.NTTZTl NO. 3.
Yrkibt few tanners ever find such a
pt rfeco soii a I described to you iu the
last part of utv iuss letter, yet every
i, ; m- r ban it 1 ; hit power to improve
tiic ’il lie starts with however poor it
in;. ■ !• • or wnatev r its nature may be,
by judicious til.a--, fertilizing, drain
j: itching, liming, sanding, olaying
! •. rrr.c.ug, according as the con
of bis soil may indicate. He
5K . e pec". 1 1 iy consider his soil and
(i ;e to waat crops it seems to be best
t u 1. and tnen devote his energies to
rai-iL : those crops rather than others
which tnrive pooriy.
If now we proceed to analyze
a .1 n.» wo aid a plant a short
while siuce, we should expect to
fj i .;: it son:*.'of all tho eloments we
: ir tL* p ant, more especially in
the of no plant. Let us take the
s of cyme a rich soil; here is
. : v suouhl nave; taking one
hm , J pounds of the dry soil, we
cov I « r ui of a careful and skillful
c ■ >al ■■•■. A" is, separate it into the
fc.iowiag parts:
pounds I'm: hundred:
j These the are elements
; which plant is ob-
1 ligeil to have, but is
. a. . 12.07 , u<> dependent on the
i • ..... soil for them as it gets
most all it needs from
t he air and the rafli.
& ......7l.f>r>! The elements of soil in this
> ij.uf part the are
])••••........5.17 I cither not absolutely
r'; lie iicsia 1.0S 1 essential to the plant
k 0.! i , life, or the plant could
n iiipa’c acid 0.04 |small j get along with very
- amounts of
85.21 J them.
j ’Phe plant absolutely
Kiirc eti 0.12 | must have all of these
] ph’cueido.-hl and to grow and thrive,
Potash 0.'I* 1 though they exist
Lime.. 1.22 Jin quantity. the soil r small plant
— I cd
2.12 i needs them in large
j quantity.
Now h t us analyze ono hundred
pounds of wheat plants.
POUNDS PER HUNDRED :
C ebon • • • *
i dromon. All of this comesfsorn
C..,„ ,g; .... if. tin* atmosphere aud
--| the rain.
93.55 j
........0.09
.......sin ... 0.20
wh'c. acid 0.51 As you see these are
C'-thu-iue .... 0,01 used in small quantity
o UOj by the plant and tire
fciu.NU...... 2. 5 supplied in profusion
— I by the soil.
3. to J
Kit row a .... 1.001 These the plant must
V h’c tundO.43 | have or die. Most
FVtsh. .. o.ti i I soils are deficient iu
Lime... .. 0.2o them and the farmer
- J niuM add them to get
3.0J good crops.
* yi a see, by a study of these
ru cs, nuu i’u find in the soil tbs
■ in a is which we found in the
1 ’ et :v \t in cr.r first letter and
1 i this wheat plant. Tho carbon,
x u aud oxygen which we find in
tne ; tuv oi little or no uso as plant
ioo muse tho plant gets its store ol
ti '.ms our of tho atm'sphere. Il
5 its c.irbon from the carbonic
OCK i ■ air. You will remember
ta \\ o you iu one of my letters
h . > .»r a ’Uiit the importance of water
!>: . irbonic acid, ami as it is apt here
1 will repeat the paragraph:
“1 ;o waiiu- from which the hydrogen
Cf. '■ go a come is given us free iu the
fori i o f rain, end the carbon also iu tht
fo: in of cat. onie asi 1 which is breathed
out s' iu anally into the aru^sphere by
every living animal on the surface oi
ti > i;; by (-v- ry chimney anti hearth
c wan’ w •• a happy family; by
t mi; u.mk and locomo
ica in •r to our wants aud
•ities. t s .r.ionic acid forms the
1 i '.u ofa'd tiiis smoke although
i: : v i ack part which we see,
b '■ : <’ invisible part wuich is clear and
co: • , ; ti:o air. Vast streams ol
l ’ w aving out constantly iuto the
t y ' it not stifle aud suffocate
v word . if juured iuto the roomi
v. : Mvc in ? It is because all plant
life lives oa r. the great forests absorb
it. Tb e crops of wiiear, corn and cotton
consume it; the lilieauud the roses eat
it aud drink it They take this deadly
ga i into their wonderful little bodies,
r. ; work it ever and over, together with
t * water which they suck out of the
s uu'ii they have separated the car
i a from the i xygea with which it il
■ruined in earomuc acid,liberatiugthe
oxygen and appropriating the carbon
budding the tell* aud tissues aja$
r~ ***&£&*
;■
;: y 1 >•
r
« l :
r jails
■ ‘-i
m
1
m .*5
# © ' dB *3
il \
it WBW. If I® a: -m m
A --v
s 1 m te ass ->. , si I m
r 1HE GAILEY DRUG CO.
organs* of which the plant is composed.
This process of the plant in taking its
carbon . out of , the , air is a most , wonder
fnl , , one, ana . goes on only , under , the , in
flaence of light or in the day time, and
the leaf of the plant is the only active
organ concerned in taking the carbonic
acid out of the air. Tho ieaf of the
piaut is formed of very numerous little
cells placed side by side; on the under
side of tho leaf there are air spaces be
tween the ceils, and over the whole leaf
there is a emu skin. In this skin there
are uumerom small holes through which
the air passes. When it passes into the
leaf whilst tne sunlight is shiuing upon
it, through some strange vital power the
little cells of the leaf, under these con
ditions break up the carbonic acid of the
air, retaining the carbon and setting the
oxygen free, which passes out again into
the air. When night comes the carbon
thns obtained undergoes a change and
passes into the circulation of the plant,
going to the various parts of the plant
where it may be needed.
So wo see that growing plants tend to
purify the air by consuming its carbonic
acid gas, which is injurious to animal
life, and by giving off pure oxygen gas
in its place, which is beneficial to ani¬
mal life. Animal and plant life thus
stand in mutual and beautiful relations
to each other. Plant life inhales car¬
bonic acid and exhales oxygen; animal
life inhales oxygen and exhales carbonic
acid.
The animal, in his lungs and blood,
causes carbon to uuite with oxygen to
form carbonic acid; whilst the plant in
its cells causes the carbon of the carbon¬
ic acid to separate from its oxygen.
Analysis shows the percentage of car¬
bonic acid in the air to be small. Thus
a hundred gallons of air is composed of;
Oxygen...... 20 99 gallons.
Kitrogen_____ 78 98 gallons.
Carbonic acid. 00.08 gallons.
Yon say this is a very small
amount of carbonic acid. Yes, it
seems so, but when you come to
consider the enormous bulk of the air
it actually is very large. There is so
much of it that the volume of air which
rests ou oue acre of your farm, calculat¬
ing for a height of ouly 59 feet above
the farm would contain 90 pounds
of carbonic acid gas, and this amount
never grows less, even when the crops
are feeding on it, because it is belug
constantly reuewed from other sources.
Therefore, whilst yon need never fear
any lack of the essential element, car¬
bon, it is well for you to appreciate
where it comes from aud how import¬
ant it is. I have said the oxygen and
hydrogen fouud iu the plant came also
from the air; really they do not come
from tne air itself, but they corns from
the water which floats iu the air in the
form of clouds. These descend as rain
upon the soil and are drawn up through
the roots of the plant, aud the oxygen
and hydrpgen, of which water is com¬
posed, are appropriated by the plant.
You, of course, appreciate the import¬
ance of these two elements of plant life
because you know only too well how
crops suffer in a dry season. We will
consider the other elements iu our next
latter. Yours truly,
John M. McCandless,
State Chemist
Beat Butter In the World.
The blitter of Denmark is considered
superior to that of all other countries,
It brings the highest price in fancy
markets and can be found all over the
world in shops where luxuries are
Bold- In South America. South Africa,
in the East and Wait Indies. In India-
WEEKLY — BANNER-
Lg« pt an* In tropical eountiies gen-..
ally it is used by epicures, who pay ?1
a pound 1 for it in tins of one, ’ two and
three pounds’ weight, ho other coun
fry h&g been al)le to pro duce butter
^at will stand changes of climate so
well.
Refrigerator ships are now found on
nearly all the big steamship routes,
and they can carry perishables as long
and as far as necessary, but buttc-r
shipped by the ordinaly caigo steamoi
u f f 1 * ™ lt * remains in »
trQpic heat when lt passes into the
temperate zone again, it hardens, and
t j 1(3 c ] liln g e usually spoils it for the
taste, entirely destroying the flavor and
leaving it like ordinary grease or oil.
The Danes, however, produce a butter
which will endure this ordeal without
affecting ' ts flavor or sweetness, and
thcy ? rc °* ly l >eopi e of ^ hom tb5s
T T
“De Chonpia.”
“Spealdn ’bout partnerships,” said
Moses, with a solemn shake of the
head—“speakin ’bout partnerships wid
o white man, I’ze bad one an don’t
want no mo’. One time Kernel Daw
yon dun cums ober to my cabin wid a
bland smile on his face an shakes
hands wid me an says:
“ ‘Moses, let’s yo’ an xne go into part¬
nership in de wood bizness. Yo’s a
powerful hand to chop, an I’ze a pow¬
erful hand to sell cord wood.’
U 9 rears like a mighty good thing to
me, an 1 goes at it an cuts 30 cords.of
wood. Bimeby I goes down to de ker¬
nel fur my sheer ob de money, an he
smiles an shakes bands an says:
“ ‘I’ze got it all figgered out, Moses.
In de fust place, I purvided de timber.
In de next place, I purvided de ax.
Den 1 sent my mewls to draw de wood,
an 1 spent my time to sell lt. Dat
’pears to take in de hull ob de ease.’
t* ( But whar does de clicppin cum in?’
I says.
41 t De choppin?’ Oh, dat was exer¬
cise an don’t count!”—New York Sun.
The Destructive Poriioise.
.Seeing that an ordinary porpoise is
from live to six feev in length and will
require some 500 ordinary mackerel or
their equivalent per week to keep it in
fair condition—and there cannot be less
than from 20,000 to 30,000 of these
creatures living in British and Irish
waters—the drain upon the shoals of
mackerel living in these seas from this
source alone must be enormous, for if
these creatures only- feed on them one
half of the year about 400,000,000
mackerel must be destroyed without
man or beast receiving any equivalent.
These animals are not easily taken in
hand, being so intelligent and active.
I believe I am safe in saying there
were extensive fisheries carried on for
them in the sixteenth century at St.
Mawes and Fowey, Cornwall, and in
most of the narrow harbors of Britain,
their flesh being highly valued by the
gentry in those days, but now- nothing
of them is appropriated to man’s use
in England.—Contemporary Review.
How Sponges Are Sold.
When offered for sale in the local
market in the Bahamas, sponges are
either piled up loose or made iuto
strands or beads of from two to ten
sponges each. The best sponges are
usually made into strings of from
eight to ten sponges each. Others are
generally sold in lots not strung. The
buyer, however, is not guided in his
purchase by the number of sponges on
a string, but by what a certain lot will
weigh, and the weight is never given,
but the buyer must estimate it; hence
practical experience is needed in the
j purchasing of sponges.
I His Cork tegs.
“Along about 1890.” said a veteran
physician, “i xgjpntated the legs of a
1 wy> blew *a In per
wns a u~, ? e*.
FALL SEASON AT
*
? HnMHHOUBfeMl
^ rTYfriar VJ ***Y" r WxHMwntoV' ! 8
We have increased our stock and now carry a splendid line of
FANCY and FAMILY Groceries,
Good lino of CaNNED GOODS, PICKLES, Etc.
Everything you need in the cook room at lower price
:■
than you can buy the same elsewhere.
This is no idle talk— will se 1 e.ieaper than others.
Try my Tobaccos, Cigars and Snuffs—have large stock.
Will keep up my Seda Fount at all times,
If you want to save money try this store.
Thompson- Stewart.
| «'
M A
I S I
The stock season is now opening
again and as our business has been
growin ■ constantly we expect to
handle more stock this season than
ever before We will be located in
the old Night building where wo
were last season. We wish te re¬
mind the public that tl c y ran no
risk in c ealing with us as we guar¬
antee all stock to be strictly as re¬
commended. You will m ake no mis¬
take if you see our stock before buy
ing. The patronage oi the public
is respectfully solicited.
SHARP and KING.
plosion and Helped him procure a
couple of cork substitutes. As soon as
he was able to be about he went fish¬
ing. fell in and was rescued just in the
nick of time. He was laid up for sev¬
eral weeks and then sued me for dam¬
ages.”
t But why?”
r The cork legs stood him his head
on
in the water.”—Detroit Free Tress.
>« ntions Consolidated.
Cotton, compared to au average, 75.14
percent; 77.54 corn, compared to an average,
per cent; rice, compared to au av¬
erse, 85.S3 per cent; sugar qms cog*-
«- v4 vtr gr r F - ' .
sweet potatoes, compared to au aver £•-?
91.OS per cent; tobacco, compared r0 ‘-*
average, 87.83 per cent; pea crop. c
.
pared to an average, 88.53 per cent,.
compared average. • "
nut crop, to an * -
per cent; hay crop, compared t0 a “ j
arage, 8S.02 per cent; number of *
.
hogs, compared to last year, 91 pe*
condition of stock hegs, compared
an average, 90.51 per cent.
each ' utr --j£
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