The First Book of Farming Part 24

"Experiments at the Louisiana Experiment Station show that one acre of cowpeas yielding 3,970.38 pounds of organic matter, turned under, gave to the soil 64.95 pounds of nitrogen, 20.39 pounds of phosphoric acid and 110.56 pounds of potash."--Farmer's Bulletin, 16 U.S. Dept. of Agriculture.

"It is now grown in all the States south of the Ohio River, and in 1899 there were planted nearly 800,000 acres to the crop. Basing our estimate on the amount of nitrogen stored in the soil by this crop, it is fair to say that fully fifteen million pounds of this valuable substance were collected and retained as a result of the planting of the cowpea alone. This at fifteen cents per pound (the market price of nitrogen) would be worth something more than $2,000,000 for nitrogen alone."--Year Book of the Department of Agriculture, 1902.

_The Clovers._--These are the most extensively grown plants for green manure purposes in the United States. They are deep-rooted, and are able to use mineral food that is too tough for other plants. They furnish large crops of hay or green forage and a good aftermath and sod to turn under as green manure, or the entire crop may be plowed under.

_Red Clover_ is the most widely planted (Fig. 80). It is a perennial plant and grows from the most northern States to the northern border of the Gulf States. It grows best on the loams and heavier soils well supplied with water, but not wet. It is sown broadcast at the rate of from ten to twenty pounds of seed per acre. In the North it is generally sown in the spring on fields of winter grain. In the South, September and October are recommended as the proper sowing times. It is the custom to let it grow two years, cutting it for hay and seed, and then to turn the aftermath and sod under.

_Mammoth Red Clover_, also called sapling clover and pea-vine clover, closely resembles the red clover, but is ranker in growth and matures two or three weeks later. It is better adapted to wet land than the red clover.

_Crimson Clover_, also called German clover and Italian clover, is a valuable green manure crop in the central and southern States east of the Mississippi. It is a hardy annual in that section and is generally sown from the last of July to the middle of October, either by itself or with cultivated crops at their last working. Fifteen and twenty pounds of seed are used to the acre. It makes a good growth during the fall and early winter and is in blossom and ready to cut or plow under in April or May. It grows at a season when the cowpea will not live.

Crimson clover will grow on soils too light for other clovers.

The _Soy Bean_, also called soja bean and j.a.panese pea, is another leguminous crop used for green manuring (Fig. 81). It was introduced into this country from j.a.pan and in some localities is quite extensively planted. It grows more upright than the cowpea and produces a large amount of stem and foliage which may be used for fodder or turned under for green manure The seeds are used for food for man and beast. The soy bean is planted and cared for in the same manner as the cowpea.

The _Canadian Field Pea_ is sometimes grown in the north as a green manure crop.

_White Sweet Clover_, white melitot or Bokhara clover, grows as a weed from New England to the Gulf of Mexico. In the Gulf States it is regarded as a valuable forage and green manure plant. One or two pecks of seed per acre are sown in January or February.

_Alfalfa_, or lucern, though grown more for a forage crop than for green manuring, should be mentioned here, for wherever grown and for whatever purpose, its effects on the soil are beneficial (Fig. 82).

This plant requires a well prepared soil that is free from weeds.

Twenty to twenty-five pounds of seed are planted per acre. In the north the seeding is generally done in the spring after danger of frost is past, as frost kills the young plants. In the South fall seeding is the custom in order to give the young plants a long start ahead of the spring weeds. One seeding if well cared for lasts for many years. Alfalfa is pastured or cut for hay, four to eight tons being the yield. Many fields run out in five or six years and the sod is plowed under. This plant sends its roots thirteen, sixteen, and even thirty feet into the soil after water and food, and when these roots decay they furnish the lower soil with organic matter and their pa.s.sages serve as drains and ventilators in the soil. Alfalfa is grown extensively in the semi-arid regions of the country.

NON-LEGUMINOUS GREEN MANURE PLANTS

Among the non-leguminous green manure plants are rye, wheat, oats, mustard, rape, buckwheat. Of these the rye and buckwheat are most generally used, the rye being a winter crop and the other a warm weather plant. They are both strong feeders and can use tough plant food. They do not add new nitrogen to the soil though they furnish humus and prepare food for the weaker feeders which may follow them.

CHAPTER XXI

COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS

THE RAW MATERIALS

Next to the soil itself, the farmer's most important sources of plant food are the farm manures. But most farms do not produce these in sufficient quant.i.ties to keep up the plant food side of fertility.

Therefore the farmer must resort to other sources of plant food to supplement the farm manures.

There is a large cla.s.s of materials called Commercial Fertilizers, which, if judiciously used, will aid in maintaining the fertility of the farm with economy.

We learned in a previous chapter that the plant foods, nitrogen, phosphoric acid, potash and lime, are apt to be found wanting in sufficient available quant.i.ties to supply the needs of profitable crops. We learned also that lime is useful in improving the texture of the soil and in making other plant foods available. Now the commercial fertilizers are used to supply the soil with these four substances and they may be cla.s.sified according to the substance furnished as follows:

Sources of nitrogen, " " phosphoric acid, " " potash, " " lime.

SOURCES OF NITROGEN

Nitrogen is the most expensive of plant foods to buy, therefore special attention should be given to producing it on the farm by means of barn manures and legumes plowed under.

The princ.i.p.al commercial sources of nitrogen are: Nitrate of soda, sulphate of ammonia, dried blood, tankage, dry ground fish, cotton-seed meal.

_Nitrate of Soda_ or Chile saltpetre containing 15.5 per cent. of nitrogen, is found in large deposits in the rainless regions of western South America. In the crude state as it comes from the mine it contains common salt and earthy matter as impurities. To remove these impurities the crude nitrate is put into tanks of warm water. The nitrate dissolves and the salt and earthy matter settle to the bottom of the tank. The water with the nitrate in solution is then drawn off into other tanks from which the water is evaporated, leaving the nitrate, a coa.r.s.e, dirty looking salt which is packed in three-hundred-pound bags and s.h.i.+pped.

Plants that take their nitrogen from the soil take it in the form of nitrate. Hence nitrate of soda, which is very soluble in water, is immediately available to plants and is one of the most directly useful nitrogen fertilizers. It is used for quick results and should be applied only to land that has a crop or is to be immediately planted, otherwise it is liable to be lost by leaching.

_Sulphate of Ammonia_ contains 20 per cent. of nitrogen. It is a white salt, finer and cleaner looking than the nitrate. It is a by-product of the gas works and c.o.ke ovens. The nitrogen in it is quite readily available.

_Dried Blood_ contains 8 to 12 per cent. of nitrogen. This is blood collected in slaughter-houses and dried by steam or hot air. It decays rapidly in the soil and is a quick acting nitrogen fertilizer.

_Tankage_ contains 4 to 8 per cent. of nitrogen and 7 to 20 per cent.

of phosphoric acid. Slaughter-house waste, such as meat and bone sc.r.a.p, are boiled or steamed to extract the fat. The settlings are dried and ground and sold as tankage. It is much slower in its action than dried blood and supplies the crop with both nitrogen and phosphoric acid.

_Dried Fish Sc.r.a.p_ is a by-product of the fish oil factories and the fish canning factories. It contains 7 to 9 per cent. of nitrogen and 6 to 8 per cent. of phosphoric acid. It undergoes nitrification readily and is a quick acting organic source of nitrogen and phosphoric acid.

_Cotton-seed Meal_ contains 7 per cent. of nitrogen, about 2.5 phosphoric acid, and 1.5 per cent. of potash. It is a product of the cotton oil factories and is obtained by grinding the cotton seed cake from which the oil has been pressed. It is a most valuable source of nitrogen for the South.

The nitrogen in the dried blood, tankage, fish sc.r.a.p and cotton-seed meal, being organic nitrogen, must be changed by the process of nitrification to nitric acid or nitrate before it is available. They are therefore better materials to use for a more gradual and continuous feeding of crops than the nitrate of soda or sulphate of ammonia.

Sc.r.a.p leather, wool waste, horn and hoof shavings are rich in nitrogen but they decay so slowly that they make poor fertilizers. They are used by fertilizer manufacturers in making cheap mixed fertilizers.

SOURCES OF PHOSPHORIC ACID

The princ.i.p.al commercial sources of phosphoric acid are:

Phosphate Rocks.

Bones.

Fish sc.r.a.p.

Phosphate slag.

The _Phosphate Rocks_ are found in shallow mines in North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Tennessee, and also as pebbles in the river beds. They are the fossil remains of animals. After being dug from the mines the rock is kiln dried and then ground to a very fine powder called "floats" which is used on the soil. The phosphoric acid in the floats is insoluble and becomes available only as the phosphate decays. This is too slow for most plants so it is treated with oil of vitriol or sulphuric acid to make it available. The phosphoric acid in the ground rock is combined with lime, forming a phosphate of lime which is insoluble. When treated with the oil of vitriol or sulphuric acid, the sulphuric acid takes lime from the phosphate and forms sulphate of lime or gypsum. The phosphoric acid is left combined with the smallest possible amount of lime and is soluble in water. It is then called soluble or water soluble phosphoric acid.

Now if this soluble form remains unused it begins to take on lime again and turns back toward its original insoluble form. After a time it gets to such a state that it is no longer soluble in water but is soluble in weak acids. It is then said to be reverted phosphoric acid.

Reverted phosphoric acid is also called citrate soluble phosphoric acid, because in testing fertilizers the chemists use ammonium citrate to determine the amount of reverted phosphoric acid.

This form still continues to take on lime and by and by gets back to the original insoluble form called insoluble phosphoric acid.

The soluble phosphoric acid and reverted phosphoric acid are available to plant roots. The insoluble form is not.

The rock phosphates contain from 26 to 35 per cent. of insoluble phosphoric acid. The acid phosphates or dissolved rock phosphates contain from 12 to 16 per cent. of available phosphoric acid and from 1 to 4 per cent. of insoluble.

_Bone Fertilizers._ Bones have long been a valuable and favored source of phosphoric acid. In addition to phosphoric acid they contain some nitrogen which adds to their value. They are organic phosphates and are quite lasting in their effect on the soil as they decay slowly.

The terms "Raw Bone," "Steamed Bone," "Ground Bone," "Bone Meal,"

"Bone Dust," "Bone Black," "Dissolved Bone," indicate the processes through which the bone has pa.s.sed in preparation, or the condition of the material as put on the market and used on the soil.