Vol. IX. No. 20.3. 



THE AGRICULTURAL XKWS. 



43 



THE LOSS OF PHOSPHATES FROM SOILS. 



As is well known, the loss from the soil of those 

 coin pounds which form the source of the phosphorus 

 required by plants is constantly taking place. At the 

 Agricultural E.xperiment Station of the Uiiiversic}' of 

 Wisconsin, investiga!;ions are being made for the pur- 

 pose of determining the e.\teiit to -which this 

 occurs under various methods of farming. So far, the 

 conditions under which trials have been made are those 

 of e.\haustive cropping and of heavy manuring; an 

 account of these may be found in RvsearcU Bidletia 

 No. 2, of the above-mentioned Station. 



The importance of a careful study of the loss of pho.s- 

 phate.s under cropping conditions cannot be overestimated. 

 Unlike nitrogen, this element cannot be collected from an 

 inexhaustible supply, and unlike potash, it is being constant- 

 ly removed from the soil in ways which are impossible to 

 prevent, with the pre.sent conditions of farm practice. Phos- 

 phorus is used in the growth of the grain and is sold from 

 the farm. That portion of grain which goes into human 

 food is probably lost beyond recovery, and that which goes 

 into cattle feed is very frequently lost because of carelessness 

 in handling manure. 



EFFECT OF EXH.vusTivE (iioi'TiNi;. Nine pairs of samples 

 have been studied from fields which have been very largely 

 exhausted by forty to sixty years of cropping in grain or corn, 

 with little or no manure. It is evident that the loss of phos- 

 phoric anhydride, under conditions of constant cropping 

 and no return, is largely caused by the removal of the 

 crop.s, and this may amount to 30 per cent, of the 

 total quantity contained originally in the soil. 



EFFECT OF HEAVY MAXURIXG. The custom of using large 

 amounts of manure on tobacco lands raises the question as to 

 whether or not the soil retains the essential elements so 

 applied in excess of that taken by the crop. This problem is 

 one which cannot be settled by a few isolated experimental 

 plots which have been under control for a long period of 

 years, since the retention of these elements by the soil will 

 undoubtedly vary with its ditieront characters. It seemed, 

 therefore, highly desirable to study this matter on a consider- 

 able number of fields where the practice of heavy manuring 

 has been followed for a long period of j'ears. Determina- 

 tions have been made on sixteen fields, chiefly in Dane and 

 Rock counties. 



Of the sixteen fields, nine show a decrease, on analysis; 

 .six an increase, while one has remained constant. The 

 average of the sixteen fields indicates a loss of 5-4 per cent, 

 of that contained in the original virgin soil. It is evident, 

 therefore, that in spite of the large additions of phosphoric 

 anhydride in manure, there has been no increase in the soil 

 itself, although the decrease is not so great as in the case of 

 the exhausted soils. 



When the amount of phosphoric anhydride added in 

 manure is compared with that removed by crops, it is seen 

 that, on the average, almost five times as much phosphoric 

 anhydride has been added in manure as removed by crops. 



The conclusions reached are as follows: — 



(1) Crops from 9 exhausted fields account for 80 per cent, 

 of the phosphoric anhydride lost from the soil of those fields. 



(2) Crops from sixteen heavily manured fields account 

 for 19 per cent, of the pho.sphoric anhydride lost from the 

 soils of those fields. 



(3) Heavy applications of manure in tobacco-cropping 

 result in an enormous loss of phosphoric anhydride. In the 

 sixteen fields examined this loss is equal to the total amount 

 originally present in the soil. 



POULTRY NOTES, 



EHEUriATIC TROUBLES OF POULTRY. 



The connnon title that is given to ail cases of poultry 

 losing the use of their legs is 'cramp', but this is not an 

 accurate description, liecause there are various forms of leg 

 trouble, and they do not all ari.se from the same cause. It 

 is generally suppo.sed that all cases of iiialiility to stand arise 

 from the same cause, that is to say, damp; but this is not the 

 case. Fowls sutler mainl}' from four forms of muscular leg 

 trouble. There is first of all cramp, as applied to chickens 

 and ducklings. Now this may be due to damp, insanitary 

 surroundings, but it may also bs due to physical weakness 

 arising from constitutional debility, and it is most commonly 

 seen amongst chickens and ducklings hatched in the winte 

 time when the egg germs are not so strong as they are at 

 other times, and the cure for this is to adopt such a course 

 of feeding as will strengthen the limbs and enable the frame 

 to grow up strong. Should the trouble, however, arise from 

 damji, then the cramp is rheumatic in its origin, and should 

 be treated by warmth and by the use of .some stimulating 

 liniment. A great many of these cases of cramp amongst 

 chickens and ducklings are due to their being kept on brick 

 fioors. It is no uncommon thing to find a farmer keeping 

 ducks in a pigsty paved with a brick fioor, which is of course 

 about the worst po.ssible thing for them. Such a floor should 

 be covered with boards, and on the top of the boards should 

 be put 2 or 3 inches of peat moss litter or dust, and 

 then they would be perfectly warm and dry, and there need 

 be no fear of cramp. Similarly with chickens, cramp often 

 results from cold, damp floors, and it is far better to let 

 chickens sleep on the bare ground than to put them to .sleep 

 on a cold brick floor, with perhaps a little straw littered 

 over it. 



Coming now to rheumatic trouble in older [poultry, of 

 course rheumatism is one of the recognized complaints to 

 which jjoultry arc liable, and if it is allowed to go on long 

 enough it will degenerate into gout, because rheumatism is 

 really due to a certain condition of the blood, which is 

 induced by a particular course of feeding, and is encouraged 

 by damp, unhealthy surroundings; and then the acids which 

 form in the blood as a result arc liable to concentrate 

 them-selves in the joints, and you get swollen joints in birds, 

 just as you do in human beings. As a rule, however, the 

 life of a fowl is not long enough to enable it to become gouty. 

 Piheumatism, however, is fairly common, and the way to treat 

 it is to use a stimulating preparation such as hartshorn and 

 oil, or turpentine liniment or scimething of that kind, to the 

 shank of the leg, and to give the bird a dose of quinine or some 

 similar tonic. But there is one form of leg weakness which 

 is not rheumatic, and which only aflects laying hens, 

 particularly young hens during their first season. This is 

 what is known as ovarian cramp, and it is a muscular 

 affection caused by the strain of laj-ing, which seems to 

 deprive them of the use of their legs. A young hen will 

 often be found S(juatting down on the nest unable to move 

 after laying, and if she be lifted off she will flutter acniss the 

 yard, and seem to have lost control over her legs. All she 

 needs is to have a little rest for a few hours, when these 

 symptoms will disappear: but it is a wise plan in such a case 

 to keep the bird on short rations in order, if possible, to check 

 the development of eggs, because it is obviously desirable that 

 laying should cease until the muscles have recovered their 

 normal condition. {Farmer and Stock Breeder.) 



