352 



STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



in the State to learn if possible where the difficulty lies. This is es- 

 pecially desirable since on most farms considerable quantities of manure, 

 clover sod and other organic materials are plowed under. We have 

 worked out in detail the conditions that may exist under several sys- 

 tems of farming. 



Conditions on a gram farm. Some farmers follow a system 'H)f grain 

 farming. The maximum or greatest, the minimum or lowest and the 

 average losses of certain plant-food constituents are summarized in 

 table 2. 



Table 2. — Plant food balance on a 100 acre grain farm carrying 2 cows, 5 horses and 14 hogs. 



It is seen that under the conditions given a considerable annual loss 

 of nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash is sustained on this farm. This 

 is true irrespective of the fact that all stover not fed is plowed under 

 and assuming that there is no loss of plant food from straw used for 

 bedding, a condition which is not true. If all the straw not used on the 

 farm were plowed under instead of being sold, there would still be a 

 net average loss of 2,G09.73 pounds of nitrogen, 1,220.24 pounds of phos- 

 phoric acid and 1,423,82 pounds of potash. 



Conditions on a general farm. In some instances general farming is 

 practiced. The fertility situation as nearly as can be determined is as 

 given in table 3. 



Table 3. — Plant food balance on a 100 acre general farm, cprrjing 6 cows, 4 young cattle, 5 horses 



and 14 hogs. 



Plant food in feed and pasture grass 



Loss during digestion and handling of ma- [Maximum, 

 nure \ Minimum. 



I. Average. . . 

 Returned to soil bedding; stover, etc 



f Maximum. 

 Total returned to soil ] Minimum . 



( Average. . . 

 Removed from soil in crops 



[ Maximum. 

 Annual loss from soil \ Minimum. 



[ Average . . . 



Nitrogen- 

 pounds. 



2,645.79 

 1,546.25 

 1,067.40 

 1,306.82 



550.4 

 2,128.79 

 1,649.94 

 1,889.36 

 4 , 937 . 45 

 3,287.51 

 2 , 808 . 66 

 3,048.09 



Phosphoric 



acid — 



pounds. 



830.71 



459.76 



304 . 68 



382.22 



145.22 



671.25 



516.17 



593.71 



900.17 



1 , 384 . 00 



1,228.92 



1,306.46 



1 



Potash — 

 pounds. 



2,059.79 



902.89 



679.12 



791.00 



845.83 



2,226.50 



2,002.73 



2,114.e2 



4,434.16 



2,431.43 



2, 207. f 6 



2,319.54 



*A detailed statement of the conditions on the farm is given in the appendix. 



