SOILS AND FERTILIZERS. 375 



their demands upon the soil; they require more potash, more phos- 

 phoric acid and more nitrogen, though a large part of this is derived 

 from the atmosphere, than any other. That they grow upon our lands 

 without manuring as well as they do is proof of the inherent fertility 

 of the latter. Continuous cropping would, of course, be impossible, 

 but that a crop of clover in proper rotation can find more than twice 

 the amount of potash and a little more than the same amount of phos- 

 phoric acid in the soil than does a crop of wheat, might at first glance 

 be taken to prove manuring of our land altogether unnecessary ; the 

 plant food is certainly present, and if one crop can find it, why might 

 not another be made to do so by proper cultivation? There is some 

 prospect for beneficial results in this direction; but as the powers 

 of the different plants for absorbing mineral matters from the soil are 

 limited by the extent of their root systems, and as in clover and alfalfa 

 this is vastly greater and penetrates far deeper than that of the 

 other cultivated plants, they are enabled to get not only from the 

 upper but also the lower stratum of soil whatever plant-food they 

 require, while other plants are mainly depending upon the former. 

 Facts are stubborn realities and cannot be ignored; override them 

 we may, but not with profit to ourselves; far better to guide and 

 direct them by knowledge and ingenuity into useful and profitable 

 channels. 



Corn, timothy and wheat, the three staple crops of our State, stand 

 <jlo9e together in their demand for phosphoric acid, and, in the order 

 in which they are mentioned, in that for potash, of which they contain 

 in round numbers 60, 50 and 40 pounds to the acre ; they would stand, 

 therefore, in need of a potash fertilizer in the order named, while their 

 requirements for phosphoric acid are about equal to and nearly those 

 of alfalfa and clover ; in nitrogen, corn, wheat and timothy, requiring 

 M, 55 and 47 pounds per acre, reveal their dependence upon the most 

 deficient, and consequently the most valuable, of the three plant-foods 

 in oar soil; but while all these crops represent a demand upon our 

 soil of the quantities of plant-food mentioned, it must be borne in mind 

 that only corn and cobs and wheat kernels are actually sold, and the 

 stover and straw remain ; this makes the selling of timothy off a farm a 

 much more exhausting and unwise practice than that of corn or 

 wheat — supposing, of course, that care be taken of the straw in con- 

 nection with the manure heap. "A penny saved is a penny earned," 

 must be learned by farmers as by other people, in order to become 

 successful in their life occupations. 



Of cabbage, potatoes and carrots, in common with all truck-farm 

 •crops, it may be said that they need plenty of fertilizer : Much potash, 



