Page 18 BETTER FRUIT November, W>: I 



Need of Commercial Fertilizers in Bitter Root Valley 



By Edmund Burke 



C/iemist, Bozeman Agricultural Exferiment Station 



THE first soil Investigations made by the 

 Montana Experiment Station were in 

 1897 when the origin and extent of allcali 

 salts were studied. The first work done in 

 the Bitter Root valley was in 1899 and 

 confined entirely to the bottom land where 

 alkali salts would be liable to be found in 

 the largest quantities. 



At the time this investigation was started, 

 only the most fertile land in the state was 

 under cultivation and with the exception 

 of excessive amounts of alkali in a few 

 localities, all lands were producing such' 

 large yields of grains and grasses that no 

 one even dreamed of our soils being lacking 

 in any of the elements essential to plant 

 growth. 



With the advent of dry farming and the 

 rapid settlement of our government lands, 

 a considerable portion of our grazing lands 

 was settled and put under cultivation, some 

 as dry land and, in some cases, irrigation 

 projects were developed and the lands irri- 

 gated, but even up to this time, the farmer, 

 and even the scientist, were prone to be- 

 lieve that any of this newly acquired land 

 was lacking in plant foods and continued to 

 hold to the idea that all Montana soils 

 were unusually rich in all of the elements 

 essential to plant life and would produce 

 bumper crops under proper methods of 

 cropping and tilling when well supplied 

 with moisture. 



About 1910 and 1911, soon after the 

 rapid extension of our farming land, the 

 soil work of the experiment station was 

 extended to include a study of the nitrogen, 

 phosphorus and lime content of the soils. It 

 soon became evident that some of our soils 

 were lacking in nitrogen, the plant food 

 element most closely associated with or- 

 ganic matter. The scarcity of nitrogen is 

 not confined to any particular locality in 

 Montana, neither is it confined to this state 

 for the same condition prevails in many 

 sections of the semi-arid region of the 

 West. Aside from differences in soil types, 

 rainfall is the controlling factor in the ac- 

 cumulation of nitrogen in the soil. Where 

 the rainfall is light, there will be a light 

 growth of vegetation and consequently a 

 slow accumulation of nitrogen. In humid 

 countries, there is a danger of the nitrogen 

 being leached from the soil. This loss, 

 however, seldom equals in amount that 

 which fails to form in semi-arid countries. 

 Phosphorus is not of organic origin and 

 therefore the per cent present in a virgin 

 soil is not influenced by precipitation like 

 nitrogen. Some soils contain much more 

 phosphorus than others, but it must be borne 

 in mind that that condition is brought about 

 largely by geological activities. Near Phil- 

 ipsburg there is phosphate rock analyzing 

 10 per cent phosphorus, while some of our 

 soils in the state will not analyze more than 



0.02 per cent. The lime in a soil is slowly 

 leached to greater depths by rain water and 

 irrigation and where other conditions are 

 equal, there is more lime in regions of light 

 rainfall than in humid countries. 



So much for the pioneer work of the 

 station and the factors which influence 

 plant foods of the soil. This discussion may 



seem somewhat technical, but I believe the 

 time is coming, if not already here, when 

 we must devote more time to a study of the 

 plant food in a soil and the feeding habits 

 of plants. The farmer is careful to balance 

 his horses' rations so that they are able to do 

 a maximum amount of work or his cows' 

 rations so that they will give a maximum 



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