«84 



HORTICULTURE 



June 19, 1909 



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EPSOM SALTS AS A FERTILIZER. 



(Cautinuid from fagt Sjs) 



Magnesium is found in relatively 

 large amounts in many of our root 

 vegetables, as potatoes and beets. This 

 question of Magnesium has received 

 considerable attention at the hands of 

 the sugar beet people, and the follow- 

 ing is quoted from an abstract pub- 

 lished by the American Chemical So- 

 ciety lately and concerns the work of 

 F. Rigaux, a French investigator: 



"Joulie holds th.it a soil in a good state 

 of fertility should contain 0.30 per cent. 

 MgO. Dn this basis and as the result 

 of numerous analyses of Belgian soils the 

 conclusion follows that Belgian soils nat- 

 urally deficient In this element have been 

 further depleted of it. From a cousidera- 

 tlon of the ash analysis of various field 

 crops, MgO is at least as important as the 

 other elements of plant food, K20 & P205. 

 A number of field tests with sugar beets 

 during the past ten years indicates that 

 the yields are greater and that the sugar 

 content is greater where MgO was used In 

 the fertilizer than where it was omitted, 

 or where no fertilizer was applied. Cereals 

 and potatoes also g.ive better returns where 

 MgO was present in the fertilizer. 



Now, this is about sugar beets and not 

 about shrubs and small trees of any 

 kind, but from anal}-ses made of ever- 

 greens and other trees we find that 

 Magnesium is always found in the 

 seed, leaf, bark and in the substance 

 of the tree itself. 



The character of Magnesium is part 

 way between that of Lime and that of 

 Potash or Soda. It appears probable 

 that like Potash it is usually found in 

 the soil and extracted therefrom by 

 the plant roots, and that the particular 

 form of soluble salt in which it was 

 applied to the ground would not make 

 much difference as far as its availabil- 

 ity was concerned. 



Without digging up all the work ever 

 ■done on Magnesium it seems to the 

 writer that nothing would be gained 

 by applying amounts of Magnesium 

 salts much larger than we would apply 

 of Lime (with a mental reservation we 

 will consider later). Like Lime, Mag- 

 nesium may act indirectly and thus un- 

 lock plant foods. 



Your Inquirer seems to have the 

 Idea that Magnesium was of distinct 

 disadvantage to plants. This idea is 

 erroneous, although large quantities of 

 any soluble salt in the soil would be 

 disadvantageous and Magnesium is a 

 very soluble salt and would without 

 doubt get to the roots of the plant 

 when other more insoluble salts, as 

 those of Lime, would soon be fixed in 

 the ground and could then do no fur- 

 ther Injury. 



It might be interesting to note that 

 In the so-called alkaline plains salts of 

 Magnesium are almost always found, 

 .and Magnesium itself is an alkali not 



so strong as Potash but partaking of 

 that nature. 



If your readers desire further in- 

 formation it would be a pleasure to 

 quote more definitely the amouuts of 

 Magnesium in the various salts, or it 

 they want Magnesium Sulphate (Kei- 

 serite), it may be had at about $1.25 

 per 100 lbs., or the refined Epsom salts 

 may be obtained at a little more or 

 about $1.50 per 100 lbs. Crude is 

 quoted at $20.00 per ton. 



It would be very interesting for all 

 of us if the users of soluble chemicals 

 would modestly state their experience 

 with Magnesium, as I have no doubt 

 that many of them will say they have 

 tried and in many cases by overdoing 

 It have had bad results, and on the 

 other hand it would be of greatest in- 

 terest to hear from those who have 

 used very small amounts of this chemi- 

 cal and are convinced they have had 

 good results. 



Up to this time we have considered 

 Magnesium entirely in the light of an 

 element that gets in by the roots and, 

 whether absolutely necessary or not, 

 happens to be found in almost every 

 part of almost every thing in the vege- 

 table world, it being an element well 

 nigh all-pervading. Just how far it 

 may take the place of Lime or other 

 elements is not entirely settled, but 

 there is no doubt but that the amount 

 of this element in the soil is seriously 

 depleted by successive croppings and 

 it is true that this has been recognized 

 and that fertilizers containing Magnes- 

 ium have been applied to offset this 

 shortage. 



Starting from the main idea of the 

 rotation of crops there have been a 

 good many reasons that we could ad- 

 vance to account for the success of 

 some sort of rotation. Among other 

 advantages that have been alleged is 

 that of destroying or combating pois- 

 ons left in the soil by previous crops 

 and making new ones that would not 

 Increase the undesirability of the soil 

 for other crops, in other words to des- 

 troy all poisons left in the soil from 

 the presence of living plants. Now, 

 there is no question whatever but what 

 such poisons are left. They have been 

 extracted by water, and other solvents, 

 and considerable work has been done 

 on them, and chemists have recognized 

 among them many well-known poisons 

 familiar to them under various guises. 

 It has also been shown that many of 

 these plant poisons may be rendered 

 innocuous by certain chemicals, and 

 among these are many of the soluble 

 fertilizers as Nitrate of Soda and oth- 

 ers. Although Magnesium has not 

 been especially mentioned In this cate- 

 gory it may be that this element (on 

 account of its cheapness and its solu- 



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bility, and the fact that it is a plant 

 food) is desirable to apply in such 

 quantities entirely apart from Its use 

 as an ordinai-y fertilizer. 



The government has made geological 

 surveys of most of the country and 

 from this the content of Magnesium 

 may be found without going to the ex- 

 pense of having the soil analyzed. In 

 most cases where there is recourse to 

 this survey and recourse to the State 

 Experimental Station the question of 

 the scarcity of Magnesium or other- 

 wise, would be pretty well decided, ex- 

 cept for a particular case, when the 

 real experiment would be to have the 

 plant or tree have its own say. 



DUDLEY M. PRAY. 



