VALUE OF SWAMP LANDS. 5 



every case a deficiency of potash was shown. In most 

 cases there was less than one-tenth of the potash found in 

 average soils throughout the state. The following analysis, 

 taken from Bulletin Number 95 of the Indiana Station, 

 shows, in part, the composition of such a soil: 



TOP SOIL. SUB-SOIL. 



Nitrogen 3 22 per cent. 2. 84 per cent. 



Phosphoric Acid 0.46 " 0.27 " 



Potash 0.105 " 0.108 " 



In some cases a chemical analysis of a soil is of little 

 value to the farmer, but this one gives a clue to the solution 

 of a puzzling farm problem. Here we have a soil containing 

 as much nitrogen as a large proportion of the chemical 

 fertilizers offered for sale, three or four times as much 

 phosphoric acid as a good average soil, but only about one- 

 tenth as much potash as will be found in average clay loam. 

 It is easily seen from this why such soil fails to produce 

 good crops year after year. There is nitrogen and phos- 

 phoric acid enough to last 500 years, but the lack of potash 

 renders these elements useless for the production of crops 

 like potatoes or grain. Even the potash found naturally in 

 such soil is, for the most part, unavailable, being in such 

 forms that the plants cannot use it. 



It will, of course, be asked how such soil can be rich in 

 nitrogen and phosphoric acid and yet low in potash. In 

 Bulletin No. 93 of the Illinois Station the following ex- 

 planation is made for the lack of potash in peaty soils: 



"Peat itself consists largely of partially decayed sphag 



