PHOSPHORUS: FOR SOILS. 
Phosphorus is the ‘‘life’’ of the soil. Scientists 
are not agreed as to the function of phosphorus 
in the soil, some contending that as applied it is 
merely a sort of disinfectant, as it were; that it de- 
stroys certain toxic or poisonous conditions hurt- 
ful to plant life. Certain it is, however, that soils 
well stored with available phosphorus are produc- 
tive of the right sorts of useful plants., Soils well 
stored with phosphorus are rich soils, grow rich 
plants and make splendid animals. The soils of the 
central blue-grass region of Kentucky are so rich 
in phosphorus that the addition of more can not 
usually be seen in the crop. They are rich too in 
carbonate of lime and from these soils grow the 
best grasses in the world, and the horses and ecat- 
tle feeding on these grasses are famed the world 
around. 
Soils that are poor and unproductive are usually 
much helped by applications of additional phos- 
phorus. Alfalfa especially responds to this element. 
Basic Slag—Basic slag has already been men- 
tioned. It is a refuse left from making steel. Cer- 
tain ores rich in phosphorus make bad steel unless 
that element is taken out of them. John W. Pater- 
son of West Scotland Agricultural College, Glas- 
gow, in an admirable pamphlet on use of ‘‘Basic 
Slag on the Farm,”’ says: 
The essential constituents of manures are nitrogen, potash 
(176) 
