July, 1908. 



27 



Edible Products. 



remove 52-62 lb. of nitrogen, 16'33 lb. 

 of phosphoric acid, and 19-42 lb. of 

 potash. 



Unmanured. 



Yield 

 per 

 Acre. 



6 bags 



Cumpetely Manured 

 per acre. 

 120 lbs. Muriate 



of potash 

 600 „ Acid Phos- 

 phate 

 420 „ Cotton Seed 

 Meal 

 12 bags. 



Manured with- 

 out Potash. 



per acre. 

 600 lbs. Acid 



Phosphate 

 400 lbs. Gotten 



Seed meal 



S bags. 



(The Rice averaged 165 lbs. per bag.) 



Rice Experiment by Mr. W. D, 

 Beunet, op Orange, Texas. 



Rice has not been considered an ex- 

 haustive crop on'the soil, though it would 

 seem from the above figures that when 

 the straw is removed or burned, as is 

 frequently the rase, that the loss of 

 nitrogen is very heavy, and that con- 

 siderable quantites of phosphates and 

 potash are likely to be needed to main- 

 tain the fertility of the land, for the 

 type of soil on which rice grows most 

 advantageously often does not contain 

 large amounts of either of these very 

 important and essential mineral ele- 

 ments. Unfortunately, there are few, 

 if any. analyses of rice soils in the 

 United States available, and it is im- 

 possible, therefore, to even make deduc- 

 tions from a method of estimating the 

 value of a soil which is admittedly un- 

 satisfactory owing to the fact that 

 chemical anlaysis only indicates the total 

 amount of plant food and not the pro- 

 portion, which may be in an available 

 form, and hence useful to plants. 



A comparison of the draft made on 

 the soil by rice and wheat may serve to 

 throw some light on this subject. 

 Wheat, as a rule, yields 1*5 to 2 lb. of 

 straw for each pound of grain. Twenty 

 bushels of wheat, or 1,200 lb. would 

 remove from the land about 28'32 lb. of 

 nitrogen, 10-68 lb. of phosphoric acid, and 

 7-32 lb. of potash. The 2,000 lb. of 

 straw which accompany this yield of 

 wheat would remove 12 lb. of nitrogen. 

 2-40 lb. of phosphoric acid, and 10-20 lb. 

 of potash. The total amount of fertility 

 removed by the wheat crop on this 

 basis would be 40 - 32 lb. of nitrogen, 

 13 08 lb. of phosphoric acid, and 17'52 lb. 

 of potash. Prom these figures it is ap 

 parent that rice, owing to its greater 

 yield, will make as heavy or heavier 

 draft on the soil than wheat, and it is 

 considered necessary by most progressive 

 farmers who are cultivating land in the 

 older sections of the country to fertilize 

 wheat quite extensively. 



The figures presented here indicate the 

 necessity of applying at least 700 lb. of 

 cotton-seed meal to supply the needed 



nitrogen and phosphric acid and about 

 50 lb. of muriate of potash to supply the 

 needed potash. Of course, if nitrogen 

 were supplied in other forms, acid phos- 

 phate would have to be applied at the 

 rate of at least 100 lbs. per acre. While 

 this is a somewhat theoretical con- 

 clusion, good husbandry necessitates 

 the maintenance of soil fertility, and 

 where rice is cultivated on land con- 

 tinuously, as is the practice commonly 

 pursued on our American farms, it is 

 advisable to apply at least 100 to 200 lb. 

 of high-grade acid phosphate and 50 

 to 100 lb. of muriate of potash so as 

 to keep the stores of available plant 

 food in the laud up to the maximum, 

 and thus maiutain high crop yields. 



With regard to the question of the 

 nitrogen supply, less concern need prob- 

 ably be felt by the rice-grower than by 

 farmers who are cultivating other crops, 

 as the irrigating waters, as a rule, con- 

 tain a, large quantity of sediment. The 

 rainfall also brings some nitrogen to the 

 soil, and the constant application of 

 water from snch streams as the Missis- 

 sippi insures the addition of a, consider- 

 able number of pounds of nitrogen to 

 each acre of land. Whether this nitrogen 

 is in an available form for the use of the 

 rice plant is still an open question, how- 

 ever. It has been estimated that where 

 irrigating water from the Mississippi is 

 used, including the nitrogen brought 

 from the rainfall, that as much as 15 lb. 

 of this element may be brought to each 

 acre of land ; where artesian wells are 

 used, as much as 9 to 10 lb. English 

 bayou water may bring as much as 20 

 or more lb. The artesian water may 

 also contain small quantities of phos- 

 phoric acid and potash, but it is plain 

 that the irrigating waters used cannot 

 be deepened upon to supply the needs 

 of the rice crop if grown on the same 

 land through a series of years. More- 

 over, it is an open question whether the 

 soils and the plants absorb the salts 

 carried in solution, or whether, on the 

 other hand, the water drained away 

 from the field or which leaks from the 

 levees does not carry away a greater 

 quantity of fertility than is conveyed to 

 the field by the waters used in flooding 

 the rice. 



It is patent from this resume that if 

 nitrogen is applied to the field it should 

 be used in the organic form, of which 

 cotton-seed-meal, tankage, dried blood, 

 and stable manure are examples. Nitrate 

 of soda might, of course, be applied to 

 the flood-waters as they enter the field, 

 but even then there is a chance of most 

 of it being lost. On rice fields, where 

 the growth of stem is already vigorous, 

 however, little nitrogen need be applied, 



