7She  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
281 
^REGULATOR 
GROW  FRUIT 
Get  the  Book 
Phosphates :  Their  Origin  and  Use 
Part  Y. 
SlPEBPHOfjP  hates, — When  yon  read 
about  superphosphates  or  “acid  phos¬ 
phates,”  the  tiling  to  remember  is  that 
these  terms  mean  soluble  phosphates —so 
treated  that  they  will  dissolve  readily  i  i 
water.  As  we  have  seen,  the  processes 
of  nature  collect  the  original  phosphates 
of  the  soil  into  plants  and  then  into  ani¬ 
mals.  These  animals  concentrate  it  into 
hone  and  after  this  bone  becomes  petri¬ 
fied  in  the  soil  it  is  known  as  phosphate 
rock.  Thus  at  each  step  in  concentra¬ 
tion  the  phosphorus  becomes  less  an, I 
less  “available”  to  plants,  and  the  bone 
and  the  rock  must  be  handled  in  some 
way,  chemically  or  mechanically,  in  order 
to  make  the  phosphorus  into  proper  plant 
food.  Take  the  case  of  the  old  pasture 
field  we  gave  as  an  illustration.  There 
was  a  feeble  and  scanty  growth  of  grass, 
very  poor  in  seed  because  wlmt  little 
phosphorus  was  left  in  the  soil  was  not 
“available.”  The  farmer  spreads  a  few 
hundred  pounds  of  hone  dust  or  acid 
phosphate,  and  the  grass  improves  at 
once  for  here  is  the  needed  phosphorus 
made  soluble  so  that  the  plants  can  easily 
use  it. 
When  T  was  a  l»oy  superphosphates 
were  just  coming  into  use.  They  were 
very  expensive  ( 10  or  more  per  tori), 
and  pretty  crude  and  biting  stuff,  which 
gnawed  your  hands  when  you  spread  it. 
It  was  mostly  made  from  bone,  and  gave 
such  quick  results  that  farmers  felt  that 
i  hey  must  buy  it  in  spite  of  the  cost. 
The  story  of  how  it  was  made  was  very 
interesting  to  farmers.  Agents  would 
come,  along,  get  the  farmers  together  and 
talk  hone  and  acid.  I  doubt  if  t-lmy  knew 
much  about  it,  but  if  they  wore  good 
talkers  they  always  sold  the  goods.  I 
thought  then  and  I  think  now  that  the 
story  of  phosphorus  in  its  round  of  life 
from  the  original  soil  to  bone  and  roclc 
and  then  back  to  usefulness  is  the  most 
interesting  of  all  soil  chemistry. 
Chemistry  of  It, — I  wish  T  was  a 
chemist  so  that  I  could  tell  the  story  ex¬ 
actly.  No  doubt  I  shall  get  it  wrong — 
but  there  will  lie  plenty  of  people  to  set 
me  right.  Phosphorus  always  reminded 
lm1  of  a  person  who  knew  she  could  not 
trust  in  her  own  strength,  so  she  sought 
true  friends.  Phosphorus  left  alone  or 
pure  would  burn  itself  tip  like  some  giddy 
young  fellow  let  alone  with  a  fortune 
which  he  never  earned.  So  he  comes  to 
depend  upon  strong  friends  or  affinities 
for  safety.  Lime,  iron  and  other  elements 
stand  like  the  strong  characters  in  a 
play  to  rescue  the  heroine  when  the  vil¬ 
lain  pursues  her.  Lime  and  phosphorus 
form  phosphate  of  lime,  such  as  we  find 
in  bone,  and  in  order  to  make  sure  of  its 
timid  friend  the  lime  puts  three  strong 
arms  around  her,  Wlmt  I  mean  is  that 
three  parts  of  lime  combine  chemically 
with  one  part  of  phosphorus  or  phosphoric 
acid  to  make  what  is  known  as  the  bone 
phosphate.  With  these  three  lime  arms 
holding  her  the  ordinary  processes  of  na¬ 
ture  cannot  get  phosphorus  free  and  com¬ 
pel  her  to  go  to  housekeeping  and  Feed 
plants!  Iler  love  for  her  affinity,  lime, 
is  stronger  than  the  duty  she  owes  the 
world  of  feeding  plant  and  animal.  That 
is  why  man  steps  in  with  maehinery  and 
chemistry  in  his  effort  to  break  phos¬ 
phorus  away  from  lime  and  make  her 
work. 
MAKING  Fixe. — It  is  simply  a  ques¬ 
tion  of  making  this  phosphate  of  lime  so 
fine  that  the  soil  water  and  the  roots  of 
plants  can  wash  out  or  dissolve  the  phos¬ 
phorus  and  let  the  plant  absorb  it.  Fine 
grinding  will  help,  but  even  in  the  small¬ 
est  dust  those  three  arms  of  lime  hang 
to  phosphorus  and  hold  her  tight.  So 
chemistry  is  called  in  to  help  the  grinding 
mill.  Sulphuric  acid  lias  teetli  SO  sharp 
1  lint  it  can  bite  off  two  of  those  arms  of 
lime  which  hang  on  so  tight,  and  thus 
leave  phosphorus  with  only  one  arm  hold 
ing  lier.  To  put  it  another  way,  when 
sulphuric  acid  is  mixed  with  the  crushed 
bone  a  chemical  change  takes  place. 
Lime  seems  to  he  a  sort  of  flirt  or  fielde 
fellow,  and  when  the  sulphuric  acid  comes 
along  two  parts  of  the  lime  switch  over 
to  the  sulphur  in  the  acid  and  only  one 
remains  with  the  phosphorus.  It  is  a 
form  of  grinding  which  not  only  crushes 
but  breaks  up  the  chemical  combination. 
Whereas  three  parts  of  lime  to  oue  of 
phosphorus  was  practically  insoluble  in 
water,  one  part  each  of  lime  and  phos¬ 
phorus  will  readily  dissolve  oue  part  to 
100  of  water,  and  llms  becomes  quickly 
available  to  plants.  Tims  when  we  talk 
of  acid  phosphate  we  mean  that  form  of 
phosphorus  which  lias  had  two  arms  of 
lime  wrenched  away  from  her  so  that  she 
is  compelled  to  do  her  duty  and  feed  crops 
instead  of  bur.ving  her  talents  in  the  soil. 
That,  briefly  stated,  is  the  story  of  a  su¬ 
perphosphate.  As  soon  as  sin*  gets  into 
the  soil  phosphorus  struggles  to  tie  up 
with  lime  or  acid  once  more.  We  shall 
come  to  this  next  week. 
z- SIl  Save  1 5  to  50% 
S-sJsMw  Buy  Bennett  Building  Materials 
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Green  Manure  in  Virginia 
A  1. Mic re  tract  of  land  to  be  set  out. 
in  apple  trees  next  Fall  is  sadly  lacking 
in  humus,  and  I  wish  to  add  as  much  as 
possible  in  I  he  form  of  green  manure 
this  year.  Tin*  plan  1  had  in  mind  is 
oats  sowed  the  first  of  March,  plowed 
under  tin*  first  of  June  for  planting  cow- 
peas:  the  peas  picked  by  hand  in  October, 
the  vines  plowed  under  in  time  for  seed¬ 
ing  to  rye  to  he  plowed  under  next 
Spring.  Is  there  some  better  plan  to  fol¬ 
low  in  the  til  tempt  to  improve  the  soil 
this  year?  I  was  advised  to  sow  Canada 
peas  with  the  oats,  but  fence  Canada 
peas  are  $f>  a  bushel  here,  I  should  pre¬ 
fer  to  use  less  expensive  seed  for  a  cover 
crop  if  a  satisfactory  one  can  be  ob¬ 
tained  by  so  doing.  Is  rye  ever  sowed 
in  the  Spring  here  tin  Virginia,  about 
1-  miles  from  Washington,  7>.  C.l.  and 
would  it  be  a  better  green  manure  crop 
than  oats V  Tin*  point  with  me  is  to 
get  some  quick-growing  crop  in  as  early 
as  possible  to  be  plowed  under  before 
time  for  sowing  cow  peas.  F.  A.  G. 
Virginia. 
Tin*  plan  y<  u  have  in  mind  is  a  good 
one.  We  think  it  would  pay  to  use  the 
Canada  peas  with  the  oats  even  at  the 
price  you  mention.  At  one  bushel  per 
acre  the  additional  cost  would  he  $■”. 
You  would  gel  more  than  that  value  back 
in  the  crop,  although  it  seems  like  n  great 
price  to  pay  for  a  humus  crop.  The 
Canada  pea  is  about  tin*  only  legume 
which  can  be  used  with  oats  so  early  in 
the  Spring.  There  is  a  form  of  Spring 
rye  which  makes  a  fair  growth  when 
seeded  it  little  later  than  the  oats.  For 
a  green  crop,  how vycr,  the  oats  will  pay 
you  better.  If  you  drill  in  the  cow  peas 
so  that  they  are  to  he  cultivat'd  it  will 
be  possible  to  make  a  seeding  of  buck¬ 
wheat  in  this  crop  at  the  last  cultivation. 
AVitli  n.  good  season  and  moisture  enough 
the  buckwheat  will  make  a  fair  growth 
and  may  be  plowed  under  with  the  cow- 
pen  vines  in  preparing  for  the  rye.  In  a 
dry  season  it  would  not  pay  to  sow  the 
buckwheat,  as  there  would  not  be  moist 
ure  enough  for  both  crops  together.  We 
would  suggest  a  fair  dressing  of  lime  at 
the  time  the  cow-pea  vines  are  plowed 
under. 
\  Ray  H.  Bennett  Lumber 
\  mg*  Co„  Inc. 
A  Wr  2  Thompson  St. 
North  Tonawanda,  N.  Y. 
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Continuous  Potato  Growing 
Is  it  possible  to  keep  the  soil  in  such 
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It  is  certainly  possible  to  keep  soil 
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did  not  produce  a  very  scabby  crop. 
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