Vol. LIX. No. 2657. 
NEW YORK, DECEMBER 28, 1900. 
*1 PER Y'EAR. 
FEEDING MUSCLE-MAKERS INTO PLANTS. 
FERTILIZER NITROGEN VS. CROP NITROGEN. 
An Increased Value of Hay. 
Part I. 
THE COSTLIEST FOOD CONSTITUENT—The 
most important problem for the farmer, in the use of 
manures and fertilizers, is the best and most econom¬ 
ical way in which to supply nitrogen to different 
crops. The problem is an important one from the 
standpoint of economy in the purchase of plant food, 
because nitrogen costs, in the open market, from two 
to four times as much per pound as either phosphoric 
acid or potash. It is of importance when the farmer 
uses his crops in feeding, because nitrogen compounds 
are the most expensive as well as the most useful of 
all the food constituents. Further than this, the ques¬ 
tion becomes an important one because nitrogen is 
readily lost from the soil under improper manage¬ 
ment, while phosphoric acid and potash are usually 
retained by most soils. Strictly considered, nitrogen 
exists in but one form—as a gas; but taken in con¬ 
nection with fertilizers, common usage has led to the 
consideration of three forms, or in other words three 
sources of nitrogen. Organic nitrogen 
is that furnished by the decay of organic 
matter, either vegetable or animal; am¬ 
monia compounds, such as sulphate of 
ammonia, furnish nitrogen in the form 
known as ammonia nitrogen or nitrogen 
of ammonia salts; while the nitrogen 
supplied by nitrate of soda is known as 
nitrate nitrogen. Most of the home¬ 
made supplies of nitrogen, such as that 
which comes from the manure of ani¬ 
mals and from composts, is in the or¬ 
ganic form, while a small amount may 
be in the form of ammonia. 
TRANSFORMING ORGANIC NITRO¬ 
GEN.—It is a well-known fact that ma¬ 
nure must decay before the plant can 
utilize it. This means that the organic 
nitrogen must undergo a slow process of 
transformation. It must be changed by 
action of bacteria into the forms of ni¬ 
trates before the plant can use it. The 
rapidity with which this transformation 
takes place depends upon the conditions 
of the soil which favor the growth of 
the proper kinds of bacteria to bring 
about the change. A soil temperature of 
from 65 to 75 degrees seems to be need¬ 
ed for their rapid growth, together with 
a medium amount of moisture and a neutral or alka¬ 
line condition of the soil. ^ knowledge of these facts 
is needed to explain the action of manures. It is a 
matter of common observation that manures, unless 
well rotted, act slowly early in the season, while ni¬ 
trate of soda acts quickly. One explanation of this is 
that the soil has not been warmed sufficiently to cause 
a rapid growth of the bacteria of nitrification (those 
which transpose the organic nitrogen to ammonia and 
nitrates). This statement may help to explain why 
nitrate of soda has such a beneficial effect on crops 
like grass, wheat and oats, which make most of their 
growth early in the season, while the manures are 
relatively more beneficial on crops like corn, which 
makes its growth almost wholly during the Summer 
months. 
NITRATES ON QUICK CROPS.—The organic forms 
of nitrogen are often more economical for the later 
and slower-growing crops, because the nitrates are 
readily soluble and are easily lost in the drainage un¬ 
less used early in the season. As a rule, the nitrates 
are safest to use on growing crops, and those which 
make their growth within a short time. On the other 
hand, the organic forms of nitrogen are gradually 
made available, and are taken up by the crop little 
by little throughout the growing season. Stable ma¬ 
nures generally give better results on corn than com¬ 
mercial fertilizers. This is probably due, in part, to 
the fact that much of the soluble nitrogen of commer¬ 
cial fertilizers, when these are heavily used, is often 
lost in the drainage before the corn plant can utilize 
it, while with the manure there is a gradual transfor¬ 
mation of the organic nitrogen into nitrates. This 
transformation seems to take place just about as fast 
as the corn plant can use the nitrogen. Whether this 
is the full explanation or not, we have observed that 
land planted to corn year after year, with the use of 
soluble commercial fertilizers alone, fails to yield as 
large crops as land to which stable manure has been 
applied with small amounts of fertilizer. 
FUNCTIONS OF ORGANIC MATTER.—The im¬ 
portant part that the organic matter plays in the soil 
is often overlooked. Not only is it of great value to 
regulate the moisture and temperature, but it helps 
to hold the readily-soluble nitrogen which might oth¬ 
erwise be leached out of the soil. This leads to the 
conclusion that commercial fertilizers, when used with 
some form of organic manure, give better results than 
when used alone. Unless organic matter is added to 
the soil, in some form, the supply which may already 
be stored in the soil becomes gradually reduced. When 
stable manures are not available, or are not econom¬ 
ical, green manuring should be adopted. On the 
cheaper lands of this country more use might be made 
of the legumes for plowing under as manure. If the 
farmer generously supplies the soil with phosphoric 
acid, potash and lime, Mother Nature may be depend¬ 
ed upon to supply liberal quantities of nitrogen 
through the legumes, when these are plowed under. 
NITROGEN AND FEEDING VALUE—Many ex¬ 
periments have been made within the past 10 years 
to show the value and economy of different forms of 
nitrogen in the growth of various farm crops. These 
experiments have been of much value, but in most 
cases they have only included one of the effects of 
nitrogen—that on the yield. A long series of experi¬ 
ments made by the Storrs Station of Connecticut have 
been of additional value by showing not only the ef¬ 
fects of nitrogen on the yields, but also its effects on 
the proportion of nitrogen compounds (protein) in 
the crop. These experiments have given an opportu¬ 
nity to compare the effects of nitrogen on the yield 
and on the feeding value of mixed grasses, corn and 
oats, with its effects on cow peas and Soy beans. A 
comparison can thus be made between the grasses and 
cereals on the one hanu anu the legumes on the other. 
In all of these experiments the amount and kind of 
mineral fertilizer, phosphoric acid and potash has been 
the same on all the fertilized plots, while the amount 
of nitrogen has varied from nothing to 25, 50 and 75 
pounds per acre. In most cases the materials supply¬ 
ing the nitrogen were nitrate of soda and sulphate of 
ammonia. In most of these experiments, except in a 
few seasons of heavy rainfall, there have been no 
striking differences between the results obtained with 
nitrate of soda and with sulphate of ammonia; in wet 
seasons, however, the latter has proven more ef¬ 
fectual. [Prof.] c. s. PHELrs. 
SWAMP WATER FOR FERTILIZER. 
There has been some discussion about the best way 
to utilize muck or peat from a swamp. Some readers 
do not believe that it has any great value, while oth¬ 
ers consider it valuable when composted with manure 
or lime. Mr. Fre Patton, of Ohio, tells us of a new way 
of obtaining the fertilizing value of muck. He says: 
The use of muck or peat has been 
very unsatisfactory with me direct from 
the swamp. It seems to be of some ad¬ 
vantage on a heavy loam and clay soil, 
but not enough to justify using in that 
way, neither have I deemed it profitable 
to compost it with manure. It has been 
largely benefited by draining out a 
swamp and letting it remain subject to 
the action of the elements for several 
years; then taking up the drains and 
covering the swamp with water during 
the Winter and Spring, using the water 
for irrigation of market garden crops. 
The first season the water was held in 
the swamp and used on the crops they 
grew as well as crops could have grown 
with stable manure. We wholesaled 
$553 worth of celery from one acre in 
1894, that received no fertilizer but this 
stored water from the swamp; neither 
had it any special care or culture. The 
same season we grew and sold from 
1,600 tomato plants $160 worth of toma¬ 
toes which were largely due to the muck 
or peat soakings, as they had no other 
fertilizer. fre patton. 
Ohio. 
The pond mentioned by Mr. Patton is 
shown in Fig. 332, this page. It originally covered 
about three-quarters of an acre, but has filled in some¬ 
what around the edges. All drainage water contains 
more or less soluble fertility, which is washed out of 
the soil as the water passes through. The waters of 
the ocean contain solutions of all known substances— 
including gold in perceptible quantities. The frost 
undoubtedly breaks up the upper surface of the 
swamp, so that the water can leach it more readily. 
The glasshouse gardener often uses liquid manure 
or chemicals dissolved in water, and Mr. Patton is 
doing much the same thing on a large scale when he 
lets the frost unfasten the fertility in that muck and 
the water carry it to the celery and tomatoes. It is 
easier and better to let the water carry the plant food 
than it would be to haul it in a cart. The swamps 
represent the drainage from the hills and higher 
fields. There are two ways of utilizing the fertility 
which the swamp holds. One is to dig out the soil or 
muck and carry it back to the lighter soil on the hills. 
Another is to drain the swamp and plant crops in the 
dried soil. Mr. Patton has found a third way, which, 
as he is situated, is best of all. His practice gives a 
suggestion of dis^nct value to others. 
