'"NM*p h rrrn Ffifco. nTy?’-- 
Vol. LXI. No. 2745. 
NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 6, 1902. 
*1 PER YEAR 
FERTILIZER ON LIMESTONE SOIL 
SOME EXPERIMENTS IN OHIO. 
Hard to Understand Results. 
It is most generally known that the three elements, 
nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash, are necessary 
to produce a growing crop and form grain. If one of 
these is deficient in the soil the growing crop will be 
materially affected and not profitable. The writer, 
when about to use a commercial fertilizer on a crop 
of wheat with a view of increasing the yield, and to 
leave the ground after the wheat should be taken off 
in a good condition for the growth of Timothy, deter¬ 
mined to use what might be termed a complete ferti¬ 
lizer, which means, as I understand it, a fertilizer 
containing within itself these three necessary ingre¬ 
dients, in proportions necessary to produce a crop. 
These ingredients are required in different propor¬ 
tions, according to the soil and also for the different 
crops grown, requiring quite a great difference as be¬ 
tween grain, vegetables and fruit, and probably a dif¬ 
ference in their chemical 
combination. They are ob¬ 
tained in a commercial way 
from various sources. I wil> 
only give those that were 
used in this instance. It 
might be well before going 
further that I mention the 
character of the soil we are 
treating. In the northern 
and western parts of Ohio our 
subsoil is mostly yellow clay 
and limestone gravel with 
some granite particles, resting 
upon strata of limestone. 
These yellow clays our geolo¬ 
gists tell us are the sediment 
or residuum of decomposed 
limestone. Bach foot in depth 
represents tne deposit from a 
stratum of 12 feet of lime¬ 
stone. This claim is based 
upon the fact that our lime¬ 
stones in their composition 
average about eight per cent 
aluminum. The other ingre- 
gredients were largely held in 
solution in the water with 
which the limestone was de¬ 
composed and carried off, 
while the aluminum or clay 
remained with more or less 
of the potash and phosphoric acid that existed in the 
limestone. 
The chemists of the Ohio Geological Survey in one 
of their preliminary reports stated that the Erie clays 
of Ohio for each foot in depth to the acre carried from 
7,000 to 9,000 pounds of phosphoric acid, and from 
9,000 to 27,000 pounds of potash. If this potash and 
phosphoric acid were in condition for plant food how 
happy and fortunate we would be, as a bushel of 
wheat needs only for its formation about one pound 
of these two ingredients, and about as much nitrogen 
as the other two combined. This last could easily be 
obtained through the growth of leguminous plants, 
such as clover, cow peas, etc. The potash and phos¬ 
phoric acid in the ground are slowly being prepared 
by the workings of nature for plant food, but not 
rapidly enough to fill the wants of the agriculturist. 
If these elements could be acted upon and made avail¬ 
able in the ground by some process not too expen¬ 
sive, so plant life could draw upon them for their 
nourishment a value for farms in this part of Ohio 
could hardly be appreciated. The time will most cer¬ 
tainly come when this will be accomplished. 
The soil in the Eastern States being mostly com¬ 
posed from the decomposition of the primitive rocks 
that were deficient in both potash and phosphoric 
acid, farmers there are not so fortunate as we are 
in the greater part of Ohio. They will have to use 
more commercial fertilizers and of a higher and more 
expensive grade than necessary for us. A fertilizer 
containing about 2 y 2 per cent of both nitrogen and 
potash and about 14 per cent of phosphoric acid was 
determined upon as probably the best to be used for 
plant and grain growth where the wheat was to be 
planted. As the nitrogen in commercial fertilizers 
costs about 10 cents, and potash and phosphoric acid 
about five cents per pound, it is readily seen that if 
the growing plant did not have to draw upon each of 
these for its food there would be a loss from placing 
there the one that was not necessary. That he might 
know which of these elements his farm needed to pro¬ 
duce the maximum crop, the writer determined to 
put out, experimentally, a few plots of an acre each, 
with different proportions of these necessary constitu¬ 
ents, and combine them himself from the following: 
As a nitrogen carrier tankage was used; this is a com¬ 
bination of slaughter-house refuses, treated by drying 
blood and meat scraps, steaming the bone, grinding 
them finely and thoroughly mixing, that the phos¬ 
phoric acid and nitrogen would be available when ap¬ 
plied to the soil. It was claimed that the tankage 
used would carry 10 per cent of nitrogen and 14 per 
cent of phosphoric acid. 
For additional phosphoric acid, acid phosphate was 
used, manufactured from finely-ground Genesee phos¬ 
phate rock, mixed with its weight of sulphuric acid. 
The phosphate rock and sulphuric acid when mixed, 
after standing in great heaps of several thousand tons 
for from three to six months, combine in such a way 
that the whole mass becomes like a hard and compact 
sand, but is not sticky as one would suppose, and the 
phosphoric acid and lime of the rock become avail¬ 
able for plant food. The sulphur from which the sul¬ 
phuric acid is manufactured comes mostly from Spain 
in the shape of pyrites, but some is now obtained in 
Massachusetts and Virginia. The acid phosphate used 
was claimed by the manufacturer to carry from 14 to 
16 per cent of phosphoric acid. For the potash, 
muriate of potash was used; this comes from Stass- 
furt, a city of north Germany. The mines from which 
it is obtained were discovered in 1857 by the Prus¬ 
sian government at a depth of over 1,000 feet when 
mining for salt; these are the only mines in the 
world. Prior to this discovery the arts and sciences 
were mostly dependent upon wood ashes for potash. 
Muriate of potash is about 50 per cent potash. 
Six experimental plots of an acre each were deter¬ 
mined upon, situated upon the west side of a 75-acre 
field that was to be put into wheat. These plots were 
fertilized with tankage, acid phosphate and muriate of 
potash, thoroughly mixed in the proportion given 
below in pounds: 
Plot. Nos. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 
Acid phosphate, lbs. 
..150 
130 
190 
210 
150 
Muriate of potash, lbs... 
.. 10 
10 
10 
10 
Tankage, lbs. 
.. 40 
50 
40 
Amount to the acre, lbs.. 
..250 
200 
200 
. . . 
210 
210 
The mixture of plot No. 6 was the one used on the 
remainder of the field of 75 acres at the rate of 200 
pounds to the acre. Plot No. 
4 received no fertilizer. 
For putting in the crop a 
combination wheat drill was 
used, that sowed the Tim¬ 
othy seed, drilled in the 
wheat and fertilizer at the 
same time. The seeding com¬ 
menced September 28, 1899; 
in a week the wheat was up, 
showing well, with the ex¬ 
ception of plot No. 4. This 
plot, compared with the oth¬ 
ers, looked as though it 
it might have been used as a 
roadway, being in this con¬ 
dition the entire Fall. The 
Winter following was the 
most severe on wheat 
throughout Ohio that the 
writer has known. The 
wheat was generally badly 
frozen out, and this field 
would have been put into 
oats in the Spring of 1900 
had there not been a fine 
stand of Timothy. The ferti¬ 
lizer so stimulated the 
growth of ragweed that it 
literally surrounded the 
wheat that remained to such 
an extent that we could 
scarcely gather it. The ragweed was so rank that it 
stood as high as one’s waist when sitting in a buggy. 
This ragweed was cut and taken off the field to 
give the young Timothy a chance to grow, and that 
the stiff woody stalks would not be left on the field 
and gathered with the hay the coming year. The 
growing Timothy afforded considerable Fall pasture 
for sheep. In the harvest of 1901 the hay from plots 
Nos. 1 and 2 was not weighed separately. Owing to 
their having so much volunteer clover we thought it 
would not be a fair comparison with the others. The 
other plots yielded the following amounts in pounds 
of Timothy hay given in the order of their yield: 
No. 4. not fertilized .1,850 
No. 6, fertilized .2,150 
No. 3, fertilized .2,435 
No. 5, fertilized .2,685 
In looking over the table giving the amount of fer¬ 
tilizer on these plots, and comparing with the yield 
of hay, it appears very much as though the acid phos¬ 
phate was the only ingredient that produced the in¬ 
crease, the one having the least amount producing 
the smallest increase, while the others increased their 
GUERNSEY COW CASS1E OF HIGH ROCK 11853. Fie. 245. See Page 018 . 
