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The Rural N^w-Yorker 
The Business Farmer’s Paper 
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\ 0L. I.XXVI. 
NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 3, 1017. 
No. 4454. 
The Great Problem of Nitrogen 
We Must Work It Ourselves 
HE South American Republic of Chili has be¬ 
come a stable and prosperous country through 
the income from its vast deposit.s of nitrate of soda. 
Tho world look.s to Chili for a large share of its fertil¬ 
izer nitrogen, and also for explosive.s. Centuries 
ago Nature packed great supplies of nitrogen away 
in the Chilean desert.s, aud from this dry storage the 
world is being supplietl. A ton of nitrate dug out of 
this desert may be taken to Spain or Russia or 
Japan and used to produce a crop of food. Then, 
after this food has been u.sed to feed mau or beast, 
a part of its nitrogen escapes into the air. Later 
tills may be brought back to the earth once more 
by one of the legumes, like beans or clover, through 
a thunderstorm, the rain, or by one of the ai*tirtciul 
into a rich nation, and built on the T,:i Plata the 
second largest city in the Wf>stcrn liomisphero! 
Chili lives uixin the accumulations of the past. Ar¬ 
gentina grow.s fat and rich by dealing in futures and 
bringing wealth out of the air. Both owe tln-ip 
power and wealth to nitrogen—the most elusive and 
at the .same time the most powerful and enriching 
element in the world. Unman life in its physical 
aspect is pretty much a struggle to capture and har¬ 
ness nitrogen and then set it free through its labor 
of producing food. The section whei'e nitrogen is 
most readily available is the place where wealth 
abounds and men have their best chance, - . ^ 
Nature working directly through her elemental 
force's has made Chili rich, and we see that this 
wealth comes from the .poorest soil. Nature, work¬ 
ing through Alfalfa and clover, has made Argentina 
rich by giving nitrogen from the air. There are 
come a matter of providing nitrogen and phosphorus. 
The nitrogen is most expensive, and we must all 
plan to get more of it out of the air. On the natural 
limestone soils Alfalfa will thrive and take care of 
the nitrogen supply. There are some localities where 
tlie soil is not fitted for Alfalfa, and it is doubtful 
if the crop will over pay. In such cases Alsiko 
clover, Soy beans. Sweet (lover ami vetch will do 
the work for us, and obtain the nitrogen which such 
soils need. Right now in the New England States 
nitrogen is being washeil out of cjornfields c bare 
after cutting. A cover crop of rye and clover seeded 
In these cornfields would hold and save more nitixj- 
gen than we can possibly import from Chill thio 
year. The commercial supply of nitrogen is short 
and prices are going higher. We must go up in tho 
air for more of our own supply—not only for feed¬ 
ing our live stock, but for building xip the soil. This 
devlc(^s wliicli man lias worked out. Tliis nitrogen 
come.s liack to the .soil to .start anew its round of 
life. 
Right across South America from Cliili to tho 
east lies the Argentine R(‘i)ublic. Tliis great nation 
has also Ikhui made strong and great by nitrogen— 
Init in a different way. CMiili i‘e<.‘eives her great de¬ 
posit.s as an inlieritance from past age.s. Atom by 
atom, tlirough couutl(\ss years, tlie nitrogen accu¬ 
mulated in the dry sand, and remained oecause there 
was no water to dis.solve it and wasli it away. In 
Argentina there were no such l>ank deposits left by 
the ages—only the nitrogen in tlie air wliich \>vers 
:iml rests upon the land. The nitrogen which has 
made Argentina rich was taken atom by atom out 
of the air by almost Invisilde workers on the roots 
of clover and Alfalfa. These tiny bacteria, by “steal¬ 
ing nitrogen” out of the air, have changed millions 
of acres of poor land into gardens and through the 
feeding value of Alfalfa turned an inferior territory 
Picnic Time for the Calves and Chickens. Fig. 577 
many .smaller .sections of conutry where tiic same 
thing has lieoii worked out. The country around 
Syrucus(‘, N. Y., ami on west through the Htate is 
one such .section. Tlie hand becomes more productive 
and more \;ilnable, mure money is earned and cities 
gain in population. Go through New York State 
and you will find tlmt the most prosiierous smaller 
citie.s are located in farm .sections where Alfalfa 
does best. The same is true of sections iji Ohio, 
Illinois, Michigan, Colorado and elsewhere. Wher¬ 
ever Alfalfa thrives farm wealth jiccumulates. Of 
conr.se tliis is on a smaller scale than in the great 
Argentine Repuhlii*. hut it is true of every locality 
wliere the legume crops excel. Before the war and 
for a time after it the most profitable farming in 
the country was done through Central New Y'ork, 
where great crops of clover were plowed under for 
manure. Alfalfa is superior liecause it is richer in 
nitrogen, longer lived and heavier in yield. 
All over the Atlantic slope farming has now be- 
is to be one of the big prohlcm.s wliieii are to push 
uiion ns after the war. 
Shavings Manure as a Mulch 
I have an opportunity to purchase a pile of mannn*; 
should suy it would amount to 40 loads, for $35. It is 
within a half mile of my orchard; it is the yearly 
product of four or five horses (grain red) ami a cow. 
It lias been kept leveled off by cliickens, but it is shav¬ 
ings manure, and pure .shavings ar that. There are 
cement floors in the stable, so that the liquids are not 
lost. I know the value^of shavings manure, not only 
from what I read, but from experience. I have fre¬ 
quently heai-d that where it was used freely as a top- 
(Irossiug for grass the grus.s was discourageii instead of 
eneouragi'd to grow. If this manure was <X)uii>osted 
with ground limestone for six or eight months, would 
the acid be neutralized so that the manure would be 
valuable again? If ho, what proportion of limestone 
would it be necessary to use? Would it pay? Some 
of the nicest apples I ever saw were growing on trees 
under which was the family wood yard, and where the 
chip dust had accumulated several inches thick. Pos¬ 
sibly the moisture conserved by this mulching did more 
g'jod than the acid in the decaying wood did' harm, but 
