RURAL NEW-YORKER 
767 
Soil Fertility Notes 
Phosphates on Corn 
TriE R. N.-Y. quotes a bulletin of the 
Ttuliana Experiment Station that acid 
phosphate, lime and manure produced (>4 
bushels of corn per acre; lime, manure 
and rock phosphate 42 bushels; lime and 
manure 3S bushels. There is nothing in 
the record by The R. N.-Y'. to show 
whether the ()4-bushel yield ripened earlier 
than the oS-bushel yield. The larger 
yield of corn was made, as shown in the 
photograph, through a larger crop of fod¬ 
der. If the record was made at the sta¬ 
tion. by looking for the details and re¬ 
cording them, it was doubtless found that 
the effect of the phosphates was a nitro- 
geneous effect. The first eftect of the 
I)hosphate was on the growth of the plant, 
while later in the season, with hot and 
dry weather, it may cause the plant to 
lose nitrogen and hasten ripening in that 
way. 
We are cultivating soils that contain 
five to 10 carloads of rotten phosphates 
to every six inch depth of soil. In rare 
cases at a depth of two feet the soil be¬ 
comes a chalky white from the pure phos¬ 
phate leached from the soil above. Some 
of this soil has been abandoned as unfit 
for corn ; much will dei)end on the variety 
planted. l\'e have trouble with corn, but 
if I am not the only man on the map Avho 
takes for thorns “the overgrowth of red 
clover,” I do not know it. I believe the 
failure is due to the fact that very few 
men have seen an overgrowth of red 
clover and have not thought on the sub¬ 
ject. Phosphates do not prohibit an over¬ 
growth of red clover. On the contrary, 
they enable us to put so much nitrogen 
in the plant that an overgrowth is pro¬ 
duced, To the extent that the action of 
phosphates is favorable, nitrogen is to 
that extent fixed in the plant. If that 
is not the record let us see it. 
Tennessee. w. ii. arnot.d. 
Value of Coal and Wood Ashes 
One article explained the value! of 
wood ash because of its lime, potash and 
phosphorous content, improving the soil 
bv correcting acidity, by adding plant 
food, and by its mechanical effect in 
lightening a heavy soil or compacting a 
light soil, and added that as coal was a 
product of decomposed vegetable matter, 
the ash was practically the same also. 
A later article stated that the fine part 
of coal ash contained about the same 
amount of lime as wood ash, but practi¬ 
cally no potash or phosphorous, and that 
this lime was useless in correcting soil 
.acidity (the rea.sons for this not being 
given V, so that its value was merely 
equal to it.^ mechanical improvement 
qualities, having no chemical values. Will 
you explain the seeming discrepancies in 
these two articles? O. R. 
Philadelphia, Pa 
Where have you ever read such state¬ 
ments in The R. N.-Y.? We have al¬ 
ways been careful to state that coal ashes 
contain no lime and little if any plant 
food, except what may come from the 
wood burned with the coal in the stove or 
furnace. The usual composition of the 
ashes is given as follows, pounds in one 
ton: 
Phosphoric 
Potash Acid Tame 
^^^»od ashes .,. 100 35 OOO 
Coal ashes. 2 2 ... 
That represents hard coal. The soft 
coal gives more of i)otash and phosphoric 
acid, but unless wood has been burned 
with the coal the plant food value is 
hardly worth considering. We have never 
stated that coal was much the same as 
wood because it is “a product of decom¬ 
posed matter.” Geologists tell us that 
the peat swamps or bogs from which 
coal was formed were naturally deficient 
in lime and the other minerals. As 
everyone knows our peat and muck 
swamps of today are fairly rich in nitro¬ 
gen but contain very little potash or phos¬ 
phoric acid. What we call coal is really 
petrifit'd peat or wood that is turned to 
a form of stone, and not, as you seem 
to think, like the original wood. We 
have never stated that fine coal ashes con¬ 
tain lime. We have frequently advised 
against mixing wood ashes with hen 
manure because the lime Avill free the 
ammonia and at the same time have ad¬ 
vised the use of coal ashes for this pur¬ 
pose because they carry no lime I There 
is no question about the results often ob¬ 
tained from tho use of coal ashes. These 
are due to the mechanical efl’ect upon the 
soil, and the plant food value from the 
Avood burned Avith the coal. 
Scientific Knowledge in Drainage 
The United St.ates Geological Survey 
tells of a curious case Avhere a geologist 
worked out a difficult problem in drain¬ 
age. The Government has constructed 
at Sheffield, Ala., a plant for taking nitro¬ 
gen out of the air. The situation of this 
plant Avas such that surface drainage 
Avould be A'ery difficult and expensiA’e. 
There Avas danger that the drainage of 
the chemical Avaste from this plant into 
the streams Avould give bad results. This 
difficult problem Avas submitted to a geolo¬ 
gist. lie found that the location rested 
on a lime.stone foundation, and he rea¬ 
soned that this kind of rock was most 
likely honeycombed beneath the surface 
by large caves. lie adAused drilling holes 
down into surface in the hope of striking 
one of these caves. This was started, and 
at a depth of 175 feet such a cave Avas 
tapped. A trench AA-as dug from this drill 
hole into a stagnant lake or pond which 
could not drain away OAmr the surface. 
Then the water quickly disappeared and 
passed aAvay into some passage below the 
ground, and what seemed like a most dif¬ 
ficult problem of drainage was overcome. 
Every drainage engineer has had ex¬ 
perience Avith SAvamps or Ioav tracts of 
land where it Avas almost impossible to 
obtain a surface outlet. This trouble has 
been overcome by digging straight down 
at the lower part of the SAV'amp until a 
layer of gravel aa'us found. Then drain 
pipe or stones are put in the hole and 
ordinary tile laid through the field lead¬ 
ing to this vertical drain. The water runs 
into it and passes away through the grav¬ 
el heloAA' the hard pan. 
Secretary Lane, in his last report, tells 
how a geologist avIio had lived for some 
years in Alaska, came to see him just be¬ 
fore starting for France. ]Mr. Lane 
rather expressed surprise that this man 
was going, and Avondered Avhat a geologist 
could do to help the army. It appeared 
that the French and English in the earlier 
part of the Avar often made serious mis¬ 
takes in the location of the trenches 
where soldiers must stay. Some of the.se 
trenches were dug in low pl.aces, into 
Avhich the natural underground streams 
were sure to run. Thus, after every rain, 
these trenches hecame natural pond holes 
and the soldiers Avere obliged to stand in 
mud and water. This geologist aauis to 
use his knowledge of the upper crust of 
the earth to locate trenches in places 
Avhere the Avater Avould run aAvay from, 
rather than into, the ditch. He could find 
locations Avhere the trench AA’Ould be dry 
because the natural t(‘ndency of the un¬ 
derground Avater Avould be aAvay from it. 
This is only one thing to sIioav Iioaa' in this 
great AA'ar every detail of scientific knoAA'l- 
edge is b(‘ing employed for the comfort 
and efficiency of the soldiers. 
Seeding Millet with Hay 
Gould I soAV hay and millet together? 
If so. how much of each per acre, and 
could both b(“ mixed together and sowed 
at the same time? j. k. 
Ellenville, N. Y. 
^Millet is not a good crop for seeding 
doAvu unless the conditions are just right. 
The millet makes a quick, rank groAvth, 
and is likely to croAvd out the little 
plants of grass and clover unless the sea¬ 
son is very moist and the ground is in 
first-class condition. In the great ma¬ 
jority of cases reported to us such seed¬ 
ing has failed, and after the millet Avas 
cut only a thin stand of grass Avas left. 
Tender ordinary conditions Ave Avould not 
advise seeding Avith millet, although in a 
Avet sea.son and on rich land there is a 
fair chance of getting the gi*ass through. 
The class had been greatly interested 
in the story of Gasabianca. The teacher 
felt that she had impresserl upon them the 
lesson of faithfulness, but to make sure 
she asked : “Why did the boy stand on 
the burning deck?” “Because it Avas too 
hot for him to sit down,” came the prompt 
reply.—Gredit I.ost. 
' 
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•♦•aft 
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