33 
 
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 I 1 
 
 THE ESSENTIALS 
 OF SOIL FERTILirY 
 
 ALVA AGEE 
 
 PRICE, FIFTY CENTS 
 
'J 
 
THE ESSENTIALS OF 
 SOIL FERTILITY 
 
 Copyright. 1910. by 
 
 The Stock man-Far rner Publishing Company 
 
 Pittsburgh, Pa. 
 
The Essentials of 
 Soil Fertility 
 
 BY 
 ALVA AGEE 
 
 "The Fertility of Our Soil Is 
 the Salvation of Our Country" 
 
 1 J 
 
 Published by 
 
 The Stockman-Farmer Publishing Company 
 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 
 

 FOREWORD 
 
 'X^HIS little book has been printed for practical 
 -■- people. It seeks to present the facts about 
 soil fertility in such a plain and concise way that 
 any reader may know the essential needs of his soil 
 and the rational way of supplying those needs. It 
 packs together into small space the teachings of 
 The National Stockman and Farmer on soil fertility. 
 
 ALVA AGEE 
 
 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 
 September 1, 1910 
 
 VouKTH Edition, Makch, 1913 
 6 
 
 TRANSFERRED FROM 
 COPYRIGHT OFf=ICfc 
 8£f 2 I3i3 
 
The Essentials of Soil Fertility 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 A PLAIN FARMER'S CREED 
 
 THEOLOGICAL experts can take the plain 
 "Sermon on the Mount" and write so learnedly 
 and so much that a plain citizen can't tell right 
 from wrong in the simplest matters. Scientists can go 
 so deep into problems of soil fertility that their results 
 mean nothing at all to the man who has a living to 
 make from land. Turning aside from the cart-loads 
 of figures that are drawn out of e;x:perimental fields 
 and laboratories each year, and from the theories of 
 highly refined scientific minds, w^e know that the prac- 
 tical means of making land productive are simple and 
 easily understood. 
 
 There are only four essential things to consider in 
 converting all the thin fields between the Mississippi 
 river and the Atlantic seaboard into productive land. 
 
 DRAINAGE 
 
 The first thing is drainage. Much of our land has 
 natural drainage, and this problem does not enter. 
 Other land is wet — water-soaked. We know what 
 that means. Air cannot enter to help make the inert 
 plant food available. Friendly bacteria cannot \vork 
 for us. Plant roots will not penetrate into the stag- 
 
THE ESSENTIALS OF SOIL FERTILITY 
 
 nant soil. We cannot plant in season nor cultivate 
 as we should. The soil is water-sealed when we want 
 it to be activ^e. Such land must have drainage. 
 
 Usually we should under-drain, and tile is the best 
 material. But each man may solve his problem in his 
 own way. If surface ditches will secure the end, well 
 and good. If a deep -running plow will break up a 
 hard-pan that prevents escape of water, that is fine. 
 If stone drains are preferred, they can be used. If a 
 profitable crop can be found which thrives in a rather 
 "wet soil, that is another solution to the problem. 
 JNIost plants want a well-drained soil. If they are to 
 he grown, and the land has an excess of moisture, 
 -drainage of some sort is essential. It is one of the 
 four considerations when there is unproductive land 
 to be put into profitable condition. 
 
 DESTRUCTION OF ACIDS 
 
 The second plain requirement is that the soil be 
 sweet. Very much land is acid. The area grows 
 greater year by year. The acid condition is unfavor- 
 able to many kinds of plants, and notably so in the 
 case of the clovers. Low wet land or high sandy land 
 may be sour. Infertile land usually is sour in the 
 eastern half of this country. Don't waste time argu- 
 ing the point with men whose land does not need lime. 
 Let tliem believe as they may : no harm can result, 
 because their soil is sweet. But lime your own land 
 if it is acid, and do it <juickly. This is the second 
 essential, and there is no way of getting around an 
 essential. 
 
THE ESSENTIALS OF SOIL FERTILITY 
 
 ORGANIC MATTER 
 
 The third factor is vegetable matter in the soil. 
 Nature recognizes this by constant effort to produce 
 vegetation for itself. It is the thing nature does for 
 its old, thin, abandoned lands. Rotting vegetation 
 helps to release inert mineral plant food in a soil, ^It 
 helps physical condition, and that is important, ir en- 
 ables land to hold moisture, and that is a vital matter. 
 It is plant food for another crop. Stable manure, the 
 clovers, grass, weeds — all these supply organic matte*, 
 and this is the third essential. Anything that grows 
 and rots helps, but some things are much better than 
 others. Most thin fields are woefully deficient in or- 
 ganic matter. 
 
 AVAILABLE PLANT FOOD 
 
 We may have drainage, sweetness of soil, and or- 
 ganic matter, and yet lack some available plant food ; 
 and a plant must be fed just as surely as an animal 
 must be fed. Commercial fertilizers supply this need. 
 Some soils have no needs of any kind. Thin soils al- 
 ways need some available plant food — some nitrogen, 
 phosphoric acid or potash, and usually all three until 
 improvement is well under way. When the clovers 
 are well established, or manure is freely used, we may 
 be able to drop the use of commercial nitrogen. Ex- 
 perience will tell its own story about this. 
 
 THE RIGHT ORDER 
 
 The first matter is drainage. The next one is cer- 
 tainty that no acids are crippling our efforts and the 
 efforts of the soil to help itself The next thing is to 
 
THE ESSENTIALS OF SOIL FERTILITY( 
 
 supply stable manure or decaying plant roots and 
 stubble — heavy sods or other growth of vegetation. 
 Then we can have good physical condition and ability 
 to hold moisture during drought. The rotting vegeta- 
 tion makes available a part of the old, inert stores of 
 material in what was a worthless soil. Then we only 
 supplement the supply of fertility, as needed, by the 
 use of commercial fertilizers. 
 
 THE DIFFERENCE 
 
 Of course good tillage is needed— that goes with- 
 out saying. So is good seed, and many other things. 
 But the difference between the hundreds of thou- 
 sands of acres of poor land and the good land is one 
 embracing only the four essentials mentioned, and 
 often only three or two of them. The land can be 
 taken out of the nearly worthless class and put into 
 the productive class by intelligent supply of the one, 
 two, three or four things that chance to be nfeeded. 
 The problem is not an intricate one. Thousands of 
 men have solved it for themselves, and they did it in 
 this way, because it is the one way. When a soil has 
 a need, it can not be fooled into believing all is well 
 till the need has been supplied. 
 
 THE BIG PROBLEM 
 
 Some scientists may say, with a fine conservatism, 
 that we do not know that there is any soil acidity, 
 any actual soil exhaustion, any direct need of the 
 plant food in a fertilizer. What of it! The owner of 
 land has a living to make, and all he has to do is to 
 brush aside the cobwebs of the ultra-scientific soul 
 
 10 
 
THE ESSENTIALS OF SOIL- FER TILITY 
 
 and make the soil productive. The factors are four 
 in number, and he may have to supply all, or only 
 one, two, or three. TJie land must have drainage, 
 freedom from acids, organic matter and plenty ^of 
 available plant food. Then it will produce, despite all 
 theories. 
 
 The big problem is to do what is needed in the 
 most profitable way. What will pay? That is the 
 question. If land must be cropped, it will pay to 
 provide the four essentials, if all four are lacking. Is 
 it drainage ? How much and in what way shall we 
 drain? Is it soil acidity? AVhen and how heavily 
 shall we lime? Is it organic matter? How can we 
 g:et it to best advantage ? That involves crop rota- 
 tions, the making of manure, the use of sods and 
 green manures, etc., etc. Is it available plant food 
 that we must have? What proportion and what 
 amounts of the elements of plant food will pay best ? 
 The problem is one of best means, but we know what 
 we are after: drainage, sweet soil conditions, organic 
 matter and plant food. 
 
 It 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE FIRST ESSENTIAL 
 DRAINAGE OF WET LAND 
 
 Wet land cannot earn tlic money needed for 
 investment in its own improvement. A soil having 
 natural drainage may be thin, but under good man- 
 agement it can grow better, helping the owner to the 
 means for its betterment. Wet land is helpless. The 
 money to put it into paying condition must come 
 from the outside. There is the difficulty— the big 
 obstacle. I don't like to urge under drainage as 
 insistently as 1 would urge the growing of vegetable 
 matter for thin soils ; because the drainage, on any 
 large scale, means a new in\ estment, often equal to 
 half the selling price of the land. It means debt to 
 the man whose income has been solely from a wet 
 farm. Thorough under-drainage is a big proposition. 
 
 1 know^ the cost of under-drainage, because I have 
 put miles of it in land so heavy and w^et that laterals 
 could not be placed ftirther apart than 32 to 40 feet. 
 Equally I know the profit on such investment, the 
 <lrainage changing land that could not earn any net 
 profit into land that could earn the entire cost of 
 drainage m a single season. In two or three fields it 
 did more than this. An investment of tw^enty to 
 thirty dollars an acre for improvement cannot be 
 made on some land with safety, and it seems prohibi- 
 tive to most owners of wet farms, but there is a 
 
 12 
 
Oats and Peas— A Good Forage That Enriches the Soil 
 13 
 
Forty Bushels of Wheat Per Acre— The Result of Drainage and Fertility 
 
 It Pays to Provide the Proper Fertilizer for Hay 
 14 
 
THE ESSENTIALS OF SOIL FERTILITY 
 
 rational way of attacking this problem of drainage 
 that most men can adopt with safety and profit. 
 
 BEGINNING TO DRAIN 
 
 Any farmer could and would invest a small sum 
 in drainage if he knew the cost would be repaid 
 quickly. If he has a fairly productive field contain- 
 ing a few wet acres that delay plowing and planting 
 of the whole field each year, and that cut down the 
 yield of the whole field, there is the place to make 
 the first investment. Make that wet part of the field 
 the driest part and the most productive part by 
 means of drainage, and see how quickly the money 
 returns. The experiment gives practical experience 
 in under-drainage, cash returns and plenty of faith to 
 push the work of continued under-drainage. Be con- 
 tent to try the matter out on a few acres and know 
 for yourself what drainage can do in increasing yields 
 per acre. Then you will begin to drain more land 
 because you know you can not afford to let it remain 
 "wet. 
 
 THE FIRST THING TO DO 
 
 Many farms remain wet and unproductive because 
 their owners do not know anything about drain tile 
 and the right way to do the work. The whole matter 
 looks difficult. But it is not. Plain common sense 
 dictates everything that is necessary to do in under- 
 draining land. The first thing is to learn how good 
 drain tile can be delivered to the farm for the least 
 money. Write to manufacturers and dealers. Ac- 
 quaint yourself with prices at tlie factories for the 
 
 15 
 
THE ESSENTIALS OF SOIL FERTILITY 
 
 various sizes. Learn about freight rates in car lots. A 
 few letters will let you know the best price on each 
 size that may be used, and a measuring tape will let 
 you know how much tile you propose using in this 
 first undertaking. Lack of this kind of knQwledge 
 stands in the way of many a beginning that w^ould end 
 in much net profit. 
 
 THE OUTLET 
 
 Water wants to run down hill. The outlet is the 
 first point to locate. If the land is flat, use a sur- 
 veyor's level. Don't trust the eye nor any present im- 
 pression that the water can be carried in one direction 
 as easily as in another. A level usually surprises one 
 about the fall. Try for an outlet that will never give 
 any trouble. Under-drainage should remain about as 
 permanent and enduring as the land itself, and that 
 means an outlet which attends to its work. But it 
 is better to drain into a ditch that requires watching 
 than not to under-drain at all. 
 
 The outlet must be lower than any point in the 
 drain. Water from above will force itself through a 
 depression in a drain for a time, but soon the depres- 
 sion fills with silt, and the drain is clogged. Every 
 foot of pipe must have ability to send the water oa 
 toward the outlet. 
 
 THE GRADE 
 
 If the land is flat, have the grade established by an 
 engineer's level. Don't trust a mason's level and your 
 eye. They may be all right when there is a lot of fall 
 - — a foot or more to each one hundred feet— but worth- 
 
 16 
 
THE ESSENTIALS OF SOIL FERTILITY 
 
 less wlien the fall is slight. Drive a stake flush with 
 surface of ground at each one hundred foot station in 
 the lines of the proposed main. drain and all the lat- 
 erals. Get the levels of these stations. Then you can 
 know the depth of cut at each station to give the grade 
 wanted, A fall of three inches to each one hundred 
 feet is excellent. I like it all the better when the fall 
 is more, but have laid much tile where the fall is less. 
 One big main went in with a fall of less than an inch 
 to the hundred feet. The only requirement for endur- 
 ing work is that the tile between stations goes in on 
 a practically perfect grade, and that is not difficult if 
 a system of cross strings is used to test each foot of 
 the drain between stations. 
 
 DEPTH OF UNDER-DRAINAGE 
 
 We under-drain to lower the level of the dead water 
 ;'n the ground. Plant roots cannot develop where the 
 pores of the soil are filled with stagnant water. The 
 soil is the feeding-ground of plants, and air is an 
 absolute requirement. The water which best serves 
 plants is held in films around the tiny particles of soil, 
 and drainage must be provided for naturaUy wet land 
 to remove any surplus. The depth at which under-drains 
 Avork effectively determines the amount of soil in 
 which plants may feed to best advantage. If the ground 
 is of such character that it will become reasonably po- 
 rous after under-drainage, it is desirable that the drains 
 be at least three feet under the surface. Experience 
 lias shown that much heavy land wdll not permit the 
 water from trenches to descend sufficiently rapidly to 
 drains three feet deep, and the owner of such land is 
 
 17 
 
THE ESSENTIALS OF SOIL FERTILITY 
 
 cautioned on this point. A depth of 30 inches is 
 safer for all land of close texture, and there are rela- 
 tively small areas of very plastic soils in which drain 
 tile should not be buried more than 24 to 28 inches. 
 
 LAYING THE TILE 
 
 Have the main a few inches lower than all laterals, 
 so that the water from the laterals will be drawn into 
 the main. You can buy tile with holes cut for con- 
 nection with laterals. Take pains to kave the connec- 
 tion close. Don't leave any places for water to enter 
 freely from the soil above the connection. This 
 applies equally to every joint in the drain. When 
 laying tile, turn the piece around until it fits snugly 
 at the top. We want all the water to settle in the 
 soil and rise into the tile. That reduces the amount 
 of silt entering the drain. Don't fear the joint will be 
 too close. Pressure will send the water througli the 
 closest joint that can be made. Fill the trench with 
 earth. The water will find the tile without aid of 
 straw, sods or stone placed over the tile. In most 
 soils- they may do harm and not good. The only 
 exception to this rule is a very plastic clay that will 
 remain nearly impervious to water. In such a case, it 
 is best to keep the soil above the drain open by 
 means of foreign material. 
 
 SIZE OF TILE 
 
 As size of tile increases, cost runs up fast. We do 
 not want to waste money, and, on the other hand, a 
 main that will not carry off the water in time to save 
 a crop is worthless. A main should be larfi^e enough 
 
 18 
 
THE ESSE NTIALS OF SOIL FERTILITY 
 
 to carry all the water that the owner may ever want 
 to bring to it by extension of his system of drainage. 
 The area to be drained, the thoroughness of tlie drain- 
 age, and the amount of surface water coming from 
 higher land that is undrained, determine the size of 
 the main. The fall also is a factor. Ordinarily, I 
 should expect a six-inch main to carry all the water 
 from a twelve-acre field, or a five-inch main to carry 
 the water from an eight-acre field, if no surface water 
 from other land ran down upon it. I should not use 
 tile less than five inches for a main if there were 
 many laterals to be joined to it. 
 
 The laterals should be small. They cost much less 
 pnd do the work perfectly when put into position in 
 a workmanlike manner. Many factories now make 
 nothing less than three inches in diameter. This 
 indicates that people do not like to trust a smaller 
 size. Formerly they used two-inch, and carelessness 
 in laying, causing depressions that finally filled with 
 silt, brought this size into disrepute. I have seldom 
 used anything larger than two-and-a-half inch tile for 
 laterals. Certainly the three-inch is abundantly large. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE SECOND ESSENTIAL 
 THE RIGHT USE OF LIME 
 
 Lime may be applied to the soil to improve its 
 physical condition, and there are instances in whicli 
 it is needed as actual plant food; but I am chiefly 
 interested in lime as a means of keeping a soil 
 friendly to plant life through correction of acidity. 
 The tendency of all soils is to lose some of their stock 
 of available lime, and, when a lime deficiency comes 
 about, acids accumulate in the soil that make condi- 
 tions unfriendly to bacterial life and to our fcultivated 
 plants. A large portion of the land outside of lime- 
 stone belts has parted with its available lime to a 
 point where a lime deficiency now exists, and this 
 condition is limiting the production of clover and 
 other crops. More than this, within our limestone 
 belts there is a rapidly increasing area of soil which 
 has a lime deficiency. I live in a limestone valley at 
 State College, Pennsylvania, and our scientists find 
 that much of the land on the College farm does not 
 now contain enough lime in available form to keep 
 the soil sweet. The land is becoming acid, and 
 requires applications of lime to correct acidity just as 
 truly as does very much of the land outside of the 
 limestone areas. When we first began to turn new 
 land with a breaking-plow, doubtless a diminution of 
 the supplies of available lime occuiTcd, and, as the so'A 
 
 20 
 
THE ESSENTIALS OF SOIL FERTILITY 
 
 was kept loose by means of tillage and cuops were 
 taken from the land, the store of lime was gradually 
 reduced by leaching and by removal and by chemical 
 change as acids formed, and it appears now that it is 
 only a matter of time when practically all soil will 
 reach a point where a lack of available lime will 
 become apparent. Some of you have land that pro- 
 duced good clover twenty years ago and is now 
 beginning to refuse to grow clover. Others of you 
 have land that is producing good clover today, but 
 will probably reach the point of lime deficiency and 
 impaired power to grow clover a generation hence. 
 The point which I would emphasize is l^hat the lime 
 in our soil which is so essential to healthful plant 
 conditions tends to grow less in amount as the years 
 go by. Within our own life-time, we have seen a 
 large proportion of our tillable lands reach the point 
 where there is not enough lime to take care of harm- 
 ful soil acids, and as the years come the area of such 
 land will grow greater. This is not a pleasing situa- 
 tion to contemplate, but it is a condition that must 
 be met. There is only one cure for soil acidity, and 
 that is to apply something to correct it and to give 
 to the plants friendly soil conditions. 
 
 SWEETEN THE SOIL 
 
 The vital question before tens of thousands of 
 practical farmers today is, what shall be done to 
 restore their soils to a condition friendly to clovers. 
 Many say that lime costs too much ,and that its 
 application is unpleasant, and they are not fullv con- 
 vinced that it would be profitable. I want to urge 
 
 21 
 
THE ESSENTIALS OF SOIL FERTILITY^ 
 
 that if the soil is becoming acid, and if the organic 
 matter is deficient because heavy sods cannot be 
 grown and plowed down, there is no w ay to bring 
 the land up to high-cropping power except to apply 
 the one natural element for the correction of these 
 bad soil conditions, and that is lime. Men who 
 abused the use of lime years ago applied one hundred 
 to two hundred bushels per acre. It is not such a 
 liming that we are urging today. I am not even urg- 
 ing lime to benefit the physical condition of your 
 land, although oftentimes applications for this pur- 
 pose would pay well ; but I am urging that soils be 
 kept sweet, and that means the presence of sufficient 
 available lime to take care of all the harmful acids 
 that tend continually to accumulate in land that is 
 deficient in lime. 
 
 HOW MUCH LIME? 
 
 The only way to tell how much lime should be ap- 
 plied is try out the matter through experiment. If 
 your land today refuses to grow clover, the chances 
 are that you will see a wonderful difference in the 
 growth if only a thousand pounds of lime per acre be 
 applied. I know land that has greatly increased its 
 clover production by the application of only five hun- 
 dred pounds per acre. In a general way, if clovers are 
 refusing to grow or if general conditions are unfavor- 
 able to other sods, one should apply a thousand pounds 
 per acre. If the land is decidedly acid, and lime not 
 excessively high in price, he will do well to use one 
 ton of lime per acre. I mean one ton of lump lime or 
 its equivalent in slaked lime or pulverized limestone. 
 
 22 
 
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 Small Fruits for the Farm Home 
 
 23 
 
Crimson Clover Adds Fertility to the Soil 
 
 Rape Is a Succulent Forage 
 
 24 
 
THE ESSENTIALS OF SOIL FERTILITY 
 
 WHAT FORM? 
 
 Many farmers are asking what form of lime they 
 should use. The correct answer depends upon the cost 
 of the material. Pulverized lime, which is limestone 
 burned into lime, and then made mechanically fine in 
 order, that it may be distributed with ease, contains 
 tlie greatest possible amount of material for correcting 
 soil acidity. When lime has been slaked with water, 
 its weight has been increased, while its ability to correct 
 acidity has not been increased. One ton of lump lime 
 will correct about as mucli acidity, roughly speaking, 
 as two tons of finely pulverized limestone. If the 
 limestone could be made as fine as flour, so that every 
 particle were available in the soil, two tons of the lime- 
 stone would correct somewhat more acidity than one 
 ton of lime, but, as we find the pulverized limestone oa 
 the market, it is safe to say that it is not fine enough 
 to permit two tons to be as effective as one ton of the 
 pulverized lime. The so-called "new process" lime on 
 the market is a lime which has been slaked by steam, 
 and therefore has had its weight increased without any 
 addition of ability to correct acidity. One ton of this 
 *'new-process" lime cannot correct as much soil acidity 
 as one ton of pulverized lime. On the other hand, the 
 ease of application is a great consideration. "New-pro- 
 cess" lime is easy to handle, and on that account rtiay 
 be worth as much to the farmer as the pulverized lime 
 which is unslaked and must be drilled into the ground 
 before it slakes, unless one is willing to be troubled by 
 burst packages. 
 
 Pulverized limestone can be handled with compara- 
 
 25 
 
THE ESSENTIALS OF SOIL FERTILITY 
 
 tive ease; but the buyer must remember that he is 
 paying for the transportation of a large amount of 
 "U'aste material in the pulverized limestone, a^: nearly 
 one-half of it is worthless so far as correction of acidity 
 is concerned. It is a mere matter of arithmetic to de- 
 termine how much soil acidity can be corrected with 
 the least amount of money, the first cost of material 
 and the transportation and the ease of application be- 
 ing considered. 
 
 HOW SHOULD LIME BE APPLIED? 
 
 AVhen the general need of lime is more fully ap- 
 preciated, there will be a greater demand for lime 
 spreaders. Several firms are making spreaders that 
 handle lime in small quantities per acre. Where lime 
 is inexpensive and the farmer can afford to apply forty 
 or fifty bushels per acre, he will find that the manure 
 spreader will do fairly even work ; but when lime is 
 costly and only one thousand pounds per acre should 
 be applied, the manure spreader is not satisfactory. 
 The Ohio Experiment Station had a lime spreader 
 made at a local blacksmith shop at a total cost of 
 seventeen dollars. A A^-shaped box was used with an 
 :axle passing through the box and furnishing a fairly 
 good force feed. Old mower wheels were used for this 
 spreader, and it gave good satisfaction. Some grain 
 drills with fertilizer attachments are capable of apply- 
 ing five hundred to one thousand pounds of lime 
 per acre, but I think most men fail to get such 
 results from their drills, and the thing to do is to 
 purchase lime spreaders that will apply any amount 
 from a few hundred pounds to a ton or two per acre, 
 
 26 
 
THE ESSENTIALS OF SOIL FERTILITY 
 
 The easiest way to make lime applications is none 
 too good. 
 
 DO NOT PLOW DOWN 
 
 I^ime should not be plowed down. The old way- 
 was to apply one to two hundred bushels of lime per 
 acre on the sod and to let it lie for months and then 
 plow it down. In the case of such heavy applications, 
 the more waste the better for the land ; but when lime 
 costs several dollars a ton the right way is to get the 
 greatest possible effectiveness out of it, and that means 
 working the lime into the surface of the soil after the 
 land has been broken for the crop. The tendency of 
 lime always is downward. Do not plow lime down, 
 but bring it into contact with the free acid in the top 
 soil. Let it become mixed with the top soil and make 
 it sweet. 
 
 HOW TO VIEW LIMING 
 
 We often are asked whether lime will increase 
 the yield of corn and wheat and other crops. If land 
 is sour, containing harmful acid, the sweetening of 
 that land with lime will result in increased yield of 
 almost any staple product, but we do not urge any 
 one to apply lime for the sake of increase in yield of 
 corn, wheat and similar crops. We wish the farmer 
 to take a different view-point. If his land is in an 
 unhealthy state and lime will put it into a condition 
 friendly to plants, the thing to do is to correct that 
 soil with' lime and, when that has been done, he 
 should have in mind first the production of a heavy 
 clover sod. The increase in yield of wheat or corn is 
 incidental. The Vital thing is to make the land 
 
 27 
 
THE ESSENTIALS OF SOIL FERTILITY 
 
 friendly to all plants, especially clover, because in 
 most farm crop rotations clover is fundamental, and 
 continued productiveness of the soil depends largely 
 upon it. As clover usually is seeded either with oats 
 or wheat, the lime may be drilled into the ground 
 while preparing the seed bed for oats or for wheat. 
 If the farmer prefers, he can drill the lime into the 
 ground when preparing land for corn, although I am 
 sure that a larger amount per acre will be necessary 
 than when applying the lime immediately previous 
 to the seeding to clover. 
 
 I have tried to impress these facts : The tendency 
 of soils is toward lime deficiency. Limestone soils 
 themselves gradually lose some available lime. Maxi- 
 mum crops can be obtained only from neutral or alka- 
 line soils. As lands grow old, we shall be compelled to 
 apply more and more lime to keep the soil sweet, and 
 we can get that lime out of stone lime, pulverized or 
 slaked lime or finely pulverized limestone. The day 
 will come when we will realize that the Creator 
 placed beds of limestone in our lands for the benefit 
 of humanity, just as He placed the coal beds. Just 
 as the coal is an accumulation of material for the 
 benefit of the human race, so is our limestone an 
 accumulation of material to satisfy deficiencies that 
 will continue more and more to occur in our tillable 
 soils as long as the earth stands. If there were no 
 supplies of lime, we probably could look forward only 
 to the day when our soils would be rank with poison- 
 ous acids and wholly unfriendly to plant life. 
 
 28 
 
CHAPTER ly 
 
 THE THIRD ESSENTIAL 
 ORGANIC MATTER 
 
 When land has been robbed through the greed of 
 its owner and has been abandoned, nature imme- 
 diately begins the work of restoration. All land 
 which once was in productive condition contains 
 large stores of inert plant food, and an unproducti\e 
 condition has resulted in part from the removal of all 
 vegetable matter. Nature's first effort is to produce 
 some vegetation through whose growth and decay 
 comes about some increase in the availability of the 
 natural stores of fertility. A growth of weeds and 
 briars and bushes is made the first season, and when 
 the leaves and stalks and roots decay there is ability 
 in the soil to produce a larger growth of vegetation 
 the next year. Handicapped as is the abandoned soil 
 by the greed of man, and helpless with respect to 
 selection of the best possible plants to renew the sup- 
 ply of humus, the soil makes use of whatever variety 
 of plants is possible to it and in time there is a return 
 to better productive condition. Organic matter is the 
 life of the soil, and the means of supplying it is the 
 vital consideration after we have been assured of 
 drainage and freedom from acidity. 
 
 STABLE MANUKE 
 
 There is a limit to the amount of stable manure 
 that may be made, because there is a limit to the 
 
 29 
 
THE ESSENTIALS OF SOIL FERTILITY 
 
 amount of soil products that should be furnished the 
 human race in the form of animal products. The man 
 who advises that all of the soil products of a farm 
 be fed to animals, and that other feeding stuffs 
 be purchased to make good any loss of fertility 
 resulting from feeding and sale of live-stock, has no 
 solution of the soil-fertility problem for the world. 
 The human race must be supplied with other food 
 than meat and milk, and the scheme of creation must 
 have provided for the maintenance of soil fertility, 
 while land furnished bread and vegetables and fruit 
 to those wlx> would not be farmers. 
 
 If there were an abundance of manure on all farms, 
 the factor of organic matter in soils would need little 
 consideration. When the manure rotted in the soil, it 
 would improve the texture of the ground, assist in 
 liolding moisture and add plant food. But there is 
 not enough manure to keep all the land supplied with 
 organic matter, and dependence must be placed upon 
 plants. We may get the material from their roots 
 and stubble, as is usual in the case of the clovers and 
 grasses, or from the entire plant. When the supply of 
 manure is light, it pays best to use it to grow a heavy 
 sod for plowing down. It can be made to supply more 
 organic matter indirectly than it does directly. The 
 owner of thin land who has a limited supply of manure 
 should accept the thought that in his case the chief 
 function of manure is to produce heavy sods which 
 will supply vegetable matter. In his case enough of 
 the farm supply of manure will be kept in the surface 
 soil to furnish the most favorable conditions to young 
 clover and grass plants when starting life. He will 
 
 30 
 
THE ESSENTIALS OF SOIL FERTILITY 
 
 plow manure deeply only after he has used a sufficient 
 part of the farm supply as a top-dressing to insure 
 sods. 
 
 CLOVERS 
 
 Immense importance attaches to the care and use 
 of the manure now made. Present wastes are enor- 
 mous. The supphes, however, should be supplemented 
 by the legumes. There would hardly be a limit to the 
 supply of organic matter from the clovers if we would 
 nieet the conditions for successful clover growing. On 
 two-thirds of the land from the Mississippi river to 
 the seaboard there has been a tendency to accept 
 the idea that the clovers cannot be made to grow 
 successfully. 
 
 In the northern states the varieties in common use 
 are medium red, mammoth and alsike. They have 
 been failing more and more, and land has grown 
 deficient in organic matter and less productive. There 
 are limited areas in which disease has caused failure, 
 but in the vast majority of cases the inabihty to grow" 
 clover can be overcome. Drained land, made sweet 
 with lime and given proper applications of fertilizer,, 
 can be brought to the production of heavy clover sods. 
 Some who read this will doubt the statement, but 
 within the last few years the certainty of it has been 
 established by thousands of men on all kinds of soils. 
 We can get the clover, and it does not pay to doubt 
 the fact. 
 
 CHOICE OF VARIETY 
 
 Medium red clover is a great soil builder when 
 given a chance. It produces two crops and we can 
 
 31 
 
THE ESSENTIALS OF SOIL FERTILITY 
 
 harvest one of the two without any great injury to 
 the soil. This may be the first crop, the second crop 
 being plowed down. Or, we may clip the first crop, 
 making a rich mulch, and then take off a crop of 
 seed. When we take both crops we rob the land 
 of organic matter unless manure comes back to it. 
 Medium red clover also makes a big growth of roots. 
 When a soil is not water-logged, and has been sweet- 
 ened with lime, medium red has no superior in ability 
 to build up fertility. 
 
 Where drainage is less good, and where there is 
 some deficiency in lime, the alsike is surer. It does 
 not equal medium red or the mammoth as a soil 
 builder, nor does it make as much hay per acre, 
 but it is excellent, nevertheless, and a good plan 
 is to mix alsike and red when seeding doubtful 
 ground. The alsike seed is small, and a mixture 
 of one bushel of alsike to five bushels of medium 
 Ted is good. 
 
 The mammoth makes only one crop. It makes 
 coarse hay, and falls badly when seeded alone. It is 
 a good mixture with timothy, ripening later than the 
 medium red. The latter is the better for fertility if 
 its second crop is left on the ground. 
 
 It would be great if crimson clover could be 
 grown throughout the northern states. It is a winter 
 annual, like wheat. Crimson clover can not be sown 
 with success in the spring. The outcome would be 
 much as in the case of winter wheat sown in the 
 spring. If it were a hardy plant, our northern states 
 would have the best possible winter cover crop. If 
 people inoculated the soil for it, as they do for alfalfa, 
 
 32 
 
The Large Roots of an Alsike aover Plant 
 
 33 
 
Fruit and Truck Farm Kept in a High State of Fertility 
 
 A Market-Garden on Soil That Has Seen Made Rich 
 34 
 
THE ESSENTIALS OF SOIL FERTILITY 
 
 the day would come when much larger areas in the 
 North would ffrow this clover with success. 
 
 GRASS SODS 
 
 The grasses can furnish a large amount of organic 
 matter to land, and would be soil builders if used 
 aright. The chief trouble is that we do not fertilize 
 grass sods so that they will be heavy, and do not 
 plow them down when heavy. We use them to skin 
 the soil rather than to build it up. A heavy grass 
 sod, turned under with some aftermath, adds largely 
 to the soil's supply of vegetable matter, and therefore 
 to productive power. We are learning that it pays 
 better to fertilize a sod than to fertilize the crop fol- 
 lowing the grass. The investment makes double 
 returns. 
 
 OTHER SOURCES OF ORGANIC INIATTER 
 
 When land is not growing a crop to be harvested, 
 it should be proSucing organic matter for itself. 
 Soils produce plants on account of their hunger for 
 vegetable matter that may rot and thereby increase 
 their productivity. A part of that which the soil 
 produces belongs to it by natural right, and when any 
 man's scheme of farming provides for the removal 
 of a greater part of the soil's production than riglit- 
 fuUy belongs to him, the land is on the road toward 
 infertility. JNIany of our best farmers find it possil)le 
 to give to the land its share of that which is pro- 
 duced by making free use of catch crops. They may 
 be grown after the remo\'al of the reguhu- crop in 
 the rotation, or they may be grown with some of 
 
 35 
 
THE ESSENTIALS OF SOIL FERTILITY 
 
 these crops. Frequently they may take the place of 
 some crop whose failure was inevitable on account of 
 conditions that could not be controlled. In warm 
 latitudes, the southern field pea and crimson clover 
 are peculiarly valuable because they add large stores 
 of nitrogen while supplying organic matter. Farther 
 north, the Soy bean takes the place occupied by the 
 southern field pea in the south. It will thrive in 
 iiny good corn soil. Winter vetch is another valuable 
 legume. Rye is the surest winter cover crop for 
 northern latitudes and has considerable value. Any 
 plant that adds organic matter to the ground adds 
 productive power, provided there is lime in the soil 
 to unite with the acids produced by the rotting 
 plant- 
 
 36 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE FOURTH ESSENTIAL 
 AVAILABLE PLANT FOOD 
 
 When we consider our soil-fertility problem simply 
 and broadly, there are those who accept the statement 
 that drainage, soil sweetness and organic matter are 
 essentials, but they believe that these three are the 
 only essentials; and that I am all wrong in naming a 
 fourth — commercial fertilizers. Again there are those 
 who accept the fourth, but don't see anything simple 
 about proper selection of commercial fertilizers, while 
 they do know how to drain, to sweeten a soil, and to 
 work out the best way of getting plenty of organic 
 matter. 
 
 THE NEED 
 
 The first class may have a soil well filled with 
 available fertility. There is such land. The day will 
 come when its supply of mineral plant food will run 
 too low for maximum production. Then will be the 
 time to replenish it. Nature stored up great deposits 
 for this purpose. But many farmers on naturally rich 
 land, or land receiving stable manure, are failing to get 
 the best yields of grain, potatoes, etc., because they 
 do not supply some phosphoric acid and potash — 
 especially the former. The clover and the manure 
 supply nitrogen which makes a rank growth of stalk 
 and leaf, but the yield of grain is not in proportion, 
 because phosplioric acid is lacking. 
 
 37 
 
THE ESSENTIALS OF SOIL FERTILITY 
 
 WHAT TO APPLY 
 
 It is easier to find out that certain quantities of 
 certain elements will bring some net profit than it is 
 to learn what application will bring the most net 
 profit. It is the best net profit that one wants, and I 
 reckon that few ever do hit the mark exactly. But 
 there are some broad lines between which we can 
 work. We can make far more intelligent guesses than 
 some of us are doing, and then we can learn by each 
 year's experience. 
 
 UNPRODUCTIVE LAND 
 
 Most land has a lot of fertility in it that is not 
 available. It is like ore before it is mined. It consti- 
 tutes the "natural strength" of the soil. This ma- 
 terial becomes unlocked gradually by means of good 
 tillage and the action of rotting vegetable matter. 
 AVhen we undertake to improve a poor field, it usu- 
 ally pays to supply nitrogen, phosphoric acid and 
 potash — a high-grade complete fertilizer — until we 
 can get a supply of organic matter at work for us in 
 the soil. The complete fertilizer helps to make a 
 heavy sod for plowing down, or a growth to be 
 plowed under. The soil is nearly helpless until the 
 hunuis-making material is supplied. 
 
 When land has been hard-run, and is unproduc- 
 tive, it needs the three elements in a complete fer- 
 tilizer, but such land, when sweetened with lime, 
 should grow clover if the phosphoric acid and potash 
 are supplied liberally. The clover, with some stable 
 manure on the farm, should supply the greater part 
 
 38 
 
$20,000 Improvements Paid for from Proceeds of Farm— Fertility Did It 
 
 A Rich Soil Grows Big Wheal 
 
Soy Beans Make Rich Soil 
 
 Extensive Lettuce Growing 
 40 
 
Limestone on Sweet Clover at Ohio Experiment Station. The Large Growth is Limed 
 
 Prolific Oats 
 
 41 
 
 Champion Com 
 
THE ESSENTIALS OF SOIL FERTILITY 
 
 of the nitrogen for all staple crops. We can tell 
 whether it is doing so by the appearance of the 
 growing plants. This is simple enough. If corn 
 makes a heavy stalk, with broad, dark leaves; it 
 timothy grows rank; if potato vines are heavy — quit 
 buying nitrogen. If plants are pale in color and 
 small, buy nitrogen until the clovers and manure do 
 supply the need. If it will not pay to feed plants 
 according to their need, it will not pay to farm the 
 land. 
 
 THE MINERAL ELEMENTS 
 
 We should learn from others. It is the experi- 
 ence of nearly all experiment stations and land- 
 owners, from the Mississippi river to the ^Vtlantic 
 seaboard, that phosphoric acid is the limiting element 
 in our soils. That is to say, if a soil lacks anything 
 phosphoric acid will be found to be deficient. Other 
 plant food may be lacking also — probably is, if the 
 soil is poor — but most of all is the need of phos- 
 phorus. Hence we learn to supply it, and our usual 
 failure is to supply it Hberally. The chances always 
 are that we should use steamed bone, basic slag or 
 acid phosphate, or a mixed fertilizer running high in 
 phosphorus. 
 
 THE COMPLETE FERTILIZER 
 
 There are immense beds of material containing 
 phosphorus, and there is a nearly universal hunger for 
 that element in our soils. When we supply enough, 
 together with potash where needed, to produce good 
 clover, we have land brought up to a good state of 
 
 43 
 
THE ESSENTIALS OF SOIL FERTILITY 
 
 productiveness. We get crops yielding profit. After 
 the marked deficiency has been met in this way, fur- 
 ther increase in yield of cereals, grasses and most 
 vegetables comes from the use of a fertilizer supply- 
 ing all three elements. First use freely the carriers of 
 phosphorus on land that will grow clover well, and 
 let the organic matter help to free plant food. Then, 
 usually on such land a complete fertilizer helps to 
 still greater profit. 
 
 Thin land is helpless. We supply everything to 
 get clover started. Later, with the clover, we depend 
 heavily upon phosphorus for profitable, productive 
 condition. Then, with the chief hunger of the soil 
 met, when we go after increased yields, we find the 
 complete fertilizer pays. In some soils the need of 
 potash is as marked as that of phosphorus. 
 
 RATIONAL FARMING 
 
 Our country is comparatively new. It was cleared 
 and cropped. The need of drainage in many sections 
 has increased as the subsoil became packed and the 
 top soil lost its humus. The lime has washed out or 
 been used up. The organic matter has been con- 
 sumed, and the stores of soil strength have been 
 locked up. The steps toward improvement are not 
 difficult to understand. We have learned much 
 about methods of draining. We have learned the 
 imperative need of lime, and what and how to apply 
 to make a soil sweet and friendly to clover. We 
 have learned to plan so that the soil's natural share 
 of vegetable matter may go back to it in sods, catch 
 crops and manure. We have learned something 
 
 44 
 
THE ESSENTIALS OF SOIL FERTILITY 
 
 about supplying a soil's hunger for mineral ele- 
 ments. 
 
 We have an immense deal yet to learn about 
 methods, so as to meet the land's need, and at the 
 same time get the most net profit, but we know the 
 general direction of the road we must travel. The 
 amount of stuff we should feed on the farm, the rota- 
 tion and kind of crops, the amount of tillage, the 
 place to use fertilizers and the amount — an endless 
 mass of things puzzle every thinking farmer, and will 
 continue to puzzle us because curcumstances vary; 
 but we do find the fundamental principles simple, 
 and know what we are trying to do. The farming of 
 the next fifty years will be far more intelhgent than 
 tliat of the past, and land will grow better and not 
 worse. 
 
 45 
 
"Common Sense Treat- 
 ment of Farm Animals" 
 
 By DR. C. D. SMEAD 
 
 'pHIS book, written by Dr. Smead, a noted 
 authority in his hne, tells in every-day 
 style how to treat common diseases of 
 cattle, horses, sheep and swine. Tells how 
 to keep them healthy and thriving and 
 what to do in case of emergency — chok- 
 ing, colic, bloating, wounds, etc. The illus- 
 trations make the book worth many times 
 more than is asked for it, showing as they 
 do the methods of applying different treat- 
 ments. Animals on every farm get sick 
 at times. The study of Dr. Smead's di- 
 rections and quick action will save nine 
 cases out of ten. You can't follow direc- 
 tions without the book. Price 50 cents. 
 
 Copyrighted and Published by 
 
 The National Stockman and Farmer 
 Publishing Company. 
 
JUL 5 1913 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 002 755 490 8