Oklahoma Farmer (Guthrie, Okla.), Vol. 22, No. 17, Ed. 1 Wednesday, January 1, 1913 Page: 3 of 20
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Oklahoma Farmer
Volume 22
Number 17.
GUTHRIE, OKLAHOMA, JANUARY 1, 1913.
Subscription
50 Cents a Year
THE COMPOSITION OF SOILS
THE element's; nitrogen, potash, lime and
phosphortts arc probably tin limiting es-
sential plant foods. Carbon, hydrogen and
oxygen are just as necessary, but are eas-
ily obtained by plants from the «*ur and water.
Iron, sulphur and magnesium are also required,
but the amounts needed are comparatively small,
..and they arc seldom deficient in soils. Aluminum,
chlorln, manganese silicon and sodium are other
elements .ofteu feund in plants and are of course
obtained from the soil.
The most practical method Sf testing a soil is
by growing crops in It. It the soil does not con-
tain the nourishing plant elements in sufficient
quantities, it will be shown by the poor yield and
the inferior quality of the crop. After working
a certain soil for a few .seasons, many tariners
can determine just what plant food is lacking.
Fertilizer tests have demonstrated that if corn,
oats or wheat prodtlces only small, shriveled
grains under* normal weathei 'conditions, there is
ti need for more phosphorus. The leguminous
crops, such as clovers, cowpeas and alfalfa, do not
do well in soil which is low in lime; they ar#
frequently used to test land > determine wjiether
an application of " lims is necessary. A good
growth of sorrel often indicates that tin soil is
acid Strawberries and other small fruits need
extra amounts of potash. Nitrogen is particular-
ly essential to all plant* In most cases'a luxur-
iant growth of stalk and leaves would indicate an
•abundant supply of nitrogen, but potash has a
similar effect, though .an „vxc. ss of available po-
ash in soil?; is quite' rare. The need of nitrogen^
s often shown by #the number of sickly looking®
plants with thin, light colored leaves.
9 A chemical analysis, which has for its object
the determination of the important elements in
a soil, is a very complicated piece of work which
may be under way for about ten days, requiring
xp'ert Jtnowledge and expensive apparatus. Such,
work actually costs from $10.00 to $75.00 for
'ach anaysis, the coat depending on the sample
itself, upon the substances present, and number of
leterminations necessary. Very seldom are the
renditions such as to wariW the expenditure of
the time and amount of money mentioned* on one
sample. Rarelv does one portion of a field truly
represent an entire farm. A soil Sample must
be drawn by an expert .if the analysis is to show
the real composition of the soil under considera-
tion Several states have an organization known
as The Soil Survey, the purpose of which is to
ascertain the geological formation, inechancial
condition and cfcemical composition of the soils
n the State. An investigation of this character
includes the drawing of maps which are designed
to sliojv by section every typ> of soil in each
county.
° When chemical analyses are made.of soils the
"samples of which are properly collected, repre-
senting a large section, the information becomes
of value and available* to a number of people. If
e " the soil of a particular portion of a county is
shown to be deficient in one or two elements, the
information Is of great value, and. if considered
Written Expressly for Oklahoma
Farmer by
Chas. K. Francis, Ph. D.
Chemist, Oklahoma A. & M.
College Experiment Station
when purchasing*fertilizers, results in the saving
of large sums of money, aside from the piofits
made through increased yields.
In a general way, a chemical analysis will not
show to what crop a given normal soil is espe-
cially adapted; as for example, cotton, corn, milo
or*Kafir corn. The reason for this is that th®
raising of a good crop depends on more thai. the.
chemical composition of the soil. Mechancal con-
dition, moisture, seasonal influence, method of
cultivation and even position or exposure, have
to be onsidered. A splendid factory building,
equipped with the best machinery, cannot turn
out a remarkable product at a profit under pool
supervision. The best soil will not produce a
maximum crop if poorly managed. A poor soil
can be made to make large yields if its needs are
known. The building up of a soil depends chief-
ly upon proper cultivation anil the application of
fertilizers to supply the lacking plant food-
Most Oklahoma soils contain enough plant food
tu raise .any crop suitable to the Temperate
Zone .provided the rainfall is sufficient and prop-
erly distributed. Occasionally, phosphorus is low. .
and an application of 100 to 500 pounds of acid
phosphate per acre each season, or J,000 pounds
of ground*rock phosphate every live years, >vonld
no doubt pay for itself many times over on some
farms, particularly where wheat and corn are
important. Here and there nitrogen needs replen-
ishing, but it is not economical f" purchase this
expensive element in the form of fertilizer, be-
cause it can be put into the soil in tlia most satis-
factory way in the form of green manure; that
is, plowing under of.green, leguminous crops such
as cowpeas.
A good Oklahoma soil may contain the four
important elements in the following percentages:
Phosphorus (P) 0.05, (phosphoric acid (Pa05^ 0.12),
Calcium (Ca) 0.18, lime (CaO) 0.25, Potassium (K>
0.17. (potash (K20); 020) nitrogen <N) 0.10. An ex
ceptionally rich soil may contain about double the
quantities mentioned, while the composition of the
poor soil will have to be expressed in figures in
the second place, often below 0.05 per cent.
TABLE I. . °
Amount of Essential Plant Foods in Some Oklahoma
Soils.
Potash Phosphoric acid Nitrogen
Calculated To Elements.
Sample
.Number
1(172
10713.
10715
1076
1077
11956
12417
111298
12122
Calcium
(Ca)
0.213
0.188
0.170
. 0.222
0.236
0.207
0.207
0.129
2,258
Potassium Phosphorus Nitrogen
(K) (P) <N>
0.417 0 06,' 0.110
0.269 0.071 0.100
0.213 0.055 0.098
0.407 0.070 0.120
0.365 0.06C 0.110
0.423 0.052 0.100
0 490 0.087 0.100
0.457 0.258 0.04(0
. 0.332 0.105 0.040
In Table 1 some analyses of Oklahoma soils,
cbtained from different parts of the State, are
shown. The quantities reported are what are
known as the acid soluble portion, or in other
words, the amounts that should ultimately become
available as plant food. The portion Immediately
available is much less, as may be seen in thu fol-
lowing table:
TABLE NO. II.
Available plant fool ir soils.
Lime Potash Phosphoric Add
(Cat)) (K20.) (P205) .
0 208 0.018 0.002 *
0.185 0.025 0.002
0.185 0.013 0.001
Sample
Number
1072
10713
10715
Calculated t'o Elements.
Sample Calcium Potassium
Number (Ca) (K)
1072 0.149 0.015
10713 0.133 0.021
10715 0.133 0.011
'hosphorus
(P)
0.0009
0.0009
0.0004
Sample 0
Number
1072
10713
10715
107C
1077
11956
12417
111298
12422
Lime
(CaO)
0.298
0.263
0.238
0.310
0.330
0.290
0.290
0.180
3,160
(K20)
0.502
0.324
0.257
0.490
0.440
0.510
0.590
0.550
0.400
(P205)
0.131
0.163
o.ys
0.160
0.150
0.120.
0.200
0.590
0.240
(N)
0.110
0.100
0.098
0.120
0.110
0.100
0.100
0.090
0.040
Corn, wheat and tile cereals in general remove
large quantities of plant foods from the land.
About thfec-fourths of the nitrogen ami phos-
phorus in an entire plant is found In the seed,
but the great part of the potassium remains in the
steiji or straw. So that when the cereals are sold,
part of the nitrogen mil phosphorus supply of a
farm goes along, and in time a deficiency of these
elements in the soil will be apparent. Where live
stock is grown and the manure spread over the
soil, the principal loss will be in the phosphorus
content. This may be replaced through bone
meal, acid phosphate, or, preferably, ground phos-
phate rock.
If 50 bushels of corn are produced on one acre
and t^ie stalks are removed from the land, the
plant food lost per acre would be 75 pounds of ni-
trogen, 12 pounds of phosphorus and nearly 37
pounds of potassium. These substances have b.
money value, as fertilizers, of about $15.00,
Suppose an analysis of a soil shows the follow-
ing: Potassium 0.4 per cent; nitrogen 0.1 per cent;
and phosphorus 0.07 per cent. These amounts in-
dicate that there woud be in the tillable part, ap-
proximately the top seven inches, 8,000 pounds of
potassium,o 2,000 pounds of nitrogen and 1,400
pounds of° phosphorus. This quantity of phos-
phorus is sufficient for 250 corn crops at 50 bu-
shels per acre; it is a 28 years' supply of pitro-
gen; and enough potash to last 275 years, pro-
vided these substances become available, at a vjn-
stant rate, and that the demands of each season
are constant.
With normal soils, ordinary crops and favorable
seasons it may be assumed that 2 per cent of the
(Continued on Page 11.)
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THE SOIL THAT PRODUCED THIS OKLAHOMA WHEAT CROP ISN'T NEEDING A '•TONIC" VERY BADLY.
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Crowther, M. L. Oklahoma Farmer (Guthrie, Okla.), Vol. 22, No. 17, Ed. 1 Wednesday, January 1, 1913, newspaper, January 1, 1913; Guthrie, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc139780/m1/3/: accessed April 19, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.