INCREASED FERTILITY,

By F. L. ALLEN, Kinsman, O.

[Read at the Farmers' Institute held at Andover, Ashtabula County, December 12 and 13, 1898.]

Since the food supply of man comes directly or indirectly from the soil, the question of maintained or increased fertility is of interest to every individual of whatever occupation, or class of society, but to the farmer who tills the soil it is, or ought to be, a matter of vital importance. The question of whether a farmer. is happy or unhappy, cheerful or discouraged, contented or discontented, successful or unsuccessful, depends very largely for its answer upon whether the soil which he cultivates is becoming year by year richer and more productive or poorer and more sterile. Moreover, it is due to future generations, who shall bear his name and till the acres which he tills, that he hand down to them a soil not only undiminished in fertility, but, if possible, of increased productiveness.

Of the seventy or more elements which compose this earth upon which we live only a few enter to any extent into the composition of plants or animals. And only three of these are to any great degree liable to exhaustion. These are nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash. These three are sometimes called the essential elements, though some of the others are also essential.

Nitrogen came originally from the atmosphere, and is still coming slowly from the same source. Phosphoric acid and potash came originally into available condition from the breaking up and decay of rocks on the earth's surface. There was a time when the surface of the earth was covered by nothing but solid rock and water. Now rocks decay when exposed to the weather. Freshly quar-ried stone soon loses its sharp edges and bright color and becomes rounded and dull in hue. Rocks absorb water which expands in freezing and breaks off portions of them; rains wash these fragments away and at the same time wear off more of the surface of the rock; this worn rock becomes soil.

Glaciers have been a most important agency in making and distributing the soil. Geologists tell us that at one time all the northern, western and southwestern portions of our state were covered with a body of moving snow and iceof immense thickness and weight. As this ice flow advanced it ground up and pulverized everything in its path. And when it receded under different climatic conditions, deposited great quantities of soil, boulders and debris. This soil is. known as drift soil and is the richest in mineral matter of any we know, because it is deep and composed of a great variety of elements brought together from distant sources. It contains a practically inexhaustable supply of the so-called necessary elements - nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash.

Why then are our farms so unproductive if they contain such a wealth of plant food? Because these elements are in an unavailable condition. The productivity of a soil is not a correct index of the total amount of plant food it contains. Nature has wisely locked up her stores of fertility and deals them out to us in small quantities. Were it not so, prodigal man would soon waste the resources of the soil and as punishment for his prodigality would be compelled to

starve.

Now the question comes, how can we render available enough of this vast store of fertility to make our lands more productive? Before we attempt to answer the question, however, suppose we look a little more closely at the soil. If you examine it carefully you will see great numbers of mineral particles, which look like small stones. This is just what they are. All soils are composed largely of minute pieces of stone. Even our clay soil, under a microscope, looks like sand. Now the fertility of a soil depends largely upon the size of its particles. This is

so because the mineral food of plants is provided by the dissolving of the mineral fragments in the soil. Naturally the finer the particles the more rapidly they will dissolve, because they present more surface for the liquid to act upon. Also the finer the particles the more water the soil will hold.

But our soil contains something more than fragments of stone. It contains large quantities of decayed and decaying plants. This is called humus. It gives to the soil its dark color and is one of the most important of its constituents.

Besides all this the soil is the home of myriads of living creatures, too small to be seen with the naked eye. We know them by the general name bacteria. These little fellows are constantly at work causing the decay of vegetable matter in the soil and thus aiding in the production of available plant food.

Now, coming back to our question of how to render our lands more fertile, we answer, in a word, by assisting nature's process. The subject accordingly divides itself into three divisions: drainage, tillage and manures.

Drainage. Thorough drainage either natural or artificial is the first thing to look to, and is absolutely essential to any marked degree of success. Soils and conditions are so various that I will not attempt to say what thorough drainage implies; only that all surplus water must be removed from the soil. Underdrainage is much to be preferred to surface-drainage; by enabling the water to pass through the soil it prevents to a large extent the washing of the surface by heavy rainfalls, which not only destroys the growing crops and fills the fields with ditches and gullies, but also works almost irreparable injury by washing away the fertile top soil, and leaving in its place the raw, crude subsoil.

Far more important, however, is the action of under-drainage in deepening and aërating the soil. We, most of us, have had some experience in trying to cultivate wet lands. We know how unsatisfactory it is. The soil cannot perform its functions of preparing food for plants without the agencies of air, heat and moisture. Now an excess of moisture excludes the proper action of the other two, and if the organic matters in the soil are not decomposed and resolved into a liquid or gaseous form so they can be taken up by the roots of plants, the process of nutrition is impaired and the plant becomes weak and sickly. Again, lands that hold water in a wet season become hard and compact when the water has subsided or evaporated, impenetrable alike to the roots of plants and the ameliorating influences of the atmosphere. If we under-drain these lands and allow the water to pass through them, instead of becoming hard and compact they will become light and porous. This admits the air and renders possible those chemical changes which are always in operation wherever air heat and moisture are present. In short those wonderful agencies which we call nature at once become active to unlock and render available the inert plant food contained in the soil, and to make it as deep as it has been drained a fit abode and feeding ground for the roots of plants.

Again, an under-drained soil is warmer than one not so drained, because, if the surplus water were not carried off by the drains, it would have to be evaporated from the surface, and evaporation we all know is a cooling process.

A well drained soil also affords a more uniform supply of moisture. Contradictory as it may seem at first glance, it is our wet, retentive clays that suffer most severely in time of drouth. Under-drainage by loosening the soil enables to hold more water without becoming saturated. Then, too. I think a great deal of moisture is condensed from the atmosphere in soil where it is possible for the air to circulate through it as in under-drained soil. Thus we see the important part which drainage plays in rendering our fields more fertile.

Tillage. It has been said that tillage is manure. Indeed the first meaning of the word manure is "to work by hand, to cultivate, to till." And tillage is manure, not in the sense that it adds anything to the soil, but because it assists in rendering available the plant food already in the soil. It does this mainly in

two ways: First, by mellowing and fiining the soil, it at once permits of a freer action of the air, sun and atmospheric moisture upon it, and supplies the most favorable conditions for bacterial activity, all of which serve to hasten those chemical processes by which plant food is unlocked. Also the better mechanical condition of the soil obtained by tillage enables the roots of plants to penetrate it more readily and feed upon it more effectively. Tillage, in the second place, is an important factor in promoting plant growth, in that by it, as well as by drainage, we are enabled to conserve moisture. By proper tillage we can bring our well drained fields into a fine compact condition the most favorable for storing moisture. Generally speaking, the more thorough and intelligent the tillage the better the results will be, because the finer the soil and smaller the Spaces between its particles, the more abundant will be the rise of water in the soil by capillary attraction. This is a force which we do not all perfectly understand, but we are told that water will rise in an inch tube, standing perpendicularly in it, about one-twentieth of an inch; in a tube one-hundredth of an inch in diameter it will rise five and one-half inches, and in a tube one-thousandth of an inch in diameter it will rise fifty-four inches; so we see the importance of making the soil so fine and compact that the spaces between its particles will be very small. Now if the soil be put in the best possible condition for the upward movement of water, and then left undisturbed, the moisture will rise to the surface and be lost by evaporation. This would also result in a loss of heat, because, as we said before, evaporation is a cooling process. It has been ascertained that well drained, well cultivated soil is from two to four degrees warmer than soil not so treated, a fact which in itself will show largely upon most of our crops. To prevent this evaporation, we cultivate two inches deep, which breaks the capillary tubes and arrests the upward flow of moisture, and holds it where it will be of the most use as a solvent, and where the plant roots may feed upon it as they need. Manures. We will now consider briefly the subject of manures. These are of three kinds: First, stable, or barnyard manures; second, green manures, and third, commercial fertilizers.

It is estimated that the stable or barnyard manure of the United States is worth two million dollars annually. Surely it would seem that the farms of the United States ought not to be lacking in fertility with this vast amount of manure to apply to them. But it is also stated that one-half of all this manure value is wasted. What a comment on the thrift and intelligence of the American farmer! One of the most important questions, therefore, that confronts us today as farmers is, how best to save and apply our stable manure. I think we will have gone a long way toward solving the problem, when we thoroughly understand the value of good manure. Now all manure has not the same value. It depends for its value upon the foods consumed by the stock, and upon the care in saving and handling it.

Clover hay is valued by the chemist at over eight dollars per ton, simply for the plant food which it contains. Wheat straw is worth only two dollars and fifty cents per ton, while wheat bran is worth thirteen dollars for manure, and so on through the list of feeds. Now the animal uses or appropriates only about ten per cent. of the plant food which is contained in his ration; the rest is voided in the liquid or solid manure. It is safe to say that the value of the manure from a given food ration is three-fourths - possibly nine-tenths of the value of the plant food originally contained in the ration. It often happens that the value of the plant food in the manure is equal to the market price of the food before it is given to the animal. These rich foods should never be sold off the farm. We should aim to sell only finished products. If we sell a ton of clover hay for six dollars we are letting eight dollars' worth of nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash go for the six dollars. If we sell a ton of pork, mutton or beef we get from sixty dollars to one hundred and twenty dollars for it, and yet sell only ten dollars'

worth of fertility off the farm. A ton of cheese is worth one hundred and fifty to two hundred dollars and contains about twenty dollars' worth of plant food, while a ton of butter is worth from three hundred to five hundred dollars, but is only worth fifty cents for manure. How important then that we consume our rough feed upon the farm, and sell only the finished products, and get the dollars and save the fertility.

Thus far we have considered manure as valuable simply for the mineral elements — nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash - which it contains. But it is also of great value for the humus which it adds to the soil. I do not think enough importance has been attached to this constituent of our soils. Soils totally lacking in humus are sterile. Our richest soils are those which contain the most bumus. It lightens the soil, makes it friable, enables it to hold more moisture, puts it in the best mechanical condition, makes it warmer, promotes bacterial activity, and aids in every way, in short it is the life of the soil.

Now, perhaps we are ready for the question of how to save and care for our manure. We must keep constantly before us three facts: First, that the liquid manure is of more value than the solid; second, that manure begins to waste as soon as it is voided; third, that the more valuable parts are very soluble and are washed away by the first rains. It is therefore obvious that to save the liquid manure we must have tight stable floors (there is nothing that begins to compare with a cement floor) and that we must either use litter enough to absorb all the water or have a cistern in which to collect and store it. At a recent institute meeting, one of our experiment station men advocated the latter plan, but to me it seems far better to use straw, sawdust or any other absorbent in sufficient quantities to absorb all the liquids. This enables us to handle both liquid and solid. at one operation. Moreover, we have the added value of the absorbent. Then the easiest and most economical way to handle it is to draw it directly to the field and spread it upon grass land. So treated the loss is reduced to the minimum. The rains wash the soluble parts down into the soil, where they are seized and held by the grass roots for their own nourishment and in turn for succeeding crops. There is no loss from heating, and it is where it will act as a mulch, producing the best mechanical effect upon the soil.

Green manuring is a cheap and efficient way of increasing fertility. It is perhaps the best way to put new life into a run-down and worn-out soil. Clover is generally admitted to be the best crop for green manuring, because of its ability to draw nitrogen from the air, but it has always been our practice to feed the clover to stock and return the manure to the land, so that my experience in green 'manuring is limited almost entirely to rye. With our rotation this comes in very nicely after corn (the corn put in the silo), to be plowed down for potatoes the following spring. I value it for two reasons: First, for the humus it adds and the better mechanical condition it gives to the soil, and second. because it keeps something growing on the land and prevents its washing by heavy rains. Nature never enriches land by keeping it bare. I like to have a growing crop on the land all the time. Every particle of plant food is then seized as soon as it becomes available and nothing is lost, but held for a future crop.

Commercial fertilizers may be used to great advantage in bringing up the fertility of a farm. They are powerful agents in the restoration of worn-out lands, provided the growth which they render possible is returned to the land in the shape of green or stable manure. But if the crop grown by their aid is sold off the farm, the soil is robbed of just so much more of its humus and becomes less and less productive.

This paper would not be complete without a paragraph on the rotation of crops. However thoroughly we drain and till, however carefully we husband and apply our manures, the fertility of a farm cannot ordinarily be kept up or increased without resort to an alternation or change of crop. Although the diminu

tion of fertility may be scarcely noticeable for a time and although some soils seem naturally adapted to certain crops, yet the stock of humus and of the specific food required by the crop is constantly diminishing and will ultimately fail, if the same crep is grown upon the ground year after year. Not only do different crop3 exhaust different properties of the soil, but, because of their different root systems, they draw their nourishment from different portions of the soil. The fibrous rooted crops draw their nourishment largely from the top soil, while the tap, or deep-rooted plants, feed from a lower stratum, and often penetrate the subsoil for a considerable distance for their food. It is a well established fact that a rotation of crops upon a field tends to economize its fertility, and increase the profits of the labor bestowed upon it.

Clover is perhaps the best nitrogen gathering crop which it is practicable for us to grow in this latitude (northern Ohio), and the oftener it can occupy the land the better. Therefore a short rotation with clover is usually to be preferred to a long one. We should work the clover crop to the utmost and care for it as our most valuable crop.

I have tried thus briefly to show that, in order to maintain and increase the fertility of our farms, we must remove all surplus water by drainage, keep the tillage tools bright with use, feed all the products of the farm we can upon the farm, save all the manure, both liquid and solid, and apply it without loss to grass land, improve every chance to grow a catch crop to plow under for green use commercial fertilizers judiciously, practice a rotation of crops, bringing in clover as often as practicable and giving it is rightful place as the foundation of good farming.

manure,

HOW TO INCREASE THE FERTILITY OF OUR FARMS.

By H. D. FOLMER, West Jefferson, O.

[Read at the Farmers' Institute held at West Jefferson, Madison County, January 16 and 17, 1899.]

The question yesterday was, "How to maintain the fertility of our lands." The landlord was well satisfied if the tenant paid his rent and left the farm no worse than he found it. But the successful landholder of the future must look farther than just maintaining the present degree of fertility, or his tenant will soon be unable to pay him any rent. And so the real question for the farmer of to-day to consider and answer is, "How to increase the fertility." When I say increase, I mean an increase at the rate of at least eight per cent per annum. The novice would answer the question thus: "Tile, till, clover and manure the lands and they will be fertile; this is all that is necessary." He does not know that the how, when and wherefore must be known and heeded to make all this a success. For if the tile is not properly laid, the tillage not done at the right time, the clover not properly sown and the manure not rightly applied, the results will not be progress; hence we should understand the philosophy of what we do.

In driving over the country, we notice some neighborhoods where the crops look well, nearly every house is a nice, large one, and other things on the farm indicate prosperity. Again, we notice other neighborhoods where the conditions are reversed. Why is this so? Date of settlement will not answer the question, for we know that some old-settled localities are and always have been far behind what some others are now. The correct answer is: "Fertile farms generally produce good crops and, as a rule, good crops bring about prosperity."