of oats and wheat, the
following rotation and method of fertilization would be indicated:
1. Maize acid phosphate, 200 lbs.
2. Maize yard manure, 8 tons.
3. Oats nothing.
4. Wheat acid phosphate, 350 lbs.
muriate of potash, 100 lbs.
5. Clover and timothy nothing.
6. Timothy nitrate of soda, 150 lbs.
acid phosphate, 150 lbs.
muriate of potash, 50 lbs.
7. Timothy yard manure, 8 tons.
Where there is plenty of yard manure, it would be also applied to
maize under No. 1, or the yard manure could be applied to maize under
No. 1, and commercial fertilizer applied to timothy under No. 6 could
be repeated under No. 7. If the land is more or less depleted, an
application of 200 pounds of acid phosphate to the oats would be
advisable. However, the purpose is not to prescribe exact methods, but
to point out underlying principles and their possible application.
As further illustration, it seems probable that the practice of a
market gardener in using excessive amounts of stable manure might, in
some instances at least, be modified to good advantage by reducing the
amount of manure and increasing the amount of commercial fertilizer
used. Unfortunately there is no experimental evidence bearing upon
this question.
Potash required to maintain fertility is largely to be found in the
coarse fodder, such as hay, maize stover and silage, and in the straw
used for bedding; hence where these substances are used in abundance
and returned to the soil the amount of potash required to be supplied
in fertilizers is reduced to a minimum. Where, however, the amount of
live stock is limited and the products sold contain large quantities
of potash, such as hay and straw, the supply furnished in fertilizers
must be liberal.
Phosphoric acid is always being slowly depleted from the soil either
from the sale of farm crops or animal products. There is no way of
returning this loss completely, except from the addition of a
commercial fertilizer.
The above fertilizer suggestions are based on the experiments covering
a period of more than 25 years on a limestone soil. Soils may modify
materially the amount and application of the fertilizers, but not the
principles enunciated. For example, a soil on which common red clover
grows luxurian
|