The Story of the Soil; from the Basis of Absolute Science and Real LifeHopkins, Cyril G. (Cyril George)
Science
The Story of the Soil; from the Basis of Absolute Science and Real Life
Hopkins, Cyril G. (Cyril George)
Soils
"'The results obtained with the insoluble phosphates has cost
usually less than one-half as much as that with the soluble
phosphates. Insoluble South Carolina phosphate rock produced a
higher total average yield than dissolved South Carolina rock.'
"The Rhode Island director comments as follows:
"' With the pea, oat, summer squash, crimson clover, Japanese
millet, golden millet, white podded Adzuka bean, soy bean, and
potato, raw phosphate gave very good results; but with the flat
turnip, table beet, and cabbage it was relatively very inefficient.'
"The following statement is from the Massachusetts director:
"'It is possible to produce profitable crops of most kinds by
liberal use of natural phosphates, and in a long series of years
there might be a considerable money saving in depending at least in
part upon these rather than upon the higher priced dissolved
phosphates.'
"The director of the Maine State Experiment Station gives us the
following:
"'For the first year the largest increase of crop was produced by
soluble phosphate. For the second and third years without further
addition of fertilizers, better results were obtained from the plots
where stable manure and insoluble phosphates had been used.'
"The stable manure and insoluble phosphates here referred to were
not applied together, but on separate plots. In deed, the raw
phosphate was not used in connection with manure either in Maryland,
Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine, Pennsylvania, or Indiana; and in
the extensive experiments in progress in Illinois the raw phosphate
has been used, as a rule, not with farm manure, but with green
manures; and wherever manure has been used in connection with the
raw phosphate, as in Ohio, the comparison is made with the same
amounts of manure applied without phosphate.
"The Pennsylvania Report for 1895, page 210, contains the following
statement:
"'The yearly average for the twelve years gives us a gain per acre
of $2.83 from insoluble ground bone, $2.45 from insoluble South
Caroline rock, $1.61 from reverted phosphate, and 48 cents from
soluble phosphate, thus giving us considerably better results from
the two forms of insoluble phosphate than from the reverted or
soluble forms.'
"The Indiana director reports as follows:
"'It will be seen that during the first and second years the rock
phosphate produced little effect, while the acid phosphate very
materially increased the yields. During the third and fourth
seasons, however, the rock produced very striking results, even
forging ahead of the acid. This and very similar investigations in
progress lead us to believe that rock phosphate is a cheap and
effective source of phosphorus where immediate returns are not
required.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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