WESTOVER
WITH an auger in his hand, by means of which a hole could be quickly
bored into the soil to a depth of three or four feet, Percy joined
Mr. West for the tramp over the plantation.
In general the estate called Westover consists of undulating upland.
A small stream crosses one corner of the farm bordered by some
twenty acres of bottom land which is subject to frequent overflow,
and used only for permanent pasture. Several draws or small valleys
are tributary to the stream valley, thus furnishing excellent
surface drainage for the entire farm. In some places the sides of
these valleys are quite sloping and subject to moderate erosion when
not protected by vegetation. Above and between these slopes the
upland is nearly level. As they came upon one of these level areas,
grown up with small forest trees, Mr. West stopped and said:
"Now right here is probably as poor a piece of land as there is on
the farm. This land will positively not grow a crop worth harvesting
unless it is well fertilized."
"If we were in the Illinois corn belt," replied Percy, "I should
expect to find the land in this position to be the most productive
on the farm. Our level uplands are now valued at from one hundred
fifty to two hundred dollars an acre. A farm of one hundred eighty
acres, five miles from town, sold for two hundred and fourteen
dollars an acre a few days before I started east."
"Well," said Mr. West, "this may have been good land once, but if so
it was before my time. Of course most of our uplands here have been
cropped for upwards of two hundred years; and about all that has
ever been done to keep up the fertility of the soil has been to
rotate the crops. To be sure, the farm manure has always been used
as far as it would go, but the supply is really very small compared
to the need for it."
"Do you think that the proper rotation of crops would maintain the
fertility of the soil?" asked Percy.
"No, I have tried too many rotations to think that, but I suppose it
is a help in that direction, don't you?"
"I would say that crop rotation may help to maintain the supply of
some important constituents of a fertile soil, but it will certainly
hasten the depletion of some other equally essential constituents."
"Well, that's a new idea to me. I may not quite grasp your meaning;
but first tell me about these tests you are making."
When they stopped on the area of poor land as designated by Mr.
West, Percy had turned his auger into the earth and drawn out a
sample of moist soil, which he molded into the form of a ball. He
broke this in two, inserted a piece of blue paper, and pressed it
firmly together. He then laid the ball of soil aside, secured
another sample with the auger, and formed it into a cake with a
hollow in the upper surface. He took from his pocket a slender box
or tube of light wood, removed the screw cap, and drew out a
glass-stoppered bottle.
"This bottle contains hydrochloric acid," said Percy. "It is often
incorrectly called 'muriatic acid.' It consists of two elements,
hydrogen and chlorin, from which its name is derived. But you are
perhaps already familiar with the chemical elements."
"Well, I heard lectures at William and Mary for four years, and they
included some chemistry as it was then taught; but they certainly
did not include the application of chemistry to agriculture, and I
am greatly interested to know the meaning of these tests you are
making here on our own farm under my own eyes. You may take it for
granted that I know absolutely nothing of such use of chemistry as
you are evidently turning to some practical value."
"Any other farmer can make these tests as well as I can," said
Percy. "This bottle of acid cost me fifteen cents and it can be
duplicated for the same price at almost any drug store. The acid is
very concentrated, in fact about as strong as can easily be
produced, but it need not be especially pure. Some care should be
taken not to get it on the clothing or on the fingers, although it
is not at all dangerous to handle, but it tends to burn the fingers
unless soon removed, either by washing with water or by rubbing it
off with the moist soil."
"I use this acid to test the soil for the presence or absence of
limestone. Ordinary limestone consists of calcium carbonate. Here,
again the chemical name alone is sufficient to indicate the elements
that compose this compound. It is only necessary to keep in mind the
fact that the ending _-ate_ on the common chemical names signifies
the presence of oxygen Thus calcium carbon_ate_ is composed of the
three primary elements, calcium, carbon and oxygen.
"Of course the chemical element is the simplest form of matter. An
element is a primary substance which cannot be divided into two or
more substances All known matter consists of about eighty of these
primary elements; and, as a matter of fact, most of these are of
rare occurence--many of them much more rare than the element gold.
"About ninety-eight per cent. of the soil consists of eight elements
united in various compounds or combinations; and only ten elements
are essential for the growth and full development of corn or other
plants. If any one of these ten elements is lacking, it is
impossible to produce a kernel of corn, a grain of wheat, or a leaf
of clover; and in the main the supply is under the farmer's own
control. But we can discuss this matter more fully later. Let us see
what we have here."
Percy poured a few drops of the hydrochloric acid into the hollow of
the cake of soil.
"What should it do?" asked Mr. West.
"If the soil contains any limestone, the acid should produce
foaming, or effervescence," replied Percy; "but it is very evident
that this soil contains no limestone. You see the hydrochloric acid
has power to decompose calcium carbonate with the formation of
carbonic acid and calcium chlorid, a kind of salt that is used to
make a brine that won't freeze in the artificial ice plants. The
carbonic acid, if produced at once decomposes into water and carbon
dioxid. Now, the liberated carbon dioxid is a gas and the rapid
generation or evolution of this gas constitutes the bubbling or
foaming we are looking for; but since there is no appearance of
foaming we know that this soil contains no limestone."
"Then you have already found that those three elements,--calcium,
carbon, and oxygen, you called them, I think--you find that those
elements are all lacking in this soil."
"No, this test does not prove that," said Percy. "It only proves
that they are not present as limestone. Calcium may be present in
other compounds, especially in silicates, which are the most
abundant compounds in the soil and in the earth's crust; and, as
indicated by the ending _-ate, _oxygen is contained in calcium
silicate as well as in calcium carbonate."
"I see; the subject is much more complicated than I thought."
"Somewhat, perhaps," Percy replied; "but yet it is quite simple and
very easily understood, if we only keep in mind a few well
established facts. Certainly the essential science of soil fertility
is much less complicated than many of the political questions of the
day, such as the gold standard or free-silver basis, the tariff
issues, and reciprocity advantages, regarding which most farmers are
fairly well informed,--at least to such an extent that they can
argue these questions for hours."
"I think you are quite right in that," said Mr. West. "Of course, it
is important that every citizen entitled to the privilege of voting
in a democracy like ours should be able to exercise his franchise
intelligently; but the citizen who is responsible for the management
of farm lands ought surely to be at least as well informed
concerning the principles which underlie the maintenance of soil
fertility; provided, of course, that such knowledge is within his
reach; and from what you say I am beginning to believe that such is
the case. At any rate this simple test seems to show conclusively
that this soil contains no limestone, and it is common knowledge
that limestone soils are good soils."
Percy took up the ball of soil containing the slip of blue paper,
broke it in two again, and it was seen that the paper had changed in
color from blue to red
"There's a change, for certain," said Mr. West, "that has some
meaning to you I suppose."
"This is litmus paper," said Percy. "It is prepared by moistening
specially prepared paper with a solution of a coloring matter called
litmus, and the paper is then dried. This coloring matter has the
property of turning blue in the presence of alkali and red in the
presence of acid. The blue paper is prepared with a trace of alkali,
and the red paper with a trace of acid. If more than a trace were
present the litmus paper would not be sufficiently sensitive for the
test.
"This little bottle containing two dozen slips of paper cost me five
cents, and it can be obtained at most drug stores.
"Alkali and acid are exactly opposite terms, like hot and cold. The
one neutralizes the other. This test with litmus paper is a test for
soil acidity, and the fact that the moisture of the soil has turned
the litmus from blue to red shows that this soil is acid, or sour.
The soil moisture contained enough acid to neutralize the trace of
alkali contained in the blue paper and to change the paper to a
distinctly light red color; and the fact that the paper remains red
even after drying, shows that the soil contains fixed acids or acid
salts, and not merely carbonic acid, which if present would
completely volatilize as the paper dries.
"Now, these two tests are in harmony. The one shows the absence of
limestone, and the other shows the presence of acidity, and
consequently the need of limestone to correct or neutralize the
acidity, for limestone itself is an alkali."
"But limestone soils are not alkali soils, are they?" asked Mr.
West.
"Not in the sense of containing injurious alkali, like sodium
carbonate, the compound which is found in the 'black alkali' lands
of the arid regions of the far West; but chemically considered
limestone is truly an alkali; and, as such, it has power to
neutralze this soil acidity."
"Is the acidity harmful to the crops?"
"It is not particularly harmful to the common crops of the grass
family, such as wheat, corn, oats, and timothy; but some of the most
valuable crops for soil improvement will not thrive on acid soils.
This is especially true of clover and alfalfa."
"That is certainly correct for clover so far as this kind of soil is
concerned," said Mr. West. "Clover never amounts to much on this
kind of land, except where heavily fertilized. When fertilized it
usually grows well. Does the farm fertilizer neutralize the acid?"
"Only to a small extent. It is true that farm manures contain very
appreciable amounts of lime and some other alkaline, or basic,
substances, but in addition to this, and perhaps of greater
importance, is the fact that such fertilizer has power to feed the
clover crop as well as other crops. In other words it furnishes the
essential materials of which these crops are made. In addition to
this the decaying organic matter has power to liberate some plant
food from the soil which would not otherwise be made available
although to that extent the farm manure serves as a soil stimulant,
this action tending not toward soil enrichment but toward the
further depletion of the store of fertility still remaining in the
soil."
"This seems a complicated problem," said Mr. West, "but may I now
show you some of our more productive land?"
"As soon as I collect a sample of this," replied Percy, and to Mr.
West's surprise he proceeded to bore about twenty holes in the space
of two or three acres. The borings were taken to a depth of about
seven inches, and after being thoroughly mixed together an average
sample of the lot was placed in a small bag bearing a number which
Percy recorded in his note book together with a description of the
land.
"I wish to have an analysis made of this sample," remarked Percy, as
they resumed their walk.
"But I thought you had analyzed this soil," was the reply.
"Oh, I only tested for limestone and acidity," explained Percy. "I
wish to have exact determinations made of the nitrogen and
phosphorus, and perhaps of the potassium, magnesium, and calcium.
All of these are absolutely essential for the growth of every
agricultural plant; and any one of them may be deficient in the
soil, although" the last three are not so likely to be as the other
two."
"How long will it take to make this analysis?" was asked.
"About a week or ten days. Perhaps I shall collect two or three
other samples and send them all together to an analytical chemist.
It is the only way to secure positive knowledge in advance as to
what these soils contain. In other words, by this means we can take
an absolute invoice of the stock of fertility in the soil, just as
truly as the merchant can take an invoice of the stock of goods
carried on his shelves."
"So far as we are concerned, this would not be an invoice in
advance," remarked Mr. West, with a shade of sadness in his voice.
"If we knew the contents of the crops that have been sold from this
farm during the two centuries past, we would have a fairly good
invoice, I fear, of what the virgin soil contained; but can you
compare the invoice of the soil with that of the merchant's goods?"
"Quite fairly so," Percy replied. "The plant food content of the
plowed soil of an acre of normal land means nearly, if not quite, as
much in the making of definite plans for a system of permanent
agriculture, as the merchant's invoice means in the future plans of
his business.
"It should not be assumed that the analysis of the soil will give
information the application of which will always assure an abundant
crop the following season. In comparison, it may also be said,
however, that the merchant's invoice of January the first may have
no relation to the sales from his store on January the second. Now,
the year with the farmer is as a day with the merchant. The farmer
harvests his crop but once a year; while the merchant plants and
harvests every day, or at least every week. But I would say that the
invoice of the soil is worth as much to the farmer for the next year
as the merchant's invoice is to him for the next month.
"It should be remembered, however, that both must look forward, and
plans must be made by the merchant for several months, and by the
farmer for several years. Your twelve-year rotation is a very good
example of the kind of future planning the successful farmer must
do. On the other hand, some of your neighbors, who have not
practiced some such system of rotation now have 'old-field' pine on
land long since abandoned, and soil too poor to cultivate on land
long cropped continuously."
"This is a kind soil," remarked Mr. West, as he paused on a gently
undulating part of the field.
"That is a new use of the word to me," said Percy. "Just what do you
mean by a 'kind' soil?"
"Well, if we apply manure here it will show in the crop for many
years. It is easy to build this soil up with manure; but, of course,
we have too little to treat it right."
"The soil is almost neutral," said Percy, testing with litmus and
acid. "Does clover grow on this soil?"
"Very little, except where we put manure."
Another composite sample of the soil was collected, and they walked
on.
"Now, here," said Mr. West, "is about the most productive upland on
the farm."
"Is that possible?" asked Percy, the question being directed more to
himself than to his host.
"That is according to my observation for about fifty years," he
replied. "Where we spread the farm fertilizer over this old pasture
land and plow it under for corn, we often harvest a crop of eight
barrels to the acre, while the average of the field will not be more
than five barrels.--A barrel of corn with us is five bushels."
They had stopped on one of the steepest slopes in the field.
"These hillsides would be considered the poorest land on the farm if
we were in the corn belt," said Percy, "but I think I understand the
difference. Your level uplands when once depleted remain depleted,
because the soil that was plowed two hundred years ago is the same
soil that is plowed to-day; but these slopes lose surface soil by
erosion at least as rapidly as the mineral plant food is removed by
cropping; and to that extent they afford the conditions for a
permanent system of agriculture of low grade, unless, of course, the
erosion is more rapid than the disintegration of the underlying bed
rock, which I note is showing in some outcrops in the gullies.
"I want some samples here," he continued, and at once proceeded to
collect a composite sample of the surface soil and another of the
sub-soil.
"In the main this soil is slightly acid," said Percy, after several
tests, with the hydrochloric acid and the litmus paper; "although
occasionally there are traces of limestone present. The mass of soil
seems to be faintly acid, but here and there are little pieces of
limestone which still produce some localized benefit, and probably
prevent the development of more marked acidity throughout the soil
mass.
"If I can get to an express office this afternoon," he continued, "I
shall be glad to forward these four composite samples to an
analyst."
"If you wouldn't mind riding to Montplain with Adelaide when she
goes for her music lesson this afternoon, it would be very
convenient," said Mr. West.
"With your daughter's permission that would suit me very well," he
replied. "I shall be glad to spend one or two days more in this
vicinity, and then I wish to visit other sections for a week or two,
after which I would be glad to stop here again on my return trip and
probably I shall have the report of the chemist concerning these
samples."