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Soil Analysis

Categories: THE NEED OF COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS

There is wide misconception regarding the value of

chemical analysis of the soil as an aid in making choice of a

fertilizer. Analysis has shown that some soil types are relatively

richer in plant-constituents than are others, and it has shown abnormal

deficiency in some types of limited area. It has given us more

knowledge of soils, but as a guide to fertilization in particular

instances it usually has no value. The sa
ples used by an analyst are

so small that the inaccuracy in his determination may easily be greater

than the total amount of plant-food in a very heavy application of

commercial fertilizer. A field that has been reduced to temporarily low

productive power by heavy cropping or bad farming methods may show a

greater content of plant-food than another field that is in a highly

productive condition. This is a fact difficult of acceptance by some

who want the aid of science, but such are the present limitations. The

weight of a fertilizer application is so small in comparison with the

weight of the surface part of an acre of land that the use of a ton of

fertilizer may not be detected in the analyst's determinations, and

moreover his determinations of actual availability in the soil's

supplies are not serviceable in the selection of a fertilizer for any

particular field and crop.



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