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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. uaixnaxTAL faxxs. J. H. QRI8DALE, B. Agr., p„ANK T. •HUTT. M.A.. D.Sc.. Oeminlen Ch«mi*t. OirMter. DIVISION OF OHEMISTRY POTASH IN AGRICULTURE BY FRANK T. 8HUTT, M.A., D.Sc. Dominion Chemist, CIRCULAR No. 7. Publi.h.d by .uthority of Hon. MARTIN BURRELL. Mini.tor of Agrrculturo. Ottaw., Ont. 70783—1 OTTAWA GOVERNMENT PRINTING BUREAU 1914. POTASH IN AGRICULTURE. ■T FIIANK T. SHUTT, M.A., D.Sc, Dominion Chemiii. A«on, th. evil efect. re.ulti„. l^<>^ {^^^^^^^J^TZZrotZ ZS in Europe i* to be counted the cutting ofi from *"* ^"" °' |"^ j^aTe been practic- of potaT from the SUu«furt mine.. For 7*^^ J.^'T ,^!^i^^ .^^^^.^d it i. little wonH-. therefore, in these d;y* w^*^;^' «^^^^ oon.temation. the increa t. that thi. .toppage of f« ."^^^ *3 ^^Xing it eepecially f«.» But on looking more deeply into the "^^^'^^^^'^^^ J^rioxTnot fraught the .t«.dpoint of the ^«^'^^''^- ^'^'^J'^^^.'^t^ ^uZ^Z^ -ew expre«ed with .uch dire consequences as might be imagined twm • j« ^^^ ^^ b, many interested in our '«^«'«!t"f "^ J''!™^^'' '^Zl Zm the German mine, be livUe cause for real alarm or anxiety, «!««» '* *°Vto antick*te any material faUing uot resumed for a year o, two There u ?» "J**^,^ ''"f^'^.tSrgh the quantity of rf in yields, even of th^ l^^f.^S^rb^nlSly increasing for the German potash compounds "«'1/°'J''*^"°*- c.^^ U comparatively small cer- past few years. the^»^l^mo^^* «^ ^^y ^-^^^^^ ZZtj. if such it ^ toinly not more than 8,000 f,?*, P*' " j""^, _ attention to our home sources of THE BOLB or POTASH. There i. no desire on, the ^^y^^'^^ ^^^.^TXi^^ 'rr';Sat*'h^e^rr'v:^ "t^" pp^fatS^ not^use they are any -e «sential elements that naye roctiveu muo vyy Jpments entering into the com- to the growth of -^/^ tc^^^ftSS a S SiT-niUn, ' hosP'?°- ""'^ acid." Clay loams ns a rule "^J!^" ^'^ff^f^.r^deed upon heavy elay^ profitably to an application °*»«Pr''V^TbrSng about an unfavouraWe oen- such an application may <*«^''!*in the plant.. Hence it i. that o^i nl!^.!_Ll ^ '^*'""' """"■■ ^™'*^ ^"^ ««J «"«". »nd the legnminoui ««^ J wt ^' *«••.«» »«'ly. S^'velly loams, for which potnih .honld b« THE PBBINT lUPPLY. It ii impossihle to ttate what quantity of Gterman potaah lalu there may b« at the moment .n the Ammoan market, probably the stock is almost entirely in the Hatds of the fertilizer nunufaoturen. who wiU find it more profitable to sell it in mixed goods, that is, with nitrogen and phosphoric acid aa complete fertilizers, rath* than to dispose of it aa the munate and sulphate directly to the fanner. The outlook therefore, is that the*, latter compounds will be unattainable until such times aa a fresh supply IS obtained from the Stasafurt mines. But aa it is stated on fairly no4 authority that three^ighths of the annual supply wa. received before the war b^VU wxU be obTious that we are not yet entirely destitute. ». *^ J!^" "t ^h*^*?""* .°? "V^" •"PP'y '^" nat»«Uy l««l the manufacture, to the putting out of brands witJi a low potash content; they will andeavour to make their stock go aa far a. poesible. There will be brands containing two and three per cent of potash that of late years contained eight or ten per cent. These will be m a large measure comparable to those on the market twenty years ago. It haa onW been in quite recent years that the potash content in mixed fertilizers has been raised, m responae to a demand from farmers (for a larger proportion of this element. especiaUy in b-ands intended for petatoea. -; his demand ha. arisen more pari ticularly from good returns from the uae of high potaah fertilizers on sandy Iomm and soils nch in organic matter, but it is a n- ^iDr whether leault. generaUy. and especially on soils containing a fair amoun ■>■ . >rrant the large dreaeing. of potash that have of lata been nsed. Oeri. perimenta c^uctad by th. Experimental Farm system hare not fumi-' .1 . » as to the profitable employ- ment of high potassic fertilizers, on ordina.- good state of cultiration. POSSIBLE COMMERCTAL S0DR0B8. Before drawing attention to the farmer's home sources of potash it may be well to attempt an answer to those inquiring if Canada haa not some larger sources of potash— raw material— that could be worked oommercially and thus plaee us in an independent position with regard to the German salts. She probahlv has such stores m orthoclase feldspar and certain allied minerals, in saline daposite at greater or lees depths and in the seaweeds on her coasts, but hitherto these hare not been commercially exploited for the reason that the eest of extraction of their potash would not have permitted the product being placed on the open market in competi- tion with the Stassfurt salts. And it is even now doubtful if capital could he induced to venture on the scale necessary to success, sen'ng that the initial stages of such an enterprise are seldom wholly successful and that the output of the German mines .1 4 . - ti«. t.. mm»\i, kVAiUble. But tbe matter it not Wng oTeriook«L of the bads. Md the probable amount of the •«veral vanetiw that vrould be avaUaDi. for manufaoturioc purpoM*- MANUU AS A aoUROI OF POTASH. And now we oomc to what may be roniider«l the main purpo- of thi. bunetin-- the di^uIL"! of tho«. iource. of potaah available to our farmer. ""^ -'"'J 'J «^S «d uaed will render u. largely independent of the Oeman 'al*'- J^"* Biz Br, z^-sri-sf .'?i;r^..T«s;.^£^ in^he feS. and foddert consumed by our farm stock is excreted by *»>« »^»^"^«j in the teeas ana i™"« , , l „(.,pted by the animal is to be found More than ninety per ^^^f^^ tf tt7act th^t onelali or more of the total nitro- in the unne. "J;^'' *", 'f^.^VlUid excreta. It thus come, about that weight for ZSr^n^^^^^^-^^^' -'- »»'•» *^* r"^ excrement. «.d this not rSrS cV:p." To ^SSrt JSirterentJ'we appeL the ioUowij* data, giving S ierie coZosition oHL solid and liquid «creU of our farm stock. CoMPosmos or Ubwb and SoLro Excrcta^^ AataasL Bono Cow 8hMp ... Kb smnI^ Mid . Liquid . Solid... Liquid . ISolid... Liquid . .Solid.. Liquid . W*Ui. T^•o too MO 91 5 67-6 W-6 TtO «« MitroRsn. W t'tti ■44 1 05 •72 1 (1 ■4a ■60 f h< '■boric Acid. 3S (noe. ■U tntn. ■44 ■01 '68 •14 PutMh. •1 ■93 ■04 1-36 ■S JO •30 70 We have stated that practically all the potash in tho foods is excreted by the animal To illustrate this fact the foUowing results of an expenment conducted at the Rothamsted Exiterimental Station may be given. Potash Ketawid amd Excteted. In 100 lb* Oil Cake. Fotwh Lta. 14 FaHoniDR Stevts. laHaat. In Urine. 110 InFw Uileh Com. In Milk. 14 In Urine. In Face*. I'OS ■Jl Tlw PviJcnce m thirofore ronrlutiTe ai to the irrpfltrr rirhneH of liiiuid maniirr 111 putub. To •llow It to W- W8»te' (> -cUent ■b«>rbenu and they aub»equently jfire up their plant food to i.woll the amou t ...i- tainecl in the excreta, beaiilea (riving bulk which will facilitate the more uniform diitribution of the resulting manure on the lanil If the toraporary doprivation cnutiod iy the cutting off of the German aupply of potnah teaches us the value of the liquid portion of the manure, it will not be a leason lonrnt too doarly. WOOD MHIUl AH A POTA88IC rBHTlUZEK. 1 ..• Bshea of wood have lonif been reco(?nized aa a fertilizer of very considerable ralue, indeed their uae in agriculture ia historic. In nil countries, IncludinR Cnuudii, practising agriculture they have been highly prized, especially for clover, (frapes and fruit trees and leafy crops generally, on sandy and light kams and it was only with the advent of the Qerman poUsh salts that their use fell off, though, of course, their production in decreasing quantities of late years, owing to the disHpi>earance of our foreaU, has been an imporUnt factor in making it more and more difficult for the farmer in the older settled districts to obtain them. They arc essentially a potassic fertilizer, aahes of good quality, that is, dry, unmixed wfth sand, etc., and unleached, oontaining between 4 per cent and 61 per cent potash— the average potash content being about Si per cent. This potaxh is in a soluble form and hence immediately available for crop use; moreover the writer considers that it exists in these ashes in a condition "(the carbonate) much more favourable for the nutrition of planU than that in the German compounds and should be worth at least 1 cent per pound more than in the latter. TL-re is in fact no better potaasic fertilizer. In addition to their potash they contain some 2 per cent phosphoric acid and from 20 to 30 per cent carbonate of lime, enhancing their fertilizing value and making them, in a sense, an all-r- -nd fcnilizer for supplying the mineral elonionts rofiuirtd by crops. And, further, tu wrrect acidity, a condition detrimental to the thrift of most farm crops. The German potash salta are of no ralue for neutralizing acidity. Naturally, genuine wood ashes are somewhat variable in com"- "♦ion, depending partly on the nature of the wood producing them and partly on f ire with which they have been collected and stored. Wilful adulteration of a ; j character bos been occasionally detected in commercial samples, addition of sand and other inert matter and leaching being the most common forms of adulteration. There is a general belief that ashes from hardwoods, as a class, are richer in potash than those from soft woods but our nnalyGes scarcely confirm this impression. As might be expected, woods differ very considerably in their potash content and the ashes of twigs and boughs are much richer than those of trunk woods. Pine and other soft woods as a rule contain less ash than the hard woods and are much lighter in character and ir is this latter quality or property wo think that has given rise to the common belief referred to. According to our results we cannot find i.it weight for weight, the ashes of soft wood are much, if any, poorer than thoee from hard woods. Our advice in these times must, therefore, be to conserve more carefully t' a home source of potash, not merely collecting the ashes from the houae stoves but burntnir wcl, br,.fc »fl«. "W mrta. .U,. m mv »-ttU from th. flaring ofl.nd. W»rpucl. prot.c»«l from U.e w«ith.r I. o-nt,.l U. pfT«t «»«»«*°~"«^ . Ff.,-n as to 50 batb«l. of wood »Am v*t »ct. will fom..h from «0 to 180 poun* of pota.h. the l«tt«r an •mplo dr«.ing for .»«n »er, light •"'^rPlJf, "^^S'L '^w on Wry olv 1"«««. i^^md th.ir u« on rich may d«.trojr good tilth "«« <*' jr? h«r,„ th» good. TWf .pplicUon >. b«it d.forr*! 1. 1 •^°«' »>«>"*':^""''aJ^'!^ •bly on • quiot d«np day. on th« ploi.Khed land and Incorporating with a thoroufti '"por piov.r. .-nm and manitob, tUnr will be found »«I7 Taluable. Eapwsially •!» Iher benrrtcial for orchardt and for «mpw on »andy loama. For tumlpa, mixed with oi.."-third to one-half thrir weight of bit meal, they ha»o aimilarly proved adrant- ■ge...... But indee.1 there are few eropa «w light and gravelly .o.U a* alao on rego- table loMM iucliiied to be lour. for w.'i.a wood uhM •annot be emptoyed witft profit. (lAwno A* k rcn'^aeio mrmm*. The uae of aeaweed ai a fertiliser datee bfc.V to hiatoric time, and it» »iilue for the -.pkeep of toil fertility haa been generaDy and practically recognuerf in koth the old woM and the new by farmera reaiding not too ta.- diatant from the coaat line. Sean ed occura on both our Atlantic and Pacific ooaau (mow abundantly probably on the Utter) and may be collected in large amounta at little mpmie on many ria beachea. where it is thrown up by atorma at time, in prodigioua qnantitiea. It can alao bp collected in boat, from rocka and from floating maaaca not far from the ahore. There are many Tarietiea. aome are quite email, othara atUtn large pro- portiona. but ali are raluable, though naturally differing aoro^what in composition. Seaweed ia eiwentiaUy a potaaic fertiliter, being apecially nc*> >« ^^' '>''*" alao containa notiible amounto of nitrogen and other elemente of plant food, io that it might be termed a complete manure. ...... v .j Analyses of many Canadian seaweeds, more especially from the Atlantic seaboarti, hare been made in the Experimental Farm laboratory at Ottawa, and we append in , tabular form cerUin of the daU as illustratire of their general composition. TTiis imuiry is still in progress and there are at preaent a considerable number of samples, eollepted on the Pacific coaat through the kindnc-s of the Biological Board of Can- ada, awaiting nnalysis. Av.M.vst'^"! or SMhWtrm OoLtECTBD OV ■V'.t ATI.ANTIC Sbaboakd • 1 1 Fnom furealiu. Fuetu TMiontoin:!. AMophyllnm nodiumm. Porptiyia Laminaria longioraria. (0-49 saw T61 410 78- 14 18W 888 7948 IB 15 848 88 80 Onranio matter Aah or inineral mattor. . . 27M 8-88 718 488 100 00 100 00 100 00 100 no 100 00 Phnapborio acid PotaA ■4«8 ■108 S'02S ■037 •B16 •278 ■070 619 ■92' 819 ■281 •184 1 1 MB Fresh seaweed is undoubtedly a watery manure, and it is this fact, no doubt— the cartage being a more or leas expensive feature— that limits ita use to those living more or less close to the shore. A part of t\is useless water may be got M of by piling the seaweed on the beach for a fevf days before hauling to the farm. But notwith- ■Unding ito large percentage of water, aeaweed comparea very favourably, weight f..r wrigfct, with b«ni)r«ri] mat.ura And It hnx thU ndditionti vilue tt.at t brinri to Ui» wriii II.) wc«I BTtila or ioMoto or fuiign. innit. The eMciitinlLv poUmip cUroPter of ««.bwwnI« in well brouirht out hv fhf annlyxa 5!«*"' •'* "'" *'"" '* "*""' '*■"' '*"'*■ "'* '"'l'''''«lly riifh in iiitr.«Bn. Tfc« different* in .•..miw^itluii bptwwn the vuri.tip» may in jmrt b* nooounted for l.y the lUffe of growth or maturity m th« time of .•olleotion und in thi. ronnection it i» Intpmtinff to note that for ^evpral variptitM colJootioni loftdp diirintf the wint««r have ibown • higher poUih Cintcnt than aampln uken in iumnu r. The nianurial ynlue of .enwred U greatly onhnnced by iu ready dfcmporilti.m >n tho noil; it quickly decayt liberating iU constituenu in forma arailable for plant nutntiMii. It m quite unnecnury t., rompo^t it. though little loaa wotlld vu^ne if composting With muck or other Testable mntt..r wliiob would ab«irb and hold thr decompoiition pr.«JucU i. reaorte« plan ii to api^ly the leawwl dirert to the soil, with which it will rnadily become incorporate It ia aaaeutially of the nature of a qui<*ly .oting. forcing manure. 8t»wo<^l oan be employed for aU elaaaea of eropa. «iough it will bo f.mnd mont useful for roota, Tegvtoblea and those with an abundaaoe of foliHKe. sinoe it is e.M>n tially n nitrogenous and potaaaic manure. It haa given excellent results oa a top dressing for grata lands, encouraging the growth of oloTer more particularly. lu rompoaition suggesU that if a more «om^ete fertiliier is desired it should '> up- plemented by superphosphate, basic slag or bone mMl. SMweed girea its best t. uma on moderately li^t loams that ara warm asd moist and ita poorest on wet, ill-drained, heavy clays. DRUID, oaOUND KKAWEEO. It would seem possible to dry and grind the seaweed at some point near iw collection and thus prepare from this naturally-occurring fertilizer n mutoriiil con- venient for application to the land and sufficiently rich in plant food to allow of inland transportatien. The writer analyseJ such a material three yrnrs ago. It had been prepared in Nova Scotia from rockweed (Fueut fureattu). a gentle heat being used in the drying. It was a coarae, dark green powder, one which might readily be broadcasted or applied by the fertilizer attachment of the seed drill. The analysis fumie'iied the .'ollowing dnt« : — ^'^'"^^•' 0-48 OfKiinic matter 72.ei Ash or mineral matter 17.!)1 KXIOO Nitrogen 1.32 Phosphoric acid .29 Potash 2-26 These data are in fair accord with those obtained from the analysis of fresh rorl<- weod. calculated to the same moisture content as the sample examined and we m.iy «)nelude. therrforo. tl'nt there had been no appreciable losses in the plant food con- stituents during the (ir.ving of the weed. We do not think that the drying brought about any marked impairment in availability. Inquiries as to the possibility of preparing this seaweed powder on a commercial scale elicit the information that attempts have been frequently made in Europe to prepare an easily handled, concentrated fertilizer from seaweed, but that so far the mechanical and other difficulties in drying and grinding, largely consequent upon the mucilaginous character of the seaweed, have been such as to prevent the manu- facture being carried on profitably. These difficulties, however, we cannot think are insuperable, and certainly the present times would encourage further trials in this direction. LIBERATOBS OF POTASH. There is no substitute for potash in agriculture; it cannot he replaced in the plant's economy by soda or any other compound. But there are certain substances that act »i <3xcitant8 or liberators of the locked-up, inert stores of potash in the soU kind thus may be considered as indirect potash fertilizers. We shall dit,cus8 briefly two of these: gypsum and nitrate of soda. Gypsum, commonly kno\m in the ground form as land plaster, is a naturally occurring sulphate of lime. Although supplying lime it is of no value for the cor- rection of acidity (sourness) of soils, for which purpose lime or ground limestone must be employed. But the furnishing of lime does not constitute its chief manurial value. It has the property of acting on the insoluble potassic compounds of the soil, setting free for plant use a part of their potash. This is its mos; important function and it is this property that has made it specially beneficial as a top dressing for clover, a crop that particularly responds to potash. The application of land plaster is usually from 300 to 600 pounds per acre, which may be broadcasted on the pre- pared land and harrowed in. • j n • Large deposits of gypsum occur in New Brunswick, Kjva Scotia and OnUrio and as it is readily quarried and is comparatively soft material, land plaster may be purchased cheaply— in many districts at a lower price than ground limestone. Users rf superphosphate (acid phosphate) will have no necessity to apply Innd plaster since this phosphatic fertilizer contains sulphate of lime as a necessary constituent. . .,. t v Nitrate of soda is a well known, highly efficient nitrogenous fertilizer. It has been showi lat crops "feeding upon a neutral salt like nitrate of soda, take up more of the .itric acid than of the soda." This soda acts chemically upon the stores of insoluble potash compounds setting free a certain amount of potash and thus rendering it unnecessary, in a certain measure, to directly apply a potassic fertilizer. It is this liberation of soda within the soil that is the cause of the deleterious action on the tilth or texture of heavy clay loams when large and frequently repeated applications of nitrate of soda are made, for soda has the property of deflocculating clays, making them 8ti<*y when wet and refractory when dry. We should not advise »ny special application of nitrate of soda to make up for the lack of a potash ferti- lizer, but it is obviouf, from what has been stated that its use to a certain degree obviates the necessity of such an application, especially on heavy loams. CONCLUSIONS. It is our light, sandy and gravelly soils that are markedly dencient in potash and this element is only specially called for by clover, poUtoes, roots and leafy crops generally. There is yet some potash in the market though ii will probably have to be pur- chased in the form of a complete fertilizer. We have several Canadian sources of potash available to the farmer — notably liquid manure, wood ashes and seaweed — materials rich in this useful constituent •nd which are more or less readily obtainable in many parts of the Dominion. And lastly there are the indirect potassic fertilizers, which though not adding to the sum total of the soil's potash yet may serve a useful purpose by liberating it in available forms and thus in times such as the present maj help to tide us over until potash compounds are once more ui>on the market