The Story of the Soil Part 16

"Only fifteen bushels," was the reply.

"Only fifteen bushels! Only two bushels increase for all the other elements, phosphorus, pota.s.sium, magnesium, and calcium,--and I remember you said that sulfur also was applied. Why didn't they leave off all these other elements, and just use the nitrogen alone?"

"They did on another plot in the same field."

"Oh, they did do that? What was the yield on that plot?"

"Only twenty bushels."

"Only twenty bushels! Well, that s mighty queer. How do you account for that?"

"Does Mrs. Thornton sometimes make dough out of flour and milk?"

asked Percy.

"Another Yankee question, eh?" said Mr. Thornton. "I told my wife once that I wished she could make the bread my mother used to make, and she said she wished I could make the dough her father used to make. Yes, my wife makes dough, a good deal more than I do, and she makes it of flour and milk, when we aren't reduced to corn meal and water."

"Can she make dough of flour alone?" continued Percy.

"No," replied Mr. Thornton.

"Nor of milk alone?"

"No."

"Well, wheat cannot be made of nitrogen alone, nor can it be made without nitrogen. On Broadbalk field at Rothamsted, where the wheat is grown, the soil is most deficient in the element nitrogen. In other words, nitrogen is the limiting element for wheat on that soil; and practically no increase can be made in the yield of wheat unless nitrogen is added. However, some other elements are not furnished by this soil in sufficient amount for the largest yield of wheat, and these place their limitation upon the crop at twenty bushels. To remove this second limitation requires that another element, such as phosphorus, shall be supplied in larger amount than is anually liberated in the soil under the system of farming practiced."

"Yes, I see that," said Mr. Thornton, "it's like eating pancakes and honey; the more cakes you have the more honey you want. I think I can almost see my way through in this matter; we are to correct the acid with limestone, to work the legumes for nitrogen, and turn under everything we can to increase the organic matter, and if we find that the soil won't furnish enough phosphorus, pota.s.sium, magnesium, or calcium, even with the help of the decaying organic matter to liberate them, why then it is up to us to increase the supply of those elements."

"You must remember that the calcium will be supplied in the limestone;" cautioned Percy. "And, if you use magnesian limestone, you will thus supply both calcium and magnesium. Keep in mind that _magnesian _only means that the limestone contains some _magnesium._ and that it is not a pure calcium carbonate. The purest magnesian limestone consists of a double carbonate of calcium and magnesium, called dolomite."

"But I have heard that magnesian lime is bad for soils," said Mr.

Thornton.

"That is true," Percy replied, "and so is ordinary lime bad for soils. The Germans say: 'Lime makes the fathers rich but the children poor.' The English saying is:

'Lime and lime without manure Will make both farm and farmer poor.'

"Both of these national proverbs are correct for common, every-day lime; but you know, do you not, that limestone soils are usually very good and very durable soils?"

"That's what I've always heard," replied Mr. Thornton.

"Well, there is no danger whatever from using too much limestone; and all the information thus far secured shows that magnesian limestone is even better than the pure calcium limestone. I know two Illinois farmers who are using large quant.i.ties of ground magnesian limestone, and one of them has applied as much as twenty tons per acre. On that land his corn crop was good for eighty bushels per acre this year. Of course that heavy application was more than was needed, but initial applications of four or five tons are very satisfactory, and these should be followed by about two tons per acre every four to six years."

Mr. Thornton took his guest to Blairville that evening as they had planned and he a.s.sured Percy that should he decide to purchase land in that section they would let him have three hundred acres of their land at ten dollars an acre.

"I will let you know after I get the samples a.n.a.lyzed for you," said Percy. "The price is low enough and the location ideal, but still I want to have the invoice before I buy the goods. I will write you about sending the samples to the chemist after I hear from some I sent him from Montplain."

CHAPTER XIX

FROM RICHMOND TO WAs.h.i.+NGTON

THE next day Percy spent a few hours at the State Capitol in Richmond, where he found the records of the State of much interest.

Thus he found that in practically every county there was more or less land owned by the commonwealth, because of its complete abandonment by former owners, and the failure of any one to buy when sold by the state for taxes.

Under such conditions the t.i.tle to the land returns to the State, and after two years it may be sold by the State to any one desiring to purchase and the former owner has no further right of redemption.

Some of these lands which are owned by the State, and on which the State has received no taxes for many years, are still occupied by their former owners or by "squatters"' and may continue to be so occupied unless the land should be purchased from the State by some one else who would demand full possession. Such purchasers, however, are likely to be unpopular residents in the community, if the transaction forces poor people from a place they have called home, even though they had no legal right to occupy it.

Percy found that the report of the State Auditor showed that the clerk of the court of Powhatan county had returned to the State $1.05 "for sales of lands purchased by the commonwealth at tax sales," while from Prince Edward county the State received a similar revenue amounting to $17.39 for the same year. The total revenue to the commonwealth from this source amounted to $667.85 for the year.

Contrasted with this was the revenue from "Redemption of Land,"

amounting to $27,436.38, suggesting something of the struggle of the man to retain possession of his home before it becomes legally possible for another to take it from him beyond redemption.

According to the records about a million acres of land are owned by the Commonwealth of Virginia alone.

Percy decided to go to Was.h.i.+ngton to learn what definite information he might obtain from the United States Department of Agriculture. On the train for Was.h.i.+ngton he found himself sitting beside a Virginia farmer.

"These lands remind me of our Western prairies," Percy remarked.

"You have some extensive areas of level or gently undulating uplands."

"They don't remind me of the Western prairies, I can tell you," was the reply. "I am a Westerner myself, or I was until eight years ago.

These lands look all right from the train when the crops are all off, but I find that every patch of the earth's surface doesn't always make a good farm. Why you can go from Danville, Illinois, to Omaha, Nebraska, and stop anywhere in the darkest night and you're mighty near sure to light on a good farm where one acre is worth ten of this land along here."

"About what is this land worth?" asked Percy.

"Well, I thought six hundred acres of it was worth $5,000 about eight years ago, especially as the buildings on the place were in good repair and couldn't be built to-day for less than $6,000: but right now I think I paid a plenty for my land. It's just back a few miles at the station where I got on."

"How far is that from Was.h.i.+ngton?"

"About fifteen miles, I reckon, as the crow flies. My boy has a telescope his uncle sent him and we can see the Monument on a clear day."

"What monument?" asked Percy.

"Why, Was.h.i.+ngton's monument. Haven't you ever been to Was.h.i.+ngton?"

"No, this is my first visit. I am really thinking of buying a farm somewhere here in the East. I have been in Richmond and learned a great deal from the state reports, and I thought I might get more information from the Department of Agriculture in Was.h.i.+ngton."

"Perhaps," said the man, "but my advice is to keep in mind that there is a difference between buying land and buying a farm. I've got land to sell, by the way. I thought I'd need it all when I bought, but I can see now that I'll not need more'n half of it at the most; so, if you want two or three hundred acres of this kind of land right close here where you kind o' neighbor with the senators and other upper tens, and run back and forth from the City in an hour or so, why I think I can accommodate you. My name is Sunderland, J. R. Sunderland, and you'll find me at home any day."

"How much would you sell part of your land for?" inquired Percy.