Science in farming. A textbook on the principles of agriculture, including a treatise on agricultural chemistry by Thompson Ralph Seymour

Author:Thompson, Ralph Seymour. [from old catalog]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Agricultural chemistry
Publisher: Springfield, Ohio, The Farmers' advance
Published: 1882-03-25T05:00:00+00:00

cause the young plant to perish before its roots can penetrate the soil far enough to obtain a supply of moisture. As warmth is necessary, seed sown before the ground has become sufficiently warm is liable to rot instead of germinating. Indian corn, especially, requires a considerable degree of warmth, and a •■' bad stand " is often the result of planting in cold ground.

As the parent seed is the only source from which the young plant can draw nourishment until its leaves reach the light, when seeds are too deeply planted, the young plant may exhaust this nutriment and die from starvation before its leaves reach the light. Hence, also, if the leaves are torn from a young plant just as germination is completed, it dies, being de-l^rived of means of obtaining food from soil and air, and having no source of supply within itself. If the plant is allowed to grow for a time after germination, a supply of material is laid up within its own tissues which can be used for the production of new leaves. A practical knowledge among farmers of the working of this principle has given rise to the expression that " the best time to kill weeds is before they come up," by which is meant just as the process of germination is completed.

196. Plant Food. —As the plant cannot use the nitrogen contained in organic matter in the soil until it has been oxydized into nitric acid, it is necessary to expose the soil thoroughly to the action of the air, in order to secure a sufficiency of available plant food. The nitrogen in urea being available for the use of the plant without first being oxydized, urine acts very rapidly as a fertilizer. As, when one element of plant food is deficient, the i)lant is incapable of using other food, however abundant it may be, it is necessary to

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