10—Lancaster Farming, Friday, Feb. 8, 1957 - i A ' * t f ■* --I ' :v * > VotATiUZA 'i-tii '4 C ' Jb a & <a<a MiCiROO£S . 0-56* TOTAL ACQUIRE MEN t i35-2go*M FARMERS—Now is the time to think about your sprayer needs for the coming year. We have any type sprayer you may need: high or low pressure, tractor mounted or trailer types, boom or boom less, -with PTO PLUNGER TYPE PUMPS THAT WILL HANDLE ANY MATERIAL, New and used sprayers and pumps of various sizes in stock now. Lancaster County’s Only Dealer Specializing in Spray er Gales and Service. Lester A. Singer RONKS, PA. Phone Strasburg OV 7-3226 Midwest Tests Show Nitrogen Lost from Soil in Gaseous Form Farmers applying nitrogen fertilizers to their crops can lose a considerable quantity of the total nitrogen to the air as gas, according to University of Mis souri researchers. Tests during the past two years have proved what has long been suspected that only a portion of the applied nitrogen is used by the treated crop. However, past fertilization practices have not been in error. Rather, the scientists, say, the Missouri work contributes to the better understanding of some soil processes that are changing crop production from an art to more of a science. They point out, for example, that 30 pounds of nitrogen top dressed on wheat will increase yieldis on many soils by 10 bushels an acre. * 1 c t T ♦ V „ *. v -V s "■1 * w » A * > 130-m*N :, ■s V , The diagram shows what happens to the 135 to 290 pounds of nitrogen need ed to grow 100-bushel corn. Accord ing to University of Missouri soil scientists, only 75 to 100 pounds are contained in the grain of a treated crop. The vegetative growth will re quire an additional 55 to 80 pounds per acre. Leaching, soil microbes, and volatilization —loss to the air as a gas will influence the amount of nitrogen that need be applied. This loss shouldn’t interrupt current use of nitrogen since it has proven its financial worth through Increased farm crop 'production and efficiency. However, this new information sug gests a new field of soil investigation which may result in even greater efficiency from nitrogen fertilizers. * t As a financial investment, this is a return of about $2O for a SSL outlay. However, as a fertility investment, these 10 bushels of wheat grain give back only 12 pounds of nitrogen. This leaves 18 pounds of nitro gen unrecovered in the first season’s grain. Some of the nitro gen is left in the straw, some grows a crop of soil micro-or ; gariisms, some is deft "in the sod and may be recovered by follow ing crops, and finally, there re mains a quantity unaccounted for and is .the amount that is lost as gas- Using urea, sodium nitrate, ammonium sulfate, ammonium nitrate, and aqua ammonia, the Missouri tests were made on eight soils ranging from sandy loams to heavy clays. Numerous experiments have shown that two pounds of nitro gen to a bushel of corn is the minimum required for higher Even though retired, Mr. T. C. Butler* likes to take his’ turn at driving the family-owned John Deere Power Steering Tractor. Says Mr. Butler, “I couldn't handle an ordinary trac tor 'in our rough soil. John Deere Power Steering makes handling the trac tor so much easier." Mr. Butler's experience is typical of thousands of farm men and women — young and old alike —who drive John Deere Power Steering Tractors. They have found an entirely new freedom from steering effort and driver fatigue. For them, tractor farming is more relaxing, more en joyable every minute they're at the wheel. Come in for a demon stration. *Addr**s upon request. Wenger Implement Co. /^jDEERE yields. ' Frequently, three or more pounds may be needed for a bushel of increase in yields of above 75 or 80 bushels an acre. Some of this extra nitrogen for higher yields is left over and available the following year. However, even taking into ac count crop removal, leaching, and erosion, it has not been pos sible to account for all the nitro gen. This discrepancy can best be explained now through a loss of the nitrogen as a gas. 1 Chemical changes that happen in a soil when a nitrogen ferti lizer is applied are well known. When an ammonium fertilizer is applied to an alkaline soil, some nitrogen is lost As ammonia. * ?t "* - i ' > ,* ' 1 x <* i ;- s J However, in most Easter, and cool climate soils, this reaction is slight. When the temperature is above 60 degrees, the ammonia put into the soil in fertilizers changes to nitrates rapidly. If a soil Is so wet that most air-is excluded, then soil organism rob the nitrogen of its oxygen leav ing a gas in its place that eventu ally escapes'to the air. This process is known as de nitrification. In well aerated soils, denitri fication was not considered of much importance until! recently. Now soil reaction may be chang ed with the heavier rates of nitrogen application. This is particularly true where fertilizer is banded in high con centration or when broadcast on ■the soils surface. The concentra tion would be very high in the top % inch of soil when pelleted fertilizer applied on the surface and rain does not fall for some time. Detailed laboratory studies of losses of nitrogen through the air explain what was suggested by crops in the field. Where heavy nitrogen applications have been made in the field for a number of years, soil analyses fail to show much increase in soil nitrogen or organic matter. On one soil, winter top-dres sing with nitrogen on. small grains failed to show a response by the crop. This same soil showed a loss of over 80 per cent of the applied nitrogen when kept at room temperature for five months with no crop growth on it. F. H. Shotzberger Alan C. Beyer Elm, Pa. Christiana, Pa. H. S. Newcomer & Son Landis Bros. The Buck, Pa. Mount Joy, Pa. A. B. C. Groff New Holland, Pa. N6ii-Coftimunist China To Purchase Tobacco The U. S. Department of Agri culture has announced issuance of an authorization to the Re public of China (Taiwan) to fi nance the purchase of up to $427,- 393 worth (including certain ocean transportation costs) of tobacco from United States sup pliers under Title I of Public Law 480, - The loss of nitrogen in a gase ous form need not disrupt the present use of nitrogen fertiliz ers. This loss has been occunng since land was first cultivated it is just that methods or measur ing the losses have not been available until recently. This new work suggests a large new field for more investi gation. When the fundamental processes of soil nitrogen reac tions are known, farmers will then gat greater efficiency from nitrogen fertilizers than has been obtained in the past. Hw'i f EGG SIZE? 3 You etn stop worrying about egg prices when your houses are full of Mount Hope pullets. The combination of gig Eggs and many of-them means lop income for you. Mount Hope Leghorns are noted for, MOUNT HOPE LANCASTER COUNTY’S ONLY FRANCHISED MOUNT HOPE HATCHERY Johnson's Hatchery EPHRATA, PA. PHONE RE3-2980 Lancaster, Pa.
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