II. Chemical Composition of a Soil.—Chemically considered, the soil is a body of great complexity. It is made up of a great variety of substances. The relations existing between these substances and the plant are not all of equal importance; some—and these form by far the largest proportion of the soil-substance—are concerned in acting simply as a mechanical support for the plant, and in helping to maintain those physical properties in the soil which, as we have just seen, exercise such important functions in the plant's development.
Fertilising Ingredients.
A small portion of the soil-substance, however, takes a very much more active part in promoting plant-growth, by acting as direct food of the plant. As we have already seen in the Introductory Chapter,[50] the substances which have been found in the ash of plants are the following: potash, lime, magnesia, oxide of iron, phosphoric acid, sulphuric acid, soda, silica, chlorine, oxide of manganese, lithia, rubidia, alumina, oxide of copper, bromine, and iodine. The general presence of some of these substances is doubtful; the presence of others, again, probably purely accidental; while some are only found in plants of a special nature, as, for instance, iodine and bromine, which are only found in the ash of marine plants.
Of these ash constituents, only the first six substances—those marked in italics—are absolutely necessary to plant-growth. In addition to these six ash constituents, the plant also derives its nitrogen, which is a necessary plant-food, chiefly from the soil.[51]
Importance of Nitrogen, Phosphoric Acid, and Potash.
But of these seven constituents of the soil which are necessary to plant-growth, some have come to be regarded by the agriculturist with very much greater interest than others. This is due to the fact that they are normally present in the soil in very much smaller quantities than is the case with the other equally necessary food ingredients; that, in short, they are nearly invariably present in the soil, in a readily available form, in lesser quantities than the plant is able to avail itself of, and often, as in impoverished or barren soils, in quantities too small for even normal growth. These ingredients are nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash.[52]
The importance of seeing that all the necessary plant ingredients are present in a soil in proper quantities will be at once properly estimated when it is stated that the absence or insufficiency in amount of one single ingredient is capable of preventing the growth of the plant, although the other necessary ingredients may be even abundantly present.
With lime, magnesia, iron, and sulphuric acid, most soils are abundantly supplied. The substances with which the farmer has to concern himself, then, are nitrogen, phosphates, and potash. It is these substances therefore, that, as a rule, are alone added as manures.
Chemical Condition of Fertilising Ingredients in Soil.
But in considering the chemical properties of a soil, a simple consideration of the quantity of the different ingredients present is not enough. A very important consideration is their chemical condition. Ere any plant-food can be assimilated by the plant's roots, it must first be rendered soluble. The quantity of soluble, or, as it is known, available, plant-food in a soil is very small. It is, of course, being steadily added to each day by the process of disintegration constantly going on in soils.