New Series 
Number 123 
A SYMPOSIUM 
ON THE 
tfffCTS Of 
soil atoitnis on food 
THIS VOLUME 
TRACES SOME OF THE DISCOVERIES 
OF SCIENCE 
IN THE STUDY OF THE SOIL ELEMENTS 
AS THEY AFFECT HUMANITY 
THROUGH DIET 
T. J. BROOKS 
Assistant Commissioner of Agriculture 
PUBLISHED BY THE 
FLORIDA STATE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
NATHAN MAYO, Commissioner 
TALLAHASSEE. FLORIDA y'?r A SYMPOSIUM 
ON THE 
ffffCTS Of 
soil atmtois on food 
THIS VOLUME 
TRACES SOME OF THE DISCOVERIES 
OF SCIENCE 
IN THE STUDY OF THE SOIL ELEMENTS 
AS THEY AFFECT HUMANITY 
THROUGH DIET 
Assistant Commissioner of Agriculture 
T. J. BROOKS 
PUBLISHED BY THE ■ 
FLORIDA STATE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
NATHAN MAYO, Commissioner 
TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA RECORD PRESS, INC. 
ST. AUGUSTINE. FLA. Notice 
This Department cannot furnish 
analysis of soils or the foods you 
grow on the farm. The state chem- 
ist is authorized and equipped to 
analyze fertilizers, gasoline, drugs, 
stock feeds and canned goods. 
This service is for the protection 
of the public from fraud in trade. 
If you want to know the mineral 
and vitamin content of the food 
you grow you will have to apply 
to a commercial analyst. A balanc- 
ed fertilizer is the surest guaran- 
tee of balanced food. Preface 
This is not a treatise on dietetics, agronomy or soil anal- 
ysis. Our subject is the relationship of these sciences to the 
health of mankind. 
Agronomy and soil analysis have to do with the utiliza- 
tion of soils for production. Dietetics relate to the utiliza- 
tion of foods for the nourishment of the body. It takes all 
three to complete the relationship which they bear to hu- 
man welfare. The importance of insuring a balanced diet 
by providing the required elements in the soils is just be- 
ginning to dawn on the public and to hasten interest con- 
cerning this subject is the purpose of the authors. 
The source of physical being is in the soil ingredients 
no matter where one lives or his occupation. The ruins of 
ancient civilizations are solemn warnings of what will 
follow in this country if we neglect or abuse the soil. 
The erosion of millions of acres apparent on every hand 
point to the inevitable if we persist in distructive methods 
of cultivation, and indifference to the required elements 
which soils should contain. 
There is another phase of this subject which is as 
important as volume production, and that is quality pro- 
duction. The same crop from the same seed and cultivation, 
but grown on different soils, will have different minerals 
and vitamins and therein lies the new science with its revel- 
ation of the connection of soil chemicals and human health. 
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 
Acknowledgements are given wherever quotations are 
made. A wide range of authorities have been consulted and 
liberal selections were made. Thanks are hereby tendered 
to one and all who have contributed to this symposium. May 
their tribe increase. 
T. J. BROOKS Contents 
INTRODUCTION 9 
CHAPTER I Soils 11 
CHAPTER II Physical Requirements of Man... . 13 
CHAPTER III Soil and Health 15 
CHAPTER IV Soil Fertility and Human Nutrition 17 
CHAPTER V Health from the Ground Up 20 
CHAPTER VI Researches on Vitamins 24 
CHAPTER VII Soils and Food 41 
CHAPTER VIII Soil Mineralization 58 
CHAPTER IX Minor Elements Important 62 
CHAPTER X Mineralizing Pastures 65 
CHAPTER XI Animal Nutrition 69 
CHAPTER XII Soil Builders 75 
CHAPTER XIII Citrus Malnutrition 80 
CHAPTER XIV Agriculture, Health and Disease.. 83 
CHAPTER XV Soil and Health Implications 91 
CHAPTER XVI Ranges and Beef Cattle 103 
CHAPTER XVII Soil and Biology 105 
CHAPTER XVIII Interrelation of Food Elements... 121 
CHAPTER XIX Human Food Lost 138 
CHAPTER XX Vitamins in Grass and Alfalfa. .. . 154 
CHAPTER XXI Are We Starving to Death? 166 
CHAPTER XXII As the Soil, So the Man 171 
7 Introduction 
Many acts in the human drama have marked the progress 
of mankind. Definite ideas have had their day and nothing 
is so powerful as an idea well-conceived and concerning 
human welfare. When its dawn is heralded there is al- 
ways those who are ready to accept and those reluctant to 
be influenced by it. 
The last act in a certain part of the drama is just being 
unfolded. The idea back of it is: The Tremendous Influence 
That Soil Elements Have On Health. 
This is an age of exploration, not of unknown seas and 
savage lands but of unknown realms of the physical uni- 
verse. It took more penetration to reveal the secrets of en- 
ergy in nature than to discover the new continent. It re- 
quired greater skill to explore the atom than to explore the 
Dark Continent. Science is a severe taskmaster and requires 
strict devotion. Inventions and discoveries have sprung 
from ideas that took possession of those who built modern 
civilization. Progress is carried on by those who do the 
ususual. 
Reformers had more than selfish aims that caused them 
to enter the arena of social needs and proclaimed readjust- 
ment against apathy, ignorance, superstition and sordid 
desires. The reformation now going on in this country is a 
practical application of science to everyday living. It is 
neither political, military nor religious but purely scientific. 
Science probes mysteries but is nothing more or less than 
classified knowledge. It does not matter how that knowl- 
edge is obtained or by whom. He who is unlettered but 
9 thinks may invent a complicated machine. A man does not 
have to be credited with a string of degrees to discover cer- 
tain effects and by thinking trace effects back to causes. 
This volume is a compilation of the results of experiment- 
ers seeking knowledge—and found it. Some were men of 
degrees and some were not. This symposium is sent forth on 
its mission by one who lays no claims to being a discoverer 
but believing in the discoveries others have made. 
T. J. BROOKS 
10 CHAPTER I 
Soils 
Without soils nothing could live on this planet except 
whatsoever could subsist on the foods from the sea and 
air. That part of the surface of the earth suitable to the 
growing of plants is soil. The elements contained in the 
various types of soil determine its suitability for the thou- 
sands of varieties of plant life. These elements combined 
with the physical conditions and the climate determine the 
zones of adaptation and productivity. Soils may be fertile 
and yet be too wet, too dry, too high, too cold, too warm to 
be favorable to growth and maturity of the myriads of 
vegetable growths. In turn these have much to do with the 
kind of animal life that is possible in the different parts of 
the earth. There must also be a certain equilibrium or bal- 
ance of the soil constituents in order to supply the needs 
of plants that require varying amounts of mineral elements 
and in available form for the roots of the plants to take 
them up into the plant and its fruit. All this is true whether 
or not the plant is in any way beneficial or detrimental to 
man or other creature. 
The mastery of soils in production and conservation de- 
termine the success or failure in agriculture. The commer- 
cial prosperity of agriculture is largely a question of the ex- 
pertness in farm management and the marketing of the 
farm’s output. Under modern civilization people in the re- 
motest parts of the earth exchange with each other the pro- 
ducts of their respective climes. This prevents the suffering 
that once occurred when a drouth, flood or other calamity 
overtook the people in one part of the world. Modern com- 
merce and means of communication bring the ends of the 
earth to close proximity. 
11 12 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
Agriculture is no longer a haphazard vocation, subject 
to the whims of stupidity or of accidents. It has its science 
the same as other vocations. It brings into service chem- 
istry, agronomy, conservation, farm management and mar- 
keting. 
The teeming millions of the earth must be fed from the 
bounties of the soil if they are to exist. It behooves each gen- 
eration to leave the soil as fertile as it found it. For thou- 
sands of years this was not done and migrations were im- 
perative. Now that the whole earth has been settled this 
running from the ruins we have wrought is impossible. We 
can use science in soil management or suffer the conse- 
quences. Scientific farmers will be the successful farmers 
of the future. He who knows best how to fertilize, conserve, 
cultivate and choose the crops best adapted to the soil and 
climate will succeed where others fail. 
Another feature of agriculture is the planning and rais- 
ing of crops that furnish in proper form the nutritive ele- 
ments necessary for the proper feeding of the human body. 
Mere food is not sufficient. The elements in food are the 
important thing. All these must come from the soil through 
plants direct to man, or through plants to animals and then 
to man—and from the waters. 
Scientific agriculture is the only hope for man’s con- 
tinued support, comfort and enjoyment of the glories of 
civilization. CHAPTER H 
Physical Requirements 
The human body is made up of elements which it ap- 
propriates from Food, Drink, and Air. Whatever nourish- 
ment is required must be supplied from these sources. Un- 
less they are to be had in the right quantities and proportion 
the physical organism is not properly nourished. 
During all the aeons of time since man has inhabited 
this planet he has been unawares that the elements in the 
soil determined his physical welfare. Quantity of yield has 
been the sole basis of judging the value of soil. The quality 
of the product was never appreciated. When wild animals, 
birds and fish constituted the animal food, and a plot of 
ground was cultivated with sticks to grow a few vegetables 
and the wild fruits which grew and berries and nuts 
which were gathered, these constituted his diet. All of these 
were seldom present at once. 
Modern civilization has changed the whole problem of 
making a living. By refering to the tables of requirements 
for the human body it will be seen that diet is indeed a com- 
plicated problem. It also shows that there is a direct con- 
nection between food elements and health. These elements 
are determined almost wholely by the soil from which food 
comes either directly through plants and their fruits or 
through the animals which are used for food. Animals must 
secure them from plants and their fruits. 
As will be seen by perusal of this volume that a coterie 
of scientists and experimenters have risen to proclaim the 
importance and the benefits of understanding the proc- 
esses of nourishment in all animal life and the effects of 
different diets on the different species—including man. 
13 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
It has been discovered that very few soils contain all the 
ingredients needed to furnish a balanced ration to the deni- 
zens of the earth. It is up to man to devise methods that will 
insure balanced foods, with all the good results sure to fol- 
low. CHAPTER m 
Soil and Health 
It has only recently been discovered that human health is 
closely related to the plant-food elements in the soils from 
which food is obtained. 
Fact 1. It has been ascertained that the human body 
should contain different mineral elements in varying pro- 
portion, and various vitamins. These are derived from food 
and drink; 
Fact 2. Plants get their food from the soil, water and air, 
and can get only that which they contain. 
Fact 3. Plants will grow from soils lacking some of these 
elements and from soils that contain elements which the 
plant does not need. 
Fact 4. Some Plants draw from the soil unneeded ele- 
ments to far greater extent than others. Grains do not load 
us with the unnecessary elements but may lack some of 
them; many fruits and vegetables do; such as sugarcane, 
cabbage, potatoes, melons, etc.—also tobbaco. 
Fact 5. Human beings can live on a diet that is lacking 
some of the elements needed and can live in spite of taking 
into the system things not necessary and even deleterious. 
No one needs nicotine, morphine, caffeine or pepper in his 
system as an accumulated residue. Nevertheless people live 
with all these in their system, due to habit in their use. We 
need lime, calcium, iodine, magnesium, etc., but lack of 
these in the food does not readily starve the individual but 
renders him less vigorous. 
Fact 6. A balanced ration for human beings is dependent 
on a balanced ration for plants in the soil. Long life is de- 16 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
pendent on health, health on food, food on soil. Even meat 
diet comes from land animals which get their food from 
plants and water animals which get their food from crea- 
tures they find in fresh or salt waters. CHAPTER IV 
Soil Fertility and Human Nutrition 
FERTILIZERS IN THE POSTWAR NATIONAL ECONOMY 
It is recognized that there are soil deficiencies and oc- 
casionally toxic elements, notably selenium, in the soil 
which, through the medium of food and feed crops, have 
important effects on the nutrition and health of man and 
animals. It is also clear that these effects are sometimes 
operative under conditions where the soil fertility is such 
as to result in excellent yields of crops. More frequently, 
however, the nutritional effects are associated with low 
yields of crops and a generally low level of nutrition. Never- 
theless, in terms of the soil’s ability to meet nutrition and 
health needs, yields per acre may be, in certain situations, a 
poor measure of its capacity to supply all of these needs. 
This is the case when the nutritional deficiency is associated 
with the lack of a minor element, such as cobalt or iodine, 
which is essential in animal nutrition but apparently is not 
essential for the growth of higher plants. In addition to the 
known essential or harmful mineral constituents, there may 
well be undiscovered factors, probably influenced by the 
nature of the soil on which the crops are grown, which 
may have important significance. In general, however, 
crops produced by recognized good soil fertility practices, 
including the use of lime and fertilizers, usually have good 
nutritive properties. 
It seems apparent that mineral supply in soils has much 
less influence on certain vitamins in plants than have 
variety and climate. It has been found, for example, that 
tomatoes grown in soils or in sand culture at various loca- 
tions throughout the country varied significantly in ascor- 
bic acid content. However, at any one location there was 
17 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
18 
little correlation of ascorbic acid with the supply of either 
macro- or micro-nutrients, even though the supply of these 
nutrients affected growth and fruitfulness of the plants 
markedly. One must not generalize, however, from these 
results that the soil has no influence on vitamins or other 
organic nutrients in food crops. It has been shown, for 
example, that boron supply influences the thiamin content 
of turnip greens. 
It is clear that good nutrition in man is dependent, to a 
large degree, upon the production of animal products. This 
involves problems of quality of feeds. Here the relationship 
to soil is more direct and clearly defined than is true in the 
case of human nutrition. It has been adequately demon- 
strated, for example, that the content of mineral elements 
in plants is markedly affected by the fertility of the soil. 
In addition there is evidence that a changed mineral status 
in the plant affects its nutritional quality. 
In the United States certain nutritional disorders in ani- 
mals have been associated with soil deficiencies. Most fre- 
quently the deficiency is calcium or phosphorus, but also 
one or more of the minor elements is often involved. Re- 
cently it has become evident that the use of an improper 
balance of plant nutrients may be responsible for an actual 
lowering of the nutritive value of a crop with respect to 
certain minerals needed in “traces” only. Intensive use of 
the major plant foods may call for a greater use of minor 
elements than has been the case heretofore. 
One of the important contributions fertilizers can make 
to improved nutrition, particularly of animals, is to make 
possible the growth of legumes and other nutritious crops 
instead of crops of low nutritive value. Without lime and 
fertilizer many soils will only produce timothy or less nu- 
tritious pasture or hay crops. Liming and fertilization 
would certainly improve the quality of timothy but it would 
also make possible the production of alfalfa instead of tim- EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
19 
othy. It is such a change that would be a great forward step 
in the improved nutrition of livestock and indirectly of man. 
It is clear that until more facts are gathered through re- 
search and their significance properly assessed, it is rather 
hazardous to speculate regarding the extent of the influ- 
ence of soil fertility on human nutrition. The public interest 
in this general problem is increasing and indicates that the 
present need for adequate research to clarify the questions 
involved will be supported. A start has already been made. 
Five years ago, the U. S. Department of Agriculture estab- 
lished a Plant, Soil and Nutrition Laboratory to investigate 
the interrelationships involved. Such research requires 
painstaking efforts of highly trained scientists, and it can- 
not be expected that we will arrive at answers overnight; 
but we can look forward hopefully to a time when we will 
have a correct appraisal of the place of soil fertility and 
fertilizers in human nutrition.* 
* The National Planning Association's Joint Committee on National Nutrition 
Policy will release shortly a statement of its recommendations for a nutrition 
program for the United States. CHAPTER V 
Health from the Ground Up 
REX BEACH 
Condensed from Hearst's International-Cosmopolitan 
Do you know that most of us suffer from dangerous diet 
deficiencies which cannot be remedied until the depleted 
soils from which our foods come are brought into proper 
mineral balance? No man today can eat enough fruits and 
vegetables to supply his system with the mineral salts he 
requires for perfect health, because his stomach isn’t big 
enough to hold them! 
One carrot may look and taste like another and yet lack 
the particular mineral element carrots are supposed to 
contain. Vegetation grown in one part of the country may 
assay 1100 parts, per billion, of iodine, as against 20 in that 
grown elsewhere. 
Any considerable lack of essential mineral elements, and 
we sicken, suffer, shorten our lives. And the alarming fact 
is that our fruits, vegetables, grains and meats are now 
being raised on millions of acres of land that no longer con- 
tains enough of these minerals. 
The first man to demonstrate this was Dr. Charles North- 
en, an Alabama physician who had specialized in nutritional 
disorders. He became convinced that we must make soil 
building the basis of food building if we are to use foods 
intelligently in the treatment of disease. 
“We know that vitamins are indispensable to nutrition,” 
says Dr. Northen, “but it is not commonly realized that 
vitamins control the body’s appropriation of minerals, and 
in the absence of minerals they have no function. Lacking 
20 EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
21 
vitamins, the system can make some use of minerals, but 
lacking minerals, vitamins are useless! We have been sys- 
tematically robbing soils of the very substances necessary 
to growth and resistance to disease. Up to the time I be- 
gan experimenting, almost nothing had been done to make 
good the theft.” 
Dr. Northen retired from medical practice to devote him- 
self to this subject. By putting back into soils the stuff that 
foods are made of, he raised better seed potatoes in Maine, 
better grapes in California, better oranges in Florida, and 
better field crops in other states—better not only in im- 
proved food value but also in increased quality and quan- 
tity. He doubled and redoubled the natural mineral content 
of fruits and vegetables. He improved the quality of milk 
by increasing the iron and iodine in it. He caused hens to 
lay eggs richer in the vital elements. 
At least 16 mineral elements are indispensable for nor- 
mal nutrition. Of these, calcium, phosphorus and iron are 
perhaps the most important. Calcium affects the cell forma- 
tion and regulates nerve action. It coordinates the other 
mineral elements and corrects disturbances made by them. 
Among the actual diseases that may result from calcium de- 
ficiency are rickets, bony deformities, bad teeth and ner- 
vous disorders. Phosphorus is also exceedingly important. 
Dr. McCollum of Johns Hopkins says that when there are 
enough phosphates in the blood there can be no dental de- 
cay ! Iron is an essential constituent of the oxygen-carrying 
pigment of the blood; but iron cannot be assimilated unless 
some copper is contained in the diet. And if iodine is not 
present, goiter afflicts us. 
So each mineral element plays a definite role. The human 
system cannot appropriate those elements to the best ad- 
vantage in any but the food form. So we must rebuild our 
soils; put back the minerals we have taken out. It isn’t 
difficult or expensive. By re-establishing a proper soil bal- 22 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
ance Dr. Northen has shown he could grow crops that con- 
tained enough desired minerals. 
I met him because I was harassed by soil problems on my 
Florida farm which had baffled the best experts. “A healthy 
plant,” he told me, “grown in soil properly balanced, can 
and will resist most insect pests. You have germs in your 
system but you’re strong enough to throw them off. Simi- 
larly, a really healthy plant will take care of itself against 
insects and blights—and will also give the human system 
what it requires.” 
When Dr. Northen restored the mineral balance to part 
of the soil in an orange grove infested with scale, the trees 
in that part became clean while the rest remained diseased. 
By the same means he had grown healthy rosebushes be- 
tween rows that were riddled by insects. He had grown 
tomato and cucumber plants, both healthy and diseased, 
where the vines intertwined. The bugs ate the diseased 
plants and refused to touch the healthy ones! He showed me 
analyses of citrus fruit, the chemistry and the food value of 
which accurately reflected the soil treatment the trees had 
received. 
I took his advice and fed minerals into land where I was 
growing a large acreage of celery. When the plants from 
this soil were mature I had them analyzed, along with 
celery from other parts of the state. My celery had more 
than twice the mineral content of the best grown else- 
where ; and it kept much better, proving that the cell struc- 
ture was sounder. 
In 1927, W. W. Kincaid, a “gentleman farmer” of Niagara 
Falls, heard an address by Dr. Northen and was so im- 
pressed that he began extensive experiments. He has suc- 
ceeded in adding both iodine and iron to soil so liberally that 
one glass of milk from his cows contains all of the minerals 
that an adult requires for a day. 
“It is neither a complicated nor an expensive undertaking EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
23 
to restore our soils to balance,” says Dr. Northen. “Any 
competent soil chemist can tell you how to proceed. First 
determine by analysis the precise chemistry of any given 
soil, then correct the deficiencies by putting down the miss- 
ing elements. The same care should be used as in prescribing 
for a sick patient, for proportions are of vital importance. 
“A nutrition authority recently said, ‘One sure way to 
end the American people’s susceptibility to infection is to 
supply through food a balanced ration of iron, copper and 
other metals. An organism supplied with a diet adequate to, 
or preferably in excess of, all mineral requirements may so 
utilize these elements as to produce immunity from infec- 
tion quite beyond anything we are at present able to produce 
artificially. You can’t make up the deficiency by using 
patent medicine.’ 
“Happily, we’re on our way to better health by returning 
to the soil the things we have stolen from it. The public can 
hasten the change by demanding quality in its food, in- 
sisting that health departments establish scientific stand- 
ards of nutritional value. The growers will quickly respond. 
They can put back those minerals almost overnight. 
“It is simpler to cure sick soils than to cure sick people. 
Which shall we choose?” 
The original article was reprinted as a government bulletin, Senate Docu- 
ment No. 264, 74th Congress, Second Session. CHAPTER VI 
Experiment Station Research 
on the Vitamin Content and the 
Preservation of Foods 
By GEORGIAN ADAMS, home economist, and SYBIL L. SMITH, principal experi- 
ment station administrator, Oilice of Experiment Stations, 
Agricultural Research Administration 
Miscellaneous Publication No. 536, Washington, D. C. 
March, 1944 
INTRODUCTION 
The previous custom of reviewing the results of research 
at the State agricultural experiment stations of particular 
interest to all aspects of home life has been suspended in this 
report in order to present a rather detailed review of the 
greatly expanded program of research on the nutritive 
value of foods as affected by various factors. 
The new significance attached to food as an implement 
of war as well as peace has served to stress the fact that nu- 
tritional quality must be considered along with yield, ap- 
pearance, and other factors in evaluating the importance of 
a food crop and its priority in a food production program. 
Furthermore, it is realized as never before that every effort 
should be made to prevent to the greatest possible extent 
losses in the nutritive value of foods during all the manipu- 
lative processes between production and final consumption. 
At a time when the food supplies for the armed forces, lend- 
lease shipments, and rehabilitation work are being allocated 
on the basis of their nutritive value, when nutrition pro- 
grams for industrial workers are being established, and 
when throughout the country Victory Gardens are pro- 
24 EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
25 
ducing a variety of crops for home consumption, the con- 
servation of nutritive values of foods assumes equal im- 
portance with the production of foods of the highest pos- 
sible inherent nutritive value. 
Organization early in 1942, within the framework of the 
State agricultural experiment stations and the Department, 
of a National Cooperative Project on the Conservation of 
the Nutritive Value of Foods served as an impetus to a 
decided expansion of research in this field. A greater unifi- 
cation of methodology has been effected through technical 
committees with regional representation; the organization 
of the State groups under the leadership of an experiment 
station director in each region as regional coordinator is 
affording an opportunity for an exchange of ideas in the 
assembling of material on a regional basis; and an arrange- 
ment for issuing preliminary progress notes by the in- 
dividual station makes it possible to obviate long delays 
in releasing data. At the time of writing, July 1943, no less 
than 43 stations and the Bureau of Human Nutrition and 
Home Economics are participating in this program. In- 
cluded in the present report are some of the preliminary 
findings in projects set up as a part of the National Co- 
operative Project, although the greater part antedates the 
organization of the work in this field on a cooperative 
basis. The entire period reviewed extends from 1941 to as 
late as July 1943. Summaries of earlier studies are to be 
found in previous reports of experiment station research, 
the last two of which cover the periods for 1939-40 (137) 1 
and 1940-41 (138). 
Factors Affecting Vitamin Values of Foods 
With recognition of the fact that the dietary vitamin 
intake is governed not only by the foods included in the 
diet but also by variations within individual foods, many 
investigations have been carried out to determine the 
source and the magnitude of the variations. The studies 
1 Numbers in parentheses refer to Literature cited. 26 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
indicate that there are several stages in which the vitamin 
content of a food is subject to variation. The first of these 
is during growth, with the result that a crop as harvested 
shows certain natural variations in vitamin content. After 
harvest there are often changes during storage. If the 
food is processed, as in milling or in preservation by freez- 
ing, canning, or dehydration, its vitamin content is further 
changed, and in the cooking of a food, whether in the fresh 
or any of its preserved states, there is opportunity for still 
further change in vitamin content. In the pages that follow 
an account is given of the studies concerned with these 
numerous influences. 
Natural Variations 
Natural variations in the vitamin content of a food as 
harvested were shown to result from the effects of various 
factors in operation as the crop was growing. The factors 
operating included climate and soil, variety, degree of ma- 
turity, and selective concentration in different parts of the 
plant. In foods of animal origin, the vitamin content was 
influenced by the feed of the animal and the ability of dif- 
ferent tissues to store the vitamin. 
Effect of climate and soil.—Large variations in ascorbic 
acid content reported within varieties of strawberries led 
Burkhart and Lineberry (21) to a study of the conditions 
affecting the vitamin C content. An improved method of 
extracting the ascorbic acid was employed. This involved 
emulsification of the sample for 1 minute in a mechanical 
blender with a metaphosphoric acid mixture. The deter- 
mination was completed by titrating the centrifuged ex- 
tract immediately with an electrometric titrimeter, accord- 
ing to the method of Kirk and Tressler (73). In checking 
possible causes of such variation, using North Carolina 
berries of known history, it was found that the ascorbic 
acid content of sun-ripened berries was greater than that of 
berries ripened in the shade, and that similarly sampled EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
27 
berries from different fields varied appreciably in ascorbic 
acid content. 
This difference between fields, associated with the effect 
of soil variation, was observed in Klondike strawberries 
from six fields, two experimental and four commercial, all 
receiving the same fertilizer treatment. The ascorbic acid 
in the berries by fields ranged from 36 to 52 milligrams per 
100 grams although close agreement was found between 
duplicate quarts sampled under the same conditions as to 
location, time, degree of maturity, exposure to sunshine, 
and size of fruit. This range showed that different environ- 
ments markedly affected the ascorbic acid content. From 
these results it was apparent, in the case of strawberries 
at least, that any comparison of the ascorbic acid content 
of different varieties, or any study of the effect of different 
treatments on ascorbic acid in a single variety, must involve 
considerable care to eliminate other sources of variation. 
Montana-grown strawberries analyzed for ascorbic acid 
by Mayfield and Richardson (94) showed the same wide 
variations within varieties that were found in the North 
Carolina berries. Again, the variations appeared to be as- 
sociated with differences in environmental conditions ex- 
isting within a given field, on the one hand, and between 
seasons, on the other hand. Thus, berries of the Dunlap va- 
riety, always obtained from the same plot in Gallatin Valley, 
showed somewhat different ascorbic acid values for two 
seasons, and berries of the Gem variety, always obtained 
from the same plot in the Bitterroot Valley, showed evidence 
of decline in the values as the season progressed. Even at 
a given harvest there was a wide range in the values ob- 
tained for different lots of both the Dunlap and the Gem 
varieties. The values obtained are given in table 1. 28 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
Table 1.—Ascorbic acid values of Montana-grown Dunlap and Gem 
strawberries tested when fresh 
Ascorbic acid per 100 grams 
Tests Average Range 
Variety Season No. Mg. Mg. 
Dunlap 1940 10 79 65-89 
Dunlap 1941 8 64 52-86 
Gem Everbearing 1941, first crop1 8 80 69-89 
Gem Everbearing 1941, first crop2 16 67 56-91 
Gem Everbearing 1941, second crop8 11 61 49-77 
Ticked July 1, at height of first bearing period. 
“Picked July 29, at end of first bearing period. 
“Picked August 26, at height of second bearing period. 
The influence of locality and season on ascorbic acid con- 
tent was apparent in the case of tomatoes of four varieties 
grown in 1938 and 1939 in four widely separated localities 
in Maine. The data obtained in this study by Murphy (108) 
showed that varietal differences were similar in the 2 years, 
with Penn State Earliana having the lowest ascorbic acid 
value and Bestal the second lowest in all four localities, 
and with Comet highest at Orono and Kennebunk and Best 
of All highest at Aroostook and Highmoor. In 1938 the 
majority of samples from Orono, Highmoor, and Kenne- 
bunk were higher in ascorbic acid content, by more than 
6 milligrams per 100 grams, than those from Aroostook. 
The favorable effect of a given location as observed in the 
first year did not persist over the second year, however, for 
in 1939 tomatoes grown at Aroostook, while again lower in 
ascorbic acid than those grown at Orono, were, on the other 
hand, higher than those grown at Highmoor and Kenne- 
bunk. An analogous experiment in which four varieties of 
cabbage were used for the test crop confirmed the evidence 
obtained with tomatoes. 
These findings indicated that environmental agencies in- 
fluenced the synthesis of ascorbic acid in tomatoes and cab- 
bages and that geographic situation was not a contributing 
factor except insofar as environmental conditions were 
characteristic of that situation. An analysis of available 
weather data suggested that sunlight, rainfall, and prob- 
ably temperature might have been causal agents in the vari- 
ations in ascorbic acid content. As the tissue matured there EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
29 
was a definite rise in ascorbic acid concentration in the to- 
mato and a decline in the cabbage. These phenomena were 
related to geographical situation to the extent that maturity 
rate was hastened or delayed by the climatic condition pre- 
vailing throughout the growing season. 
In tests at the South Dakota station to determine the 
effect of cultural practices on the yield and quality of gar- 
den vegetables, McCrory and Snyder2 grew the vegetables 
under lath shade and in the open. Three fertilizer treat- 
ments were used. Although the fertilizer influenced the 
yield—plots treated with Vigoro yielded highest, followed 
by those treated with manure, superphosphate, and the 
check plots—it caused no consistent variations in the vita- 
min content of the crops. In this particular season, which 
was cold and wet, the yields were consistently higher in the 
open than under shade. As for the vitamins, carotene was 
a little higher under shade, while ascorbic acid was con- 
siderably lower. 
The effect of environment on the content of ascorbic acid 
was also observed in rhubarb grown at the Washington sta- 
tion. In this case, two varieties were grown over two sea- 
sons, both in the hothouse and in the field, and stalks har- 
vested at prime maturity were analyzed. The analyses of 
each lot were made on composite samples of center sections 
from several stalks. A summary of the data from these de- 
terminations, made by Todhunter (144), showed the field- 
grown rhubarb to be consistently richer in ascorbic acid 
than the corresponding lots grown in the hothouse. The 
values obtained are reported by range in table 2. 
Table 2.—Ascorbic acid in hothouse- and field-grown rhubarb 
Variety Ascorbic acid per 100 grams 
Fresh mature rhubarb: Mg. Mg. 
Victoria 3.5-5.8 6.8- 8.0 
Hothouse-grown Field-grown 
Wine 5.8-6.7 6.5-16.7 
2McCrory, S. A., and Snyder, L. C. Progress Report on Research Project 
118. Improving Vegetable Yields and Quality by Cultural Practices. S. Dak. 
Agr. Expt. Sta. Hort. Pam. 26, [4] pp. 1943. [Processed.] 30 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
Effect of variety.—The preceding studies have indicated 
that environmental, soil, and climate factors all influence 
the nutritive value of a food crop. Although variations ef- 
fected by environment may be of sufficient magnitude to 
mask varietal differences, this does not lessen the import- 
ance of varietal values in assessing the nutritive content 
of a food crop. A number of investigations of varietal dif- 
ferences in ascorbic acid content have been carried out. In 
these studies the several varieties of the crop were grown 
under comparable soil and climatic conditions so that the 
differences observed represented essentially those due to 
variety. 
Varietal differences in Fairmore, Missionary, Massey, 
and Blakemore strawberries were studied by Burkhart and 
Lineberry (21) with careful attention to sampling in ac- 
cordance with their observations as noted above. These 
varieties, grown at Willard, N. C., in the same field at the 
same fertility level and harvested when ripe, averaged, res- 
pectively, 66, 46, 42, and 33 milligrams of ascorbic acid per 
100 grams. A similar study of other kinds of berries grown 
under comparable conditions in this North Carolina region, 
and sampled when ripe, was made by Lineberry and Burk- 
hart (83). Varietal differences existed in regard to ascorbic 
acid values, as is evident from the average values tabulated 
below (table 3). 
Table 3.—Varietal differences in ascorbic acid content of berries 
Fruit and variety 
Ascorbic acid 
Fruit and variety 
Ascorbic acid 
per 100 grams 
per 100 grams 
Blueberries; 
Mg. 
Dewberries: 
Mg. 
Cabot 
18.6 
Young 
32.5 
Rancocas 
18.4 
•Lucretia 
27.0 
Scammell 
16.5 
Boysen 
9S Q 
Concord 
16.0 
Raspberries: 
Blackberries: 
Dixie 
Early Wonder ... 
23.5 
Latham 
Brainard 
12.9 
Newburgh 
20.5 
The ascorbic acid content of seven varieties of muscadine 
grapes was investigated by Bell et al. (8). All varieties were 
grown in North Carolina in 1937, 1938 and 1939 on the 
same type of soil and with the same fertilizer treatment. EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
31 
The fruits analyzed were firm and ripe and of characteris- 
tic size for each variety. The ascorbic acid content, as deter- 
mined by the method of Mack and Tressler (89), averaged 
6.8 milligrams per 100 grams of the edible portion of ripe 
scuppernong grapes and from 4.1 to 5.5 milligrams per 100 
grams of the Labama, Eden, Thomas, and James varieties. 
The Mish and Hopkins varieties contained negligible quan- 
tities, averaging 1.8 and less than 0.2 milligrams per 100 
grams, respectively. 
In the studies just discussed, ascorbic acid has been shown 
to vary characteristically with different varieties. This in- 
fluence of variety has been reported also in recent studies 
on the vitamin A content of fruits. Determinations by Rey- 
nolds and Cooper as reported by the Arkansas station (3, 
p. 19), showed that peaches may be a good or a poor source 
of carotene (provitamin A), depending largely on the va- 
riety. Among the 17 varieties of Arkansas-grown peaches 
examined, the carotene content ranged from approximately 
20 to 500 micrograms per 100 grams of peach, or the equi- 
valent of 33 to 833 International Units. The average caro- 
tene content of Elberta peaches, the variety most widely 
grown in Arkansas, was 290 micrograms per 100 grams of 
peach. Chilow, Leona, Rochester, Halehaven, Elberta Cling, 
Anabel, Ideal, Fair Beauty, and Golden Jubilee varieties did 
not differ significantly in carotene content from Elbertas, 
ranging in the order named from 350 to 210 micrograms 
per 100 grams of fruit. Two varieties, Early Crawford and 
Wilma, were significantly richer in carotene than Elberta, 
and five varieties, Golden Elberta, Mikado, St. John, Belle, 
and Lola Queen, were comparatively low in carotene. Of 
these low-carotene varieties, the three latter were white- 
fleshed and could not be considered significant as sources 
of vitamin A, since their carotene contents were less than 
24 micrograms per 100 grams. 
According to Schroder et al. (132), the ascorbic acid con- 
tent of peaches does not show the marked variation by va- 32 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
rieties that was observed by Reynolds and Cooper in caro- 
tene. In the eight varieties of peaches obtained from a res- 
tricted area near Raleigh, N. C., and with individual fruits 
selected for similarity of size and degree of ripeness, ascor- 
bic acid varied only from 3.84 milligrams per 100 grams for 
the Augbert to 12.86 milligrams for the Hiley. The extreme 
difference between varieties was only 9.02 milligrams per 
100 grams of fruit, whereas the average difference within 
varieties was 4.29 milligrams per 100 grams. 
Six varieties of avocados grown at the subtropical station 
at Homestead, Fla., were analyzed by French and Abbott 
(60) for carotene and ascorbic acid. In this fruit also, vita- 
min differences by varieties were evident (table 4), al- 
though the order with regard to ascorbic acid level was not 
the same as that for carotene content. In the former case 
the earlier varieties were higher in vitamin C, but this 
factor did not consistently affect the carotene content. 
Table 4.—Varietal differences in ascorbic acid and carotene contents 
of avocados 
Ascorbic 
Carotene 
Variety 
acid per 
per 
100 grains 
100 grams 
Mg. 
Mg. 
Pollock 
37 
510 
Trapp 
31 
140 
Waldin 
28 
410 
Lula 
13 
13(1 
Booth "8" 
10 
240 
Collinson 
7 
280 
The ascorbic acid content of mangoes grown in Hawaii 
was found by Miller and Louis to vary greatly with the 
variety. Their data, as reported by the Hawaii station (65, 
p. 134), showed that of the samples tested, the common 
mango (Manini) had the highest value, or 114 milligrams 
per 100 grams of fruit, followed by the Wootten with 90 
milligrams, Bishop with 33 milligrams, and the Haden and 
Pirie with 14 milligrams. The Pirie mangoes, although of 
superior flavor and texture, showed consistently low as- 
corbic acid values in samples collected from three locations 
in two seasons. 
Among vegetables, an example of variation in vitamin EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
33 
level associated with varietal differences was found in the 
data obtained by Murphy (107) on the ascorbic acid con- 
tent of Maine-grown onions. These values are summarized 
in table 5. In one phase of the study the inner central part 
of mature onions, consisting of the younger smaller leaves, 
was analyzed separately from the outer part, made up of 
physiologically older tissue. In each of 10 varieties the 
ascorbic acid of the central part exceeded that of the 
periphery, and differences between varieties were caused 
principally by variations in this central part. 
Table 5.—Ascorbic acid in different varieties of fresh raw onions grown 
at Orono, Maine 
Ascorbic acid per 
100 grams in— 
Mature and 
Variety 
immature 
Mature 
samples1 
samples2 
Mg. 
Mg. 
Early Red Globe 
40 
Yellow Globe Danvers 
36 
Silverskin White Portugal 
34 
Brigham Yellow Globe 
33 
Early Yellow Globe 
31 
Southport Red Globe 
30 
22 
Mountain Danvers 
30 
Southport Yellow Globe 
27 
18 
Earliest White Queen 
22 
17 
Riverside Sweet Spanish 
21 
17 
Southport White Globe 
21 
16 
White Sweet Spanish 
20 
14 
Extra Early Yellow 
20 
13 
19 
13 
Yellow Bermuda 
19 
18 
Crystal White Wax 
17 
15 
1The values include data on immature and mature onions harvested at inter- 
vals from Aug. 1 to Sept. 23, 1938. 
2Onions at least 1 inch in diameter. 
Effect of maturity.—These results with onions suggest 
that stage of maturity may often be a factor influencing 
the vitamin content of a fruit or vegetable sample. Thus, 
in the study by Murphy, the small immature onions, har- 
vested early in the season while still small and straight, 
were higher in ascorbic acid content than larger onions 
harvested later in the season. In the comparison of the 
younger smaller leaves, constituting the central part of the 
bulb, with the older outer leaves, the former were found DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
34 
to contain from 0.14 to 0.73 milligram per gram, while the 
latter contained from 0.04 to 0.13 milligram. 
Although onions apparently decreased in ascorbic acid 
content with increasing maturity, peppers were found by 
Lantz (82, 111) to increase markedly in ascorbic acid as the 
fruit matured. This increase in vitamin value as the peppers 
ripened was still more pronounced in the case of carotene, 
amounting in the variety Hungarian Paprika, for example, 
to as much as a fiftyfold increase in concentration between 
the immature green and the red ripe samples analyzed. 
These changes in vitamin concentration with increasing 
maturity are shown by the data taken from the study by 
Lantz and summarized in table 6. Here varietal differences 
in peppers were evident, although pungent varieties as a 
class apparently were not different from the sweet varie- 
ties. Maturity differences, however, were so much greater 
than varietal differences that any comparison of the vita- 
Table 6.—Carotene and ascorbic acid content of peppers (sweet and pungent 
varieties) grown at the New Mexico Agricultural Experiment Station. 
Carotene per 
Ascorbic acid 
per 
Variety 
Color 
100 grams 
100 
grams 
Im- 
Partly 
Im- 
Partly 
mature 
ripe 
Ripe 
mature 
ripe 
Ripe 
Mg. 
Mg. 
Mg. 
Mg. 
Mg. 
Mg. 
White Casaba 
„Yellow 
0.09 
Green 
0.20 
Red 
4.17 
Florida Paprika .... 
„ Green 
.63 
99 
2.18 
251 
Red 
13.74 
278 
Long Red Paprika 
Green 
.55 
115 
Green side 
202 
Red side 
261 
Red 
9.50 
560 
Hungarian Paprika 
Green 
43 
Red 
22.61 
Jubilee of Honor .... 
..Yellow 
.03 
Orange 
.12 
Bell 
„ Green 
.36 
248 
Red 
12.38 
Chile No. 9 
..Green 
.49 
254 
308 
Red 
11.93 
326 
Anaheim Chile 
..Green 
.56 
3.14 
Red 
11.40 EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
35 
min content of different varieties would seem to necessitate 
great care in the matter of sampling. 
Carrots of six varieties grown in Colorado were found by 
Pyke and Charkey (124) to increase rapidly in vitamin A 
(carotene) value during the growing season. Harvested as 
baby carrots, these varieties, planted early in the season, 
averaged 74 micrograms of carotene per gram of sample 
(range by varieties, 70 to 85 micrograms) ; corresponding 
samples harvested as mature carrots of at least 2 inches 
crown diameter averaged 180 micrograms per gram (range, 
146 to 255). In other trials the same varieties planted later 
in the season averaged 84 micrograms per gram (range, 
65 to 102) when harvested as baby carrots and 215 micro- 
grams (range, 161 to 282) when harvested as mature sam- 
ples. These maturity differences in carotene content were 
much more pronounced than the varietal differences ob- 
served. In the case of ascorbic acid, varietal differences 
were slight, and from bunching size (% to 1 inch in dia- 
meter) onward the stage of maturity of the carrots did not 
seem to influence the ascorbic acid content of the tissue. 
Increase in ascorbic acid content with increasing matur- 
ity was observed in strawberries by Burkhart and Line- 
berry (21) and in blueberries and blackberries by Line- 
berry and Burkhart (83). These fruits were grown in 
North Carolina. In Klondike strawberries the ascorbic acid 
content increased from 59 milligrams per 100 berries (244 
grams) in the case of green berries to 280 milligrams per 
100 berries (605 grams) in the ripe fruit. This represented 
a twofold increase in concentration—from 24 to 46 milli- 
grams per 100 grams—and almost a fivefold increase in 
the amount of ascorbic acid elaborated as the berries grew 
and matured. Blueberries of the Scammell variety contained 
but 3.3 milligrams of ascorbic acid per 100 grams when 
green, as compared with 16.5 milligrams when ripe, and 
Brainerd blackberries increased from 11.6 to 12.9 milli- 
grams of ascorbic acid per 100 grams as the berries prog- 
ressed from the red to the ripe stage. 36 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
Cantaloups grown at the Arizona station were analyzed 
for ascorbic acid content by Smith, Burlinson, and Grif- 
fiths,3 who employed the analytical method of Morell (99). 
As part of this study, the effect of stage of maturity on 
vitamin C in Arizona strain No. 45 was investigated. The 
results obtained showed that in this fruit also the ascorbic 
acid content increased as the fruit matured. Green melons 
of the first harvest averaged 29.5 milligrams of ascorbic 
acid per 100 grams of edible portion; this amount increased 
with successive harvests until at the time of the fourth 
harvest, when the cantaloups were fully ripened, the edible 
portion averaged 40.6 milligrams per 100 grams. In an- 
other group, melons received in an overripened, almost rot- 
ten, stage showed a sharp reduction in ascorbic acid to the 
point of containing only about one-half as much vitamin as 
did the mature edible melons. 
Honeydew melons analyzed as part of this study showed 
the same tendency as did the cantaloups, namely, to increase 
in ascorbic acid as they matured but to decline as they passed 
the prime ripe stage. When picked green they averaged 
only 16.7 milligrams of ascorbic acid per 100 grams of edible 
portion (range, 14.2 to 20.7 milligrams) ; when picked “field 
ripe” but not full ripe and analyzed after shipping they 
contained 25.6 milligrams per 100 grams (20.8 to 27.6) ; 
but when picked fully ripe and then shipped the shipped 
samples averaged but 18.8 milligrams per 100 grams (range, 
14.4 to 20.9). 
The influence of the stage of maturity on the ascorbic acid 
content of peaches was investigated by Schroder et al. 
(132). In seven of the eight varieties grown in commercial 
orchards near Raleigh, N. C., peaches picked at the hard 
(green) stage were lowest in ascorbic acid. Successive 
samples picked through the various stages of ripeness 
classified as firm (hard ripe or shipping stage), ripe, and 
3 Smith, M. C., Burlinson, L. O., and Griffiths, A. E. Cantaloup—an excel- 
lent source of vitamin C. Ariz. Agr. Expt. Sta. Mimeographed Rpt. 53 8 do 
1943. [Processed.] EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
37 
soft (overripe) showed a continuous increase in ascorbic 
acid concentration. This variation is indicated by the data 
in table 7. 
Average ascorbic acid content per 100 grams 
Variety Peaches Hard Firm Ripe Soft 
No. Mg. Mg. Mg. Mg. 
Early Wheeler 28 4.05 5.35 7.36 8.28 
Golden Jubilee 23 3.78 4.25 6.13 7.71 
Elberta 22 4.39 4.45 5.25 
Hiley 21 6.84 8.56 12.86 14.05 
Mayflower 20 4.59 5.34 5.57 
Early Rose 20 5.31 5.36 7.18 
Carman 14 6.06 8.82 10.53 
Augbert 8 5.36 4.55 3.84 
Table 7.—Relation of ascorbic acid content to ripeness oi peaches 
Of the several fruits just considered, it was apparently 
characteristic for the vitamin content, ascorbic acid in 
particular, to increase with increasing maturity. This was 
not the case, however, with mangoes grown in Hawaii and 
analyzed by Miller and Louis (65). According to their 
analyses, green mangoes of the five varieties tested con- 
tained more ascorbic acid than the ripe ones. 
Effect of part sampled.—As pointed out in the discus- 
sion of onions, the ascorbic acid content was not 
uniformly distributed throughout the bulb but was present 
in higher concentration in the inner than in the outer part. 
The red side of the partly ripe pepper, as analyzed by Lantz 
and reported by the New Mexico station (111), was found 
to be richer than the green side in ascorbic acid. These dif- 
ferences in vitamin content were apparently associated with 
the fact that not all parts of the food sample were developed 
to the same degree of maturity. 
In other cases this lack of uniformity of vitamin concen- 
tration throughout the sample was associated with selective 
distribution of the vitamin in different structural parts of 
the grain, fruit, or vegetable. Thus, in the cereals, Kik (72) 
(Arkansas) found thiamine of rice to be concentrated in the 
outer bran layers and the germ; and Teply et al. (143) 
(Wisconsin) also found nicotinic acid, pantothenic acid, and 
pyridoxine to be concentrated in the bran and the germ of 38 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
wheat. In fruits the vitamin concentration was often high- 
er in the outer than in the inner parts. For example, the 
concentration of ascorbic acid in scuppernong grape skins 
was about three times as high as in the edible portion, ac- 
cording to Bell et al. (8) ; and nicotinic acid concentration in 
apple skins analyzed by Teply et al. (142) was about twice 
that in the flesh. Outer parts of strawberries and peaches 
were richer than the center portions in ascorbic acid accord- 
ing to analyses by Burkhart and Lineberry (21) and Schro- 
der et al. (132), respectively. Among vegetables, the par- 
snips used by Brown and Fenton (18) (New York (Cor- 
nell) ) did not have the ascorbic acid uniformly distributed 
between tip and upper parts or between medulla and cor- 
tex; the buds of fresh broccoli analyzed by Barnes et al. 
(5) (New York State) were richer in ascorbic acid than 
were the stalks; and leaf blades of various greens were 
found by Sheets et al. (134) (Mississippi) to be richer than 
the petioles in carotene and ascorbic acid. 
These examples of variable distribution of vitamins with- 
in a food are in many cases chiefly of interest to the analyst 
who is charged with the responsibility of selecting the ana- 
lytical sample in such a way that it will be representative of 
the food as eaten. In other cases these variations are of im- 
portance in selecting and preparing foods with a view to 
obtaining maximum food value compatible with good culi- 
nary practice. 
Effect of feeding practice.—The influence of the ration 
of the animal on the nutritive quality of food of animal ori- 
gin is illustrated by the results obtained at the North Da- 
kota station by Christensen, Knowles, and Severson (27), 
who investigated the effect of the ration on the nicotinic 
acid content of pork. They analyzed the livers, loins, and 
hams of pigs from different lots fed, for 113 to 138 days, 
the same basal feed mixture but supplemented in the diff- 
erent groups with 100, 300, or 500 milligrams of nicotinic 
acid per head daily. The nicotinic acid content of the tissues 
of these animals and of two control groups receiving no nico- EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
39 
tinic acid supplement was compared with that of tissues 
from control pigs analyzed at the beginning of the experi- 
ment. The data, summarized in table 8, showed that the liver 
was much richer than the muscles in nicotinic acid, but that 
the amount stored in the liver bore no relation to the amount 
in the ration. In the loins and the hams, however, the nico- 
tinic acid stored reflected the increase in the amounts of 
nicotinic acid fed. Neither the basal feed mixture alone nor 
this supplemented with alfalfa pasture increased the nico- 
tinic acid in the loins and hams. 
Table 8.—Influence of ration on the nicotinic acid content of pork. 
Nicotinic acid 
per 100 
grams 
Nicotinic Liver 
Loin 
Ham 
acid fed 
Mois- 
Mois- 
Mois- 
Group per head Fresh 
ture- 
Fresh 
ture- 
Fresh 
ture- 
daily 
basis 
free 
basis 
free 
basis 
free 
basis 
basis 
basis 
Mg. 
Mg. 
Mg. 
Mg. 
Mg. 
Mg. 
Mg. 
Check group1 
None 
15.7 
55.2 
4.3 
17.8 
6.0 
25.8 
Control groups:2 
Feed mixture alone 
do.... 
„ 13.5 
50.9 
4.7 
18.5 
5.7 
24.2 
Feed mixture-(-alfalfa pasture.. 
do.... 
.. 13.7 
49.2 
4.7 
17.6 
5.2 
20.7 
Test groups:2 
1. Feed mixture-^-nicotinic acid 
100 
15.1 
53.9 
7.4 
28.3 
7.4 
30.6 
2. Feed mixture-j-nicotinic acid 
300 
14.5 
52.7 
8.1 
32.5 
7.8 
32.9 
3. Feed mixture-(-nicotinic acid 
500 
14.8 
54.8 
8.9 
36.3 
8.8 
36.9 
1 Analyzed at beginning of experiment. 
2 Analyzed at end of experiment. 
A similar study, designed to show to what extent the 
thiamine content of pork is influenced by the thiamine in- 
take of the pig, was carried out at the Pennsylvania station. 
In these tests, reported by Miller et al.,4 pigs in three lots 
were fed for 118 days, during which time they all consumed 
essentially the same amount of the basal feed mixture, but 
received in their feed thiamine supplements amounting to 
7, 18, and 29 milligrams per pig per day in the three lots, 
respectively. Analyses of various tissues of the pigs slaugh- 
tered at the end of the experiment showed that the thiamine 
* Miller, R. C., Pence, J. W., Dutcher, R. A., and others. The influence of the 
Thiamine Intake of the Pig on the Thiamine Content of Pork. Pa. State Col. 
Natl. Coop. Prop, Conservation of Nutritive Value of Foods. Prog. Notes, 3 pp. 
[1943.] [Processed.] 40 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
tended to deposit in the muscle tissue, and that there was a 
positive relationship between the thiamine intake and the 
thiamine content of the pork muscle. Thus, increasing the 
thiamine intake from 7 to 18 milligrams per day resulted in 
an increase of approximately 100 percent in the thiamine 
content of the pork shoulder and loin (the thiamine content 
of the shoulders was from 20 to 30 percent lower than that 
of the loins). A further increase of intake to 29 milligrams 
per day resulted in a further increase of 15 to 20 percent in 
the content in pork muscle. In the case of the liver the same 
relationship existed but was not as striking as in the case 
of muscle tissue because of the relatively low thiamine con- 
tent of pork liver. The values obtained are summarized in 
table 9. 
Table 9.—The thiamine content of pork as influenced by the content of the feed 
Item 
Thiamine 
Thiamine in feed 
...ug. per lb 
... 5,761 
3,447 
1,315 
Average daily thiamine intake 
mg 
29 
18 
7 
Average thiamine content of pork:... 
...ug. per gm 
Shoulder: 
Fresh basis 
do 
... 17.3 
15.1 
7.9 
Moisture-free basis 
do 
... 64.8 
53.1 
28.3 
Center loin: 
Fresh basis 
do 
... 23.1 
20.0 
9.5 
Moisture-free basis 
do 
... 83.5 
72.8 
32.8 
Ham end of loin: 
Fresh basis 
do 
... 23.9 
20.1 
10.3 
Moisture-free basis 
do 
... 88.8 
72.0 
36.6 
Liver: 
Fresh basis 
'. do 
5.3 
4.5 
3.3 
Moisture-free basis 
do 
... 17.5 
14.5 
10.8 
Incidental to this study the riboflavin values of the pork 
were determined. The results indicated that the riboflavin 
was concentrated in the liver rather than in the muscle and 
that the riboflavin content of the various tissues bore no 
particular relationship to the riboflavin in the feed, at least 
at the levels fed (1,669-2,468 micrograms per pound of 
feed). The livers contained from 40.5 to 43.8 micrograms of 
riboflavin per gram of fresh tissue, and the shoulders and 
loins from 2.2 to 3.5 micrograms per gram (fresh basis). CHAPTER VII 
Soils and Food 
By CHAS. G. HENRY 
General Manager, Mid-South Cotton Growers Association 
(Read at Meeting of The Egyptians, Feb. 17, 1944) 
MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE 
Food is a pleasant subject of conversation when it is 
plentiful, but a very serious subject when it is scarce. From 
the cradle to the grave, it is on our minds three or four 
times a day. Men work and labor for many wants, but their 
primary goal is enough food. We can do without clothes, 
shelter and other wants of civilization, but we must have 
food. 
The Lord’s Prayer expresses only one material desire— 
“Give us this day our daily bread.” No doubt, other modern 
and ancient religions have a similar appeal to their divine 
power. 
The use of ration books and regulations in this war have 
given our city folks a forcible education on the cost, supply 
and distribution of the things we eat. Thousands of our 
people, for the first time, have been growing Victory gar- 
dens. Here they have learned that it takes skill, labor and 
patience to produce food, and the experience has increased 
their respect for the farmer who tills the soil for a living. 
We have all been concerned over the sudden and surpris- 
ing shortage of many of the foods we like. It has been 
especially confusing because for ten years past, the prob- 
lems arising from a surplus of food supplies have been 
hanging over us and disturbing our whole economic system. 
The basic reasons for present food problems are im- 
portant, but not commonly understood. For twenty-five 
years prior to the present war, food production did not 
41 42 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
keep pace with population. For the four years just previous 
to the present war, the per capita food production was less 
than during the corresponding period prior to World War 
No. 1, and from 1930 to 1940 food production was the low- 
est of this century. Yet, during that time we accumulated 
enormous farm surpluses, and the real reason for this 
trouble was not overproduction but inability of consumers 
to buy. 
There was, and is, an unbalance between agriculture and 
industry. The bulk of agriculture is carried on by millions of 
farmers. The bulk of industry is carried on by a few large 
corporations. A few large corporations exercise powerful 
control over industrial production and prices. When they 
have to meet a drop in consumer purchasing power, industry 
does not lower prices of their product, but curtails produc- 
tion, which reduces employment. This rigidity of prices still 
further lowers consumer purchasing power and aggravates 
the situation of the farmer. 
Farmers usually make one crop a year and they cannot, 
like a factory does, shut down or reduce their production 
any Saturday night, or the first of the month. They have to 
mature the growing crop and accept market prices for their 
products. Whatever the farmer’s individual views may be, 
he cannot escape the hard fact that the returns from his 
farm are directly affected by the income of the great mass 
of industrial workers who are the consumers. 
During those years of reduced consumption, great sur- 
pluses of cotton, wheat, corn, hogs, cattle, and other crops 
accumulated, although production was really below normal. 
The market prices of many crops were lower than the cost 
of production, and it became necessary for the government 
to take some drastic action to prevent large sections of our 
agricultural territory from bankruptcy. Secretary of Agri- 
culture Wallace advanced his sensible idea of a “normal 
granary,” and Congress passed legislation to take over 
these surpluses through actual purchase and by commodity EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
43 
loans, and also to control the future acreage of some crops. 
Uninformed and critical men did then, and do now, oppose 
those regulations, but the fact remains that farmers voted 
for and approved the restrictions placed upon themselves, 
and believe they have been benefited by them and so have 
the rest of the population. 
There has been a lot of loose talk about the policy of 
“scarcity,” and it comes, usually, from people who seem to 
have the philosophy that a farmer can, and should, produce 
plenty of cheap food and fiber for the other people, regard- 
less of his costs, or labor, or returns. Following the practice 
of industry to meet “reduced consumer demands” by cut- 
ting production, producers of basic crops asked for govern- 
ment restrictions on their acreage, and gladly accepted 
them. 
With a ten million bale surplus on hand and a very limit- 
ed demand at low prices in sight, cotton farmers plowed up 
part of their planted cotton crop in 1933, reducing the prob- 
able crop four million bales, and yet definitely received 
more returns for the amount they harvested than they 
would have received had they finished and marketed the 
whole crop. The United States Supreme Court decided that 
the Bankhead Act, which authorized these regulations, was 
unconstitutional and, in consequence, in the year 1936 regu- 
lations were removed and we made a nineteen million bale 
crop instead of a thirteen million crop, as had been planned. 
That six million bales have been on our hands ever 
since and it is here even now. Its effect has depreciated the 
price of every bale of cotton grown since 1936, and has cost 
the government, as well as the cotton farmer, many, many 
times the value of the original six million bales. 
There have been shed many crocodile tears about the 
government “killing the little pigs.” The story is interesting 
and worth telling, as it has been misrepresented from the 
start. In January, 1933, the farm price of hogs was the 
lowest in fifty years, and less than three cents per pound. 44 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
The buying power of a farmer’s return from one hundred 
pounds of live hogs was only 36.5 per cent of what it had 
been during the 1909-14 period, or what is Known as the 
base parity price period. The value of hogs had been run- 
ning over one billion dollars a year, and dropped to four 
hundred million dollars. Corn, which governs the price of 
pork, was selling for less than twenty cents per bushel, as 
compared with sixty-four cents during the parity price 
period. Beef cattle were selling for less than four cents, and 
sheep around two cents per pound. The two principal rea- 
sons for this price decline were the reduced employment 
and earnings in the United States, and the violent fall in 
the hog and lard exports. Exports dropped from an annual 
figure of two billion pounds to six hundred million, or from 
24 per cent of the total production to 2 per cent. Payrolls 
and employment had dropped 60 per cent. The hogs, how- 
ever, kept breeding and growing and had to be fed or allow- 
ed to starve. 
With those prices, hog and corn farmers faced certain 
bankruptcy and, with no purchasing power to buy the 
products produce in the city, could only aggravate the de- 
pressed situation of industry. In an effort to relieve the 
distress which existed in all lines of agriculture, the new 
administration passed what is known as the Agricultural 
Adjustment Act, and the hog legislation is part of that act. 
Under this program, there were purchased from farmers 
in forty-one states, six million four hundred thousand pigs 
at a cost of thirty million dollars. Every animal was proc- 
essed by an authorized butchering plant. All edible prod- 
ucts were turned over for relief distribution. Pigs which 
could not, on account of small size, be processed into dry 
salt pork, were rendered into grease and fertilizer tankage. 
In addition to the ninety-seven million pounds of dry salt 
pork, they obtained twenty-one million pounds of inedible 
grease, and ten million pounds of fertilizer. 
While the pigs were killed, they were not destroyed. We EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
45 
raise pigs for the purpose of killing them and not for their 
society, so these six million did not suffer any worse fate 
than all the other pigs in the world—and they were no more 
innocent. Had these pigs been allowed to grow and be sold 
on the market the following year, they would have not only 
consumed sixty million bushels of corn and other feed, but 
would have reduced and held down the price of all pork so 
that the gross income of the farmer would have been less 
with those hogs than without them—to say nothing of the 
labor and effort thrown away, as hogs have to be fed every 
day. 
Inside of two years, by 1935, prices advanced from three 
cents to eight and one-half cents per pound, and farmers’ 
purchasing power increased accordingly, to the benefit of 
industry, as well as themselves. Had the action not been 
taken, hog farmers could not have continued and the num- 
ber of brood sows and fine breeding stock would have been 
so decreased that it would have taken several years to put 
us back into proper production. Consumers, naturally, want 
cheap food, but they can force the price down to a point 
where the producer cannot survive, and then there will be 
either a scarcity or no food at all. 
Those agricultural surpluses were an economic headache, 
but when the war came along they were the greatest asset 
we had. Plenty of cotton, tobacco, wheat, corn, rice, cattle 
and hogs were on hand. From the higher prices received, 
the farmer was soon back on his feet financially, prepared 
to produce to the limit, and for the past two years he has 
made the largest crops ever grown. 
We were struggling during that period with a price prob- 
lem, not a surplus problem, and when employment increased, 
consumption rose and the so-called surpluses disappeared 
quickly. Besides the largest home consumption of food, the 
result of this stepped-up buying power caused by the in- 
creased employment and increase in wages for the past two 
years, we are feeding ten million soldiers who eat twice as 46 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
much as in civilian life, and are also sending unbelievable 
quantities of food to our Allies. These shipments are going 
to the Arctic Zones and to the Tropics, and the very best 
qualities of foods have to be used, and be perfectly pre- 
served and packed. 
Seventy per cent of the business of the world is the pro- 
duction, transportation and sale of food, so it deserves our 
attention and respect. We go to our corner grocery and are 
easily displeased to not find exactly what we want on the 
shelves. There is an extensive and important business be- 
tween the farmer and the consumer, but let me give you a 
few figures of what the farmer must produce, gather and 
market in order to please you. 
We all use milk, butter and cheese. Did you know there 
are twenty-seven million milk cows in the United States, 
one for every five people? They produce fifty-six thousand 
million quarts of milk per year, enough to give us each four 
hundred quarts. Don’t forget cows have to be fed and milked 
two or three times a day, and that some farmer is attending 
to your family cow. 
We all use citrus fruits. This year we will produce: 
219.000 carloads of oranges. 
123.000 carloads of grapefruit. 
37,000 carloads of lemons 
367,000 carloads—Total. 
That means one thousand carloads are consumed every 
day and twenty trainloads of fifty cars each must leave 
California, Florida or Texas every day. A carload contains 
seventy thousand oranges, or one hundred twenty-one thou- 
sand lemons, so that we consume over forty million oranges 
every day and fifteen million lemons. 
We don’t seem to eat very much bread, but the wheat 
acreage in the United States is forty-nine million acres, 
over twice as large as our entire cotton acreage, and the EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
47 
production equals about six bushels for each of us, or the 
equivalent of one and one-third barrels of flour. 
The corn acreage is ninety-four million acres, over four 
times as large as our entire cotton acreage. The production 
amounts to three billion bushels, which equals over twenty 
bushels for each one of us. We don’t have to eat that much 
directly, because a large amount of corn goes to feeding 
cattle and hogs. 
We all love meat—so the farmer must grow about twelve 
million head of beef cattle, and we consume a million head 
every month. Remember, it takes two or three years to grow 
a steer, and it takes a lot of feed and attention. 
Pork furnishes one-half of the meat eaten by America 
and thirty per cent of the oils and fats. We butcher around 
seventy-five million head per year, which is over half a hog 
for each of us. The total consumption of meat this last year 
was equal to sixty-five million pounds each day. 
These staple crops mentioned are only a part of the tre- 
mendous volume of food consumed by one hundred thirty 
million people, each eating three meals a day. The farmer 
doesn’t deserve any special credit for manufacturing this 
supply, as it is his business and method of livelihood. His 
long-time success depends upon the treatment he gives his' 
factory, which is his farm, and as we are all vitally interest- 
ed in the productive condition of that land, we should be 
willing and anxious that he receive returns from his labor 
which will enable him to keep that factory in good condition. 
Every particle of vegetable or animal food is composed of 
minerals and chemicals that can only come from the soil, air 
or water, helped by the sunshine, and it follows that these 
necessary ingredients will, in time, be exhausted if not re- 
placed in some manner. They will run out just as your bank 
account will if you only use checks. Agricultural practices 
will either preserve or destroy civilization. Regardless of 
the attainments of men, the quality and quantity of their 
food will decide their destiny. 48 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
China was once a fertile country, but the crops, and the 
rain, and winds have left only enough for existence of the 
people who, as a nation, have gradually become weak physi- 
cally, mentally and morally. North Africa was once a rich 
country—now most of it is a great desert. The Holy Lands, 
with the Garden of Eden, have gone the same way. India 
and other lands and peoples have gone through the same 
history. People deteriorate with the land on which they live. 
Only in recent years have our people waked up to this 
danger facing us as a nation, and great strides are being 
made now to conserve and build up our soil. Terrible losses 
have already occurred which can never be replaced. There 
was a feeling until a few years ago that we had plenty of 
land and if we wore out one farm we could buy another. 
The agricultural scientist who spends his life studying 
the soil sees it as the fundamental thing in all human 
activity. He knows that certain kinds of soil give rise to 
certain kinds of civilization, that men living in temperate 
zones growing crops on broad units will have different 
economic problems and have different attitudes of mind 
from men growing crops on smaller farms of poor land. The 
ingredients of the soil, a lack of this element, or an abun- 
dance of another element, affects the bodies of men, influ- 
ences their glands, and, therefore, their psychology. Many 
human activities, not ordinarily associated with the soil, 
may be traced back to its influence. A stable, healthy and 
vigorous civilization demands a proper adjustment of men 
to the soil, and the soil resources should be so used as to 
maintain permanently the highest possible living standards 
for its inhabitants. 
Recent legislation indicates that there is growing slowly 
a belief that the government should exercise its power and 
influence to preserve the fertility of our lands for posterity, 
on the theory that land is not just a commodity to be ex- 
ploited by the current proprietor and owner, but should be 
preserved for future generations. The greatest physical EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
49 
damage to this earth has been from erosion of our lands and 
was caused by either wind or water. The normal geological 
erosion that has gone on for ages under natural conditions 
is a part of the whole complex soil-making process. When 
man stepped in and cultivated land, he created conditions 
that resulted in an enormous acceleration of erosion, and 
this has brought about the most disastrous of evil things 
that could happen to our land. 
Water erosion occurs chiefly on sloping land, but wind 
erosion on both level and sloping land. 
The principal damage has resulted from rainfall on lands 
which have been plowed and cultivated. This applies partic- 
ularly where the crop has been gathered and the land has 
been left with no cover protection at all. With no vegeta- 
tion to hold the rain, every drop of water that runs off car- 
ries with it a little soil in solution and some of the valuable 
chemicals and minerals in the land, which gave the land its 
value. Raindrops are always clear and clean, but notice what 
they look like when they are running down the turn rows 
and the ditches, the creeks and rivers. Rainwater falling on 
a bare soil changes the structure and causes a compact sur- 
face layer which prevents penetration of the rain, which is 
then lost in the run-off. When water runs off, it not only 
does not deposit the valuable chemicals of the air and water 
in the soil, but carries off in solution the soil itself and 
chemicals which were already there. The extent and rapid- 
ity of this damage in the loss of the soil itself, as well as 
the chemicals and minerals it contains, depend upon the 
topography of the land, character of the soil, kind of culti- 
vation, and the amount of the rainfall. The South is very 
unfortunate in that there is no snow to cover the lands in 
the winter as in the North. Snow protects land from erosion, 
and as it melts slowly, adds to the fertility. 
Methods of measuring these losses of soil and fertility 
have been devised by the agricultural workers and the re- 
sults are rather astounding. What is known as a lysimeter DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
is used to make these measurements. They are of various 
forms of construction, but are arrangements which, on 
definite areas, trap the soil washed off and the water run- 
off, both of which are analyzed and measured. These ex- 
periments are being conducted on all kinds of soils, with 
various crops, cover crops and bare land. The information 
obtained is so clear that our agricultural experts are able 
to tell fairly accurately how many tons of soil will be wash- 
ed off per acre under certain conditions, and to give us the 
annual loss of the valuable chemicals and minerals which 
disappear in the water run-off. The outstanding and im- 
portant fact developed is that on many farms where there 
are no cover crops, they are losing more fertility during the 
winter rains than were used up by the harvested crop. 
In one series of experiments, the results indicate that on 
fine sandy loam land, the time required to strip seven 
inches of the more productive top soil would be from three 
to four thousand years, where properly covered with thick 
growing crops, whereas the same land cultivated without 
coverage and kept clean, would last from sixteen to fifty 
years. These figures were derived after actual measure- 
ments of the annual loss of soil. It is guesswork, of course, 
but experts estimate that it would take nature two thousand 
five hundred years to deposit or build up one inch of soil on 
land just from the rain, snow and dust in the air. Professor 
Russell, professor of Physical Geography at the University 
of Louisiana, places the silt discharge at the mouth of the 
Mississippi River at two million tons per day, or seven hun- 
dred thirty million tons per year. This is only one river. Au- 
thorities generally estimate that three billion tons per year 
are washed off our lands into rivers, creeks and bottoms. 
The scientists say this wasted soil contains sixty times the 
nitrogen and other elements of plant food used in commer- 
cial fertilizers in any recent years. At Dan River, Virginia, 
a dam was constructed in 1904 for power purposes, and the 
silt has all eady reduced the capacity eighty percent, and 
this experience is common over the country. Authorities EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
51 
estimate that in the past one hundred years, our farming 
methods have resulted in the destruction of twenty percent 
of our land values. 
In northern Mississippi, during a rain storm, measure- 
ments showed that land covered by forest lost seventy-five 
pounds of soil per acre. On adjoining, identical type land 
and which had been in cultivation with no cover crop, in the 
same storm, the loss was sixty-eight thousand pounds of 
soil per acre. Alfalfa land will absorb from four to five 
times as much water as the same land in open cultivation. 
Cultivated land, covered with straw enough to hide it, will 
absorb two to six times as much water as bare land. 
In 1934, when the Soil Conservation Act was passed, the 
United States government made a survey and exhaustive 
study of the land situation of the whole country which 
covers one billion nine hundred million acres. This survey 
showed that— 
3% or 57 million acres of original soil completely destroyed. 
12% or 225 million acres of original soil three-fourths des- 
troyed. 
41% or 775 million acres of original soil 14 to %’s destroyed. 
37% or 700 million acres of original soil less than 14 des- 
troyed. 
7% or 143 million acres of original soil mountains, canyons, 
bad lands, etc. 
1,900 million acres. 
The cropland area of the United States was about four 
hundred fifteen million acres. Of this, sixty percent, or two 
hundred fifty million acres, is of such poor quality that it 
returns only small income, or is subject to continued ero- 
sion, leaving forty percent, or one hundred sixty-five mil- 
lion acres, which can be safely cultivated under present 
practices. Department of Agriculture experts feel that 
around seventy-five million acres should be retired as not 52 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
suited for production. With proper and improved farming 
methods and practices, a large percentage of the land now 
being damaged each year can be added to the good, safe 
land, and this total raised to three hundred or three hun- 
dred fifty million acres. These figures do not include about 
one hundred million acres now in woods, pastures or im- 
provable by irrigation and drainage, and which constitutes 
a great production reserve. 
What are we doing to stop this damage? The most preva- 
lent and important method is the use of cover crops to pro- 
tect and enrich the soil. The next important method is the 
use of terraces, and contour farming, to hold the water 
and, third, in the country damaged by the winds, the use of 
windbreaks. Of course, in addition to these, there is diver- 
sification and growing of special crops fitted to the lands 
and territory. 
Summer grown crops, when gathered in the fall, usually 
leave the surface bare and subject to the action of the rain 
and winds, and most erosion occurs at this time. Farmers 
are learning fast the value of cover crops, both as fertilizers 
and to protect the land from erosion, and the use of clovers, 
vetch, rye and other green winter crops is increasing year- 
ly. Non-legumes furnish a large amount of foreign matter 
but use some nitrogen, but legume crops not only add foreign 
matter, but add the important element of nitrogen which is 
taken out of the air by the bacteria of the roots. Nitrogen 
phosphorus and potassium are the elements of greatest im- 
portance in the soil and can be lost by leaching, erosion and 
by crop plants. They can all be replaced by fertilizers or the 
growth of plants which collect and deposit these elements. 
Farmers are spending over two hundred million dollars per 
year for commercial fertilizer, in addition to the farm pro- 
duced manure, cover crops, terraces and other methods used 
to hold the fertility of their lands. 
Another successful and important method cf fighting ero- 
sion of lands is the use of terraces and contours. On land EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
53 
that is not level, these winding ditches and furrows, called 
terraces and contours, not only stop the erosion caused by 
the run-off of water, but collect and hold the water to en- 
rich the soil. This practice is saving many farms which 
otherwise would soon be valueless. The government, through 
the Extension Division, is furnishing credit to groups of 
farmers to purchase and operate large terracing machines, 
as small farmers cannot afford to own them. Wherever you 
travel now in the country, you will see these curving, twist- 
ing furrows, winding around the hilly fields, and you may 
know that a good farmer is trying to save and hold his land. 
Wind erosion is next in importance to water erosion, and 
affects millions of acres of our lands, particularly in the 
Western plains. Just a few years ago we had here in Mem- 
phis several sand storms originating in the Western plains 
that deposited a good layer of dust in our offices and homes, 
as well as outside. Our newspapers reported that one of 
those storms carried the dust over New York City and out 
into the ocean. The Department of Agriculture, in 1937, re- 
ported a sand storm which originated in the Panhandle and 
extended Northeast into Canada. Chemical analysis showed 
that the fine dust deposited on the snow in Iowa contained 
ten times as much organic matter, nine times as much nitro- 
gen, nineteen times as much phosphoric acid as remained 
in the coarse dune sand which had been piled up and left 
behind at the source of the storm. So you can see that the 
good stuff was blowing away. 
The greatest damage is not from these high cloud storms, 
but from the low blowing winds that carry the real soil 
away and pile it up where it causes damage and destruction. 
We have all seen little and large whirlwinds with a stream 
or clouds of dust going up into the air and apparently not 
coming down. Millions of acres of light land in the West 
which are only fit for grasses and pasture were put in cul- 
tivation in past years. When a storm and wind thousands of 
times in size and intensity to our little whirlwinds strike 
those bare acres of light, thin land, you have what are call- 54 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
ed sand storms. Wind erosion control depends upon setting 
up obstructions that will slow down velocity of the wind and 
covering the surface of the soil, so that fine particles of dust 
cannot be picked up and carried away. 
Ten years ago the government proposed what seemed to 
most people an impractical plan to protect these Western 
lands by planting trees. I confess I thought so, but the re- 
sults have been startling and I think the success of the pro- 
gram makes it interesting and instructive. 
In 1934, the President, by Executive Order, allocated one 
million dollars from the five hundred twenty-eight million 
dollars appropriated by Congress for the relief of the in- 
habitants of the drought-stricken plains, for initiating the 
Shelterbelt Project, under the direction of the Forest Ser- 
vice. The primary purpose of the Shelterbelt Project was to 
develop wind barriers on farms in the plains to protect the 
soil and the crops. The first trees were planted in the spring 
of 1935 under a plan of leasing the planting sites. Beginning 
during the spring of 1936, the work was set up as a co- 
operative undertaking with the individual farmer, and the 
public has invested in this project, over fourteen million 
dollars. This program continued under emergency appro- 
priations through the spring of 1942. 
The project was operated over a large part of the six 
states of North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Ok- 
lahoma, and the northern portion of Texas. As of June 1, 
1942, a total of two hundred twenty-two million eight hun- 
dred twenty-five thousand two hundred twenty trees had 
been planted on thirty-three thousand one hundred eighty- 
five farms. These figures include eighteen thousand five 
hundred ninety-nine miles, or two two hundred thirty-eight 
thousand two hundred twelve acres, of field shelter belts. 
On July 1, 1942, emergency funds formerly used to prose- 
cute this project were virtually eliminated, but the Soil 
Conservation Service has retained most of the trained field 
personnel available on the project at the end of the 1942 fis- EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
55 
cal year. Operating on soil and moisture conservation ap- 
propriations, this personnel is being used to direct and ef- 
fectuate shelter-belt planting in soil conservation districts 
as an integral phase of complete farm conservation pro- 
gram. About ninety percent are expected to grow into ac- 
ceptable windbreaks. After only three years, the protective 
influence was very noticeable. Lands and crops are being 
protected as well as livestock, feed buildings, game, birds, 
etc. The Soil Conservation Division feel that the program 
has been a success. 
How to use land better than we have is a national prob- 
lem. The physical well-being of future generations must be 
secured if the nation continues to live, and one of our great 
national objectives should be to pass on to our descendents, 
the soil as unimpaired as possible. 
The national interest and the individual interest often 
conflict, as farmers sometimes find it necessary to do things 
to the soil that are not for their own long time interest, or 
in the interest of posterity. Some types of farming conserve 
the soil naturally. Tenant systems tend to destroy fertility 
as the tenant hasn’t the same incentive that the land owner 
has. He has rent to pay and his own living expense, so he, 
naturally, digs all he can out of the land and puts little back. 
Low prices for farm products also force farmers to violate 
the good rules of farming, because of lack of funds. 
Submarginal lands, unfit for farming, should be taken 
out of cultivation and be allowed to grow up in timber or 
grasses for pasture. These lands compare to city slums and 
can never support farm families in a decent manner. 
Even with the shortages of labor, lack of fertilizer and 
insufficient machinery, the farmers of this country have, in 
the past two years, exceeded the quotas set by the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture. The job ahead is to nroperly feed this 
country and help feed the millions of people in the Allied and 
occupied countries, and we must plan and make every ef- 
fort possible. 56 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
All told, last year the United States produced enough food 
for three times our population, if crops had been fed direct- 
ly to human beings. It takes about seven pounds of corn to 
produce one pound of pork and eighty-four percent of the 
energy of grain is lost when turned into meat, so the number 
of people we can feed, depends on willingness to do without 
meat. 
On March 30, 1943, the President of the United States, 
sent through diplomatic channels, to all the United Nations 
and nations associated with them, an invitation to a con- 
ference on foods and essential agricultural products, which 
was held in Hot Springs, Virginia, in June, 1943. 
The text stated it was the opinion of the United States 
Government that it was very desirable now for the nations 
associated together to begin joint consideration of the basic 
economic problems with which they and the rest of the world 
will be confronted after the close of the war. Each nation 
was invited to send a small number of appropriate technical 
and expert representatives. 
The purpose of the conference was to provide for an ex- 
change of views and to seek agreements in principal as to 
most desirable and practical means and methods of dealing 
with the following problems:— 
1 Plans and prospects of the various countries for the 
post war period regarding production, import requirements 
and exportable surpluses of foodstuffs and other essential 
agricultural products, with a view of improving in each 
country the levels of consumption within the framework of 
the opportunities and possibilities of an expansion of its 
general economic activities. 
2 Possibilities of setting up international agreements 
and institutions designed to promote efficient production 
and insure for the world, adequate supplies at equitable 
prices from the viewpoint of both producer and consumer. EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
57 
3 Commercial and financial arrangements necessary to 
enable countries to obtain agricultural products and also 
maintain adequate markets for their own surplus produc- 
tion. 
4 Possibilities of stimulating by international action, 
national policies for the improvement of nutrition and con- 
sumption in general. 
The conference was attended by representatives of forty- 
four nations and there was set up a permanent organiza- 
tion. The newspaper fraternity felt that the conference di- 
rectors had slighted them and treated them discourteously, 
and became greatly offended. In retaliation, they belittled 
and ridiculed the proceedings and have never given it the 
publicity which its importance deserves. 
The conference and the possibilities from it can result in 
great help to the whole world. An interim commission was 
appointed and is now sitting in Washington gathering and 
tabulating information about food supplies and food needs 
of all nations. With all the facts before them, the several 
nations can more efficiently and economically trade and 
distribute their food supplies when the war is over. Re- 
member, we import a lot of foods, so it is not just a plan to 
give away our own food. 
In conclusion—I believe our great national problem is to 
so adjust the use of our lands, that the needs of civilization 
may draw on them continually and that the land in turn be 
preserved and enriched as nature demands. Costs of food 
must be such that the farmer can prosper and that people 
in industry can be protected and provided with sufficient 
healthful food. 
Always we must remember that our form of government, 
our freedom and our future of tomorrow rests in the soil of 
the United States, and that the crops from the harvested 
acreage will determine employment, prosperity and expan- 
sion of our nation. CHAPTER VDI 
Soil Mineralization 
Parks' Soil Service, Keene, Kentucky 
Implies a new Era in the use of scientific knowledge, and 
intelligent and diligent work in restoring our depleted soils 
to their maximum productiveness, then using them as a 
vital force to restore health to the human race, first—by 
analyzing our soils for the kinds, amounts, and preponder- 
ances of the mineral elements found in them, and then striv- 
ing to build them to the highest known standard, by locat- 
ing, moving, grinding and mixing the twenty-five or more 
mineral elements taken from Nature’s own resources and 
applying them to your soil and food source for each in- 
dividual need. 
It is applied to the depleted soils of our gardens by scien- 
tifically giving each a careful synthetic test, and recom- 
mending the use of the many mineral elements found defi- 
cient, and prepondering those elements most needed by the 
vegetables commonly used for human consumption. All 
other depleting crops and grasses are given the same in- 
dividual attention by prepondering those elements which 
the plants are capable of using most effectively and storing 
as nutritious food. 
All life—atoms, bacteria, plant, animal and human—is 
now controlled accidently, but can be controlled intelligently 
by the kinds, proportion, preponderance and physical ar- 
rangement of the many mineral elements contained in our 
soils as available plant food. Therefore if any of the essen- 
tial mineral elements are continuously deficient in our daily 
diet, we are forced to live without them until some human 
deficiency developes namely Hidden Hunger, which is in- 
curable, except by Nature’s own way of using the plant as 
the source of organic minerals, which acts as preventative 
measures at all times. 
58 EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
59 
It has passed the experimental stage, has already proven 
practical, and can now be obtained at “Parks’ Soil Service,” 
Keene, Ky., by sending us your soil sample, accompanied by 
the size of the area to be treated and the use to be made of 
the treated area, after which Parks’ Soil Service will give 
you a free estimate, then furnish you a complete mineral 
mixture as recommended. Also available now are many 
mineral standard foods of various kinds, which are especial- 
ly recommended for the use of doctors and dietitians. And 
those we do not have we will glady give reference to the 
producer of same. 
A few of the limiting factors in the production of this 
Standard Soil Builder are: the urgent need of capable and 
experienced soil chemists, who can test our soils for the 
twenty or more rare elements and make the required recom- 
mendations; the increased demand has necessitated the im- 
mediate need of a more modem mixing plant; the varied 
sources from which the raw materials are gathered, re- 
quiring more labor, equipment and capital; and the need 
of a more extended publicity campaign to encourage the 
production of Mineral Standard Foods, and to urge the mar- 
ket gardeners to have an adequate supply available at all 
times for the consuming demand. 
We also sponsor a “Live More at Home” program and live 
better because of life sustaining foods used in the daily diet 
and gathered from a Mineral Standard Garden. And we urge 
the need and importance of every diligent gardener to have 
his Soil tested and Mineral treated, or else rotate that gar- 
den plot to avoid unfavorable conditions that most often 
exist. 
We also discourage the excessive use of rich barn-yard 
manure and commercial fertilizer without a balance of other 
rare Elements to safeguard ourselves from many of the 
most common afflictions. Let us keep in mind that we are 
all human machines, created in the image of God and fash- 
ioned from the kind of material elements that we get from 60 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
Mother Earth through our food intake. In other words, we 
are what we are, because of what we eat, and the manner 
we prepare and eat it. 
In accord with latest methods of scientific soil building, 
and under the supervision of the most experienced soil 
chemist, Parks’ Soil Service is attempting to gather from 
all parts of the world the many elements most needed, and 
striving to get them from natural resources so far as pos- 
sible. Much more is yet to be discovered and we are hoping 
to find all of the twenty-five or more elements used, stored 
somewhere in nature, which can be obtained at less cost. 
At the present time we are using the most useful ground 
rocks, organics from the vegetable kingdom, the major 
elements contained in commercial fertilizer and several of 
the concentrated chemicals, which are used in smaller quan- 
tities. 
Parks’ Soil Service is sparing no effort in erecting the 
most modem mixing plant in the world today, for the sole 
purpose of more effectively serving the many needs of 
humanity. Especially by offering a substitute for Hidden 
Hunger and also supplying the Hereditary requirements at 
the root of all Nutritional plants. Therefore we are render- 
ing a special service in restoring the most depleted soils to 
their former productiveness, and also supplying to the needs 
of suffering humanity the many elements most needed to 
restore them to normal health through their food source. 
All persons interested in the new possibilities of their 
soils, by the creation of a new wealth to meet the present 
emergency in the consumption of better Mineral balanced 
foods or in restoring to good health those who have fallen a 
victim to some deficiency disease may write or call, and we 
will gladly furnish free any information in regard to any of 
the above statements. Also a good General Purpose diet 
(80 percent-20 percent) will be given those persons in- 
terested in keeping healthy or aiding the afflicted to be- 
come normal. EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
61 
Mineralization 
A term which comprises all the good practices of the most 
exact Soil builder, the use of the seven or eight essential 
elements recommended by both Soil building Experts and 
Fertilizer manufacturers, and in addition: recognizing the 
presence or absence of, admitting to the importance of, and 
recommending the use of twenty other rare elements in 
minimum quantities. 
All life is controlled through the Soil, and can be intelli- 
gently controlled by a liberal use of plants grown on Soil, 
which has been tested and supplied with the many essential 
elements that build bone, muscle, cell, gland and other vital 
organs of the body. 
The application of this term, if applied in specific cases of 
deficiency disease, will result in a permanent cure, or a 
prevention against other serious troubles that might de- 
velop. 
“FOR HEALTHS SAKE MINERALIZE YOUR GAR- 
DEN” and avoid the liability of falling prey to many com- 
mon diseases, which exact a large death toll. 
Share in an Educational and Live More At Home campaign 
sponsored by PARKS’ SOIL SERVICE, Keene, Ky. CHAPTER IX 
The Minor Elements Ploy 
No Minor Role in Florida 
HAROLD MOWRY 
Director. Florida Agricultural Experiment Station in Form for Victory 
The Citrus Industry. August, 1945 
Florida’s soils, although quite varied in type, are consid- 
ered deficient to a greater or lesser degree in one or more 
of the elements necessary for optimum growth in cultivated 
plants. While the requirements for nitrogen, phosphorus 
and potash have long been known and the need supplied in 
the regular fertilizer program, the use of the so-called minor, 
trace or secondary elements is a signal development of re- 
cent years. 
The minor element deficiencies vary in kind and amount 
and their diagnosis has been anything but simple owing to 
the wide diversity of soils and crops and the variation in 
requirement for the several elements by the different plants. 
Recognition of the many deficiency symptoms and develop- 
ment of corrective practices constitutes an interesting and 
significant chapter in the State’s agricultural research his- 
tory and has resulted in the widespread adoption of a new 
conception of plant nutrition under field conditions. Until 
the past few years, our fertilizer recommendations included 
only N-P-K requirements. For many crops, these programs 
were subjects of wide experiment and diversity of opinion 
owing to the lack of stability and uniformity in results. 
Despite ample application rates there were unsatisfactory 
growth responses and with some crops and in some areas, a 
decline or partial failure in vigor and productive capacity. 
62 EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
63 
Widespread and varied abnormal growth conditions indica- 
tive of a lack of thrift, which were non-pathological and on 
the whole uncontrolled by N-P-K fertilization, were de- 
scribed as “physiological”—cause unknown! Various ratios, 
sources and application rates were both praised and con- 
demned, there being no generally uniform or continuing 
wholly satisfactory response. 
The vital role of the minor elements under field condi- 
tions was not suspected and it was not until their need and 
values were determined that the limitations of N-P-K ferti- 
lizer were demonstrated. It is not that N-P-K requirements 
are reduced by the use of the other elements; but rather 
that the efficiency of the major fertilizer elements is en- 
hanced in ratio to the reduction of limiting factors induced 
by minor element deficiencies. Normal utilization by the 
plant of nitrogen, phosphorus and potash appears to be de- 
pendent in no small measure upon the satisfaction of the 
associated requirement for other nutrient materials. While 
the interrelationship of the functions of the several ele- 
ments in plant nutrition is far from being completely under- 
stood, the increased yields, vigor of growth and disappear- 
ance of “deficiency symptoms” have established the essenti- 
ality and practical values of many elements in the fertilizer 
program which only a few years ago were given no con- 
sideration. 
It is not to be taken that all plants on all soils require 
supplementary fertilization with all minor elements. Many 
of the cultivated plants under most conditions may show no 
measurable response to any of them; some may respond to 
one or more but only on given soils; while others require 
from one to several on a wide range of soils. 
Deficiency symptoms and application rates and methods 
have been determined for one or more of the six elements— 
copper, zinc, manganese, magnesium, boron and iron—on 
citrus, tung, corn, pecans, peaches, avocados, mangoes, cel- 
ery, beans, tomatoes, potatoes, pasture plants and numerous DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
64 
ornamentals, with the list increasing. Few crops would be 
grown on the organic soils of the Everglades without copper, 
and the tung tree is a failure in many areas without zinc. 
Heavy annual celery losses due to “crack-stem” were en- 
tirely overcome with boron, while carpet grass sod with a 
single application of a combination of copper, zinc and man- 
ganese was established in a few months where ordinarily two 
years would be required. Citrus nutrition practices have 
undergone a pronounced transformation and now include 
zinc, copper, manganese and magnesium and occasionally 
boron and iron. This program has been adopted generally 
and has resulted in markedly greater production and im- 
provement in tree appearance and growth as well as in- 
creased resistance to cold damage and improvement in fruit 
quality. On a wide variety of fruit and nut trees, vegetables 
and ornamentals, minor element deficiencies are the direct 
cause of “physiological diseases” which were marked by a 
baffling lack of thrift and chlorotic or malformed foliage 
and, with some, low or alternate bearing. 
Appreciation of the values of the minor elements and of 
research on their use may be gauged by the magnitude of 
application. During the 12-month period ending June 30, 
1944, Florida consumed for agricultural purposes some 19 
million pounds of copper sulfate, nearly 23 million pounds 
of manganese sulfate, some 3 1/3 million pounds of zinc 
sulfate, and large quantities of magnesium, the last in the 
forms of sulfate of potash-magnesia, magnesium oxide, and 
dolomitic limestone. When the small application rate re- 
quirements per acre are considered, these poundages give 
some idea of the extent of the treated acreage involved. Last 
season, Florida produced over 260,000 carloads of quality 
fruits and vegetables. While by no means wholly respon- 
sible, the minor elements played no minor role in that ac- 
complishment. CHAPTER X 
Pasture Grass Improved 
by Adding Minor Minerals 
By J. CLEMENT BROSSIER 
[Editor, The Orlando Reporter-Star] 
The Sunday Sentinel-Star, Orlando 
August 13, 1944 
The value of minerals in the diet of cattle, and the im- 
portance of adding the minor minerals as fertilizer to the 
soil as a pasture builder is being interestingly brought out 
in experiments on the Range Cattle Experiment Station, 
15 miles southwest of Wauchula under the direction of Drs. 
W. G. Kirk and E. M. Hodges. 
In 1935, persons interested in cattle husbandry started a 
movement to provide a range and experiment station in 
Hardee County to promote the raising and breeding of cat- 
tle as well as to learn more about improving pastures. This 
group advanced funds which were added to by the County 
Commissioners and later an Act of the 1937 Legislature 
made it eligible for Federal assistance by making the work 
a WPA project. 
Actual work on some 2,000 acres of land got underway 
Jan. 12, 1941. As the land was the typical lowland flatwood 
it was necessary to dig a canal and do other preparatory 
drainage work. A few buildings were constructed including 
a home for the Kirks, and a soil survey made on the 1,000 
acres of the land under fence. 
In October native and grade cattle were procured and the 
work began in earnest. However, the war has greatly handi- 
capped its operations due to a scarcity of labor, funds and 
materials. 
65 66 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
But Drs, Kirk and Hodges have done an excellent job 
working under their handicap. Charts of the work have 
been kept and furnish an excellent record of the response 
cattle and grasses have made to the methods used. 
One of the most interesting facts developed in the experi- 
ments is the varying amounts of additional minerals re- 
quired by cattle in their diet during the different seasons. 
For example, when the native grasses were succulent in May 
the cattle consumed but a half pound of minerals in the salt- 
lick mixtures. This amount increased as the pastures be- 
came older and the grasses dryer until in January the con- 
sumption was 5.38 pounds per cow. This amount then began 
to diminish until June. The total consumption for the year 
amounted to 24.65 pounds per cow. 
While all cattlemen know their stock loses weight during 
the Winter months, few know exactly how serious this loss 
is. 
Cattle are weighed at the station every 28 days and an 
accurate account of their condition is ascertainable at all 
times. Reaching their peak weight at the end of the Summer 
months after Spring grazing, the loss in weight to midwin- 
ter in many instances ran to 300 pounds, while an average 
was around 200 pounds. 
This means that cattle must gain 200 pounds or more after 
going through a Winter before there is a net gain over the 
high weight of the previous season. 
However, it was demonstrated that a small addition of 
feed fed in connection with the pasture cut the loss to a 
minimum. Experiments wherein 4.9 pounds of blackstrap 
molasses per cow was fed produced a gain from December 
to April of 35 pounds; 10.5 pounds of fresh sugar cane put 
52 pounds on the cattle but 1.72 pounds of cottonseed pellets 
added 82 pounds per cow over the same period. 
The value of breeding native and grade cows to pure-bred EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
67 
bulls was demonstrated in the results of a cross between a 
Hereford bull and a grade Devon cow. The offspring 
weighed 400 pounds at four months. A cross from an ordi- 
nary Jersey milk cow and a Brahma bull produced an off- 
spring of 175 pounds at six weeks. 
Approximately 2,000 cattle have been acquired by the 
station, which includes purebred Brahmas. Most of the 
breeding will be to the Brahma bulls in the future. 
Also of value to the cattleman is the information being 
gathered about pastures. 
In this respect the experiments of Drs. Kirk and Hodges 
are proving the degrees of value certain fertilizers are to 
different types of grasses. 
The pastures which are showing the most response at the 
present to fertilization are those sown to digitaria and car- 
pet grass. 
The soil used in the experiments is the Emmokolee much 
the same as the Leon soil found in most of Florida’s flat- 
woods. Although the soil tested extremely low in zinc, the 
addition of an application of that mineral based on 15 pounds 
to the acre showed little results. However, an application of 
copper sulphate showed excellent results and when the cop- 
per and zinc were combined with manganese each on a basis 
of 15 pounds to the acre, the results were remarkable. The 
Digitaria, which is much like crab grass, sent out runners 
as long as 12 feet and grew waist high. 
The carpet grass did not respond as readily as the digitaria 
to the minor elements treatment without the added applica- 
tion of commercial fertilizer, but with the addition of a 
3-16-8 fertilizer a five acre pasture two seasons old had 
reached almost a lawn sod, while other pastures, prepared 
and seeded in the same manner but on which either no ferti- 
lizer had been used, or only rock phosphate, the grass was 
spotty and in very sparse quantities. 68 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
The differences between the fertilized pastures and those 
not treated demonstrated most conclusively that the one 
application of food to the soil will bring in pastures two to 
three years ahead of unfed soils and with far greater carry- 
ing capacities. 
Other grasses experimented with at the station are the 
Pensacola bahia, the ordinary bahia and lespedeza. The 
bahia types show promise but are not as encouraging as 
either the carpet or digitaria, while the lespedeza seems un- 
able to successfully combat the natural growth, but ex- 
periments with this legume are still going on. 
Such Winter grasses are dallis, para and sugar cane are 
also being tested with varying degrees of success. 
The work being carried on at the station is most interest- 
ing and should provide cattlemen with definite information 
on pasture cultures. CHAPTER XI 
Notes on Animal Nutrition 
Hoard's Dairyman, August 10, 1945 
"We are simply trying to unravel the story of ani- 
mal life from the nutritional side. We do not expect 
to get very far but we hope it will encourage others 
to work in the same direction in order that we may 
have more fundamental understanding of the princi- 
ples of animal nutrition than we now possess.” 
These words were spoken to us thirty years ago by Pro- 
fessor E. B. Hart when we visited him at the Wisconsin 
Agricultural Experiment Station. We used this quotation 
as the introduction to a report under the above title that we 
made of that visit to the readers of Hoard’s Dairyman. It 
was essentially a story of important researches that had 
recently been completed. 
Briefly, it included the findings that rations fully bal- 
anced according to chemical analysis might not properly 
nourish the animal. It showed that the variety of proteins, 
as well as the amount, was highly important. Based on 
these investigations and the report of new ideas was the 
then recent discovery of fat soluble A and water soluble B, 
which were the names originally given to vitamins as then 
known. This represented a new era in the investigation of 
livestock nutrition and was a startling promise of further 
research that has accumulated in the some thirty years since 
that time. 
We now make a report of another visit with Professor 
Hart that we made a few weeks ago. Before making this 
report, however, we might add that Professor Hart came to 
Wisconsin from the Geneva Station in 1906 and succeeded 
the veteran Babcock as chairman of what is now known as 
69 70 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
the Biochemistry Department of the University of Wiscon- 
sin. This may seem like a rather formidable title but the 
man is the same practical, farm-minded scientist today that 
he was when he came to Wisconsin. Biochemistry is simply 
the chemistry of plant and animal life. Professor Hart has 
recently retired as head of his department but the Univer- 
sity has been fortunate in keeping him as chairman of the 
Research Committee for the entire University. 
The following notes are not intended to be complete or 
even brief discussions of the several topics covered or to 
assess their relative importance. They are merely introduc- 
tory and are given to indicate the breadth of research that 
is going on today, not only at the University of Wisconsin 
but at all the universities maintaining agricultural depart- 
ments. 
While these notes are based on our conversation with 
Professor Hart, he would be the first to be emphatic in 
saying that the results achieved were the work of many 
men in the department which he has supervised for thirty- 
two years, and were often secured by the cooperation of 
other departments at the University. 
Butterfat 
New research has added new laurels to butterfat. Feeding 
trials concerning vegetable oil and butterfat indicate that 
the latter has a certain beneficial effect on the efficiency 
with which intestinal bacteria can synthesize the B com- 
plex vitamin. This is particularly true where the carbo- 
hydrate portion of the ration is supplied by lactose as is 
true with children living largely on milk. This finding 
serves as a warning against the use of filled milk in which 
the butterfat is replaced by cheaper vegetable fats. 
Protein 
People for years have talked about the value of proteins 
in the diet, but the real need is now disclosed to be for cer- 
tain amino acids of the proteins in adequate amount and in EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
71 
suitable balance. The protein of milk is, perhaps, the finest 
and best balanced source of the amino acids of protein, but 
other excellent sources are found in the red meats. Grains 
generally are low in certain of these essential amino acids. 
It is held by some that the animal proteins are valuable 
additions to the ration of the dairy cow, fish meal being 
one of the most commonly used for this purpose. In the 
feeding of hogs the superiority of milk, tankage, and meat 
scraps has been recognized for many years. Indeed, they 
are recognized as practically essential if hogs are to be 
grown most economically. 
Manganese 
Manganese is normally found in the stems and leaves of 
plants, but is low in such grains as corn. Two groups of 
calves were fed identical well balanced rations except that 
one group’s ration was low in manganese. For a time both 
groups grew well and all were bred at normal time. The 
group fed the ration containing manganese produced full 
time calves and milked well. The other group produced pre- 
mature calves and were not thrifty. The indications were 
that one difference in these two lots of calves was due to 
the fact that the manganese enabled these heifers to pro- 
duce a larger amount of the essential vitamin C. These 
trials also indicated that the feeding of manganese seemed 
of some help in controlling acetonemia. When additional 
manganese is indicated as desirable, it is fed at the rate of 
approximately seven ounces of manganese mixed with one 
hundred pounds of salt. 
It is only in recent years that it has been found that in a 
few limited sections of our country young cattle suffer from 
the lack of the mineral cobalt in their ration. The animals 
go off feed, become gaunt, may be sexually under-developed, 
and suffer from anemia. This has been particularly notice- 
able in some sections of New Zealand, Florida, Michigan, 
and along the upper eastern shore of Wisconsin where dolo- 
Cobalt 72 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
mitic limestone underlies the surface soil. It should be not- 
ed that if cobalt is added to the ration, it is injurious to use 
it carelessly or in too great amounts, although cattle seem 
to tolerate moderate overdoses better than some other ani- 
mals. 
A simple way to give this mineral where it is indicated as 
desirable is to add one ounce of cobalt sulphate to each one 
hundred pounds of salt given cattle. It should be remem- 
bered that the cobalt will not be of any value if the trouble 
affecting the calves or cattle is due to the lack of good feed 
or the lack of other minerals. 
Blood Building 
It takes six to eight weeks to regenerate human blood 
after hemorrhage or even after a one-pint blood donation. 
Work with animals shows that a week or less is time enough 
provided the diet is suitable. This is true even when as 
much as a quarter of the blood has been lost. Riboflavin 
(vitamin B2) is highly important in determining the size 
and rate of formation of new blood cells. While this is the 
newer approach to the question, previously known re- 
quirements for efficient blood regeneration are the intake 
of ample protein, iron, copper, and one of the B complex 
vitamins known as pyroidoxine. 
Early Cut Silage 
When cows were fed corn ensiled late in the season it 
was found that the vitamin content was about half what it 
was when they were fed grass silage. Later trials indicated 
that the vitamin content of the silage was improved if the 
corn was ensiled when the majority of the kernels were 
past the milk stage but were not in the hard dough stage. 
In a comparative trial with this newer silage one group of 
cows was fed 40 pounds of corn silage and the other 40 
pounds of alfalfa silage preserved with corn meal, other 
feed being the same for both groups. 
Assays of the feed showed that cows in the alfalfa silage EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
73 
group received about two and one-half times as much caro- 
tene as those on corn silage, but the milk they produced 
was only 25 per cent higher in vitamin A and 20 per cent 
higher in carotene. The higher carotene content of the alfal- 
fa silage produced a higher vitamin milk but the vitamins 
in the milk were not in proportion to the carotene content of 
the silage. 
It was also noted in this trial that the superiority of the 
early cut corn silage as a source of high vitamin milk was 
much better than in the previous trials when corn that was 
much more mature was the source of the corn silage. 
Anti-Scours Vitamins 
Pharmaceutical concerns are now marketing vitamin cap- 
sules for use in preventing scours in young calves. This is 
a difficulty that is experienced quite frequently in calves 
bom after the first of the year when the vitamin A content 
of the milk and the hay is probably at its low point of the 
year. The formula provides for the use in each capsule of 
5,000 international units of vitiman A, 50 milligrams of 
niacin, 250 milligrams of ascorbic acid (vitamin C), and 
200 international units of vitamin D. 
It is to be remembered these vitamins are not cures lor 
scours but are essentially preventives to use before the 
calves become sick and, preferably, immediately after birth. 
They may be of some help if given promptly at the very 
first sign of scours, and should be used when the trouble has 
been occurring with other new born calves. Young calves 
cannot utilize carotene in hay as well as vitamin A, which 
may explain the prevalence of the opinion that at times it 
is harder to raise calves from breeds producing high color 
milk than from other breeds. 
Sulla Drugs and Vitamins 
Experimental trials have shown that vitamin C has been 
helpful in controlling nutritional calf scours. Other trials 74 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
have indicated that certain sulfa drugs are useful in treat- 
ing infectious “white scours.” It has now been shown that 
these certain sulfa drugs tend to increase the vitamin C 
content of the blood which indicates that it may really be 
the vitamin C that is the controlling factor. CHAPTER XII 
Soil-Builders 
Florida Finds Trace' of Minerals Put New Life In 
Old Citrus Trees 
Magnesium Builds Green Leaves; Manganese, Boron 
And Zinc Increase Fertility 
Orange, Grapefruit Crops Up 
By VICTOR SCHOFFELMAYER 
Special Correspondent of The Wall Street Journal 
Seven common minerals added to Florida’s soil have 
brought the state a three-fold increase in its biggest cash 
crop, citrus fruits. 
Five of these minerals are used in such tiny amounts that 
a chemist couldn’t calculate their proportion to the soil; he 
would have to put down “trace.” 
The trace elements are copper, iron, manganese, boron and 
zinc. With sulphur and magnesium they make up the seven 
minor elements whose praises are sung by all the firms that 
sell fertilizers in Florida. Plant-life must have all seven of 
these elements to thrive, although they have been ignored 
for nearly a century in formulating the so-called “complete” 
artificial fertilizers. 
In 1932-33, with production of citrus fruit below 30 mil- 
lion boxes, some growers feared their industry was almost 
done for. Traditional fertilizing with nitrogen-phosphorus- 
potassium mixtures, even on a lavish scale, was powerless to 
build up yields beyond 100 pounds a tree. Growers accepted 
the theory that citrus land mysteriously “played out,” and 
that there was nothing to do but move onto new land and 
plant more trees. 
75 76 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
Finding capital for such an operation wasn’t very easy, for 
the depression was at its worst. The state had taken heavy 
financial and physical blows from the land boom of 1922-26 
and the September hurricanes of 1926 and 1928. 
Finding Capital Not Easy 
In the 1944-45 season, the citrus crop totaled over 90 
million boxes. The grapefruit pack, 23 million boxes, passed 
the combined packs of Texas and California. Most of the 
fruit came off the same acres that had been despaired of 12 
years before. And the industry’s comeback led to the plant- 
ing of 50,000 acres to new trees last fall and winter. 
Much of the credit for the citrus industry’s rebirth goes 
to Dr. A. R. Camp, vice director of the State Citrus Experi- 
ment Station at Lake Alfred, Fla. He came to Florida in 
1935 from California, where he had worked on citrus ferti- 
lizing, and began building up the Florida groves with the 
trace elements. 
Magnesium gets at the very heart of the citrus grower’s 
problem. It makes possible the formation of chlorophyll, the 
substance in green leaves that captures sunshine and trans- 
mutes it into orange juice and halves of grapefruit. 
Iron is another essential component of green leaves. 
Manganese, boron and zinc increase the fertility of a 
plant; more individual fruits are formed. 
These minor elements are not needed in quantity. One 
part of boron in 10 million of soil is about right; one part in 
5 million may be toxic. 
Sulphur, becoming greatly diluted sulphuric acid in the 
soil, helps the soil bacteria to digest organic matter for the 
plant’s roots to absorb. 
Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, the big three, are 
still vitally needed; to them calcium is added, making a big 
four. EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
77 
Nitrogen builds foliage and retards ripening. The plant 
seeks to get as big as it can before it reproduces itself. 
Encourage Root Growth 
Phosphorus encourages root growth. It speeds the storage 
of nourishment, and thus hastens the ripening the nitrogen 
seeks to delay. Magnesium comes back into the picture 
here. Somehow it moves the phosphorus from the old cells 
where it has done its work, into new cells that need its help. 
Potassium gives a plant stamina. A potassium-poor plant 
is the first to be blighted or attacked by parasites. 
Calcium strengthens stem and root cells, the frame of the 
plant, just as it builds sturdy bones for human beings. 
The suspicion that the big three elements—nitrogen, po- 
tassium, phosphorus—of “complete” fertilizers were not all 
the foods that plants needed is almost as old as the artificial 
fertilizer industry itself. In 1866 two Germans grew wheat 
in well-water solutions of artificial fertilizers and natural 
manures, and concluded that plants couldn’t thrive by chem- 
istry alone. 
Experiments by U. S. Agency 
Between 1900 and 1910 the U. S. Department of Agricul- 
ture carried on a series of experiments on organic and in- 
organic plant foods. These experiments established the 
limitations of inorganic fertilizers, and gave new emphasis 
to the factors in soil improvement quite aside from any nu- 
trient material—soil bacteria and the fertilizing factors we 
have come to call auxins, hormones and enzymes—that help 
the plant to utilize what nutrients are there for it. 
Reading accounts of those 40-year-old experiments, it is 
easy to see today that the Department of Agriculture re- 
searchers crossed the trail of the trace elements, probably 
more than once, and lost it again through the difficulties of 
soil analysis. Soil analysis through purely chemical means 
is tedious drudgery, prone to error when the components 78 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
sought are very small. Chemical analysis has now been re- 
enforced by spectroscopy. The spectroscope unerringly spots 
unbelievably small concentrations of any element in a solu- 
tion. 
As long as the sources of artificial fertilizers were na- 
tural rock, it didn’t make a great deal of difference whether 
anyone knew about the trace elements or not, in the case 
of most soils. North African rock phosphate, turned to su- 
perphosphate, carried calcium and sulphur as well as phos- 
phorus into the ground. Chile nitrate contained boron as 
an impurity. 
But when ammonium phosphate began to be made from 
atmospheric nitrogen and metallic phosphorus, neither 
boron, calcium nor sulphur went along as an extra dividend. 
Much soil contained the trace elements in sufficient quan- 
tities, carried there as dust by the wind. Florida was un- 
fortunate. A 500-mile peninsula between the Gulf of Mex- 
ico and the Atlantic Ocean, it could only receive dust when 
the wind blew from one point of the compass. 
After Dr. Camp and his co-workers taught the Florida 
citrus growers how to get the essential minor elements into 
the soil, the next thing to do was to help the trees get it 
back out. There is a 50- to 70-inch annual rainfall in the 
Florida citrus country, but little of the rain remains in the 
sandy soil. So now extensive irrigation systems keep the 
trees growing through the dry spells of spring and fall. A 
survey of 1,200 groves in 1942-43 showed an average return 
of $3 an acre on non-irrigated groves, $45 an acre on irri- 
gated ones. 
Last year Florida bought 23 million pounds of dolomite— 
calcium magnesium carbonate — from Texas, 22 million 
pounds of copper sulphate from the Southwestern mines, 
and 3.5 million pounds of zinc sulphate from Missouri smelt- 
ers. The other minerals were applied in lesser quantities. EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
79 
Some were sprayed onto the trees. Tennessee Eastman Corp., 
a subsidiary of Eastman Kodak Co., is a supplier of mag- 
nesium sulphate for spraying. 
As an object lesson for any citrus grower who might for- 
get what he has been rescued from, the 120-acre experi- 
mental grove at Lake Alfred has been divided by a road. 
On one side traditional care has been applied to the trees. 
Their yields range from 50 to 100 pounds of fruit to a tree. 
On the other side, trees generously fed with magnesium, 
iron, copper, manganese and boron by the Camp formulas 
are weighted down with from 600 to 1,000 pounds apiece. CHAPTER XHI 
Some Symptoms 
of Citrus Malnutrition 
in Florida 
By A. F. CAMP and B. R. FUDGE 
Reprinted from Southern Medicine and Surgery, Charlotte, N. C. 
Volume 106, No. II, November, 1944 
One of the outstanding recent developments in the field of 
citrus nutrition has been the utilization of the symptoms 
found on leaves, twigs, and fruits as guides in fertilization. 
Research which has revealed the specific relationship be- 
tween nutritional requirements and certain symptoms ex- 
hibited by the citrus tree has furnished the basis for this 
development. Thus it has been found that zinc is a specific 
remedy for “trenching” and copper for “dieback” and that 
neither will fill the role of the other. Likewise, deficiency 
of either manganese or magnesium will give rise to certain 
definite symptoms in the citrus tree, whereas an excess of 
boron will produce equally specific symptoms which are 
characteristic of the toxic effects of this element. These 
symptoms have proved much more specific than at first 
supposed and serve as excellent indicators of the tree’s 
nutritional needs. The idea of using an element as a specific 
remedy for a particular set of symptoms is not entirely new, 
since copper has been used as a specific for “dieback” for 
many years. 
In Florida nitrogen deficiency has been generally ac- 
cepted in the past as the cause of practically all yellowing 
of citrus leaves and it is only recently that the various 
types of yellowing have been adequately classified with the 
result that magnesium deficiency is now recognized as the 
cause of the commonest type of yellowing. Much of the 
80 EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
81 
progress made has resulted from more detailed and critical 
observation of the trees themselves; and the practical utili- 
zation of symptoms as a guide in citrus nutrition requires 
equally careful observation, particularly when symptoms 
of several different types are combined in such a way as 
to mask partially one or more of them. 
Work In Citrus 
The great citrus industry of Florida is gradually being 
given the benefit of this scientific, fool-proof data. The 
rapidity with which results may be obtained will be astound- 
ing. The results seem revolutionary, yet no one class is 
suffering at the expense of another. This is one thing just 
as important to the consumer as the producer. 
Zinc, magnesium and copper are most widely deficient 
in most of the grove soils in Florida. This is combatted with 
corrective fertilizers, and in some cases, with proper sprays. 
Of course, only the surface of this practice has been 
scratched, knowledge has not yet been spread around like 
the daily news. 
Where partial knowledge is applied, the results can be 
partially injurious. Increasing the amount of potash will 
not replace the zinc and magnesium absent in the particular 
plot. Increasing the nitrogen, will not insure a balanced 
growth and development, or a proper flavor, where these 
minor elements are absent. On the other hand, once the 
zinc, magnesium, and Copper have been added in suffi- 
ciency, the great amount of nitrogen, mistakenly applied 
formerly, may prove excessive. 
The proper information is waiting to be used, used for 
the benefit of the consumer throughout the nation. 
Minerals That Turn The Wheels Of Life 
Minerals play a role without which motor force and con- 
nection between the glands would break down. Physiolo- 
gists can not conceive a body without the mineral elements 
making bone, nerve, blood and brain, nor psychologists a 82 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
conscious mind without mineral elements. Even poetry can- 
not find its material without the proper combination of 
mineral elements, or art its shape, form, essence and color; 
actually there is nothing we can conceive, from trees to 
plants to animals, building material to evening gowns, that 
does not depend on a proper combination and amounts of 
the various kinds of elemental minerals. Whether alive or 
dead, in many things the difference depends on the pro- 
portionate amount of the elements, and the resultant radio 
activity. 
As the mineral salts are the controlling elements in or- 
ganic life, so are they in glandular life, therefore in psycho- 
logical life. They are potent factors to be considered in all 
sociological and eugenical development. 
Surely the great body of organized science that developed 
Radar, the Clycotron, Dark Light and Spectroscopic analy- 
sis and released the atomic energies in the form of the LIFE- 
destructive atomic bomb can give us speedy quantitative 
and complete tests for the amount, kind and concentration 
of the mineral elements in the total soil and water food 
sources of the world, so that the standardization of this 
primary source point of Life’s development, healthy well- 
being and genetic possibilities can be speeded up with the 
increasing and vital need for lightening needless burdens 
in man’s race against time for betterment NOW. 
From MINERALIZATION—by Albert Carter Savage. 
By—Albert Carter Savage. CHAPTER XIV 
The Effect of 
Agricultural Practices on 
Health and Disease* 
JAMES ASA SHIELD. M. D.. Richmond 
Assistant Professor of Neuropsychiatry, Medical College of Virginia 
Neuropsychiatrist, Tucker Hospital 
It is the purpose of this paper to correlate some recorded 
observations, and interpret them, in terms of possible etio- 
logy, of the health and some of the ills of man. Minot states: 
“It has been proved that certain diseases reflect the char- 
acter of the social and economic as well as the geographic 
environment.” Snapper indicates that every phase of clini- 
cal medicine in Peiping is influenced by the peculiar food 
situation. One might add that health, too, reflects the char- 
acter of the social, economic, and geographic environment. 
The correct diagnosis and therapy in deficiency diseases 
has been one of the advances of medicine. However, our de- 
sire is the prevention of these deficiency diseases. Although 
much has been accomplished, there are still many unknown 
factors in the field of nutrition and its relation to sickness 
and health. 
The medical journals have many papers telling of re- 
cently acquired knowledge on almost every variety of de- 
ficiency—avitaminosis, hypoproteinemia, and mineral im- 
balance, with therapeutic response when therapy is based 
on the proper rationale. There are perhaps no doctors more 
aware of the value of rational vitamin, mineral, and food 
concentrate therapy than we in neuropsychiatry. However, 
*Presented to Tri-State Medical Association of the Carolinas and Virginia, 
meeting at Charlotte, Feb. 28th-29th, 1944. 
83 84 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
the absence of the progressive degenerative disease of the 
blood vessels—arteriosclerosis; or the progressive degenera- 
tive disease of the nervous system—multiple sclerosis— 
among the Northern Chinese, whose diet is inadequate in 
those things we can determine by laboratory analysis; 
namely, calcium, vitamins, calories, suggests that limited 
vitamin, mineral, and caloric value is not etiological of these 
diseases. They have their avitaminoses, their hypocalcemia 
even to the extent of osteomalacia, but not arteriosclerosis 
and multiple sclerosis as do their better-fed friends in Con- 
tinental Europe, England and America. When their food 
is biologically assayed, who are better off—the Orientals 
or the Occidentals? 
Are the agricultural practices of the Orient and those of 
Germany, for instance, the reason that multiple sclerosis is 
unseen in the Orient and so common in Germany? Natural 
manures have been used in the Orient for centuries, while 
chemical fertilizers have been championed by the German 
school of agriculture since 1840. Is this type of soil fertility 
a factor in giving a food to the population, which, in turn, 
tends to give them an immunity to arteriosclerosis, throm- 
bophlebitis, multiple sclerosis, Gaucher’s disease, renal cal- 
culi and gallstones—an immunity which the Chinese seem 
to have. Does the Oriental agricultural practice give an x 
value to food that makes its biological assay high in spite of 
the Chinese diet being low in chemical assay? 
Does it follow that people who have an adequate diet will 
not have deficiency diseases, and, furthermore, may have 
better natural immunity to disease? The question that pre- 
sents itself is—what is an adequate diet? Until the present 
the emphasis has been on the quantities of vitamins, miner- 
als, proteins, fats, carbohydrates, and not on the quality of 
foods. We may be instructing our patients to ask the ques- 
tions—how fresh is this food? From where did this food 
come? What was the nature of the soil fertility that grew 
this produce? Were natural manures or commercial ferti- 
lizers used on the land? What was the fungus and bacteria EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
85 
growth in the soil that grew this food? Was this vegetable 
grown on a mycorrhizal or non-mycorrhizal soil? What was 
the quality of the food fed this veal or that beef? 
This question of food quality was brought to my atten- 
tion by Colonel Henry W. Anderson, a lawyer by profession, 
a scholar by nature, and an agronomist by avocation, when 
he told me of his observations and presented me with a re- 
cent book, An Agricultural Testament, by Sir Albert How- 
ard, C.I.E., M.A., formerly Director of the Institute of Plant 
Industry, Indore, and Agricultural Advisor in Central India 
and Rajputana. Sir Albert’s discussion of the agricultural 
practices of the Orient caused me to recall that multiple (or 
disseminated) sclerosis is practically unknown in Japan and 
China (Miura, Pfister) ; that there is some question whether 
one sees genuine pernicious anemia with its severe neuro- 
logical complications in Northern China; that, although 
syphilis is as frequent as the common cold in Korea, tabes 
was not once diagnosed by Wilson, who practiced there 
thirty years; that there is a remarkable scarcity in China 
of arteriosclerosis, Gaucher’s disease, kidney stones, gall- 
stones and perhaps even thrombophlebitis. (Snapper) 
Is it not possible that Nature has presented us with a 
great many more pertinent facts in the geographic distribu- 
tion of disease and health? The reasons for the presence and 
absence of certain diseases among the population of various 
parts of the world present a complicated and involved ques- 
tion. These natural experiments that are being made all over 
the world, due to a multiplicity of local circumstances, cus- 
toms and habits, or changes forced on a people by war or 
poverty, make available a wealth of material for study and 
investigation. 
What are some of the natural experiments that present 
material which we may use as indices of health and disease 
found here and there? And what are the agricultural prac- 
tices of these respective locations, which may affect the 
quality of their food? 
Heard states; “Dental caries is rare in the town of Here- 86 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
ford and the County of Deaf Smith, Texas After 
twenty-eight years of interrogating my patients, together 
with my experience and observation, I am of the opinion 
that this phenomenon is due to our soil’s richness in miner- 
als and vitamins. The growing of plant foods has depleted 
the soil in most areas of the world of essential mineral ele- 
ments ; and our system of fertilization has failed to restore 
these elements in adequate quantities.” He also comments: 
“Both physically and mentally this area furnishes superior 
zoological specimens.” 
McCarrison records an observation: “My own experience 
provides an example of a race, unsurpassed in perfection of 
physique and in freedom from disease in general.... I refer 
to the people of the State of Hunza, situated in the extreme 
northernmost point of India. Amongst these people the span 
of life is extraordinarily long; and such service as I was 
able to render them during some seven years spent in their 
midst was confined chiefly to the treatment of accidental 
lesions, the removal of senile cataracts, plastic operations 
for granular eyelids, or the treatment of maladies wholly 
unconnected with food supply. Appendicitis, so common in 
Europe, was unknown. ... It becomes obvious that the en- 
forced restriction to the unsophisticated foodstuffs of nature 
is compatible with long life, continued vigor and perfect 
physique.” 
McCarrison carried out in India some experiments on 
rats. He mentions first the many different native races of 
which the population, 350 million, is composed. After de- 
scribing the experiments he concluded: “What I found in 
this experiment was that when young growing rats of 
healthy stock were fed on diets similar to those of people 
whose physique was good, the physique and health of the 
rats were good; when they were fed on diets similar to 
those of people whose physique was bad, the physique and 
health of the rats were bad; and when they were fed on diets 
similar to those of people whose physique was middling, the 
physique and health of the rats were middling.” EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
87 
I would like to mention two observations during World 
War No. 1—first, Hindhede states: “In Denmark the people 
received a sufficiency of potatoes, whole-rye bread (contain- 
ing wheat bran and 24 per cent of barley-meal), barley 
porridge, grains, milk, abundance of green vegetables and 
some butter. In consequence of this enforced alteration in 
the dietetic habits of the Danish people, the death rate 
dropped as much as 34 per cent, being as low as 10.4 per cent 
when the regimen had been in force for one year.” Hindhede 
concludes that “the principal cause of death lies in food and 
drink.” The second observation was by Demoor and Slosse, 
who noted: “Despite the food restrictions imposed upon the 
people of Belgium during the late war, the infant mortality 
and infantile diarrhea have decreased greatly;” a circum- 
stance, according to this article, which was “due to organized 
propaganda encouraging mothers to nurse their infants and 
to the establishment of national canteens which provided 
prospective mothers, from the fifth month of pregnancy on- 
ward, with eggs, milk, meat, and vegetables.” 
The Local Medical and Panel Committee of Cheshire, 
England, representing 600 doctors, reviewed their 25-years 
experiences, stating: “There has been a fall in fatalities and 
this was all the more noticeable in view of the rise in sick- 
ness. . . . This illness results from a lifetime of wrong 
nutrition.” They point to the high incidence of bad 
teeth among English children in the British Isles, but this 
condition does not exist among their cousins on Tristan 
da Cunha; also, rickets is still common in England, while in 
Holland it is relatively rare; there butter, milk and cheese 
are plentiful. They further point to nutritional anemia and 
defective diet constipation.” They go on to say: “It is far 
from the purpose of this paper to advocate a particular 
diet.” They remark on the health and the diet of the Eskimos 
and the Hunzans and the English on Tristan da Cunha and 
say: “There is some principle or quality in these diets which 
is absent from, or deficient in, the food of our people today 
. . . to decry some factors common to all of these diets is 88 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
difficult, and an attempt to do so may be misleading since 
our knowledge of what those factors are is still far from 
complete; but this at least may be said—that the food is, 
for the most part, fresh from its source, little altered by 
preparation, and complete; and that, in the case of those 
based on agriculture, the natural cycle: 
Animal and ) ( Animal — ) 
Vegetable ) — Soil — Plant — Food ( Man 
Waste ) ( ) 
is complete: no chemicals or substitution stage intervenes.” 
This committee refers to the work of Sir Albert Howard, 
stating: “He has shown that the ancient Chinese method of 
returning to the soil, after treatment, the whole of animal 
and vegetable refuse which is produced in the activities of 
a community, results in the health and productivity of crops 
and of the animals and men who feed thereon.” 
In this article it is indicated, not only how bad teeth, 
rickets, anemia and constipation may be helped, but the 
observations of the family doctors revealed that the nutri- 
tion of expectant mothers was closelv supervised in a 
Cheshire village, the diet being raw milk, butter, Cheshire 
cheese, oatmeal, eggs, broth, salad in abundance, green leaf 
vegetables, liver and fish weekly, fruit in abundance, meat 
and whole-meal bread made of two parts of locally grown 
wheat and one part of raw wheat-germ, the bread being 
baked within 36 hours after the milling of the flour. It was 
noted that mothers were usually able to feed their infants. 
The nursing mother’s food continued as in pregnancy. The 
children were described as splendid, with perfect sets of 
teeth common; pulmonary diseases were almost unknown; 
they slept well, and one of their most striking features was 
their happy personality. The opinion was expressed: “The 
human material was entirely unselected, the food was not 
specially grown but that in spite of these imperfections, the 
practical application of McCarrison’s work should yield 
recognizable results shows that in a single generation im- 
provement of the race can be achieved.” EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
89 
Sir Albert Howard points out: “Soil fertility is the con- 
dition which results from the operation of nature’s round, 
from the orderly revolution of the wheel of life, from the 
adoption and faithful execution of the first principle of 
agriculture—there must always be a perfect balance between 
the processes of growth and the processes of decay. The 
consequences of this condition are a living soil, abundant 
crops of good quality, and livestock which possess the bloom 
of health. The key to a fertile soil and a prosperous agricul- 
ture is humus. Humus in the soil affects the plant directly 
by means of a middle man—fungus—producing the mycorr- 
hizal relationship. Nature has provided an interesting piece 
of living machinery for joining up fertile soil with the 
plant.” 
Does it follow that the agricultural practices of the Orient 
account for the seeming absence of some of the degenera- 
tive diseases that we are more prone to have in America and 
Europe? Is the produce of our farmers using artificial ferti- 
lizer lacking in quality because the chemicals are not suffi- 
cient to give food quality? Is there a relationship between 
food produced on a soil rich in fungus and the absence of 
susceptibility to diseases of those who live on this food? 
In agricultural literature the importance of these fungi 
in promoting growth and aiding nutrition has been empha- 
sized. Dubois (Rockefeller Foundation) cultured from the 
soil his gramicidin-producing fungus. Would there be any- 
where near as much need for gramicidin and penicillin if 
our food were derived from a humus-rich soil prolific in its 
fungus growth? Has the Occidental agricultural practice 
of using commercial fertilizers been inadequate and des- 
troyed the bacteria and fungus in the soil and, in turn, given 
us an inferior produce that has reduced our natural im- 
munity to infections? 
This paper is presented as a preliminary discussion, and 
the thoughts are merely suggestive. The scientific investiga- 
tion of the sources of food supply in this country and the 90 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
after effect upon health and disease, especially, as we have 
pointed out, degenerative diseases, has not gone, far enough 
to justify definite conclusions. The observations are cer- 
tainly indicative of possible fact, and stimulate us in our 
studies of this x quality factor in food. The studies and re- 
sults of experiments already made by distinguished scien- 
tists, some of which have been mentioned, strongly indicate 
that efforts toward the prevention of diseases, especially of 
deficiency diseases and diseases of a degenerative character, 
and the consequent improvement of the health and happi- 
ness of the human race, demand a more thorough study of 
the sources of food supply, the methods of production, and 
the soils from which foods are produced. Nutrition is not a 
question of quantity only but of quality also. CHAPTER XV 
Soil Fertility and Its 
Health Implications 
WILLIAM A. ALBRECHT* 
Reprinted from American Journal of Orthodontics and Oral Surgery. St. Louis. 
Vol. 31. No. 5. Orthodontics, Pages 279-286, May, 1945. 
It is scarcely necessary to say that dentists have more 
than a passing interest in soil fertility, since they know that 
strong, healthy teeth contain a high concentration of cal- 
cium and phosphorus—nutrient elements that head the list 
of minerals drawn from the soil for sustenance of plant and 
animal life. Of the total gross weight of the teeth as part of 
the human skeleton, one-fourth is calcium and one-eight is 
phosphorus. Of the tooth enamel, one-third is calcium and 
one-sixth is phosphorus. 
As cardinal requisites of a fertile soil, calcium and phos- 
phorus in the form of limestone and superphosphate are the 
two foremost fertilizers or soil treatments used by well- 
informed farmers. Too frequently, however, these treat- 
ments are regarded merely as a means of obtaining greater 
tonnage or more bushels of crops per acre. 
But when shortages in bulk of foods confront us, it is all 
the more essential that we improve the quality of that bulk. 
It is the soil on which, after all, the health qualities of foods 
depend. When teeth are calling for much calcium and phos- 
phorus, defective teeth are not far removed from crops that 
are calling in vain on the soil that is deficient in these two 
mineral constituents of man’s skeleton and teeth. 
Read before the Mid-Continent Dental Meeting, St. Louis, Mo., Nov. 2, 1944. 
*Department of Soils, College of Agriculture, University of Missouri. 
91 92 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
The Dental Profession Has a Real Stake in Soil Fertility 
In addition to calcium and phosphorus, there are about 
ten more growth-promoting, body-building nutrients on the 
list of fertility elements that soils must provide for vigorous, 
healthy bodies and sound teeth. Shortages in any one of these 
elements needed in body construction, or in catalytic service 
in body or plant growth, will reappear in the human family 
as health deficiencies. We cannot therefore afford to tolerate 
shortages in the soil’s store of these truly “grow” foods. 
Besides these dozen so-called “grow” foods, or elements 
coming from the soil, every growing body and every grow- 
ing plant must have what can conveniently be called energy 
providers or “go” foods. The elements constructing such 
compounds are, in the main, carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. 
They come from the air and water. Nitrogen also comes 
from that source, so that as much as 95 per cent of plant 
mass or animal body weight is combustible. It serves in pro- 
vision of energy and in giving bulk and weight. 
Photosynthesis and Biosynthesis 
Because the recognition of mass is a simple mental im- 
pression, the concept of bulk is always easily and quickly 
caught. So commonly are crops measured by weight that 
we are just now coming to realize that the “growth” quality, 
or the nutritional value of herbages is not the same as the 
tonnage value. A bushel of corn is always 56 pounds, but 
one bushel may be nourishment while the other is not, as 
judged by livestock growth. Plants attain mass of growth 
through the service of sunshine as it makes carbohydrates 
through use of the sun’s energy in the chlorophylous leaves. 
This process of chemical synthesis of carbon, hydrogen, and 
oxygen into carbonaceous products gives tonnage, but sure- 
ly this photosynthetic behavior does not guarantee animal 
or human nourishment when it results in trunks of trees 
consisting only of just so much woodiness. Sunshine, fresh 
air, and water—processed through the suprasoil activities 
by plants—may be responsible for 95 per cent of plant bulk, 
yet contribute nothing to nourishment of higher life forms. EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
93 
Nutritive values of herbages result from the synthesis of 
compounds within the growing plants, as for example, those 
that give rise to the seed and will feed our animals. These 
values are dependent on the calcium, phosphorus, mag- 
nesium, etc., that come from the soil. Animal life finds plenty 
of bulk for consumption. Recall hastily, if you will, the many 
plants which animals refuse to eat, or the many we call 
weeds. Nutritional deficiencies result from the failure of 
that vegetative bulk to have within itself the products of 
synthetic activities by the plant quite aside from products 
directly from photosynthesis. We need to appreciate what 
may well be called the “biosynthesis” or the synthesis by the 
life of the plant that depends not on air and water, but on 
the delivery by the soil of its complete list of soil fertility 
elements to be constructed by the plant into what is truly 
food substance. 
In considering plants as phenomena of growth, we may 
well think of them first as a photosynthetic performance. 
This builds the woody frame of the plant, uses only limited 
amounts of soil fertility, mainly potassium, as catalytic 
agents, to set up the factory and provide its fuel supply. In 
the second place, plants are a biosynthetic performance, into 
which the soil fertility enters more directly to have its phos- 
phorus, sulfur, nitrogen, etc., synthesized into proteins, vita- 
mins, and other compounds truly valuable for body con- 
struction rather than for fuel only. It is the soil fertility 
much more than the sunshine and fresh air that determines 
how well the plant really gives us nourishment. It is this 
biosynthesis and not the photosynthesis whereby soil fer- 
tility takes on its significant implication in your health, in 
my health, in your teeth and in my teeth. 
Virgin Plant Growth Concentrated the Soil Fertility in the 
Surface Soils for Help to Man 
That the entire land surface of the earth cannot be gen- 
erous in its provisioning of human and animal life becomes 
almost axiomatic when it is known that the soil must de- 
liver about a dozen chemical elements. Soils constructed 94 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
under good physical conditions, and stocked with such a 
large number of nutrient elements, must of necessity be the 
exception rather than the rule. Plant life in virgin condition 
has been sending its roots down and searching through 
large volumes of soil to collect and assemble in the surface 
layer as organic matter or humus, these many elements 
needed. Hundreds of years of virgin condition have kept 
within the plant life, as a cycle of growth, death, decay, and 
re-use, these nutrient mineral elements from the soil. It is 
this feature that makes surface soil so valuable while sub- 
soil is so unproductive. 
Soil Construction and Soil Destruction 
Naturally, soils vary widely as to their fertility since soils 
are temporary rest stops of rock en route to the sea and to 
solution. In lower rainfall areas the soil is finely ground 
rock. It is mainly mineral, with little clay and little water 
for plant growth. The plants grown there are mineral-rich, 
however. More rainfall gives more clay, more plant growth, 
more organic matter to decay. It also leaves a rock reserve 
to supply the clay as it gives up its nutrients to the plants. 
In central United States with its prairie areas, we have 
soils now in the stage of maximum of construction of clay 
that is in balance, or equilibrium, with a generous reserve 
of rich minerals to maintain productivity. With no more 
than 30 inches of rainfall along approximately the 97th 
meridian of the United States, we have the Midlands, where 
the animals raise themselves and human health is good as 
indicated by the fact that seven out of ten draftees pass in- 
spection in Colorado while only three out of ten do so in a 
southern state. 
With higher annual rainfalls and higher temperatures, 
the rocks are so highly weathered and the clay is so changed 
that it represents soil destruction. This is the prevailing 
condition in eastern and southeastern states. In terms of 
this degree of soil development we can see the basic prin- 
ciples of nutritional troubles in the southern states, of limit- EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
95 
ed populations in the tropics, of population concentrations 
into limited areas of the temperate zones, of customs where- 
by aborigines survive while the white man fails utterly, and 
numerous seemingly uncanny situations where the influ- 
ence of soil fertility upon the human species is not yet ap- 
preciated. 
An ecological survey with tabulations of plant species is 
not needed to locate the forests in the northern regions, in 
the tropics, and in eastern and southeastern United States, 
nor to locate the prairies in central United States, and the 
barrens in the West, excluding the western coast. Under- 
lying this seeming agreement of greater vegetative pro- 
duction in forests with higher rainfall, and vice versa, there 
is the soil fertility. We have not been connecting the differ- 
ent crops, their tonnage production per acre, and their 
chemical composition in terms of nutritive value for ani- 
mals with the soil fertility. That the scantily growing buf- 
falo grass of western Kansas was more nutritious because 
of more fertile soils than the lush bluestem of eastern 
Kansas on the less fertile, more leached soils was recognized 
by the buffalo. This brawny beast stayed on his scant graz- 
ing because it meant growth, muscular and bony body, and 
good reproduction. There was no natural obstruction to 
prevent his coming eastward, had he desired to move to get 
more bulk per acre. 
Crop Juggling Disregards Soil Fertility 
More protein in the wheat as we move westward across 
Kansas follows the same course, with the less leached soils 
in central and western Kansas giving high protein in wheat. 
But in place of recognizing soil fertility as the controlling 
factor, we have been ascribing the difference to rainfall or 
to plant pedigrees. Plant breeding has been credited with 
wonders when we think of hybrid corn. But to date no 
geneticist’s creation has yet come forward that can tolerate 
starvation or the lack of soil fertility. 
Crops have been introduced, moved from place to place 96 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
and pushed to the very fringes of starvation, while we have 
kept our attention fixed on the pedigree in place of the 
plant’s nutrition. During this crop juggling, the chemical 
composition of the plant has shifted. Photosynthesis has 
come into prominence while biosynthesis has almost dis- 
appeared. The crop has retained its service in giving energy 
values but lost much of its service as a growth food and 
carrier of soil minerals elaborated into organic complexes 
of nutritive value. We have gone from proteinaceousness 
and high mineral contents in plants grown on soils under 
construction through lower rainfall to carbonaceousness and 
mineral deficiencies in plants grown on soils under destruc- 
tion through higher rainfalls. Nutrition at the same time 
has rescended from a level of bone-building, brawn-making, 
and fecund reproduction to hydration, obesity, fattening 
performances and other excesses of weights with weakened 
bones and flabby muscles, to say nothing of carious teeth, 
alveolar bone disintegration, and other oral troubles. 
Declining Soil Fertility Brings the ‘Sweet Tooth' 
Declining soil fertility has been pushing out of the agri- 
cultural program those crops drawing heavily on the soil 
fertility, and naturally of high nutritive values. As such 
crops failed to produce tonnage, we have sought other crops 
maintaining the tonnage production per acre but failing to 
provide the nutritive equivalents per acre and the nutritive 
concentration or food value per pound. Carbonaceousness, 
consequently, has come into prominence, while protein- 
aceousness and high mineral contents have dwindled. 
Declining soil fertility has been provoking the shift to 
feeding our animals on fattening feeds, and our own shift 
to soft wheats, and to starchy and saccharine elements in 
our diet. Our “sweet tooth” in a dietary sense has become 
a carious tooth in a dental sense as a result of the unobserved 
and unappreciated exploitation of the soil fertility, and shift 
in dominant plant composition. EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
97 
Failing Skeletons Go With Failing Teeth 
When the simplest expression of the chemical composi- 
tion of bones and teeth puts these two together in the same 
category with their ash containing 894.5 parts of calcium 
phosphate per thousand parts, these two soil-borne elements, 
calcium and phosphorus, are lifted into prominence. This 
dare not, however, crowd out the 15.7 parts of magnesium 
phosphate, the calcium fluoride, the chloride and the car- 
bonate of calcium as 3.5, 2.3, and 101.8 parts, respectively, 
and the 1.0 lone part of iron oxide. That this complexity in 
chemical composition of the teeth is no mere accident is well 
worth considering, and that it is a specific combination 
which makes for sound teeth only by good metabolism to 
maintain its specificity is also worthy of serious considera- 
tion. Shifts in the fluorine content, that makes up less than 
.013 per cent of the enamel of the teeth, are known for the 
troubles they cause. Can we not then appreciate the inevi- 
table incidence of tooth and skeletal troubles when the sup- 
plies of calcium and phosphorus in the foods fluctuate wide- 
ly in amounts and in chemical combinations ingested, while 
we keep our eyes fixed on food bulk only? 
Animal studies are pointing out the widely variable thick- 
ness, size, strength, and other properties of bones of ani- 
mals according as they are fed different hays, the same hays 
from different soils, or the same hays from the same soil 
given different soil treatments, such as limestone and phos- 
phate. Hidden away as it is within the animal’s body, the 
skeletal structure may be undergoing drastic shortages in 
calcium and phosphorus that are readily passed over with- 
out concern. Surely the jaws carrying the teeth cannot 
escape registering these same irregularities taking place in 
the other skeletal parts. 
To the Drugstore for Cure Rather Than to the Soil for 
Prevention 
Even though the practice of salting domestic animals has 
been with us for scarcely a century and a half, we have 
taken readily to the belief that the deficiency in any essential 98 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
element in the diet can be met by its ingestion as a simple 
chemical salt in its ionic and molecular forms. With sodium 
and chlorine, both of which are monovalent and extremely 
soluble, accepted in the common salt form by domestic ani- 
mals and searched out in the “salt lick” by wild animals, 
there may be serious error in concluding that deficiencies of 
calcium phosphates in the diet may be met by ingesting the 
salts of tricalcium phosphate or calcium and phosphorus in 
one or the other acid phosphate forms. Calcium is a divalent 
and phosphorus is a pentavalent ion. The two are closely 
associated or combined chemically wherever phosphorus is 
found in Nature. They serve such important roles in plant 
life where sodium and chlorine are not considered essential 
that it should seem fallacious even to postulate that calcium 
and phosphorus as salts can serve as effectively in both 
processes as when they are part of the compounds elaborated 
by plant synthesis. 
The eating habits of the animals themselves offer sug- 
gestions. The eating of bones by cattle is not common. It 
occurs only after the animal arrives at certain stages of 
emaciation resulting from feeds deficient in phosphorus. 
This is quite different from their behavior relative to sodium 
chloride of which the consumption does not suggest itself 
as an act of desperation. 
The behavior of rachitic bones suggests that the advent 
of calcium and phosphorus into the digestion via the plant 
as it has taken them from the soil is more effective when 
these come through this route whereby it is synthesized as 
organo-complexes rather than simple mineral salts. When 
a rachitic bone is cut longitudinally and immersed in ionic 
calcium phosphate solutions, the calcium and phosphorus 
are not readily deposited in the unmineralized bone parts. 
However, when such a bone is placed in a solution of calcium 
hexose monophosphate or calcium glycerophosphate, it ab- 
sorbs the calcium and phosphates, to deposit them as min- 
erals in the zone of the rachitic bone prepared for calcifica- 
tion. Such behaviors suggest that the organo-calcium phos- EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
99 
phate may be a much more efficient means of introducing 
these bone-building ions into the skeleton and teeth than are 
calcium and phosphorus ingested simply as ionic salts. 
Yeasts, as fermenters of sugars, require phosphates in 
order that this reaction giving off carbon dioxide may pro- 
ceed. The phosphate acts seemingly as a catalyst. It enters 
into combination in one step in the process, but is not a 
part of the product. Thus, the phosphate is not serving in 
construction of the body of the yeast cell, or as a part of it. 
Rather it is serving in the chemical reaction that provides 
the energy for the life of the yeast. Calcium phosphate, as 
it serves in the energy reactions or metabolism of higher 
life, is still not a known phase of its behaviors in nutrition. 
Here is the suggestion that the calcium and phosphate ions 
do not use the plant merely to hitchhike from the soil to the 
stomach of the animals. Rather it suggests that while these 
nutrient elements are helping in the biosynthetic perform- 
ances within the plant, they are functioning in its metabolic 
performances and putting themselves into some unique 
organic combination through which they can move into the 
construction of the bones and teeth so much more effectively. 
Then, too, when calcium gluconate, another calcium or- 
gano-complex injected into the blood stream, is an effective 
cure for milk fever, it emphasizes the plausibility of the be- 
lief that calcium and phosphorus in the blood stream in non- 
dialyzable or colloidal form may be playing far more es- 
sential roles than we have been inclined to appreciate while 
focusing attention on them mainly in their ionic behaviors. 
Much about the physiologic activities of these two nutrient 
elements remains to be learned, but surely there are strong 
suggestions that as they play these roles we can aid their 
functions more from the soil forward by using them as 
fertilizers in the plants and thus for preventions, than from 
the drugstore backward and thereby as cures for nutritional 
troubles by which havoc has already been wrecked in the 
body. 100 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
Other Aspects ol Soil Fertility 
Your attention has been focused specifically on but two 
nutrient elements of the dozen (possibly more) essential 
ones coming from the soil for human sustenance. If recogni- 
tion of the deficiencies of these two in the soil has led us to 
understand the irregularities in plant physiology of the food 
crops we eat, and deficiencies in our teeth, our skeleton, and 
our own body physiology as all these provoke bad health, we 
need to prepare ourselves for more troubles arising as the 
remaining nutrient elements are being drawn from the soil. 
Potassium has long been registering its shortages for crops, 
but fortunately is so bountifully supplied by food plants 
that our bodies excrete rather than hoard it. Magnesium, 
however, which is the next on the list, cannot be viewed with 
so little concern. Shortages of this element in the soil are 
already impending. Heavy limings with calcium limestone 
only and soil conservation activities without attention to 
magnesium may throw a panic into body physiology and 
sound teeth. Elements no more plentiful than fluorine re- 
quired in drinking water by quantities as low as one part 
per million and coming in milk in from 5 to 25 parts per ten 
million are only beginnings in our thinking about several 
elements to which quantitative attention for health’s sake 
has not been directed. We are soon to face the health prob- 
lem linked with all the dozen (possibly more) nutrient ele- 
ments contributed by the soil as we have just begun to con- 
nect rickets, teeth decay, and other troubles with calcium 
and phosphorus. With such a large list to be compounded 
into medicine by the drugstore, surely in desperation we 
ought to turn away from medicinal concoctions for cure and 
learn to put fertility into the soil so as to give help to Nature 
to nourish us for disease prevention instead. 
Public Health Calls for Conservation of Soil Fertility 
The importance of the soil as the basis of our nutrition 
has not yet been appreciated. For too many of us, food comes 
only from the grocery and the meat market in paper bags, 
fancy cartons, glass bottles, and tin cans. We are measuring EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
101 
it only by weight or cost per plate. Milk is still sold by the 
gallon and by its fuel value in terms of fat content, when 
milk may be so deficient as to give rickets even to the calf 
taking it, uninjured by aeration and pasteurization, direct- 
ly from the mother cow. Milk, which is closely connected 
with reproduction, is lowered in its quality even as the func- 
tion of reproduction, itself, is impaired by nutritional de- 
ficiencies resulting from neglect of the soil. Reproductive 
cells, both as egg cells in the female or sperm cells in the 
male, are a physiologic output by the body for reproduction 
—just as milk is food for service to the young in the same 
reproductive process. Egg cells and sperm cells defective 
because of deficient soil fertility and malnutrition are just 
as possible physiologically as is defective milk. 
To the observant dentist, teeth and the mouth as a whole 
reflect the nutritional plane of his patient and thereby re- 
veal not only the irregularities in the quality of his food, but 
should point much farther back to the plane of soil fertility 
in the region where the patient’s food was grown. With 
that extension of the view of your mind’s eye as you look 
into the mouths of children, we trust you will catch some 
suggestion that you in an office on the paved street have 
some share in conservation of the soil that is owned and 
managed by the man of the country who may seemingly be 
miring in the mud. That mud is becoming more precious 
for health’s sake. 
The following is from Dr. Wm. A. Albrecht, Chairman, 
Department of Soils, College of Agriculture, University of 
Missouri: 
Man is going to be controlled in his behavior by the ex- 
tent to which there is mobilized in the soil about a dozen 
simple chemical elements commonly found in mineral and 
rock combinations. Consequently, we want to see man in his 
behavior in that ecological picture with all other life forms 
wherein the fertility of the soil is at the controls. Those 
who are in the limestone industry are dealing with one of 102 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
the ten elements—probably two if you are dealing with 
dolomitic limestone—that is at the control of agriculture, 
at the control of food, and at the control of all life, includ- 
ing man. 
We think of food in terms of bulk, weight, volume. We 
seldom think of it in terms of its quality as nourishment. 
In the making of food, we have two objectives as to its 
quality; first, it should give us power and energy; but be- 
fore we can use that power and energy we must construct 
the body, and food must meet the second objective, namely 
provide growth substances. 
Reduced to its chemical simplicity, the body is about 96 
per cent of these four elements that find their origin in air 
and water. It is about 5 per cent of a list of 10 or more ele- 
ments that find their origin in the soil. We have been keep- 
ing our eyes keyed on bulk. We have been keeping our eyes 
fixed on those four substances, namely carbon, hydrogen, 
oxygen, nitrogen, that are liquid or gaseous in form and 
that flow and move freely. Therefore, they do not represent 
much of a struggle for us to get them. We have not given 
enough attention to the other elements that are fixed in 
their position in the soil and to which the plant or the animal 
must go for their service. 
We have literally been in a blind alley for a number of 
years on this matter of liming, we have been thinking that 
the lime is serving a great function in fighting soil acidity. 
That is a fight that ought now be over. It should have been 
over a long time ago. Peace along these lines ought to be 
declared. We are no longer liming for the purpose of fight- 
ing soil acidity. We are now liming in order to introduce 
calcium and magnesium as fertility elements to be mobilized 
for better plant and animal production. 
NOTE: Dr. Albrecht is now in Paris, France, teaching the French the Science 
of Soil and Health. He was hired by France for this purpose. CHAPTER XVI 
Producing More Beef From 
Phosphorus-Deficient Ranges 
Here's the story, as reviewed in U. S. Department oi Agriculture Research 
Achievement Sheet No. 7A, recently issued: 
Research based on observations of a government scientist 
assigned to South Africa nearly 15 years ago, on the value 
of supplemental feeding of phosphorus to beef cattle graz- 
ing on soils deficient in that element, has developed infor- 
mation worth millions of dollars to the American livestock 
industry. 
“In the Gulf Coast region and other parts of the South, 
where the soil and vegetation are deficient in phosphorus, 
the feeding of small amounts of this mineral to cattle is 
now known to increase beef production. Benefits include 
larger and more regular calf crops and more rapid and 
economical gains.” 
The statement says the Department’s research leading to 
this knowledge dates back to 1931, when William H. Black 
of the Bureau of Animal Industry studied the beef-cattle 
industry in the Union of South Africa, where much of the 
land is deficient in phosphorus. Mr. Black, now senior ani- 
mal husbandman of the Bureau at Beltsville, Md., observed 
that cattle in such areas often received a supplemental feed- 
ing of bone meal, which supplies phosphorus. 
“He noted the high fertility of the cows, as indicated by 
the large number of calves,” according to the government's 
report. “The cattle were in good flesh, with evidence of good 
bone development. He also noted that the South African 
veld resembled range areas in Texas, Arizona, and New 
Mexico.” 
103 104 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
Tests Conducted At State Experiment Stations and on 
King Ranch 
The statement continues: “On his return to the United 
States, Black made plans to determine whether the feeding 
of phosphorus or other minerals would be beneficial here 
under similar conditions. Work conducted by the Texas, New 
Mexico, and other state experiment stations, before or about 
that time, supported the likelihood of such benefits. In 1937 
the Bureau of Animal Industry began a study of the prob- 
lem in cooperation with the Texas station and the King 
Ranch of that state. Analysis of forage samples as well as 
blood samples from cattle of the area showed phosphorus 
deficiencies, but supplies of other important minerals were 
apparently adequate. In experiments to determine what 
benefits might be derived from a phosphorus supplement, 
four groups of young cows were fed on the range. One group 
received no supplement. The other three received, respec- 
tively, disodium phosphate, bone meal, and bone meal with 
small quantities of other minerals, by hand-dosing six times 
a week. Most of them received 6.5 grams of phosphorus per 
head daily, but lactating cows got about twice as much.” CHAPTER XVII 
Biological Assays of Soil Fertility1 
WM. A. ALBRECHT and G. E. SMITH' 
Reprinted from Soil Science Society oi America, 
Proceedings 1941. Vol. 6. 
The values of soil treatments, such as manure, phosphates, 
limestone, and other fertilizers, have usually been measured 
in terms of the increased yield of crops. Whenever the cost 
of the treatment is less than the sale value of the increased 
bulk, whether grain or forage, then the soil treatment is 
usually regarded as an acceptable farm practice. This as- 
sumption has been the basis of much of the experimental 
work with fertilizers and of many recommendations as to 
fertilizer use. Farmers, however, have been obliged to dis- 
count it for risks of weather, pests, crop diseases and prices. 
Hence with the commonly low and fluctuating monetary 
values from direct sale of field products, the margin of pro- 
fit from treatments on many Missouri soils has frequently 
been small. This has not encouraged the additions of fertility 
to the soil as extensively as an approach to soil maintenance 
requires. 
There has been only a little upward trend in fertilizer use 
despite the belief that fertilizer consumption in Missouri, 
for example, could be much increased with profitable re- 
sults. In 1940, one and one-third million tons of limestone 
were used in the state, but even this amount is not sufficient 
to replace even the annual leaching loss of lime from the 
soil. With the decline of soil fertility recognized as the main 
cause of economic distress by only the few soil chemists, 
there is a serious need to translate soil fertility from a for- 
1Contribution from the Department of Soils, Missouri Agricultural Experiment 
Station, Columbia, Mo. Journal Series. No. 788. 
“Professor of Soils and Instructor in Soils, respectively. 
105 106 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
eign language of chemical formulae and tonnage increase 
per acre, to one that speaks in terms of better animal growth 
and greater provision of more nourishing human food as 
antidotes for dangerous deficiency diseases that are ravag- 
ing and deforming both animal and human bodies. 
Animal assays, or animal interpretations, of the value of 
soil treatments might encourage wider use of them for soil 
fertility maintenance and improvement. 
Trend Toward Pastoral Farming Without Soil Treatment 
Invites Disaster 
In many instances farmers on thin, eroded soil have not 
believed that the increased yields from applications of fer- 
tilizers, including lime, particularly with weather and in- 
sect hazards, have been sufficient to warrant their use even 
on cash crops. This says nothing of their use on the pasture 
and hay crops of which the acre yields remain unmeasured 
and are not evaluated so commonly in immediate monetary 
returns. Since there is a rapidly gaining movement toward 
more livestock or toward the pastoral system of farming, 
this indifferent attitude toward soil maintenance is dis- 
tressing. It will lead toward poorer yields, less profit, great- 
er soil depletion and more devastating soil erosion. A con- 
tinuation of this trend must result in a lowered economic 
status of farmers. It will make any future amelioration pro- 
gram all the more difficult. Any means, or any program, 
therefore, that may be used to demonstrate the feasibility 
of soil treatment in this state at this time is highly desirable. 
It has long been known that the chemical composition of 
any single forage or hay crop may be influenced by the de- 
gree of maturity or time of cutting, and by the kind of soil 
on which it is grown. When soil treatments are used, the 
flora of a pasture sward may be modified so as to bring in 
plants of higher feeding value for animals. Research in 
pasture improvement shows that the concentrations of pro- 
tein, minerals and carbohydrates in plants are changed by 
the application of different soil treatments. Such changes EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
107 
indicate that the use of fertilizers on farm crops may have 
effects beyond recognition as mere increase in weight of 
crops produced, and are effects that have therefore not been 
widely recognized. Perhaps, Crampton and Finlayson,3 more 
than anyone else, have pointed to the value of bioassays of 
soil treatments. 
From indications and suggestions by chemical studies of 
the plant behavior through refined control of nutrients of- 
fered on colloidal clay growth media, it is believed that there 
are important benefits from fertility additions to soils that 
cannot be measured in terms of bulk increase in yield. The 
hypothesis is ventured that hidden benefits from soil treat- 
ments can be demonstrated through assays with smaller 
animals. For detection of these benefits, experimental at- 
tention may well go toward some new methods for evaluat- 
ing soil treatments in terms of their biological assays. 
Benefits Other Than Increased Yields Come From 
Soil Treatments 
Soil treatments show effects on the chemical composition 
of numerous crops grown in experimental trials in the field. 
Lespedeza, for example, has been consistent in its changes 
in composition as a response to various soil treatments. 
Table 1, giving the analyses of this crop grown with differ- 
ent soil treatments, is typical of these. 
These data show that the soil treatments demonstrated 
effects other than merely that of increasing the forage 
yields. When the percentage of protein and the increased 
forage yield as a result of the soil treatment of lime plus 
phosphate are considered, it is not beyond the imagination 
to consider that this type of forage should have some unlisted 
improvements and a greater feed value per unit of forage 
weight than would the forage receiving only phosphate. The 
data point to greater differences in the feed value per acre 
than would be indicated by a yield increase of only 594 
pounds. The increases in delivery of phosphorus and calcium 
per acre are also items that must not be overlooked. Their 108 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
significance, however, would seem small in comparison with 
the protein which gave differences both in concentration 
and in total yields. If the addition of lime will increase the 
protein content within the legume forages, as it has in the 
case of this lespedeza, it is not unreasonable to suppose that 
organic compounds other than proteins, not commonly de- 
termined analytically but yet highly essential in animal 
growth, may also be favorably influenced. 
Animals As An Aid in Determining Effects of Soil on 
Forage Values 
Trials with Sheep, 1939-40 
A preliminary experiment with sheep was conducted to 
ascertain some possible effects of lime on lespedeza as it 
gives values other than increased tonnage, increased protein, 
and increased minerals as commonly measured by chemical 
determinations. 
Lespedeza hay was taken from an area which includes 
numerous phosphates comparably applied to wheat and bar- 
ley on both limed and unlimed soil and grown to this legume. 
Before the baled hays were in shelter a heavy rain dam- 
aged them severely. The damage was greater to the hay from 
the limed land, probably because of its higher protein con- 
tent, so that when the better portions were saved the hay 
from the unlimed soil appeared to be of better quality. Be- 
cause of much loss of hay, the supply carried the experiment 
only for 45 days, and was supplemented by other hay from 
two adjacent farms of similar soil. The analyses of these 
Table 1.—Influence of limestone and phosphate on the composition and yields 
of lespedeza, Columbia, Mo., 1938. 
Yield, 
Delivery, lbs. 
Soil 
lbs. 
N, 
P, 
Ca, 
per acre 
treatment 
per 
% 
% 
% 
Pro- 
p 
Ca 
acre 
tein 
None 
762 
1.79 
0.19 
0.93 
73.9 
1.44 
7.1 
Phosphate 
800 
1.81 
0.20 
0.98 
79.2 
1.78 
8.8 
Phosphate and lime 
1,394 
2.09 
0.19 
0.94 
182.0 
2.53 
13.2 
3Crampton, E. W. and Finlayson, D. A. The effect of fertilization on the 
nutritive value of pasture grasses. Emp. Jour. Exp. Aar., 3:331-345. 1935. EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
109 
supplementary hays, as shown in Table 2, agreed well with 
those of the initial forage. 
Experimental sheep were started on feed on September 
28, 1939. They were given all the hay they would eat plus 
a daily supplement of pound of oats and pound of 
wheat bran per head per day. Table 2 gives the analyses of 
the hay. Table 3 gives the hay consumption, the gains by the 
lambs, and other details, during the 108-day feeding period 
from September 28, 1939, to January 13, 1940. 
Nutritive Improvement Greater Than Changes in Chemical 
Composition as Commonly Measured 
The performance by the sheep as related to the composi- 
tion of the hay shows clearly that the effectiveness in pro- 
ducing animal gains by the elements, or compounds, con- 
tained in the hay was much greater than was the increase 
in concentrations in the chemical composition of the forage 
because of the soil treatment. The analyses of the hay re- 
veal an increase in protein concentration from 10.7% for the 
phosphated plots to 13.7% for lime addition with the phos- 
phate. This was an improvement in protein composition of 
nearly 30%. When combined with better tonnage yield it 
amounted to 128 pounds more protein per acre. 
The gains made by the lambs were fairly uniform per pen 
throughout the duration of the experiment, but the figures 
show that those fed the phosphated hay gained 0.073 pound 
per day, while those fed the phosphated and limed hay 
Table 2.—Analyses and yields of lespedeza hay from Putnam silt loam with 
different soil treatments. 
Yields 
lbs. 
Soil treatment 
per acre 
N, 
Pro- 
Ca, 
P, 
and location 
Hay 
Pro- 
tein 
% 
tein, 
% 
% 
% 
Phosphate 
(South Farm) 
2,190 
235.4 
1.72 
10.7 
0.866 
0.170 
Phosphate and lime 
(South Farm) 
2,652 
363.3 
2.20 
13.7 
0.944 
0.175 
No lime 
(South Farm) 
1.38 
8.7 
0.860 
0.150 
Lime 
(Bowling Farm) 
2.01 
12.5 
0.996 
0.170 110 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
Table 3.—Lespedeza hay consumption as related to gains by lambs. 1939-40.* 
Hay from 
Hay from 
soil treated 
untreated or 
with phos- 
phosphate 
phate and 
treated soil 
lime or lime 
Sheep daysf 
1,382 
only 
1,437 
Hay offered per pen, lbs 
3,864 
3,987 
Waste hay recovered, lbs 
882 
906 
Hay consumed, lbs 
2,982 
3,081 
Gain per head per day, lbs 
0.0735 
0.1106 
Hay consumed per head per day, lbs 
2.14 
2.14 
Hay per pound gain, lbs 
29.2 
19.4 
Protein per pound of gain, Ibs.J 
2.13 
2.66 
Gain per pound calcium, Ibs.J 
3.95 
5.66 
Gain per pound phosphorus, Ibs.J 
20.1 
29.5 
Gain per acre lespedeza, lbs 
74.9 
136.5 
*Feeding period 108 days, Sept. 29, 1939, to Jan. 13, 1940. 
fNumber of sheep times the days on feed. Some lambs were removed be- 
fore the end of the period. 
JWhen the total gain is calculated as though produced by the hay only and 
no value given the supplement. Supplement consisted of Vl pound daily of 
mixture of equal parts of oats and wheat bran. Lambs weighed 70 pounds 
each as mean per pen at the outset. 
gained 0.110 pound per day. This represented an improve- 
ment in animal growth of slightly more than 50% from a 
soil treatment which improved the chemical composition of 
the hay by only 30 %. 
Since the two pens of sheep consumed exactly the same 
amount of hay per head per day, namely, 2.1 pounds, it ap- 
pears that the sheep were consuming the maximum and that 
the gain beyond the equivalents in improvement in chemical 
composition must have been due to some variations in the 
hays not detected by the common methods of feed analyses. 
Had no supplement been fed, this difference might even 
have been greater since the supplement probably covered 
some of the nutrient deficiencies in the hay grown on soil 
given phosphate but no limestone. The animal assay re- 
vealed values beyond those commonly assigned when mea- 
sured by chemical assay. 
According to the data in Table 3, 29.2 pounds of the hay 
from the phosphated plots were required for each pound of EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
Ill 
animal gain. Only 19.4 pounds of the hay from the soil with 
the treatment of lime and phosphate were necessary for the 
same gain. From such results it not only appears that the 
hays differ in feeding value, but it also suggests forcefully 
that the nutritive ingredients in the hays are significantly 
different. If the supplement, which was a constant for both 
pens, is disregarded, then from the phosphated hay it re- 
quired 3.13 pounds of protein to produce a pound of gain, 
while in the hay from the phosphated and limed soil a pound 
of gain was produced from only 2.66 pounds of protein. This 
suggests a 17% greater efficiency in the use of the protein 
in the better hay. 
When the calcium in the hay is considered, while that in 
the supplement is disregarded, then a pound of this element 
consumed in the phosphated hay produced only 3.95 pounds 
of animal gain, while the same quantity of calcium in the 
hay from soil treated with both phosphate and lime pro- 
duced 5.66 pounds of gain. This greater efficiency in the 
calcium delivered to the animal amounted to more than 
43% when reflected as body gain. With similar consideration 
of the phosphorus, the hay receiving only phosphate as a 
soil treatment produced 20.1 pounds of animal gain for each 
pound of phosphorus supplied in the hay, while the hay from 
the limed soil produced 29.5 pounds of gain for each pound 
of phosphorus consumed. Here again is a difference as large 
as 47%, or a much greater efficiency in the conversion of 
crude soil fertility nutrients into high-priced, readily salable 
animal products. 
Economy Per Acre Widely Different 
Converting these differences to the farm-acre basis, an 
acre of the lespedeza hay grown on phosphated soil would 
have produced 74.9 pounds of lamb gain, while an acre of 
the soil given the fertility addition of both lime and phos- 
phate would have produced 136.5 pounds. This final dif- 
ference in animal increase per acre is the summation of the 
significance of soil treatments. Through the simple addition 
of limestone to phosphate as a soil treatment there was an 112 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
increase of 21 % in the yields of hay, an increase of 
30% in the protein content of the forage, an increase 
of 50% in the animal gain per unit weight of forage fed, a 
17% greater efficiency in the use of protein, a 43% greater 
efficiency in the use of calcium, a 47% greater efficiency 
in the use of phosphorus, and an 80% greater efficiency in 
the use of the land as a means of converting a small part of 
its fertility into marketable products of higher values for 
human sustenance. Thus, through this long chain of effects, 
the importance of soil fertility restoration in the form of soil 
treatments brings itself more nearly to the significance it 
deserves. 
Trials With Sheep 1940-41 
Because the hay used in the first attempt at a biological 
assay of effects by soil treatments was not produced under 
constant soil conditions throughout the trial, the experi- 
ment was repeated using the hays grown on soils of the 
station experiment plots. Lambs were again obtained from 
the source used previously and the experiment followed the 
same plan as that of 1939-40. The hays were harvested and 
stored in good condition. They were from adjacent ranges 
and all operations had been carried out at the same time 
and by identical procedures. 
The crop yields and the analyses of the forages are given 
in Table 4. With them is a summary of the feeding data com- 
piled for 98 days of the experiment. EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
113 
Table 4.—Hay yields and consumption as related to gains by lambs, Septem- 
ber 28, 1940, to January 4, 1941. 98 days.* 
Hay from 
Hay from 
soil treated 
phosphate- 
with lime 
treated soils 
and phos- 
(8 lambs) 
phate 
(9 lambs) 
Yield per acre, lbs 
3,000 
3,812 
Nitrogen, % 
1.95 
2.05 
Calcium, % 
1.13 
1.31 
Phosphorus, % 
0.226 
0.220 
Sheep days 
784 
882 
Hay offered per pen, lbs 
3,146.8 
3,324.6 
Waste recovered, lbs 
1,568 
1,496.7 
Hay consumed, lbs 
1,578.8 
1,827.9 
Gain per pen, lbs 
Ill 
145 
Gain per head per day, lbs 
0.1408 
0.1644 
Hay consumed per head per day, lbs 
2.013 
2.072 
Hay per pound gain, lbs 
14.22 
12.6 
Protein per pound of gain, lbs 
1.74 
1.61 
Gain per pound calcium, lbs 
6.23 
6.06 
Gain per pound phosphorus, lbs 
31.1 
36.1 
Gain per acre lespedeza, lbs 
210.9 
301.5 
Difference in yield of hay, % 
27.0 
Difference in rate of gain, % 
16.6 
Difference in gain per acre, % 
43.1 
Difference in concentration of protein, % 
4.9 
of data in this trial were made in the same manner as for 
Table 3. 
The yields of hay harvested in 1940 averaged somewhat 
larger than those in 1939, probably due to heavier summer 
rainfall. From two phosphate ranges the yield for 1940 was 
3,000 pounds per acre; that for the two areas treated with 
both phosphate and limestone 3,812 pounds per acre. The 
difference in yield, namely, 27%, was greater than that ob- 
tained in 1939 when liming resulted in an increase of 21% 
in the forage yield. 
Animal Increases as Indices of Forage Efficiency 
The data in Table 4 show the 98-day feeding results ob- 
tained in 1940-41. The figures for the gains and the hay 
consumed are comparable to those obtained in 1939. Both 
pens consumed about the same amount of hay, namely, 2.0 
pounds per head per day as compared to 2.1 pounds for the 
preceding year. The lambs receiving phosphated hay gained 
an average of 13.8 pounds per head in this 98-day period, 114 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
an average of 0.1408 pound per day. Those given hay grown 
on land receiving both phosphate and lime gained as an 
average, a total of 16.1 pounds per head during this period, 
an average of 0.1644 pound per head per day. This differ- 
ence in rate of gain is more than 16 %. Further calculations 
in a manner similar to those in the first trial with sheep 
show that the sheep receiving phosphated hay produced a 
pound of gain for each 14 pounds of hay consumed, while 
those receiving the limed and phosphated hay produced a 
pound of gain from only 12.6 pounds of hay. Accordingly, 
the phosphated hay would produce 210 pounds of animal 
gain per acre, while that grown on the phosphated and limed 
land would produce 301 pounds per acre. When considered 
for hay only, these figures are high because part of the gain 
comes from the supplement fed, but, since the quantity of 
supplement supplied was constant, the figures are com- 
parable. This is a difference in animal production per acre 
of more than 43% because of soil treatments as contrasted 
to differences of only 27 % in the tonnage yields of the two 
hays because of soil treatments. 
The following facts stand out prominently regarding soil 
treatments as they are reflected by animal behaviors: Soil 
treatments in the field may modify the chemical composi- 
tion of forages; animal gains made from these different 
forages reflect differences much greater than are the differ- 
ences in chemical composition as commonly evaluated, ac- 
cording to methods of feed analyses; the nutritive efficien- 
cies of elements contributed by the soil and of the compounds 
formed by the plants apparently are much improved by soil 
treatments; the tonnage yields per acre of forage are not 
the complete measure of the values to be derived from soil 
treatments; some other elements, compounds, or complexes 
in addition to increased mineral content in the forage de- 
rived through soil treatments seem responsible for these 
improvements in animal gain, differences in the calcium 
and phosphorus contents alone apparently being too small 
to account directly for the wide differences in animal gain; EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
115 
finally, if soil treatments are to be measured for their fullest 
value in better agriculture, their measure in the form of a 
biological assay with animals seems necessary. 
Laboratory Animals and Assay of Soil 
Fertility Treatments 
As a support for the results obtained from the experi- 
ments with sheep, more detailed data were gathered by 
feeding lespedeza hay from the same source to rabbits. Two 
pens each containing three young female chinchilla rabbits 
were fed the hay used for sheep in 1939. The rabbits re- 
ceived all the hay they would eat along with a daily supple- 
ment of 20 grams of oats per head per day while they were 
small and 30 grams later. They were fed in screen-floored 
pens. Both the feces and the urine were collected to permit 
a chemical balance of the outgo against the intake in the 
ration of hay and oats. Complete records were kept of the 
hay given and of the waste removed. Tables 5 and 6 give the 
results of feed consumption and of animal growth for a 
period of 100 days, extending from March 6 to June 13. The 
digestibility and other evaluations are given in Table 6. 
Table 5.—Hay consumed and rabbit gains during 100 days, March 6 to June 
13. 1940, average of three rabbits in each pen. 
Lespedeza 
Lespedeza 
hay from 
hay from 
soil treated 
soil treated 
with phos- 
with phos- 
phate 
phate and 
(pen 1) 
lime (pen 2) 
Hay consumed, grams 
22,531 
23,297 
Hay consumed per head per day, grams ... 
75.1 
77.6 
Rabbit gain per pen, grams 
2,325 
3,214 
Grams hay per gram gain, grams* 
9.69 
7.24 
Average gain per rabbit per 100 days, grams 775 1,071 
*When the gain is calculated as though produced by the hay only. 
Rabbit Gains as Indices of Differences in Efficiency 
Of Forage as Feed 
The figures obtained in the experiments with rabbits 
(Table 5) show results in close agreement with those ob- 
tained with sheep. The rabbits fed the hay from limed soil 
ate only about 3% more than those fed the phosphated hay, 116 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
but made 38% more gain. The quantity of hay necessary to 
produce a unit of gain was also in agreement with the re- 
sults obtained with sheep. While 9.69 grams of phosphated 
hay were required for each gram of gain, only 7.24 grams of 
the hay that was phosphated and limed were necessary for 
the same gain. This is a difference of nearly 34%. That all 
of the gains made by the rabbits should be in such close 
agreement with those obtained with the sheep suggests the 
possibility of using these smaller animals as bioassay agents. 
Table 6.—Digestibility data lor lespedeza hays from different soils. 
From soil From soil 
treated with treated with 
phosphate phosphate 
and lime 
Gain per gram of hay, grams* 0.103 0.138 
Gain per gram of oats, grams* 0.353 0.487 
Gain per gram oats and hay, grams 0.0797 0.1075 
Digestibility of dry matter, % 64.8 61.4 
Gain per gram nitrogen fed, grams 5.15 5.22 
Digestibility of nitrogen, % 55.5 57.6 
Gain per gram nitrogen retained grams 13.4 14.0 
Gain per gram calcium fed, grams 10.94 13.07 
Digestibility of calcium, % 62.9 56.5 
Digestibility of phosphorus, % 40.3 28.8 
Calcium voided in urine per gram calcium fed, 
grams 0.169 0.084 
Gain per gram calcium retained, grams 23.3 27.7 
Gain per gram phosphorus fed, grams 48.7 49.4 
Phosphorus voided in urine per gram phosphorus 
fed, grams 0.0259 0.0158 
Gain per gram phosphorus retained, grams 124 180 
Gain per gram feces, grams 0.227 0.279 
and lime 
*When the entire ration, grain and hay, is considered and the gain divided 
by the weight of oats, or of hay, consumed. 
The digestibility of the two different hays was determined 
from the analyses of all materials fed and from the analyses 
of the urine and feces. Only a small portion of the results 
from the calculations are included in Table 6, but these 
figures give additional information regarding the efficiency 
of the two hays. The hay from soil receiving both phosphate 
and lime contained a greater quantity of nitrogen, phos- 
phorus, and calcium than the hay grown on soil receiving 
only phosphate. However, the differences in digestibility EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
117 
and retention of the different elements for which analyses 
were made were much greater than these analyses indicate. 
Despite the greater gains made by the animals on the hay 
from the limed and phosphated soil, they digested only 61% 
of the bulk ingested, while the animals fed hay from the 
soil which received only phosphate digested 65% of the bulk 
ingested. Similarly, the calcium in the phosphated and limed 
hay was digested to the extent of 56% and to 63% in the 
phosphated hay. For the phosphorus in the hays the cor- 
responding figures were 29% and 42% digestible. In spite 
of the higher digestibility of the bulk, of the calcium, and of 
the phosphorus for the hay given only the single soil treat- 
ment, the gains per gram of calcium and per gram of phos- 
phorus fed were higher for the hay on soil treated with both 
lime and phosphate. 
The rabbits fed the limed and phosphated hay produced 
5.22 grams gain for each gram of nitrogen fed, while the 
phosphated hay produced 5.15 grams gain for each gram 
of nitrogen fed. Calculations of the amount of nitrogen fed 
and voided show that for each gram of nitrogen retained in 
the animal body, those animals fed the phosphated hay made 
13.4 grams of gain, while those receiving hay from the 
limed and phosphated land used this same unit of protein to 
build a body gain of 14.0 grams. This may seem to be a 
small difference, but it points to either a better balanced 
protein or a more efficient utilization of the protein when 
offered in combination with other items delivered in the 
feed. 
Efficiency of Calcium 
When the growth and digestion figures are calculated on 
the basis of .the calcium, the results are more striking with 
even a higher efficiency than that for protein. Even though 
the difference in the calcium concentration within the hays 
was relatively small, yet the difference in gain per unit of 
calcium fed and retained is large. The pen of rabbits fed the 
phosphated hay made a gain of 10.9 grams for each gram of 118 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
calcium supplied and a gain of 23.2 grams for each gram 
retained in the body, whereas the corresponding figures for 
the rabbits fed the hay from the phosphated and limed soils 
show gains of 13.7 grams and 27.1 grams, respectively. 
It is significant that the total amount of calcium retained 
by both pens was almost the same, namely, 53.1% and 
52.9%, yet the rabbits on the limed hay made much more 
rapid gains per unit of calcium retained. This would in- 
dicate that neither of these hays was failing to deliver an 
ample amount of calcium, but the presence of the calcium 
in the soil influenced the physiology of the plants so that 
they provided a forage of which the calcium content could 
be more efficiently utilized by the animals. 
Efficiency of Phosphorus 
The phosphorus digestion and retention also show strik- 
ing differences according to soil treatment. For each gram 
of phosphorus given, the animals fed on the phosphated hay 
produced 47.7 grams of gain, while on the phosphated and 
limed hay the gain was 49.4 grams. If the gains are com- 
puted on the basis of the phosphate retained in the body, 
then the phosphated hay produced 123 grams of gain, where- 
as the hay from the phosphate and lime treated plots pro- 
duced 180 grams gain for each gram retained. This is a 
difference of over 46%. This is again significant since the 
phosphorus treatment on both hays was constant. This also 
indicates that the addition of the limestone produced physio- 
logical differences in the plants which had a pronounced ef- 
fect on the utilization and efficiency of the phosphorus. Al- 
though the rabbits which were fed the hay grown on the 
phosphated soil retained a slightly larger percentage of the 
total amount of nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorus given 
them, the gain made per unit of these materials retained in 
the body was much greater where the plants were grown 
on soil well supplied with lime. 
It is a striking fact that although the rabbits were fed the 
greater quantities of calcium and phosphorus in the limed EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
119 
hay, yet they excreted less of both of these elements in the 
urine. This tends further to suggest that when these ele- 
ments were digested out of the feed, the hay which received 
only phosphate must have been deficient in something and 
thus prevented the calcium and phosphorus from being ef- 
fectively utilized. 
Regarding the composition of these hays there is the 
further fact that the animals fed the phosphated hay pro- 
duced 0.228 gram of gain for each gram of feces excreted, 
while on the limed and phosphated hay the corresponding 
gain was 0.279 gram, an increase of 23%. The animals fed 
the phosphated hay excreted 23% more waste to make the 
same amount of gain as did those fed on hay receiving both 
phosphate and lime. 
Summary and Discussion 
From chemical analyses and digestion measurements 
made on sheep and rabbits, it is evident that the increase in 
tonnage per acre is an insufficient measure of the value of 
a soil treatment. Lespedeza grown on soil receiving both 
lime and phosphate produced from 20 to 26% higher yields 
than where phosphate alone was applied. However, when 
the same hays were fed to experimental animals the differ- 
ence in meat as pounds became 60 to 80%. There were no 
great differences in the concentrations of calcium or phos- 
phorus in these hays, yet in terms of animal nutrition it is 
forcefully suggested that the presence of the lime must have 
altered the physiology of the lespedeza plants during growth. 
This limed hay apparently contained certain substances es- 
sential for animal growth and mineral utilization which was 
not determined by the usual chemical analyses, measuring 
the mineral elements and protein. Though the increased 
quantity of protein is in approximate agreement with better 
animal growth, yet the gains were greater per unit of the 
protein supplied in the limed hay. This indicates delivery of 
other substances necessary for animal metabolism by this 
soil treatment and that analyses for the common feed con- 120 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
stituents as now practiced are not sufficient to measure the 
value of soil treatments. It seems that some type of biologi- 
cal assay is the only means by which these improvements 
can be measured. 
The correlation between the results obtained from sheep 
and rabbits is so close that it appears possible to eliminate 
the larger and more expensive animals, and use laboratory 
animals in the experiments, then interpret the results in 
equivalents of farm animals. If a definite correlation be- 
tween the nutritive behavior of rabbits and larger animals 
can be established, it will be possible to use many more 
soil areas under treatment and obtain biological assays with 
laboratory animals when with sheep or cattle such assay 
would be impossible, or limited to few expensive and time- 
consuming trials. 
The foregoing report has dealt only with forages grown 
on soils of different calcium treatment. If calcium can bring 
about such marked differences, it is logical to believe that 
other fertility elements which play an important role in the 
growth of plants might also influence a plant’s composition 
sufficiently to be reflected by the test animals. It is essential 
that thought be given to the use of this refined measure by 
means of animal assays for determining the influences by 
other soil treatments whose effects are not yet detectable in 
terms of tonnage increases. CHAPTER XVIII 
Studies on the Interrelation of Fats, 
Carbohydrates, and 
B-Vitamins in Rat Nutrition* 
R. K. BOUTWELL, R. P. GEYER, C. A. ELVEHJEM, and E. B. HART 
From the Department of Biochemistry, College of Agriculture, 
University of Wisconsin, Madison 
Reprinted from Archives of Biochemistry, Vol. 7, No. 1. June, 1945 
Introduction 
It has been demonstrated in this laboratory that 
weanling rats fed ad libitum rations containing lactose and 
corn oil grew at a rate inferior to that obtained with butter- 
fat. When glucose was the carbohydrate no difference could 
be found in rats fed either fat in the presence of lactose. 
Deuel, et al. fed weanling rats an unextracted, min- 
eralized skim milk powder ration to which was added one 
of the following fats: butter, corn, cottonseed, olive, peanut, 
soybean, or margarine. They found no significant differ- 
ences in growth rate, body composition, or pregnancy and 
lactation performance of rats fed rations containing the 
various fats. Zialcita and Mitchell also concluded that 
corn oil and butterfat are essentially equal in growth pro- 
moting value for the rat. The paired method of feeding was 
employed. The ration consisted of 60 parts of ether-extracted 
skim milk powder and 27 parts of the fat to be tested plus 
* Published with the approval of the Director of the Wisconsin Agricultural 
Experiment Station. This work was supported in part by funds granted by the 
National Dairy Council, Chicago, on behalf of the American Dairy Associa- 
tion; also from funds granted by the Evaporated Milk Association, Chicago. 
We are indebted to Merck and Company, Rahway, New Jersey, for supplies of 
the synthetic B vitamins and a-tocopherol; to Winthrop Chemical Company, 
New York, for crystalline vitamin D2; and to Wilson Laboratories, Chicago, 
for the whole liver powder. 
121 122 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
7 parts of casein, 6 parts of a salt mixture, and fat-soluble 
and synthetic B-vitamins. Although these investigators did 
not entirely fulfill the conditions defined by us, the data 
were interpreted to disprove our original observations. 
Deuel and Movitt (6) found that in free choice experi- 
ments rats chose certain diets containing diacetyl or com- 
mercial butter flavoring in preference to the unflavored 
diet. It was concluded that the superiority of butterfat over 
certain vegetable oils reported by Schantz, Elvehjem, and 
Hart “is in all probability to be traced to the fact that wean- 
ling rats prefer a butter flavor and will eat more of such a 
diet.” In contrast, Boutwell, et al. used the single choice 
technique with ad libitum feeding and found that the re- 
moval of the flavoring agents from butterfat by chromato- 
graphy or the addition of one such agent, diacetyl, to corn 
oil had little or no effect on the average daily food intake 
and average gain in body weight of rats fed certain purified 
rations. Flavor was also ruled out because rats showed no 
difference in food consumption or growth when fed rations 
in which glucose was substituted for lactose. 
In explanation of the superior nutritive value of butter- 
fat over corn oil in certain rations, Boutwell, et al. suggest- 
ed that the substitution of corn oil for butterfat resulted in 
a decreased sythesis of vitamins by the intestinal flora. It is 
well recognized that changes in the kind of dietary carbo- 
hydrate may be reflected in the amount of vitamins syn- 
thesized by the intestinal microorganisms.. There are no 
data in the literature which show that the kind of dietary 
fat may have a similar effect. However, Mannering, et al. 
showed that the isocaloric substitution of fat for dextrin, 
in a ration restricted in riboflavin content but adequate in 
other respects, decreased the growth of rats by lowering 
the bacterial synthesis of riboflavin. There are in vitro 
studies which show that different fats may have varying 
effects on the growth of bacteria. Strong and Carpenter 
found stearic and oleic acids were stimulatory to Lactobacil- EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
123 
lus casei. Palmitic and linoleic acids had an inhibitory ef- 
fect. Feeney and Strong obtained an ether soluble fraction 
from blood which stimulated the growth of the same or- 
ganism. 
The present study was undertaken to clarify that property 
of fats which is responsible for the observations of Bout- 
well and coworkers and to interpret, if possible, the dispar- 
ity in the conclusions of various investigators. 
Experimental 
Male albino rats of the Sprague-Dawley strain (20 days 
of age, 5 g. weight range) were placed in individual raised 
screen cages and fed the experimental diets for six weeks. 
Food and water were given ad libitum each day and food 
consumption records were kept. 
The rations contained carbohydrate 48, purified casein1 
20, salt mixture2 4, and fat (butterfat or corn oil) 28. Three 
levels of B vitamins were fed as shown in Table I. 
Table I.—Composition of Rations. 
Vitamin level 
High plus 
Component 
Medium 
High 
liver 
per cent 
per cent 
per cent 
Carbohydrate 
48 
48 
48 
Casein 
20 
20 
20 
Salts 
4 
4 
4 
Fat 
28 
28 
28 
mg./lOO g. 
mg./lOO g. 
mg./lOO g. 
Liver extract* 
1 
Thiamine 
0.200 
0.500 
0.600 
Riboflavin 
0.300 
0.500 
0.900 
Pyridoxin 
0.300 
0.625 
0.900 
Pantothenic acid 
1.500 
5.0 
6.000 
Choline 
100.0 
250.0 
200.0 
Niacin 
0.625 
1.000 
p-Aminobenzoic acid 
30.0 
30.0 
Inositol 
100.0 
100.0 
*WiIson's whole liver powder, included at the expense of the total solids of 
the ration not fat. 
1 Four extractions of four hours each with continuous stirring; two with 
boiling ethanol and two with diethyl ether. 
3 Hegsted, et al. (16). 
These levels are arbitrarily designated as medium (or 
normal), high, and high plus liver. To insure uniformity 124 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
among the several rations containing a given level of B 
vitamins, the proper amounts of the vitamins were incor- 
porated with sufficient casein to enable aliquots to be taken 
from the same lot of casein for each diet to be mixed. Fat- 
soluble vitamins were added to both fats so that in addition 
to the amount naturally present, every 100 g. of ration con- 
tained 0.014 mg, calciferol, 0.560 mg. B-carotene,8 2.24 mg. 
a-tocopherol, and 0.210 mg. 2-methyl-l,4-naphthoquinone. 
The butterfat was prepared by decantation and filtration of 
melted (60°C.) fresh unsalted sweet cream butter from the 
University Creamery. The corn oil (Mazola) was obtained 
on the local wholesale market. Basal rations without the fat 
were mixed every three weeks. The complete ration includ- 
ing fat was mixed weekly and kept under refrigeration. 
The carbohydrates used were as follows: 
Galactose, Pfanstiehl d-galactose practical 
Glucose, cerelose, a pure commercial monohydrate4 
Starch, commercial corn starch 
Dextrin, corn starch autoclaved 3 hours at 15 pounds. 
dried and ground 
Dextri-maltose, Mead, Johnson and Co., salt-free 
Sucrose, commercial cane sugar 
Fructose, Pfanstiehl, d-levulose, C.P. 
a-Lactose, Merck, U.S.P. milk sugar4 
B-Lactose, Borden Company 
In one instance the 48 parts of carbohydrate were made 
up from 24 parts of glucose and 24 parts of galactose so as 
to represent the hydrolysis products of lactose. In a second 
case, the 48 parts of carbohydrate were made up from 24 
parts of glucose, and 24 parts of fructose, the hydrolysis 
products of sucrose. The carbohydrate and fat combina- 
tions as fed are shown in Table II. 
s Ninety per cent B-carotene. Nutritional Research Associates, Inc., South 
Whitley, Indiana. 
‘ The water of crystallization was not considered in formulating rations. EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
125 
Table II.—Growth of Rats Fed Various Combinations of Fat, Carbohydrate, 
and Water-Soluble Vitamins (6 Weeks) 
Vitamin level 
Medium 
High 
High plus liver 
Fat 
Butter 
Corn 
Dif.2 
Butter 
Corn 1 
Dif.2 
Butter 
Corn Dif.* 
g. 
g- 
g. 
g. 
g- 
g- 
Galactose 
Galactose- 
158 (3)* 
162 (3)* 
—4 
Glucose1 
185 (3)* 
179(3)* 
6 
180(18) 
182(18) 
—2 
Glucose 
172(12) 
175(12) 
—3 
187(18) 
183(18) 
4 
212(12) 209(12) 3 
Starch 
192(12) 
169(12) 
23 
188(18) 
185(18) 
3 
215(6) 
218(6) —3 
Dextrin 
187(6) 
169(6) 
18 
174(18) 
168(18) 
6 
203 (6) 
202 (6) 1 
Dextri- 
maltose 
199 (6) 
176 (6) 
23 
181 (18) 
168(18) 
13 
205 (6) 
208 (6) —3 
Fructose- 
Glucose1 
190(6) 
164 (6) 
26 
200 (3)* 
192(3)* 8 
Sucrose 
185(18) 
148(18) 
37 
190(18) 
166(18) 
24 
209 (6) 
203 (6) 6 
a-Lactose 
118(12) 
83(12) 
35 
158 (60) 
123 (60) 
35 
167(12) 
145(12) 22 
B-Lactose 
141 (18) 
118(18) 
23 
* Except for these groups, all groups consisted of six animals each. The 
figures in parentheses represent the total number of animals used in comput- 
ing the average. Figures of 12, 18, or 60 animals indicate the experiment was 
run twice, three times, or ten times, respectively. 
1 Each of the component carbohydrates constituted 24 parts of the ration. 
2 Positive values indicate the gain made by the butterfat group was greater; 
negative values indicate the converse. 
Growth of weanling rats fed rations containing lactose or 
sucrose was compared when supplemented with raw pork 
liver, a very rich source of the B vitamins. No comparison 
between butterfat and corn oil was attempted with this 
supplement because, in addition to the vitamins, it sup- 
plies appreciable quantities of animal fat. The ration had 
the following composition: lactose or sucrose 46, crude 
casein 25, salts 4, and butterfat (with added fat soluble vita- 
mins) 25. The high level of B vitamins (Table II) was in- 
corporated in the ration. A supplement of 2.5 g. of fresh, 
raw pork liver was given daily to each rat. Six weanling 
male rats were fed each ration ad libitum for 6 weeks. The 
growth and food consumption are shown in Table IV. Over 
the entire experimental period of 42 days, the fresh liver 
supplement contributed 31.5 g. of solids to the ration con- 
sumed by each rat. 
An in vitro experiment was made to determine the effect 
of the free fatty acids of butterfat and corn oil on the 126 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
growth of Streptococcus lactis5 and Lactobacillus casein 
The organisms were grown on the media described by 
Table III.—Growth of L. easel and S. lactis in the Presence of the Free Fatty 
Acids of Butterfat and Corn Oil 
Galvanometer reading* 
as a measure of growth 
Organism 
L. casei 
S. lactis 
Control tubes 
53 
85 
Fatty acids 
Butter 
Corn 
Butter 
Com 
mg. /tube 
0.1 
56 
103 
91 
80 
0.2 
55 
108 
93 
80 
0.5 
58 
101 
83 
78 
1.0 
71 
96 
84 
79 
2.0 
86 
92 
86 
87 
4.0 
110 
99 
99 
98 
* Corrected for the turbidity of the emulsion of fatty acids. The blank tube 
was set at 100. 
Luckey, Briggs, and Elvehjem made complete by the addi- 
tion of 0.1 mg. of solubilized liver per tube. The techni- 
ques of microbiological assays were followed. The free 
fatty acids were prepared by accepted procedures with care 
exercised to prevent oxidation. The lower fatty acids of but- 
terfat were removed by steam distillation. Using a labora- 
tory homogenizer, an emulsion of the fatty acids of butter- 
fat and of corn oil in water was prepared, of such concen- 
tration that aliquots could be taken to test varying levels 
of fat per tube. After inoculation, the tubes were incubated 
at 37°C. for 16 hours and read turbidimetrically in the 
Evelyn colorimeter. A series of blank tubes containing the 
same amount of the fat emulsion and at the same dilution 
as the experimental tubes was read to determine the cor- 
rection for the turbidity of the fat emulsion. The data are 
presented in Table III, growth being expressed in terms of 
galvanometer reading. The instrument was adjusted so that 
a. blank tube which contained no solubilized liver or fat gave 
a reading of 100. Growth of L. casei and S. lactis on the 
complete media without fat was represented by a reading 
of 53 and 85, respectively. 
5 Now designated as S. faecalis R. 
6 We wish to thank Mr. T. D. Luckey for help in performing this experiment. EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
127 
Table IV.—Growth and Food Consumption of Rats Supplemented with High 
Levels of B Vitamins Plus Raw Pork Liver 
(Each figure is the average of 6 male rats over a 6 weeks period.) 
Total consumption (gm.) 
Liver 
Total daily- 
Ration 
Growth 
Ration 
supplement* 
consumption 
Lactose 
<?• 
215 
443 
31 
11.3 
Sucrose 
* Dry basis. 
228 
450 
31 
11.5 
An overall summary of the growth data is presented in 
Table II. All fat-carbohydrate combinations shown within 
each vitamin level were fed concurrently at least once. How- 
ever, rations containing different levels of vitamins were 
fed at different times. Thus the better growth which re- 
sulted in certain groups fed the medium level of vitamins 
as compared to the high level may be attributed to varia- 
tions in rats from time to time. 
Results 
In the series fed high vitamin rations plus liver, similar 
rates of growth were found regardless of the kind of car- 
bohydrate or fat in the ration with the exception of the 
animals fed lactose. With lactose as the carbohydrate, the 
group fed butterfat was about 40 g. below the average 
groups fed the same fat and the other carbohydrates tested. 
The substitution of corn oil for butterfat caused a further 
drop in growth of about 20 g. in 6 weeks. 
The growth of rats fed the purified rations containing a 
high vitamin level with no crude vitamin carrier was more 
variable. Animals receiving galactose as 48 parts of the 
diet grew rather poorly. This was attributed to metabolic 
difficulty in utilizing such a level of galactose. All six rats 
developed bilateral cataract by the fifth week and present 
investigation (unpublished) indicates that rats fed such 
a ration excrete a large proportion of the dietary galactose 
in the urine. There was no difference in the growth pro- 
moting value of the two fats on this ration. With the car- 
bohydrate portion of the diet composed of equal amounts 128 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
of galactose and glucose, good growth was obtained with 
either fat. No cataract was observed. The groups fed but- 
terfat and glucose-galactose mixture, glucose, starch, dextri- 
maltose, sucrose, and probably dextrin all maintained supe- 
rior growth. This was true also of groups fed corn oil and 
galactose-glucose mixture, glucose, and starch. A small but 
definite drop was noted if corn oil was fed with dextrin, 
dextri-maltose, or sucrose. Again, as was found with high 
vitamin-liver rations, the growth of animals fed lactose was 
inferior. In 10 experiments with the a-lactose, high vitamin 
ration totaling 120 animals (60 on each fat) the growth on 
the corn oil diet averaged 35 g. below that obtained on the 
butterfat regime at the end of 6 weeks. A statistical analy- 
sis of the growth data of rats fed rations at the high level 
of vitamins (Table V) showed the superiority of butterfat 
Table V.—Food Consumption, Growth, and Statistical Evaluation ol Growth 
Difference of Rats Fed Various Fat and Carbohydrate Combinations in Rations 
Supplemented with a High Level of B-Vitamins1 
Food Consumption 
Growth 
Growth 
Analysis 
Butter- 
Corn 
Butter- 
Corn 
differ- 
of 
Carbohydrate 
fat 
oil 
fat 
oil 
ence 
variance* 
g./day 
g. /6 weeks 
g- 
F 
Galactose 
9.5 
10.1 
158 
162 
Galactose- 
Glucose2 
11.1 
10.9 
179.8 
182.1 
2.3 
0.06 
Glucose 
11.2 
11.0 
187.0 
182.8 
4.2 
0.21 
Starch 
10.5 
10.4 
187.6 
185.4 
2.2 
0.06 
Dextrin 
10.2 
10.0 
173.9 
167.9 
6.0 
0.43 
Dextri-maltose 
11.2 
10.2 
181.1 
168.4 
12.7 
1.95 
Sucrose 
11.2 
10.1 
189.7 
166.1 
23.6 
6.72 
a-Lactose 
10.1 
7.7 
149.3 
123.9 
25.4 
7.77 
B-Lactose 
10.1 
8.2 
140.7 
118.3 
22.4 
6.01 
1 These data are taken from the same experiments summarized in Table II, 
high vitamin column. Each figure is the average of 18 animals, except with 
galactose as the sole carbohydrate where 3 animals were fed each fat. 
2 Each of the two component carbohydrates constituted 24 parts of the total 
ration. 
3 The 1% value for F is given as 6.72 and the 5% value as 3.87 (one degree 
of freedom/280 degrees of freedom) in the "Statistical Tables for Biological, 
Agricultural, and Medical Research" by R. A. Fisher and F. Yates, (Oliver 
and Boyd, 1938), pp. 31 and 33. We wish to thank Dr. James H. Shaw for help 
in the statistical analysis. 
was highly significant when either sucrose or a-lactose was 
the carbohydrate. These data were well suited for statistical EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
129 
treatment because of the uniform, controlled conditions of 
the study. In three separate experiments, 96 weanling rats 
born on the same day and in a 5 g. weight range were divid- 
ed into groups of 6 and fed 16 different diets. Thus a total 
of 18 rats represented each diet in the analysis of variance. 
Rats fed a medium level of the B-complex and butterfat 
grew uniformly well on the galactose-glucose mixture, 
starch, dextrin, the fructose-glucose mixture, and sucrose 
diets. The corresponding animals on the glucose diet aver- 
aged 15 to 25 g. less. With the exception of the galactose- 
glucose and glucose groups, animals fed corn oil averaged 
18 to 37 g. less than the butterfat controls. At this vitamin 
level, rats grew only 2.8 and 2.0 g. per day when fed the 
lactose-butterfat and lactose-corn oil ration, respectively. 
Rats responded similarly to changes in fat and vitamin 
level when fed rations which contained either sucrose or 
the mixture of fructose and glucose equivalent to sucrose 
on a molecular basis. Lactose, which is considered to be 
slowly resolved to its component monosaccharides in the in- 
testinal tract, differed greatly from the mixture of galactose 
Table VI.—Food Consumption of Rats Fed Butterfat or Com Oil in a Lactose 
High Vitamin Diet 
(Each figure 
is the average 
of 6 rats.) 
Days (inclusive) 
Butterfat ration 
Corn oil ration 
g. 
g. 
1— 5 
21 
20 
6—10 
32 
25 
15—42 
360 
265 
and glucose as changes were made in the dietary fat and 
vitamin level. The greater solubility and apparent sweet- 
ness of B-lactose over ordinary milk sugar was not re- 
flected in the growth response of rats. Rather, in three 
separate experiments B-lactose tended to allow a smaller 
gain in body weight than a-lactose. Ershoff and Deuel found 
B-lactose was more “lethal” to young rats than a-lactose. 
Food consumption was followed in all experiments. The 
average gain in six weeks and the average daily food intake 130 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
of rats from one experiment at the high level of B-vitamins 
are given in Table V. The data show that food consumption 
parallels growth in all experiments. Typical food consump- 
tion data for rats fed the purified lactose ration at the high 
vitamin level with butterfat and corn oil are given in great- 
er detail in Table VI. During the first five days there was 
no difference in the amount of food consumed by the two 
groups. The group fed butterfat began to eat more than the 
group fed corn oil between the sixth and tenth day. After 
two weeks, consumption differed markedly. If palatability 
were a factor in determining the growth response of rats to 
these two fats as contended by Deuel and Movitt, a differ- 
ence in consumption should be apparent from the start of 
the experiment. 
No gross pathology of the internal organs was observed 
in rats fed any of the diets described. The fresh weight of 
the cecum of animals fed these rations, characterized by 
48% of carbohydrate and 28% of either fat, was usually in 
the range of 2 to 3 g. at the end of an experiment with the 
exception of rats on lactose rations. Ceca ranged from 3.5 
to 10 or more g. with either a- or B-lactose in the diet. Con- 
siderable water was present. It was noticed that the cecal 
contents of rats fed the butterfat-lactose rations were light 
yellow in color and usually quite free of gas. In contrast, the 
cecal contents of the corn oil-lactose group were gray and gas 
occluded with an odor of purification. H2S was easily driven 
off and detected with lead acetate. This difference in color 
was reflected in the feces of the animals in these respective 
groups, i.e., those from the butterfat-lactose animals were 
light colored, while those from the corn oil-lactose group 
were black. Cream colored feces were cometimes noted when 
butterfat was fed with any carbohydrate. 
The general appearance of rats fed corn oil with lactose 
was poor at all vitamin levels. This was also true of rats fed 
starch, dextrin, dextri-maltose, fructose-glucose mixture, 
and sucrose with a medium level of vitamins and occasion- EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
131 
ally of rats fed the high vitamin corn oil-sucrose ration. The 
chief gross symptoms were “bloody” nose and head, poor 
fur, and extensive symmetrical abdominal alopecia. Diar- 
rhea was prevalent among rats fed lactose with corn oil, 
especially during the first 3 weeks, but was absent or much 
less evident among the rats fed the ration with butterfat. 
A mild form of dermatitis of the paws was found only 
among animals fed the lactose ration with corn oil. 
The in vitro studies showed that the addition of the fatty 
acids of either fat had little effect on the growth of S. lactis 
up to levels of 2.0 mg. per tube. Complete inhibition of 
growth apparently resulted from the addition of 4.0 mg. 
The growth of L. casei was not inhibited with levels of the 
fatty acids of butterfat up to 0.5 mg. per tube, but levels 
of 1.0 and 2.0 mg. showed increasing inhibition, which be- 
came complete at levels of 4.0 mg. In contrast, the free fatty 
acids of corn oil inhibited the growth of L. casei at all levels 
tested. 
Discussion 
The data indicate that the apparent requirement of the 
rat for vitamins of the B-complex may be altered by a 
change in the kind of dietary fat, depending upon the kind 
of carbohydrate used in the ration. If this phenomenon were 
a function of a difference in metabolism of the fats studied, 
it would be expected to be manifest at certain vitamin levels 
irrespective of the carbohydrate fed, but this was not the 
case. Apparently the flora existing by virtue of the diets 
containing sucrose, a fructose-glucose mixture, starch, dex- 
trin, dextri-maltose, and lactose was labile to the kind of fat 
fed. The data obtained on the sucrose ration will serve to 
illustrate this point. The groups of rats which received but- 
terfat gained 185 g. at the medium level of vitamins, 189 g. 
at the high level, and 209 g. in 6 weeks at the high level of 
vitamins plus 1 per cent of whole liver concentrate. In con- 
trast, rats fed the above rations with the butterfat replaced 
by corn oil grew 148, 166, and 203 g., respectively. At the 132 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
lowest (medium) level of vitamins fed, growth of rats re- 
ceiving butterfat surpassed those on corn oil by an average 
of 37 g. in 6 weeks. The superiority of butterfat was non- 
existent (6 g.) at the high level of vitamins plus whole liver 
powder. The poor growth of the group receiving the corn 
oil ration at the medium level of water-soluble vitamins is 
a reflection of a reduced quantity of vitamins available to 
the animal from the intestinal flora, since the addition of 
more synthetic B-vitamins plus liver concentrate allowed 
these animals to grow at a rate equal to that achieved by 
those fed butterfat. The B-vitamin content of butterfat is 
negligible. 
The in vitro experiment which showed the effect of the 
fatty acids in butterfat and corn oil on the growth of bac- 
teria was described solely as an analogy to illustrate the 
probable mode of action of the fats in the interplay of fat, 
carbohydrate, and B-vitamins in the nutrition of the rat. 
No implied significance of either organism in vivo is intend- 
ed. If a portion of the vitamin synthesizers or utilizers in 
the tract were similarly inhibited or allowed to grow, signifi- 
cant differences in the kind and amount of vitamins avail- 
able to the host would be possible. 
The qualitative and quantitative nature of the underlying 
deficiencies demonstrated in rats fed corn oil in combina- 
tion with various carbohydrates may not be the same. For 
example, the riboflavin produced in the intestine of rats was 
shown to be much greater on diets high in lactose or dextrin 
as compared to sucrose. The observation that supplements of 
high levels of thiamine, riboflavin, pyridoxin, pantothenic 
acid, and choline, in addition to p-aminobenzoic acid, inosi- 
tol, and nicotinic acid improved the growth of rats fed cer- 
tain corn oil rations indicates that one or more of these 
vitamins may be involved. Biotin and unknown vitamins are 
not ruled out since the inclusion of a liver concentrate in 
the sucrose, dextri-maltose, and lactose diets was more ef- 
fective than high B-vitamins alone in equalizing the response EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
133 
of rats to the two fats. Furthermore, an interplay among 
the vitamins may be operative. Mclntire, et al. found that 
supplements of p-aminobenzoic acid and inositol stimulated 
the growth of rats fed purified diets low in thiamine. 
In these experiments, the kind of fat had little effect on 
the growth of rats fed rations which contained glucose or 
the galactose-glucose mixture. Possibly in the case of these 
two carbohydrates, which Cori and Cori have found to be 
most rapidly absorbed, the flora was largely determined by 
material other than carbohydrate (protein, salts, etc.) and 
changes in the kind of fat had a negligible effect on this 
particular flora and its ability to supply the known and un- 
known vitamins. 
No generalization can be made concerning the effect of 
the mono-, di-, or polysaccharides in the diet on the growth 
response of the rats. Changes in the kind of dietary fat and 
level of vitamins caused an equivalent response in the 
growth of rats fed diets which contained either sucrose or 
the glucose-fructose mixture. At defined levels of vitamins, 
the galactose-glucose diets were superior to the lactose diets 
in growth promoting value, and only in the case of the latter 
diets was growth affected by a change in the kind of dietary 
fat. Thus, the depressed rate of growth of rats fed purified 
diets containing lactose cannot be attributed to the galactose 
portion of the molecule. 
Lactose as found in milk is known to be an entirely ade- 
quate carbohydrate for nutrition. However, in contrast to 
other common dietary carbohydrates, the growth of rats fed 
lactose in certain purified rations was found to be inferior. 
Ershoff and Deuel described rations on which rats failed to 
survive when lactose was substituted for other carbohy- 
drates. From a number of possible explanations, two deserve 
special consideration: (1) The flora, as determined by puri- 
fied rations containing large amounts of lactose, may be so 
completely altered that dietary essentials normally furnish- 
ed by the intestinal flora, or supplied by natural food in the 134 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
case of milk, are not available to the rat. A decrease in the 
bacteria classified as vitamin synthesizers or an increase in 
the number of vitamin utilizers, or both, may be responsible. 
(2) A slow rate of digestion of lactose to its component 
monosaccharides would also account for the conditions ob- 
served in rats fed the purified diets containing lactose. At 
autopsy, the intestinal tract of rats fed lactose diets is in- 
variably distended due to the presence of the dissacharide 
which, because of the high osmotic pressure developed, re- 
tains considerable quantities of water in the tract. Further- 
more, an energy handicap may thus be affected as compared 
to the readily absorbed carbohydrates, and the presence of 
the water might tend to inhibit proper absorption of all 
classes of food material. Essentially the same possibilities 
were considered by Ershoff and Deuel in explanation of the 
mortality of rats fed rations which contained 73.2 per cent 
of lactose. 
In support of the first explanation, a number of examples 
may be cited to show that the growth of rats fed rations con- 
taining lactose is correlated with the vitamin content of the 
ration rather than the level of lactose. Kemmerer, et al. 
showed that a rat required about 35 days to grow 140 g. 
when fed whole milk alone. Only 2.25 g. of milk solids were 
required to produce 1 g. gain in body weight. A ration de- 
scribed by Geyer, et al. was composed of 50 parts of skim 
milk powder as the sole source of B-vitamins, minerals, and 
protein, to which was added 30 parts of fat and 20 parts of 
lactose, thus bringing the total lactose content to about 45 
per cent. Apparently the level of vitamins was critical in this 
ration. With butterfat, growth of rats over a 6 weeks period 
was 214 g. in contrast to 172 g. for rats fed the same ration 
containing corn oil. Rats also grew well on a ration which 
contained 46 per cent of lactose together with a daily sup- 
plement of 2.5 g. of raw pork liver per rat (Table IV). In 
six weeks, growth was only 13 g. less than that obtained on 
the same ration containing sucrose. The growth of rats fed 
various lactose rations is compared with the number of EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
135 
grams of lactose ingested (Table VII). The amount of ration 
necessary to produce one gram gain in body weight is also 
shown. It can be seen that there was a tendency for the 
rats to utilize more lactose as the vitamin level of the diet 
was raised. The addition of a high level of vitamins plus 
liver and casein to a purified ration containing lactose and 
only a medium level of 5 B-vitamins nearly doubled the 
growth of rats and, as a corollary, less ration was required 
to produce one gram gain in body weight. It is apparent 
that rather large amounts of lactose may be well utilized if 
adequate amounts of B-vitamins are available. Ershoff and 
Deuel found that of all substances tested, only liver gave 
some indication of reducing the mortality of rats on the 
high lactose diet. It should be pointed out, however, that 
they ignored the necessity for fat in the utilization of galac- 
tose by the rat as shown by Schantz, Elvehjem, and Hart. 
The final explanation of the peculiar nutritional properties 
of lactose may well be complex and involve a combination 
of such factors as lactase activity and intestinal vitamin 
balance. 
Table VII.—Economy of Food Utilization of Rats Fed Lactose and Butterfat in 
Rations Carrying Various Amounts of Vitamins 
Raw liver 
Whole 
High 
Liver powder 
High vitamins 
Medium 
milk 
vitamins 
High vitamins 
vitamins 
Kem- 
Expts. 
Bout- 
Expts. 
Source 
merer, 
Expt. 
Expt. 
122 
well, 
88, 
of data 
et al. 
106* 
119 
and 
et al. 
89, 
Expt. 
Expt. 
(23) 
126** 
(2) 
93** 
no** 
125** 
Ration 
consumed, g. 
474 
438 
411 
416 
424 
355 
392 
Lactose 
consumed, g. 
212.6 
210.2 
197.2 
199.7 
203.5 
170 
188 
Gain, g. 
140 
215 
169 
168 
145 
149 
120 
116 
Grams of ra- 
tion reguired 
to produce 1 
g. gain 
2.25 
2.20 
2.59 
I 2.45 
2.86 
2.77 
2.95 
3.38 
Number of 
rats 
6 
6 
6 
12 
12 
18 
6 
6 
* See Table IV. 
** See 
Table II. 136 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
Weanling rats, when fed ad libitum a defined ration in 
which several carbohydrates could be substituted at speci- 
fied levels of B-vitamins, showed a superior response to 
butterfat in comparison to corn oil if supplemented with 
adequate amounts of the known fat-soluble vitamins. It was 
found that under many conditions butterfat and corn oil 
were of equal growth promoting value for the rat. This has 
also been shown in the extensive studies of Deuel, et al. 
and of Zialcita and Mitchell. However, the latter investiga- 
tors, in criticizing our data, interpreted their negative re- 
sults to cover all conditions under which these fats may be 
fed. 
These experiments, showing the influence of fats on the 
synthesis of water-soluble vitamins in the intestine, raise 
many questions which cannot be answered at the present 
writing. Would man subsisting on a diet low in the water- 
soluble vitamins be further endangered by the consumption 
of vegetable oils or their products as compared with the 
animal fats, especially butterfat? The problem is worth in- 
vestigating. 
Summary 
1. A change in the kind of dietary fat altered the ap- 
parent requirement of the rat for vitamins of the B-com- 
plex when sucrose, a fructose-glucose mixture, starch, dex- 
trin, dextri-maltose, or lactose was the carbohydrate in cer- 
tain rations. 
2. On any of the above carbohydrates, rats which re- 
ceived butterfat and a medium level of thiamine, riboflavin, 
pyridoxin, pantothenic acid, and choline grew at a faster rate 
than comparable rats fed corn oil. This inferiority of corn 
oil could be reduced on lactose rations and eliminated on all 
other rations by raising the level of these vitamins and add- 
ing high levels of inositol, p-aminobenzoic acid, and nicotinic 
acid plus 1 per cent of whole liver powder. 
3. No difference in growth between the rats receiving EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
137 
butterfat and those fed corn oil was obtained at any vitamin 
level when glucose or a galactose-glucose mixture was the 
carbohydrate portion of the ration. 
4. Rats receiving either of the two fats on the lactose 
ration grew less than animals fed similar rations contain- 
ing other carbohydrates, but this inferiority decreased as 
the level of the water-soluble vitamins was increased. The 
galactose per se was not responsible for this retarded 
growth. 
5. Possible explanations of the observed phenomena are 
briefly discussed in the text. CHAPTER XIX 
Corn and Wheat Embryo 
Each Year Hundreds oi Millions ol Pounds oi Human 
Food Are Lost 
Presented by 
EZRA LEVIN. President 
. VioBin Corporation 
Monticello. Illinois 
at the 
Fourth Mid-American Chemurgic Conference 
Cincinnati, Ohio 
September 30. 1943 
FOREWORD 
The thesis for this discussion may be outlined as follows: 
The Department of Agriculture, National Research Council 
and Federal Security Agency have emphasized, through 
their respective chiefs, that the factors likely to be lacking 
in the American diet, and likely to be lacking in the diet of 
people we must help feed in the occupied countries, are the 
B vitamins, proteins and essential minerals. Why has this 
condition developed? 
This shortage in adequate nutrition has come about 
largely because it was necessary to remove the germ, or 
embryo, of the grains we eat, in both wheat and corn so 
that the degerminated products would not deteriorate. 
Because of this removal of the essential food parts of the 
grain, pure vitamins and mineral enrichment have been 
made mandatory in bread and cereals. 
All nutritionists agree that “enrichment” replaces only 
a part of the essentials that are found in the embryo of 
wheat and corn; the loss of high quality protein being at 
138 EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
139 
least as significant nutritionally. Until ten years ago the 
germ of the grain could not be well utilized because they 
could not be made stable, they would become rancid. 
Wheat and corn embryo are being perfectly stabilized 
in a successful manufacturing business by solvent extrac- 
tion at low temperatures with the B vitamins, protein and 
minerals unimpaired. Authoritative experiments reveal that 
the protein of defatted wheat and corn embryo is equal in 
biologic value to animal proteins. 
Therefore, it is perfectly obvious that immediate steps 
should be taken (1) to conserve these valuable substances 
by a broadly conceived program for processing and utilizing 
these cereal germs, (2) to initiate a plan by which the same 
educational pressure that has been given the pure vitamin 
enrichment program, be given to a program for the widest 
possible use of these valuable foods by our own people, 
(3) to determine the widest possible utilization of these 
cereal germs by the nations who are now getting food from 
us and will require our food supply after the war. 
This outline is given to present the facts so that these 
agencies and the nation as a whole may become more aware 
of the nutritional significance of corn germ and wheat germ. 
The shortage of food is upon us. The United States De- 
partment of Agriculture, Federal Security Agency and the 
National Research Council, cannot knowingly ignore the 
loss of 800 million pounds of human food each year. 
CORN AND WHEAT EMBRYO—THEIR UTILIZATION 
FOR HUMAN FOOD 
What Is The Embryo? 
It may be well to open this discussion with a reference 
to a study recently reported on the degerminating of corn. 
It is a work by Felix Grandel in the German publication 
“Fats and Soaps”, (Vol. 49, Page 5, 1942.) Dr. Grandel had 
difficulty in completely removing the germ from the corn 140 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
kernel. In his report he describes a new method of deter- 
mining the exact amount of germ in the corn kernel. Lab- 
oratory Albino rats each receive 50 individually weighed 
corn seeds. The rats bite off the stem end, gnaw the germ 
or embryo out of grain perfectly, leaving the endosperm 
untouched. Thus, by weighing the endosperm, Dr. Grande! 
determines the quantity of germ or embryo in the corn. 
He states that no careful mechanical method, he has been 
able to devise, can equal the completeness with which the 
rats remove the germ and shun the endosperm. 
Americans who eat hundreds of millions of pounds an- 
nually of corn meal (endosperm), should be interested in 
this phenomenon. Most of corn and wheat we use for human 
food, is degerminated. Millers and processors must remove 
the germ very completely, because even a trace of the germ 
will cause the corn flakes, corn meal, grits and other prod- 
ucts made from corn to become rancid. The same is true 
for most wheat products. 
Wheat germ and corn germ are parts of our cereals, the 
miller regretfully discards, because if he does not remove 
them, the products he stores and ships will deteriorate. I 
say regretfully, because every miller knows that taking out 
these germs removes a valuable, negotiable factor—taste, 
the lack of which, more than any other factor, has been 
responsible for the persistent decline of consumption of 
flour over the last quarter century. 
When our ancestors took the whole wheat or whole corn 
down to the mill, and brought back the flour, they had a 
flour infinitely better nutritionally than the finest enriched 
wheat or corn flour; and, what is just as important, it tasted 
better. 
Let us assume that the problem of stability of the germ 
could be solved and that the germ would “keep” indefinitely. 
Would that change our attitude and impel us to return the 
germ to the grain? That would depend, of course, on how 
valuable the germ is. Has it anything of value besides taste EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
141 
and flavor? Is it a byproduct or is it the essential product? 
Nature points the way by directing the rat to gnaw out the 
embryo. The embryo of the grain is the essential part of 
the grain. The embryo is the egg of the seed. It is, physiolog- 
ically, like the egg of a hen. Both are embryos. It is only 
recently that we have become aware of the nutritional qual- 
ity of the embryo or germ. Less than a score of years ago, 
we knew little about the B complex vitamins, or the differ- 
ence in biologic values of proteins. But Nature, who directs 
the rat to remove the germ and discard all else, has taught 
her animals to be “choosy”; to look for the germ or egg of 
the grain. She says what amounts to this: “That is where the 
essential food values are; the rest of the grain is protection 
and food for that embryo when it is placed in the soil to 
grow into the new plant. 
We would expect the germ or germinating part of the 
grain to have all that will sustain life—complete protein, 
minerals and vitamins, as indeed we have found it has. The 
protective part, the endosperm, may be quite different, and 
limited in its values; and this too, we have found to be true. 
Thus we have the amazing situation of nine tenths of the 
cereals consumed in the United States being made of grain 
from which the essential values are discarded, and the 
limited values conserved. 
We hold official hearings; we tell the American public 
that they do not eat right; we encourage the manufacture 
of pure vitamins and their use in foods; the Federal Se- 
curity Agency assumes the power to force the inclusion of 
these pure vitamins. But, we are unbelievably slow to en- 
courage putting back in the diet, the embryo of wheat and 
corn we have taken out, notwithstanding the indisputable 
fact that our low state of nutrition (that the Department of 
Agriculture, National Research Council and the Federal 
Security Agency view with such alarm,) has been brought 
about largely through the removal of these essential parts 
of the grain. 142 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
But modern nutritional science will not be denied. It 
keeps pounding on our intelligence. These cereal germs 
. . . protein, equal biologically to meat protein; no other 
plant protein of such high quality available in such large 
quantities; the richest natural source of the B complex 
vitamins taken as a whole; thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, pyri- 
doxine, pantothenic acid, inositol, biotin, folic acid . . . 
cereal germs, the richest food substances known in iron, 
phosphorus, copper and manganese . . . hundreds of millions 
of pounds available for human food each year if the germ 
can be made stable and yet lose none of its essential values. 
No other food contains as much critical food value for its 
weight as wheat germ and corn germ. That statement needs 
repetition. No other food contains as much critical food 
value for its weight as wheat germ and corn germ. Here is 
a new wealth. No new crops must be grown to get this 
wealth. We have it now. It needs only processing machinery, 
no more critical than soybean processing machinery, to save 
for humans everywhere in this critical hour of food short- 
age, the hundreds of millions of pounds of irreplaceable 
human food, food the world is begging for, food now divert- 
ed to animal feeds, largely denatured in processing, and 
much of it actually destroyed. All this is ours, simply and 
easily, if we can stabilize these cereal germs. 
It is because this problem is completely and thoroughly 
solved that I must mention as an integral part of this de- 
velopment the VioBin Corporation of Monticello, Illinois, 
who are producing wheat germ and corn germ which are 
completely stable. They have been doing it for ten years. 
None of the B complex, protein and mineral values of the 
cereal germs is destroyed in this processing. These values 
are actually concentrated because of defatting and dehy- 
drating by solvent extraction at low temperatures. It seems 
strange that at this late date that anyone must be reassured 
that we stabilize the germ so that it keeps perfectly. Here 
Grain Embryo Stabilized EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
143 
are a few examples; Defatted wheat germ was sent in quan- 
tity to Peru, South America in the Interior as part of the 
treatment for lepers. It was on the sea for months, then 
carried to the Interior of Peru; afterward fed over a number 
of weeks. It kept perfectly. Packages of defatted wheat 
germ nine years old cannot be distinguished from that made 
last week. 300,000 packages of defatted wheat germ, proc- 
essed in Monticello, Illinois, are shipped, stored, packaged 
and sold in Canada in paper packages each year. Not a pack- 
age has ever been returned because of rancidity. The pack- 
aged product has been sold in this country for many years. 
Not a package has ever been returned because of rancidity. 
Two thousand packages of defatted wheat germ were re- 
cently sent to Russia as a gift for Russian Relief. They ar- 
rived at their destination in perfect condition. Prenatal clin- 
ics of the city of Chicago have been using defatted wheat 
germ for five years. Never has there been a complaint of 
deterioration. There is nothing mysterious about this proc- 
ess. If you remove most of the fat, the product will “keep”. 
If you remove the fat at low temperatures you retain the 
heat labile factors in the defatted portion. 
The defatted wheat germ has been on the market for ten 
years. The defatted corn germ was only recently intro- 
duced. For the first time, corn germ has been made avail- 
able as a human food. It is being sold, now, today. Its stabil- 
ity, its flavor, its use in foods are established. For the first 
time, this essential part of the corn has been made available 
for human food. Would it be more dramatic if this were a 
new formula, a new vitamin, some new chemical compound, 
to provide millions of children with the stuff that will help 
save them from starvation and pestilence? More dramatic 
perhaps, but certainly not more important. 
Nutritional Values of Grain Embryo 
In this short discussion there is no time to adequately deal 
with the B vitamins, protein and mineral values in defatted 
wheat and corn germ. Here are just a few thoughts on the 144 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
intrinsic values in these foods. Man, for at least 4000 years, 
derived his B vitamins largely from grains. Studies made in 
England reveal that 100 years ago the diet of the very poor 
was richer in B vitamins than our average diet today. The 
source of most of the B vitamins was the whole grains, the 
vitamins found most abundantly in the part of the grain 
that we discard—the germ or embryo. All nutritionists know 
well enough that enrichment with thiamin, riboflavin and 
niacin, even if added to ten times their natural presence in 
grains will not replace the B vitamins in the natural germ. 
It is enough to say, that it is an erroneous assumption that 
the added vitamins will give the same physiological response 
as the same amount of vitamins from the natural embryo of 
the grain. But there is an even more significant reason ex- 
pressed clearly by Dr. Agnes Fay Morgan of the University 
of California in 1941 (American Journal of Digestive Dis- 
eases Vol. 8, No. 5). What she said at that time has been em- 
phasized by the last two years of research. I quote, “We 
know only part of the truth as yet about the number and 
amount of vitamins required for health . . . there are evi- 
dences from work with animals that a nice equilibrium exists 
among some of the vitamins and also among certain of the 
minerals, so that an undue excess of one may topple the 
whole structure which might remain fairly stable with a 
relative deficiency in all.” She goes on to outline an experi- 
ment with dogs to prove her point and then makes this sig- 
nificant statement. She says, “Partial deficiencies in several 
necessary factors, not complete deficiency in any one, char- 
acterize our modern diet. It may be unsafe to add rich 
amounts of one of these factors, for example, nicotinic acid 
or thiamin without providing equally for all the others, in- 
cluding the powerful unknowns.” Powerful unknowns, in- 
deed; if you asked other nutritionists of equally high rank, 
the great majority would agree with her. They would agree 
with her, too, in her belief that many of these powerful un- 
knowns are found in the embryo of the grains. 
Now let us consider the vitamins lysine, tryptophane and EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
145 
the six or seven other indispensable amino acids. I said 
“vitamins”. My authority is the great Osborne who laid the 
foundation for our understanding of the amino acids, who 
said that he and his associate, Mendel would have considered 
the amino acids as vitamins, had they not known that the 
amino acids were part of the protein molecule. So, I repeat 
the question, “What about lysine and tryptophane both lack- 
ing in degerminated wheat and degerminated corn—the kind 
we eat?” “Are not lysine and tryptophane as likely to be 
lacking in the diet, as, let us say, riboflavin?” I have delib- 
erately chosen riboflavin for comparison. In a very signifi- 
cant work of Williams and his associates of Rochester, Min- 
nesota, (Jl. of Nutrition 25, 361) they were unable to ob- 
serve any serious disturbance as a result of prolonged lack of 
riboflavin in special diets fed to patients and designed to be 
free of riboflavin. Where, then, is the proof that there is a 
riboflavin deficiency in the American diet, and what are the 
symptoms of such a deficiency? Of course, there is such a 
deficiency, but today nobody knows what it is. The sugges- 
tion that critical evidence would show that lysine, and 
tryptophane are at least equal in critical nutritional signifi- 
cance to any of the “enrichment” vitamins is certainly not 
an overstatement because experiment after experiment have 
revealed the indispensability of these amino acids in both 
animals and humans. So you see why I contend that these 
cereal germs contain substances just as essential to our nu- 
trition as the pure vitamins. The logical intelligent view- 
point is to put them back; to remedy the condition that has 
largely developed by taking them out. 
Cereal Germ Protein 
Let us go on with the matter of proteins in cereal germs. 
My first scientific exhibit is a report by Dr. Harriet Chick 
in Lancet, (Vol. 1, Page 405, April, 1942) dealing with the 
values of the germ of wheat as related to the endosperm. 
Commenting on this epoch-making work is a full page edi- 
torial in the Journal of the American Medical Association, 146 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
September 21, 1942. It states, “Much has been said about 
the vitamins of wheat but relatively little of its protein 
content. Yet protein is just as necessary for life as vitamins 
perhaps, and even more so, because more of it is required 
to maintain health and efficiency.” 
I quote without comment from this same editorial, “The 
point to be emphasized is that the proteins of the germ are 
composed of amino acids, which are able to supplement those 
of the gluten and thus raise the biological value of the mix- 
ture out of proportion to the amount added”. 
A paper by Hove and Harrell in Cereal Chemistry, Vol. 20, 
makes this concluding statement. “It is concluded that wheat 
germ can be used in the human dietary as a supplementary 
protein, equal in value to casein or other animal proteins.” 
Now, as to corn germ, I quote Dr. H. H. Mitchell, an out- 
standing authority on proteins. He compares defatted corn 
germ with beef round. In a letter to the National Research 
Council reviewing his experiments he says, “It is evident 
from these data that the protein (nitrogen) of defatted corn 
germ is 85 per cent as digestible as the protein of beef round, 
but that its biological value for the growing rat is as high 
as that of beef round.” 
And keep in mind that this same corn embryo is one of 
the richest foods known in B-l, phosphorus and iron. 
At the University of Chicago, where they are studying 
proteins by regenerating plasma protein in animals and 
measuring the formation of antibodies in the blood as a 
basis of determining biologic value of proteins, they are 
examining our defatted wheat germ and corn germ. I am 
permitted to report that preliminary experiments show that 
defatted corn germ and defatted wheat germ have been 
revealed by this laboratory to be excellent sources of high 
quality protein. It is this same laboratory that has revealed 
the significance of protein in preventing sickness and death 
from pestilence after the war. Dr. A. J. Carlson and Dr. EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
147 
Paul Cannon believe that the toll from infectious diseases 
after starvation is due in a large part to the lack of high 
quality protein. 
If you took a poll of nutritionists, they will agree that the 
need for sufficient high quality protein is just as great as the 
need for the B vitamins. They will say that cereals should 
provide much of this protein, but it is not clear whether 
they mean whole wheat and whole corn, or degerminated 
wheat and degerminated corn. Recently several Govern- 
mental spokesmen made speeches about the public eating the 
grain directly for efficiency, instead of feeding it to hogs. 
The only trouble is that these spokesmen forgot to find out 
that the public eats degerminated corn and the hogs eat 
nutritious whole corn. This makes the suggestion of getting 
greater efficiency by ourselves eating the corn a little 
“lopsided”, to say the least. Let us be clear on this question. 
We eat most of our cereals as degerminated wheat and corn. 
Degerminated wheat and corn contain poor quality protein. 
Clinics are now evaluating the critical significance of this 
deficiency in our diet. The results are already sufficient to 
say that the loss of the high quality protein of our cereal 
germs is at least as serious to our national nutrition as the 
loss of the thiamin, riboflavin and niacin of the germ. 
It is no accident that the so called infant cereals contain 
extra wheat embryo; 4, 7, 10 and 15% are the quantities 
taken from labels of cereals on the market. Research after 
research have been reported to reveal that babies thrive on 
these wheat germ cereals. Pediatricians have learned to 
appreciate the wheat germ in these infant cereals for the 
known vitamins, the “powerful unknowns”, the high qual- 
ity protein and valuable minerals wheat germ contains. 
Let us consider the important experiment of an accepted 
authority on proteins, Dr. D. Breese Jones of the Protein 
and Nutrition Research Division of the United States De- 
partment of Agriculture. He states, “No matter how many 
vitamins or how many mineral elements may be supplied 148 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
in the diet, satisfactory growth will not result if any one 
of the ten nutritionally, essential amino acids be lacking. 
Wide publicity is being given to so called “enriched” flour 
as a great development in improving the nutritive value of 
wheat flour. The results of our experiments show that, 
even after the enrichment with eight vitamins and twelve 
mineral elements, the growth promoting value of white flour 
can be still increased two-fold by protein supplementation 
with 10 parts of peanut or cotton seed flour, and four-fold 
with soybean flour”. 
Now, if we consider the unpublished research by Dr. H. 
H. Mitchell and others revealing that the protein from corn 
germ and wheat germ is superior to soybean flour, the sig- 
nificance of the limitations of “enrichment” to adequately 
replace the wheat and corn germ largely discarded from 
our cereal foods is apparent. 
Supply of Wheat Embryo 
An unfounded impression exists that there is not enough 
wheat germ to bother with. We who know the facts about 
our own business, however, are aware that we could con- 
tract for seventy five million pounds a year of high quality 
wheat germ in the United States and Canada. From this we 
could make sixty five million pounds of a defatted wheat 
germ, a perfectly stable 40% protein food. Is that worth 
saving? Right now we ourselves process close to three mil- 
lion pounds, obtained from just TWO flour mills, and this 
is just half of their production. We have been wondering 
where the Japanese get their wheat germ. The Japanese 
seem to consider wheat germ important enough. According 
to the Board of Economic Warfare, wheat germ tablets are 
part of the field ration of the Japanese soldier. 
The present uses of our defatted wheat germ are in baby 
cereals, baby soups, bread, macaroni products, adult cereals, 
dry mixture drinks (malted Milk-sugar mixes) meat sub- 
stitutes, peanut butter, packaged wheat germ—pharmaceu- 
tical trade, and grocery trade—incorporation in various EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
149 
pharmaceutical products. I amphasize that this is now being 
done. We sell our product for these purposes and have been 
doing it for years. And, of course, a large number of new 
uses are being tested. An ingredient of dehydrated soups; 
an ingredient of sausage and other meat products for lend- 
lease meats, are examples. 
I estimated that we could have more than 65 million 
pounds of defatted wheat germ a year. A pound of defatted 
wheat germ represents 15 daily portions of 30 grams each, 
which will provide the total B-l requirement, a substantial 
part of other B vitamin requirements, one sixth the total 
protein requirement, one third the iron requirement, two 
fifths the phosphorus requirement of a child for one day. 
Thus we have about one billion daily portions, or a yearly 
supply for more than 2Vz million children ... a perfectly 
stable food concentrate that Nature has produced in the 
embryo of wheat—a product that can be stored indefinitely, 
that could be manufactured now, for use after the war, to 
aid in prevention of the famine and pestilence that awaits 
many of the world’s children. 
In corn germ we have a product that is only one year old 
as a human food. It is now being used for the first time in 
food products and there are 750 million pounds of it avail- 
able every year. I repeat, 750 million pounds a year ... of 
food of the highest order in nutrition value, in palatability, 
in its adaptability as an ingredient of foods. 
Supply of Com Germ 
Considering uses for corn germ, all that has been done with 
defatted wheat germ can be done with defatted corn germ. 
One packing plant is now using this product as a filler and 
protein supplement for meat products. Tests are being 
carried out by large processors with the use of this product 
in an adult cereal. The use of corn germ as a supplement to 
all types of flour and cereal products is obvious. Here are 
the figures: 150 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
Available corn germ 750,000,000 pounds 
Corn oil 200,000,000 pounds 
Defatted germ (corn oil removed, and 
shrinkage) 500,000,000 pounds 
Because of the lower protein content of corn germ as com- 
pared with wheat germ, let us assume that two ounces of 
corn germ per child per day, will be made available. This 
means twice the daily requirement of B-l, a substantial part 
of the rest of the B complex requirements, one sixth the 
protein requirement, and complete iron and phosphorus re- 
quirement, a daily supply for 15 million children for one 
year. (A more accurate figure would be twice this number.) 
And the 200,000,000 pounds of corn oil annually deserves 
more than a mention; but there is no time here to expand 
on that theme. 
Is It Practical? 
It is not surprising that the question should be asked, 
“Is it practical?” Let me ask, is the discovery of new food— 
not requiring the raising of new crops—a food, stable, palat- 
able, available in hundreds of millions of pounds per year 
from corn already grown and processed—is this as practi- 
cal and significant a development, as new oil wells, or new 
metal or coal mines or any new wealth? Of course it is. Is 
the discovery of something that will add 15 cents of value to 
every bushel of corn significant to the economy of our na- 
tion? Of course it is. 
I am asked, “How would you add the germ to wheat meal, 
corn meal and other cereal foods?” Here is a simple practi- 
cal idea. Just put a half ounce or ounce of the germ in a 
small sack in every pound package of degerminated cereal. 
It does not require mixing with the flour or the cereal. Let 
mother “see” the vitamins. Let her add the germ to the daily 
diet as she sees fit. She may not want it in cereal. She may 
want to use it in pancakes or soup or meat loaf. The im- 
portant point is that the Federal Security Agency should 
tell her the truth—that she needs the germ of the grain and EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
151 
should use it—just as it has told her she must use “enriched” 
bread and “enriched” wheat cereal. 
Practical? Let it be emphasized in recapitulation that 
there is now in operation a successful manufacturing plant, 
producing stabilized defatted cereal germs. These are palat- 
able foods, ideally fit for child feeding. They contain protein 
in equal biologic quality, and equal percentage quantity, to 
the best form of animal protein. They contain more vitamin 
B-l than is found in any other common food. They are ex- 
cellent sources of the B complex considered as a whole. They 
contain more iron and phosphorus than are found in any 
other common food. 
The source material is wheat and corn embryo now di- 
verted into animal feeds or destroyed in alcohol distilleries. 
Quantity available, processed, would provide a good part of 
the essential nutritional values for fifteen million children 
annually. No protein compares with it and I include yeast 
protein in that statement, considering digestibility as well 
as biologic availability and price. 
No new acreage, no new crops required to obtain a great 
new source of food—a new source of wealth from America’s 
great grain crops. When the corn farmers of this nation be- 
come aware of this great source of food I don’t believe they 
will sit by and allow a large part of their grain be diverted 
into animal feeds, much of it destroyed, when it could be 
used as a human food equal to meat; they will object to this 
economic loss they take from this wasting of human food. 
1 believe, too, that those agencies responsible for feeding 
our allies, will not allow the waste of hundreds of millions 
of pounds of high quality food as soon as they become aware 
of the facts. 
Why the Lack of Official Interest? 
You may wonder, as I do, what the “catch” is. The con- 
servation of corn germ and wheat germ seems so reason- 
able. So simple! Is the raw material available? Yes. Will it 152 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
take any new machinery to make that raw material avail- 
able? No. Is it now being done on a practical small scale? 
Yes. All it needs is enlargement of present facilities with 
no more critical materials than it would take to put up a 
soybean plant. Then why, you ask, if no disagreement exists 
as to the vital nature of wheat and corn germ, has there not 
been more vigorous action toward saving it? Why have we 
not become interested in conserving a vital food which is 
just as critical as aluminum, steel, oil? Why have we not 
developed a plan to save the wheat and corn germ; to put 
up a stock pile of food recognized as the only food available 
in large quantities that is equal to meat and can be utilized 
by infants and small children? Why have we not fostered 
such a plan before the food shortage had reached a critical 
stage? 
It may be that our enthusiasm for pure vitamins has 
blinded us a little to the vital nature of high quality protein 
and the natural B complex. It may be partly that many of us 
have not realized that wheat and corn germ have actually 
been stabilized. And it may be the tragic circumstances 
•which so often allow many years to pass before a new dis- 
covery is put to work for mankind. To speed this develop- 
ment, I have asked the authorities in Washington to take 
over the entire project. We give it to them unconditionally, 
to the Secretary of Agriculture and to the Federal Security 
Agency. We say it as we have said many times, “This de- 
velopment belongs to the nation.” 
If we were not at war, I would not be here. In free 
America, individuals through free enterprise and faith, 
create and build their ideas into realities. We would do it 
ourselves. We would go directly to the processors of food 
and the people who buy food. We would tell them the facts. 
But, we are at war, and all agree that this is an indispensable 
contribution to our country’s food needs and the food needs 
of our allies now and after the war. No one dare be detached 
Our Purpose in Revealing the Facts EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
153 
about the discovery of a great new source of food at this 
time in world affairs. 
The farmer who grows wheat and corn, the farm organi- 
zations who represent them and the agricultural colleges 
who know the nutritional values of wheat and corn germ, 
surely will see the significance of conserving hundreds of 
millions of pounds of valuable food—this food that repre- 
sents millions of dollars of new wealth to the American 
farmer, and represents life itself, to the world’s millions of 
starving children; when they realize that vitamin enrich- 
ment is no substitute for the embryo itself and that our 
people suffer an economic loss as well as nutritional loss in 
not utilizing the whole embryo of which the vitamins are 
only a small part. 
I cannot believe that this nation as a whole will accept 
a pittance of pure vitamins as an answer to our critical food 
problem when vitamins and protein in abundance are ours 
for the taking, in the embryos of cereals. CHAPTER XX 
Vitamins from Grass and Alfalfa 
Evergreen Farms, Raymondville, Texas 
In Rio Grande Valley 
W. A. HARDING 
Chemurgic Papers, 1945 Series, No. 1 
In pondering over the subject, “Vitamins from Grass and 
Alfalfa”, I tried to think back to my first recollectable con- 
tact with vitamins. Did you know that the actual discover- 
ies and segregation of our best known vitamins were made 
as recently as the early 1930’s? Yet my earliest recollection 
of contact or knowledge of what is now called vitamins runs 
back 60 years. When I was at the age of 9, a graying old 
uncle of mine early one Spring day came over to our home 
and asked my mother if “Willie could come out to his farm 
and herd the sheep around the fields” where they could get 
the early sprouting grasses, and then to my non-understand- 
ing child mind added this enigmatic sentence: “It would be 
of great benefit to the ewes in dropping their lambs two or 
three weeks later.” A fact known to every raiser of live- 
stock for thousands of years, “Breed animals as much as 
possible to deliver their young while on succulent pastures. 
Five years after the above incident I began a six year 
preparatory and college course, working for my board and 
room on the small farm of an old eccentric bachelor, pre- 
sided over by an older, unmarried sister. It seems that this 
man had been given up to die years before of several ail- 
ments, some of them little known of at that time by the 
medical fraternity. He was a stubborn man and determined 
to take his own case in hand. He adopted a slogan, “Eat 
right; live right, do right,” and proceeded to acquire knowl- 
edge along those lines by the purchase of a whole library 
154 EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
155 
of books touching these subjects. When I entered that home 
it was on a strict, regular diet—breakfast, a heaping bowl 
of rolled oats with sugar and plenty of real, rich cream, 
toasted graham bread spread generously with butter, bacon 
and eggs, as many as you wanted. Dinner—boiled or roast- 
ed meat of some kind, potatoes boiled with their jackets on, 
other garden vegetables and small fruits in season—no pas- 
try. Supper—a bowl of whole wheat porridge with sugar and 
ample cream, usually applesauce, either fresh from the or- 
chard or from the cellar’s gallons and gallons canned for all 
around year’s use, always with the apple skin left on and 
the core in. The whole wheat porridge was the novelty. It 
was really whole wheat, for the fine, plump wheat kernels 
were ground in a large size family coffee mill. The beverage 
for the three meals was water, and all the fresh sweet milk 
you could drink. 
Why have I told you this story? Because the old man had 
found the actual source of all the vitamins which the scien- 
tist and chemist did not segregate until forty years later, and 
his reward to live almost a hundred years, and be regarded 
as “a good old, eccentric fellow”. 
At the end of the six years preparatory and college course, 
and life in this family I had absorbed so much of its way of 
living that I wrote my valedictory address on the subject of 
“Whole Wheat Flour”. 
Grass, The Basis of Civilization 
Life of civilized and savage people differ fundamentally 
because: 1. Savages spend the entire (or most) of their time 
in obtaining food and shelter on the day by day basis. 2. 
Civilized people spend only a small part of their energy in 
obtaining food. 
As less time was required for the production of food, 
leisure time developed. This leisure time (based on efficient 
food production) led to the development of civilization. The 156 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
complexity of the use of this extra time (industrialization) 
is the basis of world politics and economics. 
The development of civilization may not have been a good 
thing for the human race in some respects, for it brought 
many conditions which are responsible for most of the 
modern ailments of human beings. 
Of all the plants in nature, only grass can yield basic food 
material on the grand scale over wide areas. Plants giving 
greater yields of food have a too limited geographical range 
to support great civilizations. 
Grass, first used in natural state, and nomadic civiliza- 
tions were based on the animals which followed the grass; 
for example, the American Indian. If grass is cultivated by 
man, the productivity so increases that nomadic civilizations 
become unnecessary, and the stable agriculture begins. 
Fundamental differences between the civilizations of the 
North American Indians and the Indians of Latin America 
depend on the fact that the North American Indians were 
nomads and followed the grass according to season and 
area, while the Latin American Indians cultivated grass in 
permanent locations. 
All great civilizations are built around specific kinds of 
grass. Rice was the food supply of the oriental people. Corn 
was the food of the advanced Indian civilizations of Latin 
America (Aztecs, Incas). Wheat was the food of the original 
Europeans (probably spread from the Nile, Tigris and 
Euphrates valleys). All stable agricultural civilizations of 
the world depend, directly or indirectly, on grass. 
Cereal grasses are grasses which furnish edible seeds, 
such as wheat, barley, oats, rice, and corn. All of these but 
corn are often called “small cereals” since they differ so 
much from corn, but corn is a grass just as truly as wheat. 
Agriculturcd Classes of Grass 
Forage grasses are grasses grown not for their seeds, but EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
157 
for the leafy part of the plant. Forage grasses are indirect 
sources of food by being the food of animals. 
Most of the grasses cultivated by man are grown for the 
seed. Hence the vast amount of plant breeding, creation of 
new varieties, field tests, introduction tests, cultural tests 
have been directed toward increasing the yield of the grain. 
Grasses grown for forage have received but a small frac- 
tion of the agricultural study that has been expended on 
grasses. Forage grasses have been left very much as they 
were. They were used more or less in their native state. If 
one wanted more forage for stock, he merely obtained more 
land. In early days in the United States, the motto was “the 
more land, the more cattle.” That day is now past, for more 
and more land cannot be obtained. The scientists of the 
United States are now intensively studying how to grow 
better forage grasses. Laboratories at the University of 
Illinois, University of Pennsylvania, Purdue University, and 
Cornell University are making contributions to this field. 
Food Value ol Grass Leaves 
By forage grass, we mean grasses grown for the food 
value of their leaves. It has been recently discovered that 
the “small cereals” possess leaf of extraordinary value. In 
the young stages the leaves of wheat, rye, oats and barley 
are exceptionally rich in vitamins. They are especially rich 
in the water soluble vitamins. This is very important since 
the animal body cannot store up large reserves of the vita- 
mins of this group, since they are soluble in water and are 
excreted in perspiration and in the urine. 
Examples of water soluble vitamins which are especially 
concentrated in young cereal leaves are vitamin C, vitamin 
B-l and vitamin B-2. High concentrations of protein also 
occur in these young leaves; for example, up to 40 per cent 
of the dry weight may be digestible protein. Protein con- 
centrations of 20 to 25 per cent are very common. Mineral 
salts are also among the foods which accumulate in young 158 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
grass leaves. Frequently 10 to 20 per cent of the dry weight 
is composed of mineral salts. 
The “discovery of grass’’ was made only ten years ago— 
by Charles F. Schnabel—a poor, struggling unknown Kan- 
sas City chemist, who for six months fed the tender green 
unjointed blades of oat grasses to 100 hens. He collected 
more than 90 eggs every day for half-a-year. Schnabel’s 
whole family ate grass, eight of them. Only a dollar a day 
was spent for other food for three years. All enjoyed ex- 
cellent health, health so good that not a single one of the 
children, whose combined ages now total 90 years, has a 
decayed tooth, while 90 per cent of all school children have 
one or more decayed teeth. 
This amazing grass is the richest of all natural foods in 
those vitamins and minerals necessary for perfect health. 
Dried, young, green grasses, ground into powder, bring the 
nutritious goodness of luscious Spring grass at all times of 
the year, for yourself, for your livestock and poultry. This 
is not just any grass, it is Cerogras. The tender blades of 
oats, wheat, barley, rye and sudan grasses that have been 
scientifically grown, cut, blended and tested to yield a maxi- 
mum of life-giving nutrients. 
Unjointed Grasses 
One of Nature’s great mysteries has at last been solved, 
the secret of health. The same secret that most animals have 
known for millions of years has at last given way to man’s 
incessant curiosity to provide him with the best and most 
abundant of all foods. 
These unjointed cereal grasses, like the common bamboo 
fishing pole, when mature, have a number of nodes or joints 
in their stalks. Each joint or node represents a stage of 
growth closer to maturity. The older the plant, the greater 
the number of joints. 
Before the first joint is formed the plant is tender, green, 
succulent. During this period, which lasts about eighteen EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
159 
days, when conditions are normal, these grasses increase in 
vitamin, mineral and protein content. The whole young 
plant is striving, working, exerting itself to store up the 
energy it will need to joint and reproduce. 
The peak of this stored-up energy comes at the time the 
first joint is formed. After the first joint appears the plant 
becomes fibrous and woody. More and more fiber replaces 
the good food elements until only the straw and grain re- 
main. Only for a few hours near the time of the first joint- 
ing is grass at its very peak in healthful, life-giving nutri- 
ents. This was Schnabel’s discovery. This is the secret of 
harvesting grasses for human and animal food. 
There are indications that Cerogras also contains hor- 
mone-like factors which improve the general health of 
poultry, stimulate egg production, and increase hatchability. 
A silver fox farm where the females normally whelped four 
young per head increased their offspring to six on their 
regular diet supplemented with a ration of Cerogras the 
year around. These hormone-like factors along with re- 
cently discovered “folic acid” and “the grass juice factor” 
may explain the fundamental value of grass. 
It is obvious that the leaves of cereals and other grasses 
are ostensibly rich in the food substances needed by animals. 
Commercial Grass Dehydration 
The food value of young grass leaves is so great that many 
tons of young grass is now especially grown on rich soils, 
harvested just before jointing, and dehydrated. The Cero- 
phyll Laboratory of Kansas City marketed 15,000,000 pounds 
of specially prepared dehydrated cereal grass leaves during 
1943, and their production during 1944 is considerably 
larger. 
I shall describe here the grass program of Evergreen 
Farms, and devote more space to what is now known as 
Cerogras, for it is new and novel in comparison with alfal- 
fa, although Evergreen Farms produce a larger volume 160 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
of alfalfa because its yield is greater per acre, and needed 
in great tonnage to increase high protein feed for animals 
for the duration of the war. 
Only the best alfalfa seed obtainable is sown on Ever- 
green Farms, and we follow very closely the results of many 
experimental and breeding tests being carried out on oats, 
barley, wheat, rye and sudan at the agricultural stations for 
increasing leaf growth, resistance to rust and pests, and 
higher gathering protein content. Years of research have 
proven that just not any land is suitable for growing the 
best grasses. Certain minerals must he present. In the last 
two years one man has traveled a hundred thousand miles 
to find only two per cent of America’s soil good enough to 
grow Cerogras. You may appreciate this statement better 
when you consider our great grain growing sections have 
run down the fertility of soil, raising grain only, which con- 
tains only 11 to 15 per cent of protein in the mature grain, 
and this year the set standards for protein in flour had to 
be lowered because the protein content of our wheat crop 
over large areas was one to two per cent below heretofore 
normal average. The requirement of Cerogras is that the 
producer or processor deliver a product which will average 
a protein content during the year of 20 per cent. Evergreen 
Farms began its operations five years ago and during the 
first two years over ten thousand separate laboratory tests 
were made, seeking the presence of, and how much there 
might be, of over twenty different minerals in several 
hundred soil samples taken from all the forty acre tracts on 
Evergreen Farms’ eighteen hundred acres. 
Rain seldom comes at the right time and in the right 
quantity for any farmer anywhere. So Evergreen Farms 
quickly gave up any hope of getting natural rainfall to 
nourish a crop of alfalfa which we cut every four weeks, or 
a cereal grass crop which should be cut every eighteen days, 
if we expect to reap maximum production and highest pro- 
tein content. That means watering right after every cutting 
and a quick flash, luxuriant growth chock full of the “stuff” EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
161 
that makes a cow give milk; a hen lay eggs; a pig make 
pork and a lamb grow lamb chops, to say nothing of the 
running colt winning the race. 
So we turned early to irrigation under the Willacy County 
Irrigation System, completed during our first year of opera- 
tion. Flood irrigation with border controls was not practical 
for frequent irrigation and the kind of harvesters used in 
cutting and elevating green crops into trailer-trucks, so we 
began the installation of rain sprinkler pressure systems and 
today we have four, each one throwing 1200 to 1500 gallons 
per minute. When all four are in operation we can thorough- 
ly sprinkle every square foot of eighty acres with two and 
one-half inches of rain in twenty-four hours. The very best 
growing conditions for young oats, wheat, barley, rye, Sudan 
and alfalfa are thus provided. 
Formerly harvesting was a difficult problem. Today it is 
solved by using an ingenious mowing machine. This machine, 
cutting two acres per hour, picks the grass up in a scoop- 
like plate as it falls before the mower. The luscious green 
grass is tossed into a trailer-truck, which rushes it to the 
dehydrator. 
At the dehydrator these unjointed grasses are pitched 
into a cutter, then onto a moving belt which tumbles them 
into a huge hot drum. At an initial temperature of 1600 de- 
grees three tons of water can be removed in one hour. Every 
forkfull goes through this drying process in two minutes. 
Thus flash drying has captured the vitamin potency of un- 
jointed grasses at their height. 
All grasses from the various fields are not exactly the 
same in protein and vitamin analysis. For that reason lab- 
oratory tests are run to determine how the different grasses 
should be mixed to make a uniform product. Thus only vita- 
min—and protein—guaranteed grasses leave the blender. 
Hundred pound sacks of freshly blended grasses are then 
rushed to giant refrigerators, where temperatures ap- 162 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
preaching zero hold the vitamin content intact. The fresh, 
tender unjointed grasses of the open field have thus been 
captivated in their original form and converted into Cero- 
gras. 
Alfalfa goes through the same process. Our slogan is 
“Fresh from the field to the user or feed mixer within 
twenty-four hours the year around.” Contracts for our 
entire production of both alfalfa and Cerogras are made 
for a whole year in advance. I believe that Evergreen Farms 
was the first farm crop producer in the Rio Grande Valley 
to contract its entire possible production a whole year in 
advance at a set price. The security it gave was so satis- 
fying we have maintained the practice ever since. Our first 
contract in 1940 was for a minimum of a thousand tons and 
our contracts for 1945 are for seven thousand five hundred 
tons and more if we can produce it. We started with one 
dehydration unit and will have our third one ready to push 
out the 1945 crop. Tonnage production per acre on Ever- 
green Farms averages a ton to a ton and a half of dehy- 
drated Cerogras on each planting of cereals, with two plant- 
ings a year and a cover crop of cowpeas or sesbania to keep 
up fertility of the soil. 
On alfalfa we aim to average five tons of dehydrated meal 
per acre per year cutting eight or ten times averaging eight- 
een cuttings in two years, which is about the efficient life 
of alfalfa under our high pressure growing system. We have 
learned a lot of things about Cerogras and alfalfa in five 
years, and solved a lot of problems, but others still keep 
bobbing up. I could elaborate on soil preparation—deep 
plowing, 16 to 20 inches deep, land levelling with a land- 
plane that takes all the power of a 75 HP Caterpillar trac- 
tor, and the effect of fertilizer on Cerogras, and the story 
of alfalfa gathering nitrogen and turning it back in protein 
at a fabulous rate in comparison with any other marketable 
commercial crop, but that will have to wait for some future 
time. EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
163 
What Becomes of Dehydrated Grass? 
Most of the enormous amount of this dehydrated grass is 
finely ground and mixed with many kinds of animal foods. 
The value of the grass as a component of these foods de- 
pends on its vitamin, protein and mineral content. Chickens, 
silver foxes and race horses are among the most important 
animals fed with these preparations. In view of what has 
been said about the food value of grass, why can it not be 
used as a human food? 
First, let us glance for a moment at the essential ele- 
ments, namely, what are now called “the necessary vitamins 
for healthful living”. Out of all the vitamins known today 
by modern science only seven have so far been proven ab- 
solutely essential to the human diet. A, B-l, B-2, C, D, Niacin 
and K. The minimum daily requirement has been established 
for only five of these, A, B-l, B-2, C and D. An eminent nu- 
tritional authority has said: “Additional vitamins beyond 
those already known, may be discovered as indispensable to 
human nutrition.” This means that certain unknown vita- 
mins may be found necessary to man. 
The unjointed grasses of 18-day old Cerogras, containing 
more vitamins than any other known food, are a veritable 
storehouse of all these natural vitamins: Carotene (Pro- 
vitamin A) ; Vitamins B-l, B-2, (or G), C, E, G, K; Panto- 
thenic Acid; Nicotinic Acid; Grass juice factor; Anti-Giz- 
zard erosion factor; Chlorophyll and Xanthophyll (non- 
vitamin factors) ; Factors U, R, S; Biotin; Inositol; Choline; 
and Folic acid. 
Every known vitamin with the exception of vitamin D, 
the sunshine vitamin, has been found in grass. Many un- 
known factors which will undoubtedly play an important 
role in the vitamin field of the future will yet be found and 
isolated from this richest of all plant foods. 
It is now time for the next question, “How do the vita- 
mins in Cerogras compare with the vitamins in our present 164 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
best known recommended vitamin foods?” Well, here is the 
answer in a summary of tests made by schools of agricul- 
ture, universities, colleges, hospitals, doctors and scientists 
over their test tubes, pipets, flaks and hot flames: 
Grass contained three times as many calories and twice 
as much protein, per pound, as the next best common source, 
eggs. In the vitamin columns grass did even better. Grass 
contained twenty times more vitamin A than egg, and thirty 
times more than the same amount of other green vegetables. 
Vitamin B was seven times more abundant in cereal grass 
than in eggs. Oranges and tomato juice contained only one- 
eighth as much vitamin C as did an equal weight of dry 
grass. 
Vitamin G was ten times more plentiful in dried cereal 
grasses than in eggs and twenty times more potent than 
milk—pound for pound. In the bone building minerals, cal- 
cium and phosphorus, young grass had twice the potency 
of milk and eggs. And in the blood building iron, grass was 
twenty to sixty times richer than eggs or leafy green vege- 
tables. 
Strange as it may seem, thousands of tons of this grass 
have been especially cleaned, compacted into small pellets 
and sold for human food. The choicest and most carefully 
processed of all Cerogras is now available as a human food 
supplement, being marketed under the trade name Cero- 
phyl. Available in palatable powder or tablet form, 12 to 15 
pounds of Cerophyl supplies more vitamins and minerals 
than the average 340 pounds of citrus fruits and green vege- 
tables eaten by the average person each year. 
Cerophyl bears the Seal of Acceptance of the American 
Medical Association’s Council on Foods. Sealed under inert 
gas, its freshness and food value are preserved for long 
periods of time. Taken on the prescription of your physician, 
Cerophyl may bring you better health, more energy and 
keener vision. Most of the large specialized food stores of 
the United States sell Cerophyl and Viet as a human food. EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
165 
These commercial preparations of grass leaves now furnish 
one of the largest sources in the United States of vitamins 
for human beings. 
But who would actually eat grass? The answer is simple, 
the taste for it is easily acquired, children learn to relish it 
as quickly as any other food except milk. Undoubtedly, in 
the future, grass leaves will become one of the important 
direct sources of human foods. 
Presented before the First Texas Chemurgic Conference, Dallas, Texas, 
December 6, 7, 1944. Published by the National Farm Chemurgic Council, 
50 West Broad Tower, Columbus 15, Ohio. Are We Starving to Death? 
From The Saturday Evening Post 
September 1, 1945 
NEIL M. CLARK 
We have drawn on the mineral bank more than we have 
paid in, and bankruptcy is coming fast. Diseases are be- 
ginning to multiply. Heart ailments that can be traced to 
diet are going up alarmingly. Diabetes, arthritis, cancer, 
anemia, dental caries and many of the more obscure ail- 
ments have struck with increasing severity. Millions of us 
try to supply what we vaguely feel is wanting, by buying 
pills at the drugstore. Even if we aren’t sick enough to see a 
doctor, we may be only half-well. A study in a California 
aircraft plant showed a correlation between fatigue, work 
spoilage, reduced output and absenteeism, and shortages of 
vitamins A and C in workers’ diets. Medical progress has 
been wonderful, but one of the more significant medical dis- 
coveries is the fact that almost any disease can be produced 
experimentally by faulty food. Today, doctors in increasing 
numbers are the ones who are saying that the tide is getting 
too strong for cure alone. There must be prevention. And 
prevention starts in the soil. 
• The process of decay has gone faster and further in some 
parts of the country than others. Albrecht cites the fact that 
the South has a heavy rainfall and a lot of leaching and crop- 
ping to reduce soil minerals rapidly. The South, consequent- 
ly, is the part of the country where farmers use the most 
fertilizer; they have to. But even so, input in most places has 
fallen behind outgo, and Albrecht says it’s a direct result of 
that that makes so serious the Rountree report that in one 
Southern state no less than 70 of 100 potential inductees for 
military service in this war were rejected on physical 
grounds, whereas in Colorado, where mineral depletion has 
166 EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
167 
been less, 70 out of 100 were accepted. Those Southerners 
simply were not eating well enough. 
The problem, Albrecht says, is rapidly reaching the size 
of a catastrophe, and if carried much further, could mean 
national suicide. Some future Gibbon, he says, might sit 
down to write The Decline and Fall of the American Re- 
public. Soil health is that important. It could happen here. 
Can the tragedy be prevented? If so, how? Not all the 
steps are known yet, Albrecht says, but the direction we 
must travel is absolutely clear. We must restore our soil 
bank account. Our soils, like ourselves, must be fed back to 
health. That’s a tremendous subject. No two soils have 
exactly the same history, topography and climate, and soil- 
mineral differences may occur within the same fence lines. 
Albrecht visited a famous Hereford farm in Missouri and 
found an entire beef herd seriously afflicted with diseases 
that doctoring seemed unable to cure. On another farm near 
by he found a similar herd in practically perfect health. 
Oddly, the herd on the second farm was started by animals 
born and brought up on the first farm. The health differ- 
ence was a soil difference. The first man had been operating 
for fifty years on the same farm and had not maintained 
soil minerals. The second number of sick people fed at his 
farm have achieved near-miraculous cures. Citrus groves 
in Florida are planted on sand under fifty annual inches of 
rain, and to furnish the trees the copper and zinc they can’t 
find in the soil, they are spoon-fed—the minerals are sprayed 
on and the trees take them in through their leaves. The 
iron content of milk has been increased from twenty-one to 
fifty-five parts per million by proper feeding of soils grazed 
by the cows. But Albrecht warns that there are no soil cure- 
alls. “The soil factory,” he pionts out, “runs by processes 
more subtle than anything in a man-built factory. Much re- 
mains to be known. Lime is generally good on soils, but it’s 
possible to lime too much. Boron helps to make oranges, but 
an overdose can make them sick.” All these things are to be 
explored. But Dr. Jonathan Forman, editor of the Ohio State 168 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
Medical Journal and a serious student of soils and nutrition, 
says confidently that there is no reason why the average 
man, if “well-bred and well-fed,” should not live to be a 
hundred and enjoy good health. 
The city man is perhaps more deeply concerned in all this 
than the country man, for he is not a producer of his own 
food and must depend absolutely on others for the mineral 
richness of what he eats. So the city must learn to be tolerant 
of new steps that farmers must take, and of the possible 
consequences of those steps to the city man’s pocketbook. 
Hitherto, Albrecht says, the farmer, thanks to the system of 
food distribution, has often been forced to mine his soil. 
“Hardly any farmer,” he says, “wilfully destroys soil fer- 
tility. But he has been forced. The grocer says, T can pay 
only so much.’ He passes that buck to the wholesaler, the 
wholesaler passes it to the commission man, the commis- 
sion man passes it to the farmer, and the farmer passes it 
to the land. There’s no other place. He proceeds to use his 
soil like a private gold mine, not as a property affected with 
an enduring public interest. We must enable farmers to keep 
on using their soil to produce food, and at the same time 
maintain mineral-rich fertility.” 
Our war-expanded chemical industry, Albrecht thinks, 
will find its greatest peacetime opportunity in making soil- 
restoring products that will help to restore our national 
health. 
Remarkable work has already been done in treating sick 
soils. After adding a pinch of manganese in certain fields, 
a food processor harvested tomatoes with triple the vitamin 
C content. A little boron around apple trees in the North- 
west apparently has doubled the vitamin A content of the 
fruit. A retiring genius named Albert Carter Savage has 
been experimenting for years in Kentucky with mineralized 
vegetables. 
I heard this absorbing story about health in America 
from Dr. William A. Albrecht of the University of Missouri, EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
169 
pioneer and leader in soil chemistry and nutritional research. 
“Nutritional research got under way about the turn of the 
century,” Albrecht said. “Doctors, through experiment and 
observation, began to understand that many diseases could 
be traced to dietary deficiencies, and that many sick people 
were hungry people. They called it ‘hidden hunger’ because 
people might eat three square meals a day and still suffer 
from it. One of the hidden hungers was for calcium, a short- 
age of which could cause rickets. Goiter was hooked up with 
a shortage of iodine; night blindness with a shortage of 
carotene; anemia with iron, and possibly copper, shortage; 
thyroid troubles with a shortage of zinc; tonsillitis with a 
deficiency of silver; tooth decay with shortages of calcium, 
phosphorus, fluorine. 
“Now, plants are the earth’s basic food factory and nour- 
ishment warehouse,” Albrecht continued. “We eat them or 
we eat animals grown by eating them. If something is miss- 
ing from our food that we need for health, it must be missing 
or deficient in plants. Why is it missing?” 
Dr. Albrecht made the tie-up between human health and 
the soil the major goal of his research. Through a series of 
experiments he developed a complete hypothesis as to what 
goes on in soils, how plants and soils work together, and 
how soils become sick and make plants, and then men and 
women, sick. 
A plant, he points out, obtains only a small part of its 
total growth from soil materials; the rest comes from air, 
water and sunshine. 
“What the soil contributes to growing plants,” Albrecht 
says, “is very little in amount, compared with what air, 
water and sunshine provide; on the average, it amounts to 
about five parts in one hundred. But that little is absolutely 
essential to plant and human health. For soil materials are 
‘grow’ foods—the minerals that make bones and teeth in 
animals, and keep us provided with a strong structure, with- 
out which we’re like an automobile built of soft tin. Air, 170 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
water and sunshine, on the other hand, make the ‘go’ foods 
—fuel and energy to keep the machine running. There’s no 
indication we’ll ever run short of the airborne elements in 
our foods. But right now we’re running short of soil-borne 
elements. And that’s our trouble. When we’re short of min- 
erals, we’re short of basic health. Short of vitamins, too, 
for there’s some unknown connection between minerals and 
vitamins. We know when minerals in a soil are abundant, 
vitamins usually are abundant in the plants that grow 
there.” As the Soil, So the Man 
Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville, Florida 
Experiments in farming and gardening that have been 
under way for sometime in Hancock County, Georgia, are 
bringing results of great importance to the South’s social 
structure. They are proving that man’s health, physical 
stamina and outlook on life conform to the soils in which he 
grows his crops. 
The discoveries are, in a measure, accidental. They are 
described in an article written by Eugene Anderson for the 
Macon Telegraph, who tells about Dr. I. H. Moore going into 
the middle section of Georgia on scientific research, seeking 
to learn why kidney stones were more often reported from 
that section than from elsewhere. 
He didn’t learn, because he couldn’t locate the cause of 
such stones, but he did learn that water is not the secret. 
Something else or the lack of something else is the cause. Of 
course, if water does not control the kidney stone problem, 
food might do so, and Dr. Moore decided that phase of the 
problem was worth investigating. 
Dr. T. F. Abercrombie, medical director of the State 
Health Department, had been saying for many years that 
the Nation should become interested in producing food 
values instead of big yields. He believed the vitamin and 
mineral content of food controls nutritive value. He and 
Dr. Moore agreed, and 16 test gardens in Hancock County 
were started by farmers directed by the health department. 
Samples of the different products in these gardens are 
sent to the State’s experiment station at Griffin, to be 
analyzed. From the analysis the needs of the soil are dis- 
covered, and those needs are supplied to the land through 
fertilizer and mineral applications, such as lime, phosphorus, 
171 172 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
acids and legumes. “As the soil is, so will the man be. If the 
soil is sick and weak, so will the products be sick and weak, 
and so will be the animals and humans who eat the prod- 
ucts.” That’s the fundamental idea, Mr. Anderson writes, 
and “blood analysis may yet show what is lacking in man or 
animal. Many claim it is done now. It’s leading to a revolu- 
tion in agriculture and horticulture.” 
The canning plant manager at Sparta, the writer adds, 
says he could sell 20,000 quarts of vegetables canned from 
the experimental gardens, and he wouldn’t have to send a 
can away from the town of Sparta. People want the prod- 
ucts of the health gardens, and when the growers of “poor 
food” in poor gardens see the difference in their health and 
that of their neighbors and in the profits from “health 
gardens” as compared with the lack of profits from the 
“ordinary or poor gardens,” the “health gardens” will take 
the place of all the others. 
As to the health results, a dwarf who had not grown in 
two years added an inch on health garden products and 
proper vitamins in a few months, says Dr. Moore, who be- 
lieves that the discoveries promise to be as sensational in 
the food and health problems as was the discovery of vita- 
mins and insulin. He quotes other scientists who believe 
the same thing. 
Cornell University sent men down to study the work and 
has constructed a $100,000 laboratory and employed several 
$10,000 a year men to pursue the idea. 
Continuing, the story adds: “George White (the name is 
fictitious but the man is painfully real) is typical of the 
farmers who get about as if they had hookworm or pellagra. 
He has 10 children, three of whom are under three years 
old. The health nurse and the doctor have been trying to 
keep all of them alive, but it’s been a hard job. White sold 
his cow because of hard times and he wouldn’t fool with 
chickens and pigs. He didn’t plant a garden because his one 
crop, cotton, took so much time. EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
173 
“ ‘George is a good fellow and comes from good stock,” Dr. 
Moore said. “But he has no energy and no power of self- 
direction because he is undernourished. The lack of phos- 
phorus in his food kills his energy and intellect. Go by his 
place most any time of the day and you’ll see him sitting 
about, doing nothing and thinking nothing.’ 
“Families in comparable circumstances who have been 
eating from health gardens make a prettier picture. The 
farmer is energetic, his children rosy-faced. He does well 
on the farm and they are learning in school. They really are 
living. 
“If science has its way, gray hair may become its natural 
color, dull and bedimmed eyes may become brilliant and 
powerful, headache and backache powders will no longer be 
needed; stunted growth, infantile paralysis, the fevers and 
nearly all of the diseases that have cursed man’s existence 
will disappear, and longevity can be relied upon. Food of a 
quality not often obtainable now will convert the druggist 
into a grocer and man will become healthy, strong and 
vigorous.” 
A thing to be remembered about the conditions herein 
discussed is that no matter how much food a person eats it 
will not keep him well and happy if it is lacking in minerals 
and vitamins. “Feed a man four or five times a day on food 
of the wrong quality,” Dr. Moore stresses, “and he will be- 
come weak in mind, body and spirit and disease may over- 
take him.” 
May the director of man’s destinies surround these ex- 
periments with His protective blessings, and speed their 
spreading over the vast areas where such benefits are so 
sorely needed. Research Project Started by 
Dr. Ouida A. Abbott Grows 
Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville, Florida 
January 18, 1945 
Dr. Ouida A. Abbott, home economics research scientist 
on the staff of the University of Florida, may not have been 
the first to become interested in the theory that nutritional 
deficiencies may be traced to the soils in which food crops 
grow, but she began studies in 1938 from which a move- 
ment is spreading that promises a revolution in food crop 
production and diet in America. 
A lengthy article published in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch 
of Sunday, January 14, is based largely upon the discovery 
made by Dr. Abbott and the Florida Experiment Station. It is 
pointed out that five years ago, at the initiative of Henry A. 
Wallace, then Secretary of Agriculture, and Dr. C. E. Auch- 
ter, now Administrator of Agricultural Research, investiga- 
tion was begun of the relationship between healthy soils, on 
the one hand, healthy plants and healthy domestic animals 
on the other—and the opposite, too, of course. 
This project has its headquarters in the new plant, soil 
and nutrition laboratory at Cornell University and is di- 
rected by Dr. L. A. Maynard, nutritionist of international 
reputation, and virtually every agricultural experiment sta- 
tion in the United States is busy on some phase of it, as are 
20 or more university and commercial laboratories. 
Dr. Abbott began her studies after she had noted that 
malnutrition was most acute among inhabitants of a Florida 
county where the soil was composed chiefly of gray and 
white sand, and where the cattle suffered from a local ail- 
ment known as “salt sickness.” In this area from 52 to 96 
per cent of the children were anemic, while in other districts, 
174 EFFECTS OF SOIL ELEMENTS ON FOOD 
175 
where the cattle were healthy, less than 23 per cent of the 
children were anemic. 
The anemic children that were suffering from hookworm 
were cured of that ailment but still their blood count didn’t 
go up, although without removing the parasites, it was 
possible to restore their blood count to normal simply by 
giving them iron. 
Already the Florida Experiment Station had discovered 
that deficient soil and deficient forage caused the salt-sick- 
ness of the cattle. That being true, how about the children? 
They ate their turnip greens. Analysis revealed that the 
greens contained only about a fifth as much iron as turnip 
greens grown outside the district, on healthy soil. 
This prompted the Experiment Station to try another 
experiment. It planted the same kind of turnip seed in four 
different Florida soils—and harvested four different grades 
of turnip greens, differing sharply in leaf form, succulence, 
and mineral content. 
“It appears, then,” Dr. Abbott wrote in summing up her 
findings, “that soil deficiency operating through the plants 
grown thereon, and ultimately in the health of the people, is 
a factor that should be considered in any section where nu- 
tritional anemia is endemic.” 
It is from this angle that the scientists are working now 
toward the establishment of a well balanced diet of natural 
foods grown on fertile soils, rich in essential minerals which 
are listed as: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phos- 
phorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sulphur, iron, man- 
ganese, copper and zinc. Seven undesirable minerals are: 
Selenium, thallium, fluorine, chromium, lead and arsenic.