The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1881-02-03
Thoughts for the Month Of January.


of new statute year, affords q natural |
and convenient occasion to examine what |
progress has been made and in what di-
rections the indications point for the
future. During the last fifteen wears |
very great changes have taken place in |
our observation-disclosures both practical !
and theoretical. We have entered upon |
a new era. It's dawn began before the |
war, when Mr.. David Dickson and a few |
others i'll the South firmly grasped the
idea that soilA were impoverished by the |
exhaustion, not of all, but of a few Of
their ingredients, and that these could be
cheaply and protitably procured and APP
piled in commercial articles, the supplies
of which were abundant, and the bulk is
so small as to admit of ready application
to the soil. The destruction of slavery
gave a great impulse to the new idea,
because labor became cash commodity,
and in absence Of compulsory process, a
very dear one; and the necessity of sup
plementing it by fertilizers and by labor
saving implements, forced itself upon
the attent on of farmers. The views and
practices of Mr.. Dickson, published in
this journal, in form Of letters, during
the years 18G7-68, gave shape and form
to the new policy, and awakened q won
derful degree of thinking and expert
menting among the farmers of the South.
So great was the interest developed that
the circulation of the Cultivatur in
creased in twelve months from under
three thousand to over fourteen thousand
copies, and we found it necessary to issue
n separate edition of the "Lcttcrs" them
selves. Encouraged and stimulated by
fresh hopes, the farmers seized the new
in Of
wildl7, cXtravagantly and ruinously.
The proper conditions under which con-
ccntratcd chemical fertilizers should be
applied the best paying quantities, the
best combinations and proportions-the
points had not been yctfuIly settled, and
there was, in the very nature Of things,
much cropping in the dark, That MANY
mistakes should be made was natural and
to be expected. The history of this
movement resembles that of all great dis
coverics. The discovery Of a great prin-
cipc or law is followed for many Years
with an unfolding of it's bearings or prac-
tical applications. Theoretical surpcs-
tionS have to be verified by trials, by
facts, by experiment and experience.
Time is requisite for this; in agriculture
Il long time. because it takes at least a
year to max" an experiment. For the
last ten years this work has been going
on; thousands Of watchful eyes have
been scrutinizing the effects on various
crops Of commercial fertilizers-thOu- |
sands Of sensitive pockets behind those |
eyes have stimulated and sharpcncd their
vision, and we may confidently assert
that our farmers, in the last ten wears,
have made decided progress, if not in the
matter of new and startling discoveries,
in expanding and developing the chcmi-
cal farming inauguratcd in the cotton
States by Mr.. Dickson immediately after
the war
One of the most recent phases of that
progress has been the extensive supplant-
ing of the costly ammoniated fertilizers
by the cheaper acid phosphates compost
cd with cotton seed and animal manure.
Now that we have reached point where
we can look back and obtain clear view
of the field, it seems marvellous that cot
ton raiscrs should ever have paid a cent
for ammonia, when their cotton seed
could furnish such ample supplies of that
substance. farmer who purchases an
nually ten tons of ammOniated fertilizers,
pays for about 600 lbs. of ammonia: at
cash prices, say $l20. Now, the ten tons
ut $50 lbs. per acre will manure 1873
acres, which would readily average half
bale to the acre; or say G5 bales For
rvc:y bale there is 1000 lbs of cotton
seed, or in the case supposed, 65, 900 lbs.
and at the low estimate Of two per cent.
of nitrogen, they would contain 1900
lbs, equivalent to over ! 800 lbs. of am
monia, or two and half times as much
as in the ten tons Of fertilizer What
folly to waste or misuse this abundant
supply, and then buy the same article at
eXhorbtant time rates.
Composing cotton seed with phos-
pilates has, in good measures, put an end
to the ruinous policy. But the best re-
suits have not yet been reached. The
whole cotton seed does not present the
best form or condition for fertilizer
the cncasing hull shuts up the kernel too
closely and securely. If crushed they
are decidedly improved, but cotton seed
meal is better still This is the form in
which it ought to be used, and it cannot
be doubted that in the future the meal
Will supplant the whole seed almost en-
tirtly Tor tcrtiiizing purposes. Before
thus can be done, however, cotton seed
oil mills will have to be establi he'd at
suitable points all over the cotton States.
IhiS Is cminently desirable. At present
prices, the gross products Of Il ton of cot
ton sc d, at the mills is nearly $1,000,
as follows:
35gallons crude oil, at 80 cts. a gal. $40. so
~ pounds lint cotton, at s cts. -. 1.76
700 pounds cake, at 81 '.00a ton. $50
1,OCOpounds hulls, at 81 100 tom. $50
1otnl. .......,... 1928. .26
Or Sll 80 to every bale of lint cotton,
as there is about 1000 pounds seed pro-
duced to every bale of lint. Deducting
one'tourth of the seed for planting pur-
DOSES the seed of tho croY, of I Sza &C