The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1882-11-21
TALLAHASSEE FLORIDA, NOVEMBER 81 1882

spuylnG. ~ eAtF1Se1llot pr1Cf5 pHOsphAtlc
,smmoniated manures, of whose compost
ton they are ignof1nt, and aiter finding
the yield of their lSnas Monderfully mn
proved for several years, saddenly fear
full falling OF takes place, and then they
blame the manure, When the fault lies at
their own door on account of its improper
application. Just here ] do not wish to
be misunderstood believe that COM
merciai manures, 90 they are used, have
been productive Of great evil to the aQri-
culture of the South, but at the same
time, the materisls that enter into the COM
position of these manures "a, chemicals,
are very valuable, and we're deprived of
their use / could never make compost to
suit the requirements Of my crop The
true plan Is totsaye all the lot and stable
manure under the shelter you can, rake
out your fence corners and bitches, and
gather all the muck and humus or dccayed
vegetable matter that Is rotting uselessly
around your premises, 60 into the woods
and gather leaves and pine straw, and
then compost them with chemicals in
quantities and proportions to suit the re-
quirements of the crop yon expect to
grow. And above al else save your cot
ton seed for composing. Cotton seed
comes nearer being within itself a perfect
fertilizer than any other one thing known
to the farmer of this day and generation.
Make up your compost and don't be
afraid to use it. applied this year five
thousand pounds to the acre. George
Vile, the celebrated European authority,
says that in France and Germany 10000
pounds to the acre is the rule for the ap-
plication Of compost.
In Ohio we are told that the compost
raised on farm of fifty-fve acres, from
ten head of horses aud thirty head of cat
tie, in the space of one year, was valued
by the State chemist, after careful analy-
sis, at twenty-six hundred and sixty dol
lars, aud this was applied broadcast at
the rate of forty thousand pounds to the
acre, with the final result Of a clear profit
of three hundred dollars per acre. This
compost was made with muck and lot
manure without the addition of any chem
icals. By the proper and judicious ad-
ditiOn of chemicals its value would, in
nay judgment, have been largely in
creased. From this statement, gentle
men, you can readily perceive that. mil
lions of dollars are lost annually to the
farmers of the South through their aziness
and carelessness in the one item of fail
ure to pen their cattle at night. Give
me good pile of lot manure and cotton
seed, and the chemicals as / may need
them, and l will guarantee to make
manure that will pay anywhere from one
to five hundred per cent. on its cost in
increased production of crops alone, leav-
ing out Of the account the immense and
permanent increase in the value of the
lands. upon which it has keen applied.
Now, gentlemen, to give you the practi-
cal results of the experiment that have
made. Five years ago selected about
sixty-five acres Of land, the poorest I
could find. The character of the land
was sandy with clay subsoil, near
enough to the surface to be brought up
with the pillow, the growth on it had been
oak and pine, but this had been cut off
and the land worn out before / was born.
To see what it would do, planted it all
in cotton the first year and cultivated
carefully, and the yield was eight bales
on the sixty-6ve acres, or about bale to
eight acres-pretty good evidence of the
extreme poverty of the soil. Next year
| commenced manuring, using five hun
dred pounds of my compost to the acre,
applied in the drill; the crop for that
year was twelve bales. The year after
doubled the manure, using one thousand
pounds to the acre, and I gathered that
year twenty-three bales. The year after
or last year doubled the manure again,
still applying in the drill, using two
thousand pounds to the acre, and the
crop, in turn, doubled itself, yielding me
forty-seven bales. This year I have
doubled the manure again, using an aver
age Of from four to FIVE thousand pounds
to the acre, and my crop is estimated, by
good judges who have examined it, as
promising from seventy-five to one hum
dred bales Of cotton. In addition to this
I have already gathered from this sixty
FIVE acres five hundred bushels of oats, as
follows:
Last fall planted five acres of the
sixty-five in oats, using in it two hundred
bushels of cotton seed per acre as a ma
nure. From this. on the last of May, l
harvested one hundred bushels of oats
per acre, or five hundred bushels alto
gether, and after clearing off the oat
stubble ! planted the land in cotton
and now have cotton growing on
it of which this stalk, which show
you, is a sample This stalk is, you OBJ
serve, fully five feet high and has on it,
by actual count, one hundred and twenty
six bolls, blooms and squares. And yet,
to-day, it is but two months and one day
since the seed, from which it sprang, were
deposited in the ground. Had it been
planted and grown on land not manured
upon the intensive system it would not
be more than half as large, and would be
far behind the stalk exhibit in fruitage.
The expense of making this crop this
year, all inclusive, labor, manure, gather
ing, etc., will not exceed twenty three
hundred dollars, so that if I make the
lowest estimate, the seventy-fve bales at
10 cents per pound, we have
rs B. G. 5000 each h................ .$3. $50 90
500 Bushels oats, 90 cts per bushel. >. 800 90
$500 Bushels cotton seed, 12} cts...... 800 90
$4S50 90
Expense. ....... ................... ASOO 0O
Profits. .:......... $1,000 90
But this is not Q true statement Of the
profit, the expense account includes the
entire expense Of my two-horse farm, and