The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-01-16

hcNti uScA u pOunu or commercial IerLlN3-
ers, or commercial fertilizers have In-
| Ju:ed the country" or my voice Is for war
against tie use of commercial fertilizers
or II am only using enough 20 roll my cot
ton seed IN" or iii no commercial fertiIiz-
ers were rouGht iato the state we would
be driven 90 make all the home manure
| We possibly could, and in that way re
cuperate cur WORKOUT lands" We may
safely accept such proclsmations as confess
81 rs OF incompetency. Sucn men would
| probably never at any time, be able to
raise cotton much below the selling prics.
On the other hand, those pursuing better
methods have used commercial fertilizers
In varying quantities, alone or with com
| posts and stable manure, to great adven-
taRe Col. Livingston used 1000 pounds
| per acre at profit and g. worth at loss
Mr.. j. r. Respess Of Schley county raised
cotton at 3 cents per pound, and
Col. Corput at 5 cents per pound
more recently. The late chemist OF
the United States agricultural department.
very sensibly said: The agriculture of this
country. at the present time, depends very
much ON the confidence which the farmers
have In the literal use OF manures, ard the
Intelligent exercise OF this confidence,
Whatever diminishes the faith Of farmers in
the good effects of fertilizers on
their crops tends ultimately TO di-
minish production and may, there
fore, be regarded as q public calamity
! Under the present inspection law it would
be nearly impossible TO impose a flaud-
ulent fertilizer upon the farmers
| Of Georgia. During the season
OF lS9O-9l | made S45 separate inspections
| OF So ,4S9 tons, and in all tn Il quantity
there was only one ton inspected of brand
| OF questionable integrity. aud the sale OF
that brand is now forbidden within our
state. The Chinese will sometimes break
down coat OF wel-smoked plastering for
the sake OF the nmonia for manure con-
tanned in the lampblack. Fifty-three years
ago, while passing thro lgh England on my
way TO school 10 Germany, | saw men in
the streets OF Liverp oil Ga herring up horse
manure with trowels and carry It awoy in
wheelbarrows; women used their hands q d
their aprons in London for the same pur-
pose. The value was ! penny per bushel
The tobacco growers at East Whatelv,
| Mass procure stable manure from dis
tance Of $50 miles, at a cost Of sl3 per cord,
and they pay freight from SS6 to $40 per
carload. By contrast, regret 70 say, saw
/ about hve months ago in South Georgia aud
| Florida four large dry lakes, end very
numerous ponds, which were then, and had
been for two years. mines of fine dry muck
| easily accessible TO teams; in fact, roads
| traversed them in every direction.
In extent they aggregated fully 10000
acres. Paines prairie, near Gainesville Fla,
| Is said alone to have an area of IS 900 acres
| In so far as could learc not q single farmer
either in Georgia or Florida had avaiIsd
himself OF the opportunity TO gather
! pound # 1t. OF thIrty-three SAMPLES OF
muck enalyzcd by Pr,f s. W. johnson Of
the Connecticut State Agricultural So
| ciety, the poorest contained l.6 per cent.
| more of potential ammonia Than horse man
ure. The average contained twice as much
and the best eight times as much potential
ammonia as stable manure One ton of the
| AoSk II Il.
| Applications of muck convey 20 the
soil the physical attributes II
| humus as well as the enrichinR
| constituents. At Lake Miccosukee | counted
at one time ninety five buzzards within an
area OF one-eighth of an acre, and yet they
seemed not to have been numerous enough
| 20 devour all the fish that had persisted aud
had hoated TO the shore OF the basin about
four acres In extent) when the water be-
j came too sraguant 20 sustain life. Even at
| that late day the dry carcasses of large
| trout could have been gathered up by the
wagon load, but not ons fish had been re
moved for ma lurial purposes. Incident
| ally may mention that while
| an abundance OF fresh food fish ought to be
| q blessing 90 the inhabitants in any section
Of the interior. l heard several farmers Of
! the vicinity congratulate themselves upon
their des ruction for the reason that hey
bad afforded pa Jial support 10 an idle
| negro population. In respect TO scarcity OF
| labor they had been similar y embarrassed
as TO the farmers on the sea islands Is this
improvidence or Indifference to utilize all
the available means of restoring fertility to
| an exhausted soil confined to the shores Of
these lakes, or is IL not unfortunately too
general among our farmersi In
the average yield Of cotton
for the ten years between 1890
| and 1890 Georgia was excelled by all but
| nf the II rnffan gfQfae although he
crops had been cultivated by her farmers
with a greater degree OF care. The aver
| age in Georgia was 1859 pounds per acre.
| That Of Alabams and Florida, l23.2 pounds,
and the general average of all IL was 1913
| pounds. In the yield OF oats she was beaten
| by As states and territories. She averaged
! 9.S bushels. North Carolina, 95 bushels:
while the average of the As was 49, ( bushels.
| In wheat Georgia averaged = bushels,
| South Carolina and Mississippi each g.
| bushels, while the general average was IL
bushels. In potatoes Georgia averaged %. s
barrels, South Carolina % barrels, while
46 states and territories averaged 80 barrels
per acre. In the yield Of corn she was
beaten by 80 out of 40 Her yield was l0.5
bushels per acre. North Carolinas and
Floridas was 9.5. while the general aver
ave was % bushels. In the order Of pro-
duction Of rye Georgia stands next to the
lowest Of ~ states a nd territories.
lois OlsCrSulCdOle showing 10 etLneT q Tes
| Election on her farmers or the soil of our
Empire State Of the South 10 less capable OF
responding to tine efforts OF its cultivators
| than that Of nearly every state and terri
tory In tho union. After the great boom
10 truck far ming in 1882, m any cotton
planters attempted the cultivation OF Irish
potatoes for northern markets. Among the
many who reported their failures was one
who applied 200 pounds Of commercial
fertilizers per acre and harvested
IL barrels of all sizes per acre,
and another, who used $50 pounds
20 the acre and harvested H. barrels Of all
grades per acre. Now. when an application
of manure Is n ade to any crop the plants
can only take up such portion IS comes in
solution 10 direct contact with their root
lets. Such being the case the farmer has TO
apply at least double the quantity OF all
the chief elements OF fertility, which full
crop. the foliage included, REQUIRES, how
ever fertile the soil may be.
Estimating the weight Of tops In each
case at one ton IA very low one) the above
yield In tubers and foliage required as fol-
lows:
II barrels Of tubes. 80 ms. ~ ms. Sc lbs.
ton Of foliage. ..l.9 Ds. S.2 ms. SO rs
Now 200 pounds of the best usual grades
of commercial fertilizers contain 4 pounds
OF ammonia from 2 TO pounds OF potash