The Daily Texarkanian., 1894-04-09
TO THE FARMER.
Items of Both Interest and Importance
to all Who Wish to Improve
Their Farms.

That the recent cold spell anC
| freeze did a vast amount of damage
to vegetation, of all kinds, as wei
as to fruits, is a fact well known tC
all farmers, in this section. This is
no reason, however, why the farm
ers should allow themselves, this
early in the season, to become dis
pirited or even discouraged, over
the prospect Instead of letting
the set back, which their crops have
received, discourage and dishearten
them, our farming friends should
pluck up spirit and get down to
work, at once, with redoubled
energy to replace their loss,
The season is young yet, and there
is plenty of time in which to do
much hard work Then, too, you
must raise something else to bring
in the revenue usually derived from
your fruits, for all know that the
crop is almost entirely a total
loss.
The results of the various expert
ments, as given by the different ex-
pertinent stations under the direc-
tion Of the United States Depart
ment of Agriculture, will doubtless
prove very beneficial to the farmers
of the country. Below is given a
review of Fertilizers for Cotton,
which, is the title of farmers bulle
tin No. IA Opp. 32) of the United
States Department of Agriculture,
prepared by J. N, McBryde. Ph,
d., President of Virginia Agricul-
tural and Mechanical College and
Director of Virginia Agricultural
Experiment Station
The purpose Of the Bulletin is to
disseminate more correct ideas re-
garding the manuring of Cotton,
and thus prevent as far as possible
the lavish and injudicious use Of
fertilizers, which, there is reason to
believe, results in the waste Of hun
dreds of thousands Of dollars by
the farmers of the South every
year
A brief discussion is given of the
results of careful experiments car
ried out under the direction of DR.
McBryde at the South Carolina Ex-
pertinent Station These expert
ments extended over three years,
and were conducted on two farms
located in different parts of the
State.
The questions studied were:
"Does cotton require potash, phos-
phoric acid and nitrogen2 If 50, in
what amounts and in what forms2
Does it need lime? Will copperas
prevent its rusting? At what time
or times should nitrate Of soda be
applied? How should the fertilizer
be applied?"
Carefully studied in all their bear
ings, the results of the experiments
warrant the following conclusions,
which, however, in practice must
be modified according to the special
requirements of different soils. Cot
ton requires complete fertilizer,
l. e., one containing all three of the
elements of plant food, nitrogen,
phosphoric acid and potash. Of
these, 'phosphoric acid is relatively
the most important and cantrols
the action Of the other two" that
is, with a given amount Of phos-
phoric acid only certain amounts
of nitrogen and potash can be
pro6tably used.
The proportion Of the three ele-
ments should be / part Of nitrogen
% parts of phosphoric acid and A
part of potash A crop yielding
300 pounds of lint per acre requires
a fertilizer supplying 20 pounds Of
nitrogen, so pounds of phosphoric
acid and 10 pounds of potash.
Potash can be as effectively sup
piled by muriate Of potash or kainit
as by sulphate of potash.
Phosphoric acid should be used in
the form of acid phosphates con-
tanning considerable amounts of
soluble phosphoric acid. Insoluble
phosphoric acid in Stag, floats or
mari, if Of little direct value to cot
ton, and the use of these materials
is, in any case, Of doubtful econo-
my
Inorganic nitrogen in the form Of
nitrate Of soda; organic nitrogen in
the form of cotton seed, cotton seed
meal, dried blood or stable manure
and mixed nitrogen in the form of
a combination of stable manure and
nitrate of soda, were Of very near
equal value for cotton, the slight
difference being in favor Of the last
two.