The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1894-03-20

|
food in time of need. The whole plant is
nourished and fed and f1ourishes and fruits.
| Crops thus planned and MANFRED do not
| suffer from drought like the ordinary way.
/ The sooner we wake up and try new
| methods the better for us and our children
SUBSCRIBER.
| eve consider the above article as on the
| right line and full of good common sense
| ideas-the same line of argument that we
have been pressing for years past. We do
| not endorse every detail but commend the
| article, as a whole, to the thoughtful at
| tentiOn OF our readers. r. j. R)
| FACTS ABOUT WATERMELONS.
| Some Scientific Statements of Interest
to the Melon Growers.
| AT the recent convention of the State
| Agricultural Society, DR.. George f. Payne,
| the state chemist of Georgia, delivered q
| most interesting address concerning the
| watermelon The statements contained in
| his brief address were of a peculiarly in
| teresting nature especially to melon grow
| ers, and The Constitution has received 50
ts:nany applications for the address that Dr.
'ayne was requested to furnish a copy,
S'nVhlch IS presented as follows:
! About the Watermelon.
u "Mr. President and Gentlemen OF the Geor-
tia State Agricultural Society: Last sum-
= (. ler our attention was called to
4
] acknowledged as a fact, that Watermelons
Veannot be successfully grown Il second or
third season on the same land, even with
,lAe OF fertilizers. A belief is entertain
K u by several growers with whom the matter
| flas discussed, that if the vines of water
! 2 clons We're not allowed to Wither and de-
fcy in the field, u good crop could easily
| VI raised the second season; but even if the
| Gs-ainage water from such fields of decaying
! s.nes and melons, runs over land as yet
IMPLANTED in Watermelons, the land so i'm
+ Efagnated will fail to produce crop if
teinted in melons the succeeding year.
Ere are parties, however, who raise sue
Wlve crops of watermelons on the same
Sc season after season, with very small
UNITS of fertilizers.
Erhinking it might possibly be a deficiency
2ome particular fertizng material which
quickly exhausted from most soils,
tatermelon was reduced to ashes to ind
CIV much available rineral matter IS
from the soil by Il fair crop.
Sing q large watermelon to ashes
cot be an easy job under any cir
YES. but when it must be done in
aeling only a small cupful and
lf iuiCe-not a single seed-nof
I'D must be lost, and not a par
SIN matter must get into the
II any source. it becomes lnueeu'
g.. hrduous matter. a fine handsome,
IugcsotisaT atermelon is a very temPthiE dr:l-
c1a when sliced wide open on a hot day III
W., ~ not a particle Of it was tasted.
nv i,,ica was evapoarted to q syrup lle
syrup evaporated to dryness, ana the ItSi1
d'n burnt to ashes. The rinds We're heat1.'
ti, tborouehlv dry, when they Wouid
INN e,n ana bIrn like SO much wood. The
i,,ira min rind and seeds We're iil'-hy re-
11Iced TO ashes and the aSheS ihotooSh'S
mixed. ,,1 +,,,ontv-fya
ne iit rn''r+t mounds. and was a hand
a,o follow of the Augusta or rattiesnake
,.ia+,, IF was sold as having been raise.
v,.itI,in ten miles of Atlanta. Ihe asneS op-
tanned from this large melon WoUho hoI
make more than two heaping taplespoo,la-
ri They weighed little less imam Two
,,o. over twenty-five pounds, or the
mix of the watermelon, consisted OF the
materials extracted from the ar anu son
water Ii is not necessary 10 i'pIo'uce we
MANY figures and calculations OF the analy-
&c OnI,, the lesson they teach Will be
briefly stated, and for comparison VIII De
Given the amounts of phosphorlc aclu ana
nota 9h taken from the soil by average crops
- cotton and corn. A common yield OF an
na i, cotton is 200 pounds of lint cotton
a,,d 400 nouads OF seed, or 600 pounds OF seed
cotton. fifteen bushels of corn per acre
is a frequent crop and that OF Watefmelohs
aboIlt half a carload. Upon such crops as
n hast are the following tigTreS calculateu
Silnnosing that the cotton, cottonseed corn
and melons only, are removed from the
field and that the remaining part OF the
nlants are plowed under, 200 pounds or INT
fron, an acre of land four and one-fourth
mounds of phosphoric acid-ffteen bushels
of corn carry away from an acre oil lahd
six pounds of phosphoric acid-and half Il
carload of watermelons carry away from an
acre of land three and three-fourths pounds
of phosphoric acid. This shows that the
watermelon crop does not take away from
the soil scarcely much phosphorlc acid
as either the cotton or the corn.
"TWo hundred pounds of lint cotton and
AO0 mounds of seed carry away from an acre
of land six pounds of potash.
"Fifteen bushels of corn carry away from
an acre of land three and one-halt pounds
of potash.
Half a carload of watermelons carry
away from an acre of land seventeen and
three -fourths pounds of potash
"This is an immense quantity of potash
removed by the watermeons, as much re-
moved by the soil as would be carried away
by three crops of cotton and cOttonSeed, or
five crops of corn. Ii the cottonseed were
returned to the soil and only the lint sold,
over thirteen crops of lint cotton would be
required to remove as much potash from
the soil as the one crop of melons.
THE nitrogen ammonia removed from
the soil by the melon crop is not as large
as might be inferred, the juice only con-
tanning about one-flftieth of one per cent,
the pulp about seVen-ifteths of one per
| cent the rind about tWclVe-tifteths OF one
per cent and the seed about one and one
| fourth per cent of nitrogen. The juice con-
| stitutes about one-half of the melon and
| The seeds are very small proportion.
"a crop OF cotton and cottonseed may
| remove tWenty-nine pounds of nitrogen from
| an acre.
| "a crop of corn may remove about four
| teen pounds, and a half carload of melons
about as much as the corn
1.-The great demand then upon the land is
| for potash. Some soils naturally contain
| much potash. Clay soil being formed by
| the decomposition of feldspar or granite con-
| tain more or less potash, those cayS being
richest in available potash which have no.
| been too thoroughly 1eached. Sandy soils