The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1894-07-03
POTASH FOR COTTON Rrrsr


w. M. G., S~partanburg, s, G oon.
our advice about the treatment ~
piece of fiat black jack land which 80
formerly very productive but has hos
exhausted by an improvident course ".
cultivation of its humus, and is bo,5
to pillow. While small grain still d..
well upon it, and cotton grows woI1
the cotton takes rust and does mott rIi.
well. The indications are unmistobI'
that the land needs lime and poteob
and particularly potash. Cotton roro
ly succumbs to rust if grown on a soI
when it has plenty of potash. On On
old red hill full of decomposing granite
rock, it will not make much weed v
but will fruit full and clean because
such a soil supplies the needed potash
Cotton fbre is nearly pure celluloaa
and cellulose is the immediate result
of the transmutation of starch, M
plant can make starch unless suppIiad
with sufficient potash in an available
shape, and if no starch is formed, m
cellulose is made-no growth of cotton
fibre and a weakened condition of the
whole plant, which invites the attacks
Of the rust. Many people and good
cotton farmers oppose the use of clover
in a rotation with cotton, averring that
the neighborhood of clover ,pro7okes
rust in cotton, and yet some of the
finest crops of cotton we have ever seen
were after clover. The main difficulty
has been that people have tried to grow
cotton on a buried crop of clover Or
peas, and such a mass of vegetable
matter with it's accompanying nitro,
genous matter has given an immense
growth of cotton plants, and made the
fruiting late and crop small because
the potash in the land was not proper.
tional to the demand. 1t would have
been far better to have used the min.
eral forms of fertilizers phosphoriC
acid and potash) to give a fine growth
of peas or clover, and then to have
moved the crop and pillow the stubble
only in preparation for cotton, giving
the cotton too, a fine dressing Of the
cheap phosphoric acid and potash, the
clover roots furnishing an abundance
Of nitrogen.
With the piece of land one correspon-
dent asks about, we would advise some
such treatment as this. Prepare the
land to be put in oats next September
Make a mixture of two parts OF acld
phosphate and one part of muriate OF
potash and apply 400 lbs. per acre 70
the land. Sow only one bushel oil oas
per acre, and then SOW, and brush ID 10
lbs. of crimson clover (Trifolian lncaf'
nation) per acre. This will bloom early
in April. AS soon as fairly in Oloom'
now the whole, whether the oats arc
ready or not, as they are used only
protect the young clover from the oeP
TENDER sun. Now plow the StuOOlS
and if practicable give a dressing Oh "
bushels of lime per acre and pIan' IL
corn. Plant cow peas in the corn snu
feed them off to stock on the and Wnen
corn is gathered. Put this lanu -
order for cotton and use with the WV
tona similar dressing of acid pnoSPn""
and potash that was given to the clo,I'
and oats. At last working up inc WV
ton, SOW crimson clover seed all ovs-
the land between the cotton rO".
Thus clover may be fastened durlnS
winter or early spring and the W.
plowed in May, and put IN co" Po%
using on the peas another lighter aloJ
ing of the acid phosphate and po'-,
Now these peas for hay, III P[ep IN
the land again for oats to De SO" ocid
September. Use 300 lbs. Of the a I'D
phosphate and potash with tneSo red
SOW the land with the ORDINARY y he
clover. By this time the land VIII hIoOs
in condition to grow maximum c ~Sen
of either grain or cotton, ano l. little
it comes into cotton you give d lind
more potash, and always bear IL ~ cow
that the top growth Pf clover " feed
peas is always worth too mucn ~ -" never
to plow it all under, you wiz bIt bet.
have any more rust IN co'VGI ill., IN feed
ter than that you will be abe So w ma,
more stock and make more Oa AZ vour
n muao But But the great need now Of Of such such
land and of millions OF acle
land in the South is potash. ,osgY.