The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1894-02-15
What the Commissioner Has TO
Say to Georgia Farmers for the
Month Of February, 1894.
PLANS FOR THE COMING YEAR
experiments in Farming, .Renova.
ton and Rotation, Success in
Cotton Planting, Fertilizers.
Orchard and Garden.
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.
ATLANTA, Feb. l, 1894.

carefully mapped out his plans for the
ensuing year, and having begun prompt
~ to execute them, the present month
should find him well advanced in his
preparations for planting. The excep-
uohally dry fall and early part of the
winter have been favorable to the deep
blowing so important at this season.
Where the stubble from peas, roots and
stems, grass sod, clover, or the natural
growth on the land has been turned I'M
der, supply of available plant food is
now, by natural processes, being manu-
featured for the coming years crops
more or less valuable as the growth
turned under is rich in the necessary ell
ements and easy of decomposition.
Let it be borne in mind that the peas
and clover are the only agents among
those mentioned which have the power
OF appropriating and depositing the free
nitrogen of the atmosphere, which fact
should be remembered in selecting sup
Elementary fertilizers for each crop.
should also bear an important place in
our calculations. We know that certain
plants do well on certain kinds of SOIL
and that on special artificial foods they
also thrive; and that on others they do
not reach the full measure of their pow.
ers OF growth or yield. The SOIL If def
Gent must therefore be prepared for their
growth by supplying what is lacking
We also know that judicious and abun-
dant manuring will enable the soil to
grow almost any crop, and that this soil
will. in succession. yield fuller crops if
these crops be so varied as to extract
from the soil, one after another, the sew.
eral different elements it is known to
contain.
THE LAND GROWS SICK
of one crop, but in the hands of the
skillful farmer it can be made to yield
successive crops, and, at the same time,
it's deficiencies be SO supplied that it will
be kept up to high degree of product
iveness. In establishing
AN ARTIFICIAL ROTATION
of crops. We but follow the precedent,
which nature has set for us. How often
do we notice that where an oak forest
once stood the pine saplings take it place.
All over Georgia the ''pine thickets" at
test the localities where majestic oaks
once reared ther heads. By following
these signs, which nature sets up for us,
we may, in
MATURING FOR SPECIAL CROPS,
attain certain degree of success, with
out the aid of science, but if we would
learn the shortest, most simple, most
economical, and at the same time, the
most perfect processes, we must accept
the help, which scientific principles offer
US. With this end in view we should
lose no opportunity of studying the agricul-
tural laws of cause and effect, and of max
ing practical application of the knowl.
edge thus gained. The experiments at
the various experiment stations bear di-
rectly on these problems, and are of in
estlmable value to the thinking farmer.
They throw light on questions as to feed
ing, fertilization, composing, rotation,
renovation, which he being often ham,
SuTIOuuulURS,
not the time or the means to investigate
for himself. For instance, careful ex-
pertinent has demonstrated that in six
months, horse manure, thrown into a
loose pile, and exposed to the weather.
will lose one-half it's fertilizing qualities.
Cow manure thus exposed lost two
thirds; mixed with other ingredients, of
which muck was the leading constit-
uent. the loss was not quite one third.
refer to these facts again because the
present imperative need on most farms
10 move care in gathering and con-
serving these precious elements of fertil-
ity, which, through carelessness and i'm
proper methods, are allowed to waste.
Experiment has also shown that the
value of barn yard manure depends not
so much upon its actual elements of
plant food, these having been shown by
analysis to be comparatively small, as
/ upon its effect upon the physical
condition of the soil. 1t improves
the mechanical condition of soils
both light and heavy, and induces fer
incentive changes, by which latent plant
food is utilized. 1t also draws the water
IN the soil toward the surface, thus ad-
ding to the supply both of water and
food for the growing plants.
I At the New Hampshire station the
/ following experiment was tried: Three
acres were set aside. On one the lot
manure was spread and plowed under in
the fall. On another it was spread in
the fall and allowed to lie on the surface
undisturbed. On the third it was spread
p in the spring. In summing up results,
i it was found that the largest yield was
from the acre on which the manure was
allowed to remain on the surface during
the winter. Again, some interesting ex-
periments at our Georgia Experiment
Station go to prove, that the time and
labor expended in mixing and ferment-
i ing cotton seed and other materials be-
fore applying to the soil, could be better
employed, as this plan causes no increase
in yield over that in which cotton seed
and other materials were applied to the
soil separately.
& But conditions vary, and while these
experiments are valuable in general
sense, their PRONUNCIATION should not
prevent individual experiment, where