The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-12-19

have seen them growing. Pecans, hazel |
nuts and chestnuts, treat the same as
hickory nuts.
--@~s
The Tobacco Crop in the south.
The great increase in interest in the to- |
bacco crop along the South Atlantic
coast is one of the most marked indica-
tons of the change that is coming over
the agriculture of the South, says the
Times Democrat. The low price of cotton
has had the effect of turning the atten-
ton of our Southern farmers toward a
more diversified farming and less depend
ence on the one crop of cotton. AS one of
the crops that promise relief the tobacco
crop has come into prominence in many
places where it was not formerly grown.
The most serious problem for the growers
is to determine what class of tobacco
their lands are best suited to produce, for
there is no crop which varies so much in
character on different soils as the tobacco
crop. In North Carolina and parts of Vir-
ginia and South Carolina the gold leaf
is the leading sort, and the practice of flue
curing is universal. In some sections of
the upper Piedmont, in North Carolina,
the gold leaf is replaced by the mahogany
colored tobacco, which the lands there are
better adapted to produce In the far
| South, in Florida and parts of Texas at
| tention is directed to the production of
| segar leaf, and il is claimed that in these
sections a tobacco equal to that of Cuba
can be grown. The curing of the crop
will depend largely on the use TO be
| made of the cured product and cure
| that is best in one section would be fatal
| to success in another with a different leaf.
| Therefore the curing of the crop can only
| be completely unders food by practical ex-
| pertinent in the various localities. But
while man can wei understand different
methods of curing tobacco there is moth
| ing so difficult TO impart by written drec-
| lions to an inexperienced person. Hence
| we have always advised those embark
| ing in tobacco culture in a new locality to
| hire the services of an experienced curer
who has handled the kind of tobacco they
| grow and stay by him and learn the art.
| 1t is not our purpose here, however to
! speak of the curing, but of the production
| of the crop and the food needed TO pro-
cure it. While tobacco needs a complete
| fertilizer, in which, of course, phosphoric
acid and nitrogen play an important part,
| 1t has been demonstrated that unless the
| plants are well supplied with potash in
suitable form little benefit can be hoped
for from the application of phosphoric
acid and nitrogen
| A tobacco grower in Southern Texas
wrote to me some time ago, saying that
| they were using cotton-seed meal only in
| the growing of fine cigar leaf, and that
the opinion of growers was that acid phos-
| phate made the tobacco honey or thick
| veined. He asked my advice in the mat
ter, as he was satisfied, from the results
in his own crop that something was lack
ing to make it at its best. l suggested
| that the honey character of the leaf was
due, not to the use of phosphate acid, but
| when it appeared after the use of this
| food it was evidence that there was not
a due percentage of the other forms of
| plant food. That, in fact the ration fur
nished the plants was not a balanced one.
| Hence I advised him to use a mixture that
would make per cent ammonia from
cOtton-seed meal and dried blood, per
cent phosphoric acid from acid phosphate
and 10 per cent. potash from high-grade
sulphate of potash. I advised him to use
this mixture al the rate of 700 pounds per
acre, and l thought the result would be
good. Lately I received a letter from
this man asking for advice on another
matter, in which he said that he was en-
couraged to write to me for advice as the
formula I gave him for tobacco had made
him the best crop in the neighborhood.
Potash in the shape of muriate is cheap
stead of the sulphate in compromising the
fertilizer. But it has been proved time
aud again that the chlorides (muriates)
have bad effect on the burning quality
of the leaf and none but the sulphates
should be used. This would shut out
any use of kainit; for though the pot
ash in kainit is in the form of sulphate
it is accompanied by so much chloride OF
sodium Common salO that it is entirely
unsuited for tobacco that is to be burned
Therefore we always advise the use OF
the high-grade sulphate of potash in mix
ing a tobacco fertilizer 1t has been
found also that the use of nitrate of soda
has a tendency to make the leaf coarse
and Its use is not advised as a source OF
nitrogen. Cotton-seed meal is the nIOst
readily available source of organic nitro
gen, but it can hardly be said to be the
best for tobacco, though not so objec-
tionable as the nitrate of soda, and wher
half of the nitrogen in a fertilizer mix
ture is derived from cotton-seed meal and
the other half from dried blood the nitro
gen is in as good a shape as can be de.
sired, unless it were all from dried blood
which we would prefer. AS a source fol
the phosphoric acid there is but one real
" available for the Southern grower. Acit
phosphate from the dissolving of phos
phate rock. A superphosphate from bone
black may have some advantages ovel
this. but not sufficient to warrant the ex
ira cost in the South. These ideas are sug
gested by practical experience. and the
experiments elsewhere fully confirm them
For instance, in the Bulletin No. &c of the
Kentucky station it is remarked tina
from our experiments heretofore It ha,
been shown that phosphoric acid or phos
phoric acid and nitrogen, without the as
sstance of potash compounds had it'll,
If any effect on increasing the yield o.
tobacco on our land" The ration wa.
unbalanced, as we have seen. and If tn,
phosphoric acid did hard to the crop i
was by reason of the absence Of potasl
In sufficient percentage, and not to tn,
presence of the phosphoric acid per Sc.
-s-<D--s