Lancaster enterprise. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1891-1905, 1898-04-06
Prof. Massey's letter.
Special Cor. Home and Farm.

The following questions from II. f.
lialle, OF Cantey, :. c., are of sufficient
interest To answer in Home and Farm ::
Prof. Massey: My farm, which lies
i'm kershaw county, near Camden, on
Waterree river, is six mule farm
consisting OF 100 acres, iGcl ding some
twenty acres of oats and wheat. Nature
of soil is what is here called a"muIatto
clay, pretty well stocked with Rermu-
da (wire) and Means. or johnson, grass,
especially on river bottoms, and up
lands not by any means clear of the
former.
| wish to put in forty acres of cotton
and forty acres of corn. Thirty acres
o1 corn land lies on river and is very
rlch,and ten or twelve acres are pIney
old field, cut last summer and still
lying on land.
l. Would 100 pounds acid per acre
pay here? VIII also plant pease .eavily.
The bottoms will rcuuir" no rertiIiS-
ing. Thirty acres of my cotton farm
Is inclined To be wet and cold. and this
year was considerably affected by
rust. Especially was this the case
with one field of fifteen acres. 1t has
rust more or less every year. n
,. Will kainit prevent?
). Now, aS to fertilizer.
about 700 bushels of cotton /Saod a,J anJ
from forty 10 sixty loads OF. .oLI'' 'i a,'u
lot manure. Would it pT no "p,, tn hmu hn,
cotton meal, acid and ~; nit 10 guy
post with what | b"r, ha.n,t 10 10 CON-
what proportion ,",r' tnt, ",u 81, Nv
the Clark cutaW,, So oo 'Joas' "ane "N,
row ,i.o IN. /on Age one-horSe har-
row. a'So 'ht/Dixie turner plows.
sir. to m~.g | should state is that de-
omt nc, lake all the money possible
yno> =. my forty acres of cotton next
ISE.r. Then y'ill be ready for the ro-
y ating process. You see 1 am some
/ what anticipating you.
(. One more point Will il pay me
TO put all fertilizer at one application
and run scooter plow through it to
mix with soil? Am sometimes troubled
! about stands.
|. If you are going TO put that cut
down piney land in corn the coming
season. we do not think that it win
pay You 10 put commercial fertilizer
on H. If You could get lime chcaply
/ cuough TO spread a good dressing, say
Il ton per acre ON thar IA a after NJ is
ready To plant in corn. il would pay
we'll in IN" tUtur" of the land. But /
fear that Lime in your locality is TOO
expensive.
>. Thi, land needs understanding
w"rS" than anything else. But i'm he
absence of this yuu Will of course have
to do the best you can. kainit will
certainly make tn" land less liable to
rust the cotton. In fact this is the Spr-
cjai value OF kainit, for otherwise
would not use kainit 20 far from the
~"acoaSt, n You can get the potash in
1 the form OF murlat" cheaper.
,. Now as TO composing. | do not
a. rule believe in composing AT all.
believe i'm growing the compost al
ready spread in the shape of pea vines
all over the land. But at the same time
believe in saving and applying all
the manurial matters of the farm IN
the most economical manner. Mix the
manure ana the cotton seed, and when
you prepare the land for cotton run a
furrow down the middIcs and put the
compost in that. Under the cotton
rows the compu>t will have 4 tendency
to iuiurc the stand. hut in the middlry
the cotton roots Will find il about
iruting time, and The crop viii be far
better than If IT was pa; IN The furrow
under il.
In the furrow put whatever com
mrrcial fertilizers YOU may use and
/ bed ON that. Then YOU viii know lust
how much You have used per acre,
which You could not know exactly if
YOU pat II in the compost. To put in
th" iurrow under the cotton would
mix 200 pounds acid phosphate, 100
pound, cotton seed meal and 100
pounds haiuii 10 make q iou.and would
rs" 800 pounds of this per acre. |
would get all my land Il soon as pos
sibi". If course, into 4 regular rotation
of crops with peas a often on the
land as possible, and ! would use the
acid phosphate and kainit in equal
parts o" the pea crop, "a | haYr so
often said.
(. Yet, put all IN the furrow of the
commercial fertilizer and keep th"
coarse maHurr~ away from hr cotton.
and you will not have the trouble
about stands. II these mauurcs are
put under tn" cotton they not only
gIyr troUbl" with the stand. but the
roots soon get away from the manure
into poorer soil, while ~ thc mauurcS
ar" i'm the furrOw IN IA" middlcS the
roots ind it Just when well rotteG and
q, % Time when the plant needs il
worse. Tine fertilizer under the cotton
viii send II Oft rapidly ou the hunt
for tU" cotton seed and manure.
N.C.Cuviugruu, ut Richmond county