The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1900-02-24

OF more than six cents. Bnt thai cot
ton can be made and sold for six cent,
with good margin of profit is shown
IN numbers of instances. The North
Carolina experiment station made il
with college labor at cost of 31s cents
and the Georgia experiment station
has grown it for three cents, and ]
am satisfied it can be made for less,
by proper methods of fertili.sing and
cultivation.
In taking up the economical growing
OF Gotten we must look at the question
intelligently. We must stop planting
large areas without sufficient prcpara-
ton, and go farming ON improved
methods. Now, cotton has a long tap
root which, under proper conditions,
will go down two or three feet into
the subsoil and pump up water and
plant food. thus enabling the plant to
stand drought. But to do this the sub
soil must be broken with hard sub
soil pillow, at least through the hard
pan which has formed on most of our
clay land. Then the top soil must be
made fine, so that the small feeding
roots which occupy the upper three
of four inches of soil may be able to
work freely and obtain plant food, and
also to enable the air to penetrate and
help the nitrifying organisms make
plant food available.
1t does not make 50 much difference
what tools you use, or how you work,
so that you get your land in this con-
dition before planting. The best place
for the cotton crcp is on peavine
Did you ever try it? Cotton,
the whole plant, contains more ann
monia than it does phospboric acid and
potasl, put together, and yet this am
monia is what the cotton grower can
not afford to buy. First, because it is
too expensive, costing more that dou-
BILE what potash and phcsphoric acid
does per pound; and, secondly, because
he can obtain ammonia from the air
and fix it in the soil by the growing
VI COW peas. Now the bigger crop of
COW peas you can grow, the more of
this ammonia you will get, and the bet
ter cotton crop you will have; so that
Il will pay you to fertilize your pea
crop to start with. You can cut the
peavines for hay, which will pay for
his fertilizer and good profit on your
work besides, and the ammonia. which
S mostly in the roots, will be ready
or your cotton.
A fertilizer for cotton on our ordi-
,ary upland clays should contain am
nonia two per cent, potash three per
'ent., and phosphoric acid seven per
'ent., but with the proper kind of a
,eavine stubble the ammonia can BE- |
'mitted. In fact. too much ammonia
$ apt To produce too rank a growth of |
talk to the detriment of the fruit A |
MIXTURE of 1000 pounds acid phosphate
With $50 pounds muriate of potash |
would be about right, and where the
'eas have been previously well fertil- |
zed an applivation Of 900 pounds of I
his mixture to the acre would be suf-
cient. This should be applied in the
rill before planting and well stirred
nto the SOIL.
Cotton should be thi,ined early and
ept we'll cultivated. And this cult
alton should be done more with the
arrow and cultivator, and LEES with
he scooter and scrape, for the latter
lethod causes the water during rain
, run away from the plant, accumu-
tie in the rows and run off, washing
lie land and carrying away water and
'il which should be held for the fu-
Ire use of the crop. The crust should
e kept broken after every rain, and
5 the plants become large and their
pots fill the surface the cultivation
,ould be very shallow.
The Georgia experiment station es-
mates the cost of growing an acre
cotton without fertilizer and pre-
lring it for market at S9.42, after de-
netting the seed. They made 267
FUNDS of lint cotton on this acre, on
hich So worth of a well-balanced
fertilizer was used, they
'oduccd 600 pounds of lint, costing
SOS, after dsducting seed, which
YES net profit of $l7.92, net gain
Sl1.32 from the use of IS worth of {
rtilizer. From this we see that fer
izers will pay on cotton. if prop
iy applied; also that it pays to use
EN- liberally.-F. j. Merriam, in Tex.
Farm and Ranch.