Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1900-02-23
SAVANNAH, TENNESSEE, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY

of more than six cents. But that cot,
ton can be made and sold for six cents
with good margin of profit is shown
in numbers of instances. The North
Carolina experiment station made it
with college labor at cost of 3Ih 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 fertilizing and
cultivation.
In taking up the economical growing
Of cotton we must look at the question
intelligently. We must stop planting
large areas without sufficient prepara-
ton, and go farming on improved
methods. Now, cotton has 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 a hard snb-
soil plow, at least through the hard
/ pan which has formed on most of our
! clay land. Then the top soil must be
iuade 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 a peav;nc
stubble. Did you ever try it? Cotton,
the whole plant, contains more am
monia than it does phospboric acid and
potash 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-
bic what potash and phcsphorio acid
does per pound; and, secondly, because
| he can obtain ammonia from the air
and fix IL in the soil by the growing
of 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
it will pay you to fertilize your pea
crop to start with. You can cut the
peavines for hay, which will pay for
this fertilizer and a good profit on your
work besides, and the ammonia, which
is mostly in the roots, will be ready
for your cotton.
A fertilizer for cotton on our ordi-
nary upland clays should contain am
monia two per cent, potash three per
cent, and phosphoric acid seven per
cent, but with the proper kind of II
peavine stubble the ammonia can b1
omitted. In fact, too much ammonia
is apt TO produce too rank growth OF
stalk to the detriment of the fruit \
mixture of 1000 pounds acid phosphate
with $50 pounds muriate of potash
would be about right, and where the
peas have been previously well fertil'
lied an applivaton CT 800 pounds OF
| this mixture to the acre would be suf'
fcient. This should be applied in thu
drill before planting and well stirred
| into the soil.
Cotton should be thinned early and
kept well cultivated. And this culti-
vation should be done more with the
harrow and cultivator, and less with
| the scooter and scrape, for the latter
rIethod causes the water during a rain
10 run away from the plant, accumu-
late in the rows and run off, washing
The land and carrying away water and
soil which should be held for the fu-
ture use of the crop. The crust should
he kept broken after every rain, and
as the plants become large and their
roots fill the surface the cultivation
should be very shallow.
The Georgia experiment station es-
Inmates the cost of growing an acre
of cotton without fertilizer and pre-
pairing it for market at $9.42, after de.
ducting the seed. They made 26i
pounds of lint cotton on this acre, on
which So worth of a well-balanced
commercial fertilizer was used, they
produced 600 pounds of lint, costing
SlS.Os, after deducting seed, which
gives net profit of $17.92, net gain
of Sl1.32 from the use of $S worth OF
fertilizer. From this we see that fer
tilizers will pay on cotton, if prop
erly applied; also that it pays to usa
them liberally.-F. j. Merriam, in lie:
rs Farm and Ranch.