The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1901-04-02

The best general rule is to use whole
seed on heavy soils and for lasting
effects, and meal on light soils and
for quick results.
Corn has a comparatively long
period of growth, covering that part
of the year when decomposition goes
on quite rapidly in the soil. For
this reason it utilities to best advan-
tage the slow acting heterogeneous fer
~tilizers, such as green manures, barn
yard manures, cotton seed, cotton
seed meal, etc.
Potash can be best secured as
kainit or as muriate of potash. The
actual potash in each seems to be
equally available and valuable, so
the choice between the two will de-
pend on the relative prices. AS "a
ton of the muriate contains four
times as much potash as a ton Of
kainit, the consumer can afford to
pay, including freight, four times as
mach for it. When freight forms
any large part of the expense the
muriate is usually the cheaper form.
Cotton hull ashes are worth more
than twice as much as kainit, as they
contain nearly double the amount of
potash in addition to nearly 9 per
cent. of phOsphOric acid, and are the
economical fertilizer when they
can be bought for double the price
Of kainit. The amount of potash
needed varies greatly for different
localities, and no definite rule for its
use can be formulated. In the work
of the Louisiana Station it has rarely
proved necessary or profitable. The
Mississippi Station found it more
beneficial than phOsphOric acid II
upland lime soils and equally neces-
sary to the coast region, while in the
pine woods region of the State it
produced little or no effect. At the
Alabama Station its effects have
been uncertain, apparently pro-
ducing Il marked increase in the
crop at some times and being wholly
ineffective at others At the Georgia
Station it has also been very uncer-
tain in its action, though more often
beneficial. Results of experimental
work in South Carolina and Florida
have been exceedingly variable,
while at the Kentucky Station pot
ash has uniformly given good re
turns. In all of the Southern States
it has been impossible to make relia-
bic prediction as to the effects of
potash on untried soils, though there
l. no doubt t.at less Is needed on fresh
land than on that which has been
long in cultivation, and that it is
more effective ON lime soil than else
where.
Phosphoric acid can usually be
secured in form of acid phosphate at
less cost than in any Othe" form.
The field tests made at all the South
ern stations indicate its need on all
soils excepting perhaps those which
are very rich in lime. On strong
lime soils its effects are not certain,
and it is not as uniformly profitable
as when used on the pine woods and
coast soils. When used on a soil
cDlOred red by iron a large part of
the phOsphoric acid soon combines
with the iron and becomes insOluble
and inert. For that reason it is of
more effect when used on a soil rich
in humus, and before it is spread
upon the land it is better to mix it
with manure, cotton seed, or meal
than with the kainit or muriate.
From 200 to 300 pounds per acre is a
fair amount for use.
As has already been stated, there
can be no definite and invariable rule
in regard to either the composition
amounts of fertilizers which
should be used for corn, as both
must be regulated by the natural
CHI ,racter of the soil on which they
are to be used ard by the previous
treatment Ct the land. w. G. Stubhs,
of the Louisiana Station, says: "The
needs of the hills and bottom
lands of Louisiana is nitrogen, and
this has its best effects when com
bined with phosphOric acid. Upon
the bluff land we find that the re-
verse is true; that the crying want
is phosphoric acid, and the best re-
suits are secured when combined
with small amounts of nitrogen" E.
R. Lloyd, of the Mississippi Station,