The Savannah morning news., 1901-06-10
Fertilizer for Cotton.

Cotton is the money crop of a large por-
tion of the Southern states, yet few crops
anywhere are so misused, says bulletin
of the Tennessee Experimental Station.
The greatest enemy of the cotton plant
all through the upland region where the
soil is generally light, deficient in lime,
lacking in humus and therefore droughty,
is hunger. The plants, if not starved out
right, are generally dwarfed and the pos
sible maximum yield is very rarely reach
ed II is certain, and has been proved for
large areas, that a. much as 21z bales or
1.25O pounds per acre can be raised on
typical cotton soil of the upland region,
yet the average crop actually raised is
less than 200 pounds per acre. without fer
tilzer or manure Of any kind, but with
good tillage the average yield is less than
100 pounds of lint per acre.
OF the three chief plant foods for cot
ton, the most important is phosphoric
acid The next in Importance is nitrogen,
then potash and lastly lime. The best
form of phosphoric acid is the so-called
acid phosphate. The best form of nitro
gen, If only one form can be used, is nj
trate of soda. But it is better to use
mixture of nitrate of soda and cotton
seed meal. still better way is to pillow
under crop of hairy vetch, vicia Vllosa,
which was sown the preceding summer
L
plan of all is to feed cotton-s seed meal or
vetch hay to good cows and apply the
manure thus made to the field The spe-
cial reason for using nitrate of soda is
that it is Immediately available for the
plant, wehereas the other heterogeneous
manureS have to be worked over by mi
crobes in the soil before plants can use
them. Microbes do not work fast during
the cool weather of spring, and on this
furnish nitrogen as fast as the young
plants require it.
The cotton plants, stunted at the outset,
may never recover their vigor or take SO
long that they do not have time to 10
their best before the cool weather stops
growth. The cotton plant is by nature
perennial and tends " grow on. blooming
and setting new fruit until frost inter
Venes. 1t is therefore very desirable to
stimulate growth from the outset The
writer has seen plat of cotton on seem
lngly fertile soil double the yield of
nelghboring plat as the result of a spe-
cal dressing of $50 pounds nitrate of soda
per acre at time of planting The best
form of potash for cotton is kainit. This
acts as an improver and necessary plant
food and as an improver of the hygro-
SCOPE character of the soil. Next to kali
nit stands muriate of potash. The muriate
II usually cheaper than kainit, when
freights are high.
Lime is lacking in nearly all upland
soils in the cotton region; 800 pounds of
stone lime or unslaked oyster shell lime
VIII often increase crops by one-half for
a series of years. Cotton land annually
1ertlhzed with acid phosphate tends to
hecome sour-acid-and such soils do not
permit the activity of nitrogen forming
bacteria Lime corrects this fault With
| out the aid of bacteria, plants may starve
TOT lack OF nitrogen, even in the presence
OF abundance in organic form
We have spoken of the clements OF
plant food separately, but most plants
| especially cotton, require the various in
| sredlents to be mixed in a certain pro-
| portion The theoretically correct mixture
| Tor cotton must contain one part nitro
| gen. "a parts phosphoric acid and .. of
| one part potash. Lime may be given to
suit conditions. but should be spread sep
arately, not mixed with fertilizer. A crop
| OF one bale to the acre, which is the least
| YIELD a wideawake farmer should be sat-
lshed with, will consume the following
| rood: Nitrogen 80 pounds, phosphorus acid
| 50, potash 70. The following fertilizers
contain plant food in the forms most
| satisfactory for cotton, and to supply the
| needs or a maximum crop of cotron will
! require In commercial fertilizer per acre
the Following substances: No. 1-Muriata
! OF potash 90 pounds, acid phosphate 1S
per cent. 500 pounds; nitrate of soda lao
POUNDS, cotton-seed meal 400; total per
| acre lCo pounds. No. 2-Kainit 200 pounds
acld phosphate 500, nitrate of soda 225:
total per acre Is pounds Persons familiar
with cotton growing by the cropping svs.
tenn know that not more than one-fourt h
the above available plant foods are used
as dose. The crop is naturally equally
small me cotton grower has yet to learn
the economy of feeding fairness into The
crop. ~