Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-02-03

/ pnOTlC aClO, the balance Is uedu HldACAieA'
! but we cannot extract the ammonia
from the meal for fertilizing purposes,
J without using the whole 500 pounds.
Take for another illustration, milk
About so per cent of pure milk is water,
but il is placed there by nature, and while
II is a filler, it is a natural filler, and the
milk could at once be reduced in value by
the addition of water from outside
sources. Now this has been the trouble
/ with low grade fertilizers. Some manu-
| facturers would take a high grade phos-
plate and by mixing with it a foreign ele-
ment, such as ground railroad cinders,
| slate, etc, which contained no plant food
! and had no value, reduce the good goods
/ to a low basis. and such mixtures are
/ known i'm the trade as foreign "fllers" or
/ make weights" On the same principle
you can take one ton of guano, analyzing
/ IA per cent plant food, and mix ton of
/ sand with IL, and you would have two
| tons Of cheap, low-grade goods, running
/ about per cent available plant food. You
cannot buy the chemically pure elements
without and filler and use them for fer
/ tiliZng purposes, because the proportions
would be so small you could not mix them
| properly You can buy the more highly
| concentrated forms. though, such as dried
blood, tankage and nitrate of soda or mu-
rate OF potash in place of KANT, and a
/ high grade pure acid phosphate, and by
/ mixing them together under proper for
/ mulas secure a very high grade goods
| Cotton seed meal will average s per cent
ammonia, dried blood l6 per cent and nj
! tTate of soda 20 per cent. The CONNER
/ cial value of nitrogen or ammonia is about
/ Is cents per pound, hence the value of the
| sources from which ammonia is secured
/ is based upon the relative number of
pounds of ammonia they contain as shown
| by analysis, the more highly concentrated
forms being the most valuable. KANT
/ contains about IL per cent of potash and
muriate of potash about so per cent, hence
the latter is about four times the most
valuable and has four times less dead
weight about 1t. A phosphoric acid analyz-
| ing 20 per cent available plant food is
twice as valuable as one containing only
10 per cent, because you get twice the
| quantity of available plant food weight
for weight, in the latter. Lime & worth
nothing as a fertilizer in itself, but it
tends TO break up, release and render
| available forms of plant food in the soil
| which might otherwise remain dormant.
Hence when lime is applied to land which
is naturally deficient in that element, a
| decided Improvement is noted in the
growth and development of the crop.
Lime should not be mixed with compost
until just before 1t is to be applied to the
| land, else the ammonia will be released
and will be carried off into the air and
lost. The best way to apply air-slaczed
/ lime to land is TO spread IT broadcast to
| the land after the soil has been we'll brok-
| en- and narrowed. Lime should not be
plowed in, as it strikes downward instead
Of upward. The cheapest and best fertilf-
| ger for the farmer is made by mixing at
home a good high grade acid with muriate
/ of potash and cotton seed meal or dried
blood. The different ingredients mixed in
| such proportions under a formula that
will analyze the three plant foods as re-
quired to meet the demands of the crop
planted
Please inform me through your paper
what to do for a sick mare; she often
stretches out as IL she desired to urinate,
but does not, except occasionally, and
then Il is scarce thick and highly colored.
l am inclined to think she has gravel.
Please tell me what 10 do for her. ! am
a subscriber to your paper and take great
interest in reading the agricultural page.
Swainsboro, Ga. w. r. X.
Answer-Give So drops of muriate acid,
in pail full of water for the horse to
drink, and repeat twice a week. Apply
hot water cloths over the kidneys several
times daily until relief is had. This is a
good treatment for gravel.
In recent issue of The Journal you
give the following as a proper fertilizer
for cotton:
Phosphoric acid. 9 per cent.
Potash, 3 per cent.
Nitrogen, 3 per cent.
AS this is little higher percentage of
potash and nitrogen t.an can be obtained
by mixing acid phosphate, muriate of pot
ash and cotton seed meal. would be glad
10 know the materials you use. When
I want a high grade perfect plant food
1 mix 65 pounds of acid phosphate, 30
pounds of cotton seed meal and pounds
muriate potash. This will analize:
Phosphoric acid, $40 per cent. .4t
Potash. $50 per cent.
Nitrogen (abouD, go per cent.
OF course you can get as high grade as
you want by the use of dried blood, sui
phate of ammonia or concentrated tank
age. Nitrate of soda can also be used, but
Is 1t not too volatile TO mix and use with
other fertilizers at time of planting?
When l want to get a higher percentage
of potash and nitrogen, select land from
which peas have been cut and decrease
the cotton seed meal and increase the
potash or supply what think is lacking
In nitrogen by using nitrate of soda on
the growing crop. w. o. p.
Gainesville, Ga.
Answer-The formula which was given
in a recent article and to which reference
is made in your inquiry was intended to
meet general conditions where the land
upon which cotton was to be planted is
generally deficient in all the three prin-
cipal elements of plant food, as for in
stance lands which have been eontinu-
ously planted in cotton without change
for many years. The intelligent planter
who rotates and studies the needs of his
soils and plants will regulate his fertil-
iZers to meet the conditions as he finds
them. The analysis of the cotton plant
shows that II contains about three times
as much phosphoric acid as either nitro
gen or potash, hence a soil deficient in
all three of those elements should be fer
tilted with a guano proportional to meet
the requirement of the plant.
Such a formula as mentioned could be
secured by the use of a high grade acid
phosphate, muriate of potash and either
first class cotton seed meal or dried blood.
l do not advocate the use of nitrate of
soda, except as a top dressing during the
growth Of any plant because 1t is so quick
acting The formula which you name is
good one upon under the system of rota-
ton pursued by you.
II is we'll to have an excess of phos-
phoric acid, as IL is not a costly ingre-
dent, but a highly essential element in
perfecting and building up the fruiting of
the cotton plant. II the land produces a
good weed, a reduction in the use of the
ammonia, which is expensive might be
judiciously employed. particularly If the
cotton crop is to follow a crop of field
peas. This plan you seem to have pursued
I e. 49,