The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-03-23

fertilizer. If we must buy plant food
at all, let US by the cheaper elements,
phosphoric acid and potash, which
only cost cents per pound, and use
these to help the peas by ena bling
them TO make a larger growth, cap
/ ture more Of the nitrogen from the air.
/ But why should we purchase even
! these chemicals" you ask, If We al
/ ready have an abundance of them in
! our sOil?" Because, as l said before.
! they have become unavailable through
( the exhaustion Of the vegetable mat
| ter. We may make some Of them
! available by tillage. ii is true. but not
/ enough all at once, to enable our peas
! TO make the growth they should.
| Therefore We apply 300 pounds or 400
/ pounds per acre of a fertilizer which
/ will analyze 10 per cent. phosphoric
acid and 10 per cent potash. II the
/ land is clay and the former growth
! indicated by its weak and yellowish
| appearance that such land was very
deficient in nitrogen, we would even
go so far as to add per cent. of this
expensive element to the mixture, and
make the potash S per cent. instead Of
10 per cent. II. on the other hand. the
land is sandy. we should deduct this
? per cent. from the phosphoric acid
instead of the potash. The idea is to
give the peas every opportunity TO
make a good growth to begin with.
After this it will not be necessary to
purchase any nitrogen at all, as they
will be storing it in the soil them
selves.
You must understand that once we
get any kind of plant food converted
into an organic form, that is, into the
structural growth of plants, when these
plants die and decay the ammonia,
phosphoric acid and potash they con-
tanned becomes very soluble and any
crop can take 1t up easily and Will
flourish.
But why use cowpeas? VIII not
weeds turned under, or rye. do as well?
No. While rye is good as a winter
cover crop to be turned under in the
spring and will add some vegetable
matter to the soil still 1t adds no nj
trogen besides that which it took from
the soil itself. II is the same with
weeds, with the exception of those of
leguminous nature, like the beggar
weed.
There is still another reason, how
ever, why the cowpea is superior to
other crops as a soil improver. and
that is because it will make a larger
growth of top and root on very poor
land. 1t is, in short, Capable of APP
propriating more of the dormant plant
food already in the soil and converting
1t INTO SlTucIuTdl growth IN lnlS re-
spect the velvet bean is even the SUI
perior of the cowpea, and we earnestly
recommended it wherever the season is
long enough for it to mature.
In selecting a renovating crop we
want one that will not only capture nj
trogen from the air, but that will PEN
citrate deep into the soil with it's roots
and pump up plant food from below.
Then as the plant decays this plant
food is made available for other and
more surface rotted crops which are to
follow. This the cowpea accomplishes,
and we should assist it all we can by
breaking the land deeply and prepar-
ing it thoroughly before planting.
Much as has been written in rec ent
years about the cowpea and its value
as a soil renoVator, too much cannot
hundreds of our Southern farmers fully
appreciate it's merits, while even at the
North, the earlier sorts are being
grown; but in spite of the advance
which has been made, we are still far
from utilizing this crop as we should.
What per cent, think you, of the stub
BILE fields in the South, after the wheat
and oats are off, will be sown in cow
peas? If my own locality is any cri-
terion to go by, ii will be less than
one-fourth. But this should not be so.
Every acre should be sown down in
peas, and If you are too busy to at
tend to this work when the time comes,
it only shows that you are trying to
do more than you can do well, and
you cannot expect the greatest meas
ure of success. +. j. Merriam.
Battle Hill Ga