St. Tammany farmer., 1905-12-23
FARMER AND PLANTER.
RAISING COTTON.
How to FertiIize 1t Most Eco
nomically, and Produce tie
Eest Results.

Eest Results.
We receive so many inquiries every
month in the year from all over the
cotton belt in regard to what fertilizer
TO apply to cotton and how and when
to apply them that we are certain be-
forehand Of cordial welcome from our
readers whenever we choose to write
on this extremely interesting topic.
even If we do have to "trample on
someone's toes upset some of their
pet theories and speak in words of con-
demnation of some popular but IRA
tlonal practices). One question we are
often called ON to answer is, what
Kind of 'guanO. do you use in order to
make three bales per acre?" To which
We have to answer that we don't use
"guano" (so-called) at all, when we
can help it; preferring to use the chem
lcals, as acid phosphatas, nitrate of
soda, cotton seed meal, and muriate
and sulphate Of potash. We never use
kainit except where cotton is inclined
to rust; though lowest in price of any
/
most expensive to all who live in the
interior, On account of freight rates
being just as high on it as on the more
concentrated muriate and sulphat It
does not pay us, neither will it pay
anyone else, to pay freight long dis
tances on low-grade material of any
kind; kainit is no exception in this re-
srect. While on the subject of potash,
we would state for the good of all con-
| cerned that, though the muriate seems
| to be the most popular, the most gen.
| orally used, most often recommended
| and is claimed to be the cheapest, the
! sulphate has proven itself to be the
best everywhere we have tried and used
| it, and we have used it freely on each
and every crop we plant.
We try to apply our phosphate and
potash in the late fall or early winter;
but, when, from any course, beyond our
control, we can not apply them then,
we then apply them as early in spring
as practicable, never postponing the
application until planting time. There
are various reasons for this practice,
each of which we believe to be good
Fer lack of space, we will give but
one at this time, that is, that the FALL
IS THE RIGHT TIME to apply both
phosphate and potash, and for the sim
pie reason that they act better and
give better results applied then than
at any other time.
We are well aware Of the fact that
this practice, if universally followed,
would revolutionize the present prac-
tice in both applications and time OF
purchasing same, but the fact of the
matter IS that the farmer using these
sEb:tanees ought really to keep them
on hand-ready for immediate use
al! he time; he would not then (as
he often does now be forced to haul
them wien the roads are oftentimes
practically impossible There is really
no such thing asa fertilizer season lie.
a season in which fertilizer should be
bought and sold inpreference to any
other season Of the year,. The time to
purchase is as soon as you have your
mind made up as to the kind and guam
tity required.
Where cotton is to be planted on a
pea stubble, as it will be by every
systematic farmer, and should be by
all, there will be but little need for !
such nitrogenous fertilizers as stable |
manure, nitrate of soda, or cotton seed
neal, neither will the so-called
"guano' or complete" fertilizer be re-
quired to the extent it is now; but even
when planted on a pea stubble, the |
starter" recommended by Col. Red |
ding may be advantageously used in
every cotton patch in the country, and |
this regardless Of richness or poverty |
of soil; to-wit: Apply a small quantity /
OF soluble, or quickly available fertilz-
er, directly in the furrow with the |
planting seed.
A mixture of ten pounds of nitrate of
soda, 80 pounds of acid phosphate, and
60 pounds (or more) of any fine, dry
material, such as rotten manure, plas-
ter, Of ashes, answer well for this
purpose for one acre. Or an applica-
tion of 100 to 200 pounds of nitrate of
soda may be (and should be, where a
pea stubble is not available) applied
to the growing cotton as soon as up
to stand.
Cotton should follow cowpeas, and
the cowpeas should have been ferti-
lized with 300 to 600 pounds of '3bone
Of potash fertilizer analyzing about
1914 On poor, sandy land, or sandy
loan, this system will speedily assert
its superiority over other methods by
the immediate improvement of texture
ing it work looser and mellower and
effec1ually preventing all tendency to
bake" it speedily brings it to life,
making strictly ''live" soil out Of one
that was heretofore comparatively
lead; it so improves its moisture,
Absorbing and misunderstanding
capacity as to render it prac-
tically drought-proof; and by Its in
crease in it's ability to absorb moisture
and to retain it in time of drought it
paves the way for practice OF the In
.easive system, which later would,
Without plenty of vegetable matter in
he soil, have been an impossibility.
This same vegetable matter tends to
make q cold-natured and; wet soil, both
warmer and dryer, soil that is too
Try and too hot, both moister and
'ooler, and renders sterile and unpro- ,
luctive soil vastly more productive
md its cultivation satisfactory, pleas
Int and profitable
Now, while judiciously systematic
citation, in which the cowpea finds a ,
,lace as often as every second or third
ear, is actually essential as fertility
or fertility increasing
Measure, the really good farmer could