The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-02-06

January 31. 1905. MT. W. F. Covington, Headland, Ala: Dear Sir-I will attempt to answer your questions in order: First-Fortunately the amount of seed oats used can vary considerably, without materially affecting the yield. should think that about two bushels per acre would be advisable under your conditions.
 Second-Any effort to estimate the yield of oats sown in February would be risky. for when sown at this time of year the crop is very uncertain, and soil capable of easily producing twen- ty to twenty-five bushels of corn may produce only from ten to thirty bush els of spring sown oats. and from thir- ty to forty-five bushels of fall sown oats.
 Third-The Red Rust Proof variety usually thrashes about as much straw , as grain, SC that sixty or seventy pounds of sheaf oats will usually thrash bushel of grain.
 Fourth-Good oat straw should be worth about as much as cotton seed hulls for feeding at home but there is no market for it.
 Fifth-On such land, cowpeas, follow ing oats should make from one and l one-fourth to two and oRe-half tons of hay per acre, an average including poor ] seasons, being perhaps one and one-half tons.
 sixth-on the basis of prices that you state, your crops might be as fol- lows:
 One ton of sheaf oats (liberal es- timate for spring sowing0.. $15. .OO One and one-half tons of cow
 pea hay which you say would be worth. ........ 2T.00
 IOldlss S4S.UU
 Seventh-The instance you give of the failure of the cotton crop the year after cowpeas when you fertilized the cotton with kainit. does not indicate that potash was the cause of the fail- ure. Probably black root was much greater where peas had been the year before. for this reason: The nematode worm which causes root knot had prob ably multiplied greatly in the pea roots and then had injured the cotton roots, these injuries facilitating the entrance into the cotton roots of the organisms which caused black root. While there are many soils in South Alabama that do not need potash. an instance like this does not prove that the soil in question needed no potash. Since the use of ordinary varieties of COW peas preceding cotton may indirectly re- suit in an increase in the cotton wilt on soils where root knot and black root organisms are both present, therefore farmers having such soils need to use, instead of the ordinary varieties of cowpeas. the Iron cowpea or other soiI- improving plants resistant to root knot.
 Eighth-As a supplement for two tons of stable manure under cotton, recommend from 100 to 200 pounds of acid phosphate per acre. do not re- cognize any advantage of the nitrogen in fertilizers derived from packing house products over the nitrogen de- rived from cotton seed meal. think you should get good results from the formula proposed, 93-4.
 Ninth-For corn on your land. fertil- iZed with one ton of cotton seed meal per acre. I suggest the addition of 50 to 100 pounds of acid phosphate. Tenth-Southern corn is latest, but good yields can be had by using late varieties from points as far north as the Ohio and Potomac Rivers. Eleventh-Florodora cotton did not distinguish itself in our tests in 1904 See Alabama Experiment Station Bull letin No. 1SO, recently issued. J. F. D.