Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1905-12-02

hlHh, hdlHli - Nv cA'tpiioh III Nhlo ~
spect. 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 gem
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 1t freely on each
and every crop we plant.
We try to apply our phosphate and
potash in the late fall or early winter;
Lut, 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.
For lack Of space, we will give but
one at this time, that Is. that the FALL
IS THE RIGHT TINE 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 application and time OF
purchasing same, but the fact of the
matter Is that the farmer using these
subepnCes ought really to keep them
on hand-ready for immediate use
all he time; he would not then las
he often does now be forced to haul
them wien the roads are oftentlmes
practically impossible. There is really
no such thing as a fertilizer season de.
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 plan'cl on a
pea stubble, as 1t will be by every
systematic farmer, and should be by
all, there will be but little need for
| such heterogeneous fertilizers as stable
manure, nitrate Of soda, or cotton seed
meal, neither will the so-called
%"guano'' or complete fertilizer be re.
ouired 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-
err, 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 Cor 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-
ton of 100 to 200 pounds of nitrate of
soda may BE- land should be, where a
pea stubble is not available) applied
to the growing cotton as soon as up
to a stand,
Cotton should follow cowpeas, and
the cowpeas should have been ferti-
li2cd with 800 to 600 pounds of a bone
Of rCtash' fertilizer Analysing 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
and physical character of the soil, maxi
ing 1t work looser and mellower and
ef~fectually preventing all tendency to
bake it speedily brings it to life,
making a strictly live soil out of one
that was heretofore comparatively
dead; it SO improves its moisture,
absorbing and MISUNDERSTANDING
capacity as to render it prac-
tically drought-proof; and by its in
crease in its ability to absorb moisture
and to retain Il in time Of drought it
paves the way for a practice of the in
teasive system, which later would,
Without plenty of vegetable matter in
the soil, have been an impossibility.
This same vegetable matter tends to
make a cold-natured and wet soil, both
warmer and dryer, a soil that is too
dry and too hot, both moister and
cooler, and renders a sterile and unpro- |
ductive soil vastly more productive
and its cultivation satisfactory, pleas |
ant and profitable.
Now, while a ju~diciously systematic
rotation in which the cowpea finds a
place as often as every second or third
year. is actually essential as a fertility |
maintaining or fertility-increasing
measure, the really good farmer could
and should improve upon this. We re-
fer now to the sowing of vetch or
crimson clover, or burr clover in the
otton-mlddles in August or September,
or, where this is impracticable, the
sowing of wheat, barley, rye or winter
turf cats in September or October; the
three former 10 still further increase
the nitrogen supply by ABSORPTION
from the atmosphere, and the four lat
ter to take up the surplus soil-nitrogen
that would, without their aid, be liable
to leach away and be lost; and the
whole of them to prevent washing and
serve as a cover crop during the win
ter months, when rainfall is often
times excessive and lands liable to
wash.
The foregoing briefly outlines the
most economical method possible for
the profitable fertilization of the cot
tor crop; and, if persisted in, would
finally insure the greatest profit at the
smallest possible outlay &C. H. Turner,
In Tri-State Farmer and Gardener.