The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1907-02-20
HOW MUCH FERTILIZER TO
APPLY.

The question, How much fertilizer
should be used per acre?" cannot be an
swered definitely, but only in a general
way. It Is sometimes put In this form:
may be applied per acre?" Neither can
the question In the amended form be
exactly and accurately answered. The
soil, its character, condition, preparation,
factors, but we know not what the sea-
sons may be, avs Hon. R., J. Reddlng,
Director Georgia Experiment Station. De-
partment Of Agriculture, In the Virginia.
Carolina Fertilizer Almanac.
We know that some crops will bear
larger amounts of fertilizers with reason
able assurance Of profitable returns than
may be expected Of other soils. A crop
that occupies the soil from the fall season
until spring, or early summer will bear
heavier fertilizing a will a crop that
is planted in the spring and ripens for
harvest In midsummer The first case ID
illustrated by oats, wheat, or other small
grain, or grass, especially when sown in
pies the soil during the late fall and win
ter, and early sprinS-durtng which pc
RODS the rains are usually ndant
ripening for harvest in late spring, or
summer heat and possible drouths OF
June and July. Oats and wheat therefore
are ideal crops for liberal fertilizing.
Corn Is rather an uncertain crop on the
ordinary dry uplands Of the South. It
has but a short period in which to devel-
OPP its fowers-tassels and ~silks-cover-
ing but a few days. If very dry weather
shall prevail when this critical period Is
approaching. and for some time after 1t
is passed, the crops may prove a greater
effort, no second period Of blooming.
1t is different in the case OF cotton,
which commences to bloom and make
fruit In June Tor even ~earlier) and con-
ffrt,no $hrn1,0hnnf the Srpnmar until
checked by a severe frost in November.
It has a number Of chances" q
Cotton is therefore another ideal crop
for liberal fertilizing. A small amount
Of fertilizers applied per acre will no
doubt yield a larger percentage profit
on it's cost than will a larger amount.
To i~llustrate: An application Of 81 worth
OF fertilizer per acre may cause an in
creased yield Of cotton lat 10 cents per
pound Of the value Of Sc to IS, or a profit
frequently had such results. But 1t does
not follow that twice as heavy an appli-
cation will produce twice as large re-
suits. or that three times as much would
cause three times as great ali increase
in. the yield. In other words. the rate
of increase in the yield Of cotton will
not be in proportion to the increase In
the amount Of fertilizers applied. Two
dollar worth Of fertilizer per acre may
yield an increase in the crop Of S.; but
IS worth would not therefore bring an
increase Of S18.
But careful observation has shown that
an application Of IS 20 Sc worth of fertil-
izers properly %balanced) is a safe amount
to apply per acre on cotton. Many farm
ers in Georgia have secured satisfactory
returns from an application Of so much
as 800 pounds per acre.
I think 600 pounds a perfectly safe limit
on upland in fairly good condition, we'll
prepared and properly cultivated in cot
ton Tor cnrn 7 would limit tho amount
to 20 to 800 pounds per acre on old up
lands.