The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1907-03-14
Fertilizing the Crop.

Fertilizing the Crop.
The primary object in using fertil-
izer is to produce larger yield Of the
crop that is to be Immediately grown,
or is already growing, on the land to
which the fertilizer is to be applied.
AS rule, it contains from ten to six
teen per cent. Of more or less prompt
~ available plant food In other
words, commercial fertilizer con-
tains in every 100 pounds weight from
ten to sixteen pounds. of available
phosphoric acid, either alone, or that
amount of phosphoric acid and pot
ash combined, or of these two and
nitrogen combined, making in the lat
ter case what is called complete
fertilizer. Now this ten to sixteen
pounds in each 100 pounds of the fer
tilizer is supposed to be, and should
be, practically soluble and available
at once, or within a week or two, for
the use of the crop, says Virginia.
Carolina Fertilizer Almanac.
The remaining portion of the fer
tilizer, or eighty-four toninety pounds
in each 100 pounds, is a mixture
Of insoluble phosphate and sulphate
OF lime, some sand, water, organic
matter and other things that are
necessarily incident to the manufac-
ture and cannot be economically re-
moved. They are Of very little imme-
date value to either the crop or the
SOIL
So when we apply high grade fer
tilizer to the soil the object is to sup
ply the plants with soluble plant food
and increase the yield of the cotton,
grain, grass or whatever the crop
may be.
Incidentally, however, this fertil-
izer does help the land, because it in
duces larger growth Of stalk, roots
and foliage of the plants-or those
parts that will be returned to and be-
come part of the soil. A dose of this
fertilizer, for instance, not only in
creases the size of the stalks, the fol-
iage, bulls and other parts that go
Immediately back and form part of
the soil In the shape Of humus Ode
principal way to improve the soil it
self is to add vegetable matter to it
in the form of stable manure, renova-
ting crops, rotation of crops, etc., in
a more direct manner.
It would seem manifest, then, If we
wish to increase the yield of corn,
cotton, wheat, oats, grass. etc., that
the fertilizer should contain the three
elements" Of plant food in the pro-
portions that are best suited to the
particular crop. This is particularly
true If the purpose is to use liberal
amounts of fertilizer per acre. In
such case the deficient supply, in the
natural soil, of any one or more of
the three valuable" elements (phos-
phoric acid, nitrogen and potash)
need not be specially considered.
According to carefully conducted
field experiments, conducted at many
Of the experiment stations, it has been
found that cotton requires fertilizer
that contains about one part each of
nitrogen and potash and 1-3 parts
OF available phosphoric acid. This
demand would be met by fertilizer
containing ten per cent available
phosphoric acid, three per cent of
nitrogen and three per cent. of pot
ash; or, as ordinarily expressed, a
10-3-3 fertilizer. One analyzing
9-2.70-1.70; or 8-2.40-2.40;
or 7-2.10-2.10, etc., would answer
just as well, provided these lower
grades be applied in heavier quaint
ties.
So it has been found that corn, su-
garcane, sorghum, grasses and other
crops belonging to the grass family
respond best to fertilizer that shall
contain ten parts of phosphoric acid,
five parts of nitrogen and two parts
of potash-or a 10-5-2 fertilizer.
The following formulas are in pre-
cisely the same proportions, only
they are of lower grade, and would
give practically the same results only
when a correspondingly larger appli-
cation shall be made per acre-viz.,
9-4.50-1.80; or 8-4.00-1.60;
or 7-3.50-1.40, and so on. OF
course, these lower grades can be sold
at lower prices than the high grades,
but, as rule, the farmer will find it
more economical to buy the high
grades, both on account of their
cheaper price per 'Nnit" and also the
saving Of freight, the latter being pre-
cisely the safe, per ton, for both high
and low grades.
4l.
Value of Cow.
In undertaking to place an esti-
mate on the value of COW the exact
amount Of milk and butter fat pro-
duced should be determined.