Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1910-12-27


or the use of yard manure, he might
cofisider the ACCESSIBILITY of withholding
fire from his grass land more seriously
A ton Of dry leaves contains about IL
pounds Of nitrogen, 6 pounds OF phos-
phoric acid and 8 pounds of potash.
Thousands Of tons of material equally as
rich are burned up by setting the woods
on fire each year. What "a useless waste
this is. These leaves gathered together
in compost heaps might be made source
of fertility to the land. They act as a
cover for the wood lot and enrich it so
that the tree growth will be more vigor-
Gus. There is nothing gained by burning
them but great loss follows their de-
struction tf
The stems, leaves. roots and bolls of a
cotton crop yielding at the rate of 100
pounds of lint per acre remove from the
soil approximately 26 pounds of nitrogen,
10 pounds OF phosphoric acid and 20
pounds of potash In other words. they
contain between IS and 81 worth of plant
food per acre. Suppose that the leaves
and the roots largely escape destruction.
the burning of the stalks still means a
loss sof plant food worth anywhere from
So to $3.50 per acre The only excuse is
TO get rid Of the litter so that the land
may be plowed and cultivated with great
er convenience 1t would be infinitely bet
ter to buy bigger mules and use larger
plows and turn this material under than
10 destroy it. as has been the practice
in the past. and then attempt to maintain
fertility through the use OF small
amount Of commercial plant food per- acre.
As matter of fact. commercial plant
food will only give its best results in the
presence of vegetable matter. Vegetable
matter is the key TO the situation. Let
US unite i'm an effort to make the use
less destruction of this essential material
through burning an absolute practice in
the south.
ORIGIN OF THE GUINEA HOG.
]. A. S. T., Burnt Corn, Ala, writes:
have been a subscriber to The Journal
for years. Will you please inform me
where I can get a big guinea hog pure.
There are two kinds but I want to get
the pure big guinea.
I do not happen to be familiar with
the names of any breeders of the SOCIAL
ed big guinea hogs. There is no dis
tinct class OF animals of this type which
may be considered a breed Red pigs
are found IN various localities through
out the state which sometimes go by
this name. but they probably have little
OF the original blood of what was known
as the big guinea hog. Many years ago
guinea pigs were supposed to have been
imported from Africa in some Of the
slave-trad!ng ships. 1t is claimed that
this breed was large i'm size, square in
form, of reddish color, the body COW
cred with short bristles smoother and
more shiny than most any other variety
OF the porcine race. 1t is said that this
breed was brought to the United States
as late as 1904 and more or less distrib-
.uted throughout the south Daniel Web
ster also imported red breed of hogs
from Portugal in 1852 for his farm in
Massachusetts These hogs were dis
trfbuted to some extent east and west.
Red Spanish pigs were imported by Hen
~ Clay in 1897 and taken to his farm
near Lexington, Ky. This stock was
shipped quite widely tn roughout the
south, A mixture of these animals gave
rise probably to what is known as the
guinea hog. II has never been develop
ed into pure breed, however, and there
is no association devoted TO it's interests
They are not superior to many other OF
the red breeds which do well in the
south. as the Tamworth for instance. II
you desire to secure a well-established
breed of red. hogs buy the Tamworth or
Duroc-Jersey. The former has the ad-
vantage of being a better grazing ami
NAL and therefore well suited to south
SEEKS DATA RELATIVE TO COTTON
w. III. D., Forsyth, Ga, writes: have
a piece of ash and willow bottom land
which has been IN corn for five years
In succession. In October. 1909. turn
ed corn stalks and pea vines under with
ltwo-horse pillow and sowed in oats After
harvesting the oats ] turned the ground
with one-horse pillow and sowed in Ger
man millet. his land has deep loose soil
with plenty of sand. Please advise as
/ to the preparation and cultivation for
cotton. What variety would you sug-
gest? 1 had thought of King cotton.
Thin rich land treated to such a course
of cropping as you indicate will need to
be well fertilized to produce a good crop
OF cotton You have put comparatively
little vegetable matter in the land while
growing crops tend to exhaust soil fer
tility and decrease the supply Of humus
For this reason you should make every
effort to secure as much compost or
better still, yard manure to put under the
drill row. We believe that from two to
five tons can be used advantageusly. The
larger amount, of course, would be
preferable but in case of a limited sup
ply use at least two tons. Prepare the
land by breaking with a two-horse pillow
this fall, and subsoil IL a stiff heavy
clay underlies the field. Deep breaking
! is very important as enabling you to
store a considerable amount OF water
which falls during the winter. and which
will be sorely needed by the crop dur