Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1910-05-24

compared to when it is put on before
planting and the crop has an opportunity
to utilize the plant food it contains
throughout the entire growing season. A
compost may be made of yard manure
and litter or 1t may be applied to the
land and then potash and phosphoric acid
applied separately. Lime should not be
used in a compost to any appreciable ex-
tent, as 1t would break down the material
too rapidly and cause an excessive loss
Of nitrogen. Lime when used at all
should be put on the soil some time in
advance Of seeding the crop. 1t should
be scattered broadcast over the land, and
worked in with a harrow and it Is best
applied in the fall.
COTTON FOLLOWING OATS AND
PEAS.
w. H. s., jefferson, Ca, writes: 1 have
four acres of rather dark stiff land that
l want to plant in cotton. 1t was dairy
pasture for several years and is very
rich For about four years it has been
in wheat and oats, followed with peas.
have had it turned with a good two-horsc
pillow and narrowed. / have bought four
tons of 1885 fertilizer to put on it. How
is the best way to use this fertilizer?
am expecting to plant what is generally
known as the Shanghai cotton. Do you
know of any variety that you think would
suit better?
Judging from, your letter. you expect to
apply a ton of fertilizer per acre, and to
use high grade goods at that. The re-
Spouse to heavy applications of fertilizer
is measured to a considerable degree by
the amount of vegetable matter in the
soil, the skill with which the land is cul-
tivated, and the season. Where there is
a good rainfall we'll distributed and the
soil is broken frequently so as to pre-
serve a dust mulch large return
should be secured from such liberal fer
tilization. We desire to emphasize the
Importance of this matter, as 1t is often
overlooked. Personally, we would prefer
to put at least 1000 pounds of this fer
tilizer under the drill row before plant
ing the cotton, and we would prefer TO
have it out of contact with the seed AS
you cannot probably secure a drill that
will put ii down in such large quantities
when going over the ground once, we
would open a deep furrow where the cot
ton is to be planted, put the fertilizer in
1t and mix 1t thoroughly with the soil
and subsoil with any deep-stirring inple-
ment available; a bull-tongue will an
swer fairly we'll A side application of 300
pounds may be made shortly after the
cotton is up, and another application of
equal amount 30 days later. The third
application should not be made later than
June Is Personally, we would prefer to
use the two side applications suggested
and apply 100 to 200 pounds Of nitrate Of
soda, depending on the growth made by
the cotton at the last cultivation, in pref
erence to using so much of the 3-10-5 mix
ture so late in the season.
While the Shanghai is a very good va
much stalk from our observation in pro-
portion to lint and seed. OF the high
yielding upland cotton, we have found
Cooks among the best Cleveland's Big
Boil has also given us excellent results
IN our demonstration field.
THE BEST METHOD OF PREPAR-
ING RED LAND.
]. F. M, Atlanta, Ga, writes: l
would like to know how to prepare
red land for corn, cotton and potatoes,
what fertilizer to use, etc. l will buy
any books you recommend or anything
! that teaches intensive farming in
building up the land
Red land should be prepared by deep
and thorough blowing for any crop. Plow-
ing in the fall is often an advantage as
il allows the land to weather more COM
pletely and sets free some of the unavail-
able plant food contained in the soil. The
land should be left rough so it will abb
serb as much water as possible. It is Of
course inadvisable to pillow land in the
fall that is very steep and subject to ero-
sion on that account.
A good formula for corn and cotton is a
3-10-4. A 2 or 3-S-4 will answer very we'll
on red lands. For sandy lands. of course,
more potash should be used. The farmer
should not find it necessary to buy much
nitrogen since he should be able to sup
ply the needs of his soil through prac-
ticing a crop rotation in which the
legumes predominant. For potatoes
onions and turnips high-grade fertilizers
are required. Three to per cent OF nj