Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1910-02-22
oIJESTIoN AND ANSWER DEPARTMENT
RAL DEVEL OPEMENT
ALONG EDUCATIONAL LINES

longer be a suggestion, as many imagine,
of the fertile mind Of so-called scien-
fist, but a full-grown reality. Can it be
in view of the statements here portrayed
that there are those who still doubt the
mission OF the agricultural college and
question the ACCESSIBILITY of appropriating
funds from the state treasury for the
support of such institution?
Another suggestion along this line may
not be out of place. Two thousand six
hundred and eighty pounds of seed cotton
yielding 43 per cent of lint, or a total of
! ,152 pounds of lint to the acre were
produced on the demonstration field OF
the State College of Agriculture last year.
Two tons of barnyard manure and $50
pounds of s-1O-4 fertilizer were applied
In the drill rows underneath this cotton.
The total cost of the fertilizer was S9.50
per acre. The cost of growing this crop
Including some extra labor on account of
its being an experiment, was s32 per acre.
The cotton sold for 10 cents a pound, or
s172S0. and the seed was worth at least
S2O making the total value of the crop
Sl92.SO, or a net value per acre of s16O.S0.
What is land such as this worth? 1t will
pay 10 per cent on $500. But you will
say this is the exception and not the
rule. There are millions of acres Of land
in the south which adequately handled
may be made to duplicate these figures.
In the experiment noted, Al pounds of nj
trogen, Y pounds OF phosphoric acid and
"a pounds of potash were applied to an
acre OF land. Contrast this for one mo-
ment with pounds of nitrogen, Is pounds
of phosphoric acid and pounds Of pot
ash which are so commonly used. When
an intensive system of cultivation is fol-
lowed, when agricultural education comes
into its own. who can portray the condi-
lions which will prevail in this country
and yet we are at the threshold of de-
velopment which the most enthusiastic
southerner up to this time has not be-
lieved possible.
Another thing which is being impressed
on the farmer is the necessity for rotating
crops. A corn crop yielding 30 bushels Of
grain with the slower IL grown on the land
for three years will remove from it about
% pounds OF nitrogen. A three years ro-
tation properly arranged will insure larger
crops and remove from the soil about i'll
pounds of nitrogen, insuring saving of
Ill pounds Of nitrogen to the land owner
every three years This nitrogen can not
be purchased for less than 19 cents a
pound. OF a saving OF s2109 per acre of
one OF the essential elements of plant
food. What will be saved on the nitro
gen is after all but incidental to the
other benefits which rotation insures be-
cause il means the production on the
farm OF the rough feed needed. an in
crease in the output OF the value of the
live stock, and a saving OF part of the
enormous sum of money which is annu-
ally sent north. east and west to buy the
necessities OF life which can be raised on
the plantation cheaper than anywhere
else.
The question of how to destroy and
utilize the germs which now play so i'm
portant a part I'm the production of crops
is being agitated. and that the impor-
lance of this matter is being appreciat-
ed is shown by the ever-increasing areas
OF land devoted TO the cultivation OF le-
guminous crops, and the greater interest
evidenced in seed selection for the sake of
securing varieties of cotton, for example,
resistant to anthracnose or boil rot, and
the so-called wilt or black root disease.
The fact that the colleges of the south
have developed strains resistant to these
diseases which have threatened the exist
ence Of cotton cultivation in many sec
lions is the best evidence OF the close re-
lationship existing between scientific in
vestigation and a permanent system OF
agriculture