Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1911-02-28
COTTON seed MEAL
AS A FERTILIZER
Or. SauIG Discusses an I'm.
pOFtant Subject

DR.. Andrew NJ. Soule, president Of
the Agricultural College of Georgia,
says that in spite of the great advance
ment which agricultural science is
making, many farmers still cling 20
the belief that cottonseed is more
desirable for fertilizing purposes than
the meal. This is an erroneous con-
clusion, as the following data clearly
Indicates: A ton of cottonseed con-
tains 5S4 pounds of nitrogen, 21
pounds of phosphoric acid and 21.S
pounds of potash. Allowing 20 cents
for organic nitrogen, cents for phos-
phoric acid and cents for potash, the
seeed contains about $3.50 worth 81
plant food per ton. A ton of high
grade meal contains about las pounds
of nitrogen, sos pounds of potash. APP
plying the same values to these figures.
it appears that cottonseed meal con-
tains about 500 worth of nitrogen,
$3.04 worth of phosphoric acid, and
| $1.OS worth of potash, or in all plant
food to the value of $33.12 per ton. IN
other words, ton of cottonseed meal
contains about two and a third times
as much plant food as a ton of seed
| This being true it hardly seems reas-
enable that farmer who often has an
opportunity to exchange the seed for
meal on equal terms would hesitate to
do so. Moreover, the meal is in a form
to be used for either feed or fertilizer.
1t contains organic nitrogen which
will not readily leach from the soil.
but which becomes available with
sufficient rapidity to supply the needs
of a growing crop. The nitrogen in
the seed becomes more slowly avail
able than that in the meal does not at
ford as ready stimulus to the young
plants just after termination, which,
of course, is disadvantage
| There are some who believe that the
seed is preferable, because it adds, as
they claim, vegetable matter to the soil.
The amount of vegetable matter added
| by an application even of ton of seed
per acre, which is fully three times as
much as is ordinary used, would not
have any appreciate effect on the hui
mus content of the soil So far as Civ
ing ability to resist drought is con-
cerned, the seed and the meal are
equally valuable. The meal has the
great advantage of being in a finer
ground condition, so that it may be
easily mixed with the phosphorus and
potash, and thus applied more expedit-
iously and economically than the seed
1t has been shown by careful tests
! that forty bushels of seed when applied
with phosphoriC acid and potash did
not give as large a return as meal ap-
| piled with the same constituents. In
fact, the actual difference in yield was
l2O pounds of lint per acre in favor Of
the meal, which at Is cents a pound
represents SIS. According to many
careful tests 900 pounds of meal are
equivalent to a ton of seed in fertiliz-
| ing value Why hesitate to exchange
the seed for meal, or if the exchange
has already been made and the farmer
is confronted with the necessity of Sc
curing more organic nitrogen, why not
use cottonseed meal for this purpose?
1t has been demonstrated to be efftc-
lent form of plant food for Southern
soils since meal can be purchased at a
low price in proportion to its true
feeding and fertilizing value
In soils containg but a small amount
OF vegetable matter, as most of those
found in this state, it is better to APP
ply at least twO-thirds of the nitrogen
in a relatively slowly available form,
so as to avoid the danger of loss by
teaching. Cottonseed meal will be
found a very satisfactory material to
use under these conditions. 1t also
has the advantage of mixing we'll
with any of the quickly available forms
of nitrogen, such as nitrate of soda,
sulDhate of ammonia, or high-grade
dried blood, which may be used in
conjunction with it to supply a small
amount Of heterogeneous food which viii
become quickly available to young
plants
The farmer who handles his seed
with any degree of intelligence will
make money out of selling them or ex-
changing them for meal or by buying
meal directly to supplement the de-
ficiency of his soil in nitrogen. At
the same time the oil contained in the
seed has been gotten rid of, which is
another distinct advantage, since It
tends to clog up the pores of the soil
and in no sense a plant food.
The farmer who uses larger supplies
Of nitrogen in his fertilizers this year
than has DrnyiOuu1v boan tbo ,,roo,;o,