Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1911-10-10

1 these should be prepared and forwarded
will not be out of place at this time. In
| sending a plant for Identification, a
strong light box should be secured
Heavy pasteboard will answer, though
a light wooden box is often better. Place
some moist cotton in the box Take the
plant up in its entirety. showing some
of the roots as well as the stem, lear
and flower. IL is generally useless 10
send in a leaf a mature seed or piece
/ OF the stem. Plants to be identified
with any degree of certainty must as
rule be in bloom. 1t is an important
matter to bear this in mind. After plac-
ing the plant in the box. put some more
moist cotton over IL and wrap and tie
securely. There is some prospect that
the specimen thus forwarded Will reach
us in condition to permit Of its identi-
/ fication. but when merely sent in an en-
l velope the specimen becomes so dry and
skaters so badly as to make Identified
/ ton impossible.
In sending in insects they should be
/ put in small tin box or can or in
I tightly stoppered bottle. Many pack
ages have been received from which the
insects had escaped altogether. When
sending in insects a number should be
1 forwarded; also specimens of the plants
they live on and the leaves, hollis or 9TH
er parts Of the plant which they affect
most seriously. In sending in diseased
specimens Of cotton, particularly the
bolIs, send more than one. The observ-
ance of these suggestions will enable
us to more promptly answer your inqui-
ries and win insure your receiving def
mite information.
In sending in your questions please
write plainly and on only one side Of the
paper. Use a pen whenever possible, for
f, with a pencil the words sometimes be-
| come blurred and impossible Of correct
Interpretation. Do not fail to put your
| address at the head of the letter. and
| sign your name in full. You may rest
assured that your name will not be pub
lished. A great majority Of our CORE
spondents object 10 this and their wishes
| will be rigidly observed in this respect.
Do not forget that many letters are re-
ceiveu in this department and that they
must be published in the order of their
| receipt. You should, therefore, send IN
your queries as early as possible, and
IL by any accident one be overlooked, q
postcard will bring a prompt reply stat
ing the cause Of the delay. You should
not forget that letters are more fire.
quently lost in the mails than those who
do not carry on, an extensive correspond
ence sometimes realize. You can be
quite certain that II you do not receive
a reply in a reasonable length OF time
that something has happened to your let
ter and that you should write again. NO
favoridsm or discrimination is shown
TO correspondents. All are welcome and
freely invited to avail themselves of the
special opportunity for securing infor-
nation which th~se columns are intend
ed to afford. Let us hear from you
whenever you believe we can be Oh serv-
ice. With your aid this department can
be made more efficient in serving your
intrests.
FERTILIZERS FOR ALFALFA.
E. T. B., Jefferson. Ga, writes: 1 ex-
pect to sow some alfalfa in a few days
on land that has grown alfalfa before.
have about 500 pounds of 1O-4 acid and
potash. Would you advise using some
source of nitrogen with this? II so, how
much would you use of cotton seed meal
or dried blood? The 500 pounds is for
two acres OF ground. Will that make
enough with a lot of stable manure?
II would be advisable in our judgment
to use some nitrogen along with the
10-4 acid intended for use on land de-
voted to alfalfa. We believe the quickly
available nitrogen will be valuable in
stimulating a quick growth which is de-
sirable with this crop as ii is tender
and rather backward when young. Cot
ton seed meal and dried blood in equal
, proportions would be advisable. We
would advise the use of enough of these
materials to increase the nitrogen TO
4 per cent. In other words, you would
then be using several hundred pounds
of mixture containing 10 per cent OF
phosphorus, per cent OF nitrogen and
4 per cent of potash. An application OF
500 pounds of 10-4 to two acres OF land
1 uu0Illd M ha do6 hao x,xy
application for alfalfa, which is a crop
! requiring a large amount of quickly
available plant food TO insure the best
results. especially ar the time you are
, attempting to establish IL. Stable ma
nure is an excellent material to use on
this land. 1t would be well to scatter
; il broadcast and work 1t well into the
! soil with a disk: cross disking may be
necessary to accomplish this result. The
soil on which alfalfa has been success
fully grown previously may be used as
source of incubation for other land
The specie bacteriunn. however, which
inoculates land for alfalfa does not inoc-
ulate il for crimson clover. We have
found very little difficulty, relatively
speaking, in getting a stand Of crimson
clover without incubation Sometimes
this may be necessary. but our experience
has not led us TO believe that II is nec-
essary to inoculate land intended for
crimson clover. provided the soil has
been put in good condition. contains a
fair amount of vegetable matter. and
is literally fortified with phosphorus and
potash.
BLACKRooT IN COTTON
B. z. D., Bellville, Ga, writes: We
are bothered a good deal with rust
black root etc. still we use plenty OF
Fertilizer We want TO know the proper
kind, and believe that a soil survey is
the only way to find out Can you
analyze my soil for me?
Black root is the result of an infec-
ton OF the land by a fungus which
grows up into the ducts OF the plant
and chokes II to death. This fungus
lives through the winter in the decayed
roots Of the cotton plant and in the