Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1911-02-24


tined to be one of the chief sources of
nitrogen.
..The other new form calcium nj
trate. is manufactured by an electrical
process also BY passing the air
through highly heated arcs, the nitrogen
and oxygen combine, and when this IS
absorbed by water and lime, calcium nj
trate is the product. 1T contains about
10 per cent of nitrogen ranks with nj
trate of soda though 1t contains little
less nitrogen, but il is combined with
lime instead Of sodium, the lime being
useful to the plant and the sodium USE
less. F,.r-s 9.s~
AT Niagara Falls, where electrical
power is cheap, calcium nitrate is man
ufaetured on a large scale
plans are now being made by the
Southern Power company to establish
such a plant at Charlotte, N. c. Con-
tracts have been let for a plant of 1000
horsepower to be used for experimental
purpose. They expect to Increase the
plant to, $4,000 horsepower. This will
be the first of its kind in the south,
and may mean the cheapening of the
most expensive plant food the farmer
has to buy"
BERMUDA AND BURR CLOVER SEED.
H.
want to know If i can get Bermuda
grass seed. that will germinate; also burr
clover seed. sci
You should be able to secure seed of
Bermuda grass and burr clover from any
of the leading seedsmen. Bermuda
grass should not be sown before the
first of April as 1T will not terminate
when the ground is cold. There is
much difference of opinion as TO the
ACCESSIBILITY of sowing Bermuda seed;
many find that they do not secure good
stand of it because good seed is some
what difficult to secure Much of the
seed used in this country now comes
from Australia. The seed will cost you
probably 90 to so cents a pound in
small lots. and you should write for
prices on larger quantities Burr clover
should be sown in the fall in order to
secure the best results,
FASTENING MATURITY WITH PHOS-
PLATES.
@. B. B., Silver Creek, Ca, writes:
am a beginner on the farm and | have
some good lard that ought to make a
bale of cottoa to the acre, but only
makes about 700 pounds of seed. 1t is
red clay with dark red subsoil. 1t makes
not fruit well, and the bolls do not open
well. Would like to know. what fer
tilizer to use to correct this trouble.
Red land such as you describe should
contain a fair amount of all the essen
tiaI elements of plant food, though these
may not be in an available form, which
probably accounts for the fact that your
cotton does not make a larger yield than
you state. You can increase the yield Of
cotton in one of several ways. First,
suppose you try lime on this land at
the rate of one ton per acre, using 1t
In the caustic form. 1t is late in the sea-
son to apply lime now, however, and
you had better wait until next fall. Re
member when you do use lime II should
be put on top of the ground and not
plowed under. For this season prepare a
fertilizer formula that will contain at
least 2 per cent of nitrogen, II per cent
of phosphoric acid and Z per cent of
potash. This fertilizer should be used
at the rate of not less than 500 to 600
pounds per acre. Where cotton makes an
abundance of stalk, but fails to fruit
and mature as early as is desirable, 1t
is an evidence that the mineral ele-
ments are not present in an available
form in sufficient quantities to meet the
needs of the growing crop. For this
reason a larger application OF phosphorlc
acid and potash than is ordinarily made
is suggested. If this effects an improve
ment in the crop, as we believe it will,
both as to fruiting and maturity, you
may be sure that you are on the right
line and can afford to use probably
even a heavier application of these two
elements next year. Lime will sweeten
your soil and will also tend to set free
both of these elements, particularly pot
ash.
WHAT TO USE AS TOP DRESSING.
| T. @. Waynesboro. Ga, writes: A
neighbor used a top dressing composed
of 1000 pounds of nitrate of soda and l.
900 pounds of cotton seed meal and
thinks il is much better than nitrate
alone What formula would you advise
to get a well balanced high-grade fer
tilizer out of 16 per cent acid. per
cent meal. II per cent kainit and nitrate
of soda, and what would 1t analyze?
Probably the best manner in which
to combine cotton seed meal, high-grade
acid and kainit would be as follows:
Mix 500 pounds of meal with 1000 pounds
of acid and 500 pounds of kainit. This
1 I. Z - -.