Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1912-03-08

cure an unusual benefit from their use.
| 1t is necessary that the farmer realize
that in order to get the best results from
fertilizer he must first put his land IN
proper condition.
In 1910 a fertilizer test was con-
Quoted with cotton, and where no fer
| tflizer was used the yield of seed cot
ton was 800 pounds. Where ten tons
of yard manure were applied broadcast
with a complete fertilizer the yield
became ! ,465 pounds; when the manure
was used in the drill row with COM
plete fertilizer, 1854 pounds. Where
five tons of yard manure were used
after a rotation of crops, cowpeas being
turned under TO build up the soil, with
complete fertilizer, the yield became
| $3.50 pounds. This year three 500
pound bales Of lint cotton were raised
on an acre of land in the demonstra-
ton field. This cotton averaged Al per
cent of lint and there were about 10000
plants per acre. Cowpeas were plowed
under in 1909; in 1910 the land raised
! 100 bushels of corn per acre; and In
l194I three bales Of cotton. The fertil-
izer used under the cotton was five
/ tons of yard manure under the drill
row and 1000 pounds of 9-3-4 Ter
| tilizer The cotton on this test area
was grown under very adverse condi-
tons, the drought being unusually Sc
we're at Athens. The cotton DID not
shed but held its foliage until late in
! the season and was unusually vigorous
and attractive in appearance. The abili-
to to hold its color and foliage and
make this very unusual yield was due
to the liberal amount of plant food
used, the rotation, system practiced, and
to the thorough cultivation and careful
selection of seed followed. Other land
in the same field highly fertilized on
which cotton had been grown four years
\ in succession did not yield so well be-
I cause of shedding due to lack of vege-
table matter in the soil. This fact is
cited to impress upon the farmer the
necessity of adding vegetable matter to
the land when using large amounts OF
areas of land devoted to a fertilizer
/ test without the use of any vegetable
matter whatever the crop largely failed.
which emphasizes the Importance or the
| statements already presented; while on
plats on which no fertilizer at all was
used the crop was not worth harvest
ling. The land on which these crops of
corn and cotton were grown would not
four years ago produce more than ten
to fifteen bushels of corn per acre and
not over a third Of a bale of cotton. 1t
has been built up through the prin-
ciples advocated in this bulletin ami
the intelligent use of high-srade COM
kmercial fertilizers. Any farmer may
increase his yields and at the same
time build up his soil and add mate
rally to his profits by considering and
utilizing the main factors set forth in
this discussion.
! USING YARD MANURE AND FER
TILIZER.
| A Subscriber, Grovetown, Ga, writes:
/ 7 would like some information in re-
gard to the best fertilizer to use for
cotton on gray sandy land with red
clay subsoil. have about ten tons OF
yard manure to use on three acres VIII
a 1914 be suitable for it. The land
was broken in January with two-horse
pillow. 1t was in corn last year.
| One having an abundance of farm
manure on hand is certainly well situat-
ed for the production of corn or cotton.
1t is also a great advantage that you
were able to break the land in the fall
of the year, thus enabling 1t to absorb
moisture, and prevent the necessity of
working it in the spring, which, owing
| to the large amount of rain which has
fallen, might result in pudding the
lower areas of the soil. Open a wide,
l'deep furrow and use about five tons of
ward manure per acre under the drill
row. Before putting in the manure APP
| ply about 500 pounds of a 1924 formu-
/ la Mix it we'll with the subsoil by
means of a bull-tongue, and then put IN
the manure and mix it also with the
| subsoil. Draw the burrows together
and plant on the level for corn and on
How bed for cotton. The size of bed for
cotton should be governed by the drain
age of the land. gray sandy soil with
l a clay subsoil not too close to the sur
1 face should dry out rather quickly, and
Won can afford to make the beds lower
on that account. The best distance
apart to plant cotton is subject of
| much discussion. In our opinion you
/ will find il best to plant in drills four
4 to five feet apart, depending on the
! richness of the land, and leave two
plants to the hill Twenty inches in the
1 drill has given us the highest yield here
/ at Athens Anywhere from Is to "a
/ inches will be found about right. Re
K member when you leave two plants per
hill you will not secure as large an
/ individual stalk as where only one is
/ left, but the two plants will fruit and
mature more cotton than the one plant.
! USING COTTON SEED UNDER CORN.
| W. d. T., Meeks, Ga, writes: 1
/ want to use green cotton seed on corn
this spring, about % bushels to the
acre. Will they be sufficient alone for
corn, or should l use commercial fer
/ tilizer; and if so, how much?
Twenty-Five bushels of cotton seed
alone would not make satisfactory
! formula for corn on any type of land.
This much seed would contain about S.4
pounds of phosphorus, 23.5 pounds of
/ nitrogen and 81 pounds of potash. You
will thus see that it would be very low
| in phosphorus and potash. The addi-
ton of at least 800 pounds of high
grade acid phosphate and so pounds of
muriate of potash would be needed to
at all balance this formula. We believe
you will find it better to mix together
! 200 pounds of seed, 700 pounds of hig$
J grade acid phosphate and so pounds of