Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1912-05-28


o. S. p. Porterdale, Ga, writes: On
rather thin land what would be the
proper distance to plant cowpeas, using
200 pounds of 1914 acid and potash per
acre Would Il be better to use more
fertilizer. say 400 or 400 pounds to the
acre?
On rather thin land it is advisable
in our judgment to use more PHOSPHORUS
and potash for leguminous crops than
you have indicated in your letter. We
believed from 800 to 400 pounds will
give YOU enough larger return to fully
justify the increased cost of the fer
tilizer. Leguminous crops are partic-
ularly fond of phosphorus and potash
and need to be we'll supplied with these
elements. The fact of the matter is
most of our Georgia soils do not con-
tain a large per cent of phosphoric acid,
and while some of them contain theoret-
ically an abundance of potash, much OF
It does not seem to be in an available
form because of the low content of
lime. and the fact that we have not
made it a practice to apply lime.
Our experience would indicate that 1t
is desirable to plant the varieties of
peas mentioned in rows from two to
three feet apart. We prefer the closer
planting. This may be accomplished by
stopping two out of every three tubes
in an ordinary grain drill. We often
plant peas with the grain drill without
stopping any of the tubes This takes
more seed than the other method, and
the crop is probably a little more diff
cult to harvest than where planted in
rows. Our experience with the yield of
grain leads us to believe that planting
in rows is preferable to any other
method with which we are familiar.
PLANT FOOD IN YARD MANURE
T. A. H., Lawrenceville, Ca, writes
l would like to know the amount of
plant food in stable manure. I have
an acre of graveIy land with red stiff
subsoil. This is it's third year of. cul-
ftivation, and have it plowed 10 to IL
inches deep. 1 have broadcasted and
put in the rows $4,000 to 10000 pounds
of stable manure. and 1 want to make
something like 100 bushels of corn Is
this amount of manure sufficient fertil-
izer for the corn?
. A ton OF well preserved yard manure
contains approximately g. per cent Of
nitrogen, So per cent Of phosphoric
acid and s. per cent of potash, or in
other words. about IL pounds of nitro
gen, pounds of phOsphOric acid and IL
pounds of potash. Where the animals
producing the manure are of mature
age and are fed on highly heterogeneous
foods like cotton seed meal, the analy-
sis may show a higher content of the
several elements mentioned, but espe-
cially of nitrogen and phosphoric acid.
From these figures you will see that
stable manure does not contain a large
amount of the. essential elements of
plant food; neither is 1T well balanced
plant food In that it is deficient in
phosphoric acid, one of the essential
elements needed in crop production in
Georgia 1t is especially important
that you supply this element literally
on land where you desire to raise as
much as 100 bushels of corn. If you
have put, on your land as much as 20
tons of yard manure, you have applied
24O pounds of nitrogen, an equal amount
of potah, and 140 pounds of phosphOric
acid. Your land would be abundantly
enriched with nitrogen and potash, but
would not contain a sufficient amount
of phosphorus. We would suggest that
you use not less than 500 pounds of 16
| per cent acid under the drill row at
the time of planting the corn. You
should remember that the plant food
/ in yard manure will not all become
available to the present crop. and that
the results obtained from such a heavy
application viii not be In proportion
to those secured from a more moderate
use of this material If your manure
has been subjected to rains and to
teaching. IL probably does not contain
more than one-third or one-half of the
amoGnt OF plant food indicated above.
and in that event your crop is likely
to suffer in proportion.
1t takes large amount of plant food
TO make 100 bushels OF corn per acne,
and you should fertilize the land libe8-