The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-11-12

decay.
In pasturing stock, we must replace
what they take off, or even a little
more, and a Well-cared-for sod OF
Bermuda can be very greatly nelpeo
by top dressing with bone meal or V e
the nitrate, and disked over, every
fourth spring. Few southern
realize the value of q Well-kept pas
ture. 1t pays as we'll to fertilize the
grass as any other crop on the farm.
Wanted-Big Crops on Ordinary Land
81 have some land that made forty
bushels of oats an acre. Planted lt IN
peas, but dry weather made them
poor. They have been cut. | want
to get the land sOWn to rye and crlm-
son clover to turn under In spring.
On part l want to make two bales OF
cotton an acre and on the other 100
bushels Of corn an acre. What IS
necessary to get such yields?"
You might possibly get them in q
favorable season by very thorough
preparation and the lavish use OF fer
tilizer, but the chances are you would
not. You ooh a crop Of oats off the
land and then took a crop of pea hay
off, and the lance are hat yOu have
reduced the fertility of the soil, as
you do not say anything about any
fertilization you used with the peas
and oats. So far as your account goes
the only addition to the soil has been
the oats stubble and the roots Of the
peas, and unless the land was pre-
viously well supplied with hu1nus-mak
ing materials, it is not now in as good
condition as before the oats were ta-
ken off. If the oats straw and pea
hay are fed OF the farm this winter
and the manure hauled out and
spread on the land as fast as made,
the deficiency a be largely rene
died.
The way to get large crops is thru
the development of the soil by a good
rotation Of crops, increasing the
humus content. Deep blowing and
thorough preparation Of the soil, with
shallow and level cultivation will help.
But on and deficient in humus a very
heavy application of fertilizer in q dry
season ma defeat the very object
intended, for you can safely use q
larger amount Of fertilizer on land
Astounding in humus than you can on
land that is deficient in this organic
decay, because it will hold moisture
in dry weather and dissolve the fer
tiliZer that, in a soil lacking hurnus,
might be absolutely damaging. There
fore, it is impossible for me or any
one to say how you can get the crops
you want next summer on that land
and, so far as | can see, the chances
are that you will not get them.
The forty-bushel crop Of pats re-
moved from the land fully twenty
pounds Of nitrogen, twelve pounds Of
phOsphoric acid and ten pounds Of
potash, and the peas also drew on the
supply Of p%hosphoric acid and potash,
and being a poor crop, the roots
hardly left enough nitrogen to re
place what the oats took away.
Hence, unless the fertilization of the
oats was heavy, the soil is really
poorer than before the oats were Ia
ken off. Then you stand a very poor
chance to get a good stand Of crimson
clover SOWn as late as the last Of
October. while the rye will doubtless
grow, but will simply restore some of
the organic matter to the soil that it
takes from it. If the manure made
from feeding the oats straw and the
: pea hay is returned to the land, and a
; heavy application Of fertilizer is used,
you may get a good crop Of cotton
and corn, but if you make the crops
you propose, l shall be surprised.
Land can be brought up by good
t farming to make 100 bushels Of corn
an acre, and make it in an economical.
t a but cheap corn cannot be made
by depending on commercial fertilizer
to make it. Heavy fertilization pays
f better on cotton tina on corn.
O Tho pos,D6;ac for Coil XTool:rp