The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1915-06-11

care OF Cnolr DGQS THAT are abreast Win
the season and will have their tobacco
in the field within the usual limits of
transplanting.
USE FERTILIZERS ON YOUR TOBACCO
FIELDS.
A. r. Whitson urges Wisconsin grow
ers to apply sulphate of potash with
acid phosphate and save manure. 1T
would pay every grower to rotate his
tobacco crop with clover and corn and
many would find it quite advantageous
to add 200 pounds of sulphate Of potash
and from 800 to 1000 pounds of acid
phosphate per acre. The adoption Of
this system would result in better
yields and the maintenance of soil fer
tility." This is the statement made by
A. r. Whitson of the Soils Department
sof the Experiment Station in a recent
interview. ''The average farm ma
nure," he added, ''is lacking in phos-
phate, due to the fact that the animals
absorb more of this element from their
feed than any other. While potassium
may not be lacking in the manure, the
tobacco plant uses considerable Of this
element and consequently needs a slight
application. There is no need Of buy
ing fertilizers rich in nitrogen when
clover can be grown so easily and will
supply enough of that element. Why
is it that the New England states can
raise 400 to 500 more pounds per acre
than we can in Wisconsin? Is it be-
cause their land is richer than ours? 1t
is due, according to soil experts, to the
use of fertilizers. Their land is not as
fertile as ours, but by the judicious ap-
plication of plant food they have doubl-
ed and tripled our returns per acre.
Why not try simple experiment and
determine for your own satisfaction If
your soil is insufficient in any of the
elements used by tobacco, or see if an
application of some element will not
proftably increase your yield per acre?
Take two plots Of ground consisting OF
one acre each, on one apply the usual
18 to 20 loads of manure and on the
other turn under second growth of
clover and apply 10 to IL loads of ma
oure plus 200 pounds of sulphate of
potash and 500 to 600 pounds OF acid
phosphate In this way check can be
kept upon the respective fields and the
value of the method determined. Not
all tobacco fields are low in plant food
and do not need commercial fertilizer,
but the above method will tell you
whether this is the case or not. Farm
manure, if left to the action of the
rains, teaches out from one-half to
three-fourths of it's fertilizing value.
An average ton of farm manure ought
to have ten pounds of potassium, ten
pounds of nitrogen and five pounds of
phosphorus in it, but unless properly
piled in the barnyard or kept under
cover it will not contain these amounts.
In reality many farmers, although they
may appear to be applying large
amounts of plant foods upon their fields
by adding considerable manure, are
only applying the leached material.
Tobacco stems and stalks are rich
source of plant food and should be re-
turned to the land either in the whole
or in the chopped state. When in the
latter condition they are more readily
decomposed and make cultivation
easier Their composition is as follows
as compared to the leaf:
Lbs. dry VT Potasm Nit'gn Pho's
Leaf-1800 (per A. 80 IS 8
Stalk -32OO 60 49 80 8.
Stem 200 - 4 IA 8
AS potassium and phosphorus are
worth five cents per pound and nitro
gen is worth fifteen cents per pound,
the value of the stalks from an acre as
a fertilizer is about $7.65. The stems
are worth about $1.35 on the same
basis. Acid phosphate can be pur
chased for about SIS per 100 pounds. A
price on sulphate of potash is hard to
quote now as the war has raised it way
beyond it's normal price, but before
many months it ought to be bought at
a very reasonable figure.
Another month has now passed with
revenue statistics at hand and still the
tobacco industry fails to come up to ex-
pectations. AS month after month
passes the tobacco manufactures in
stead of showing signs of improvement
, appear to be getting in more precari-
Gus condition Cigarettes, snuff and
| tobacco seem to take turn about forg-
ing ahead, but seldom show an increase
for two consecutive months, while CT
gars, both large and small, fall off con-
! tinually.