The Pickens sentinel. (Pickens, S.C.) 1911-2016, 1915-01-07
IGEfIu UL TCTs
: tilizers To Use

The present low price of cot
ton has caused many farmers to
seek advice from Clemson Col.
lege as to the. economic use OF
fertilizers this coming season.
To meet this demand, Prof. J.
N. Harper, director of the South
Carolina experiment. station, has
written a bulletin on this sab
ject. Among other things, he
states that practically all the
soils Of South Carolina will re-
spond to good treatment and
fertilization. It does not pay to
plant and cultivate crops unless
they are wellsupplied with plant
food.
The most important plant
food for the soils of this state, "
continues Prof. Harper, is nj
trogen (ammonia). All of our
soils are deficient in this ele-
men5. This is due to the fact
that the nitrates are soluble in
water and are constantly leach.
ing out Of the land. Therefore,
unless crops are grown in rota-
ton with the legumes, the far
mer must use some form Of COM
mercial nitrogen and ht should
insist that this nitrogen be avail
able. Nit,ate of soda, sulphate
of ammonia, blood, cotton seed
meal, fish scrap and tankage are
splendid sources of nitrogen.
Cotton seed meal is one Of the
best and at the present price it
lis one of the cheapest. Nitrate
of soda is also a good source OF
nitrogen and it will liberate a
certain amount of potash in the
soil. When applied early in the
spring it greatly increases the
yield Of grain.
Tt also pays to use acid phos-
pnate on all types of soil found
in this state, excepting where it
has accumulated from previous
fertilizations. Acid phosphate
is not only a valuable plant food
but it is also valuable in that it
hastens the maturity of plants,
especially cotton, and prevents
cotton from running to stalk or
weed.
s'On account of the European
war our source of potash, which
comes from Germany, has been
cut off, causing the price to in
crease considerably. At the
present time it will not pay the
farmers Of the Piedmont section
90 use any potaoh in their ferSi-
lizers. The sandy soils of the
coastal plain arevery deficient in
potash and what is on hand
should be used for the soils of
that region.
Fertilizers are not amend
ments or stimulants to plant
growth, but furnish the neces-
sary elements of plant food,
without which they will not
grow. Our staple crops take out
large amounts of plant food from
the soil which must be replaced.
The farmers of the state have
not acted unwiselY in that they
have been using fertilizers in
large amounts for a number of
years. However, under the pres
ent conditions with the low price
of cotton, we advise the farmers
to reduce the amount of fertil-
izer they viii use this season.
There is a considerable
amount of plant food stored in
our soils as a residual from pre-
vious fertilizations which can be
called on in this time of need.
Practically all Of the phoshorus
that has been applied in acid
phosphate to the soils in this
state is still in the first twelve
inches, excepting that which has
been taken out by plants. Acid
phosphate does not wash out Of
the land as does nitrogen. In
our present financial stress we
must make good use of the plant
food stored in our soils and re-
duce our fertilizer bill as much
as possible.
I'VE recommend to the farm
ecs of the Piedmont region that
they apply to their corn 300
pounds of fertilizer composed of
equal parts of acid phosphate
and cotton seed meal-this to be
applied at the time of the plant
lng-and when the corn is waist
high a top dressing Of from so to
IS pounds of nitrate of soda. For
cotton we recommend 200 pounds
Of acid phosphate and 200 pounds
Of cotton seed meal, applied at
the time of planting. For oats
and wheat we recommend 100
pounds of acid phosphate, 100
pounds of cotton seed meal and
IS pounds of nitrate of soda.
The soda should be applied early
IN March.
81 For tho coastal n1ain we rer-