Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1916-01-25
AGRICULTURAL
VSGduCatiOn
~ AND SUCCESSFUL EARNING
SG:=Ssz BY ANDRMM OoULE
A Review of the Fertilizer Outlook

buy and handle nitrates from one of the
several sources enumerated in the most
economical manner possible, he should
be able to supply his soils with a fair
amount of nitrogen, as much probably
as he has ever been able to secure or
utilize in the past.
BY taking forethought. therefore, it
should be possible to meet the existing
fertilizer situation with sufficient skill
and success to enable the farmer to pro-
duce crops at a reasonable cost and in
sufficient quantity to supply local and
expert needs in a satisfactory manner.
PLANT FOOD FOR THE MELON
CROP.
b c., Fort Valley, Ca, writes: Is II
possible to make good melons with just
cotton seed meal and acid, and il so. In
what proportion should they be usedf Pot
ash being so high and unObtainable, can
you suggest the best possible fertilizer. for
melons with potash left out?
We are inclined to think that probably
the best combination of materials you
can use for the production Of melons
would be a mixture containing 500
pounds of cotton seed meal and LOO
pounds of acid phosphate. This VIII
give YOU a formula Analysing rs per
cent of nitrogen, 10.5 per cent OF phos-
phoric acid and about 10 per cent OF
potash. OF course, this formula Is nota-
bly, low in potash, but as there IS no
available supply which can be utlllzed
with advantage or profit under existing
circumstances. truckers Wills of necessi-
" be forced to leave this material out
OF their plant food rations. You can
possibly secure some wood ashes by
burning up windfalls. In that event
you could use a double handful under
each hill. We advise that the ashes
we bell mixed with the soil and not
used I'm direct conjunction with the FER
tiliEer.
The formula suggested above would
be low i'm nitrogen for melons. rms
condition can be corrected by top dress
ing the melons with nitrate of soda OF
some other quickly available carrier OF
nitrogen. You may apply the nitrate
at the rate of 100 pounds per acre, using
a handful around each melon hill. The
nitrogen should be put on early In the
growing season so as to force a rapid
development of the crop.
. CROPPING LOW LANDS.
J. T.. Atlanta, Ca, writes: We have a.
like 10 know what would be the most
profitable thing to raise on 1t. We nave
thought Of raising pigs, and then growing
peanuts and potatoes for them TO eat. NDat
do you think of this plan?
Swampy land will not likely produce
any sort of crop to very good advantage
until il is drained. 1t is difficult, there
fore. to offer you suggestions which are
likely to be of value without more
definite idea of the conditions under
which you expect to operate. IL you
mean by swampy land that 1t is wet at
certain seasons of the year and dries
out and can be worked TO good adVah-
tage later i'm the spring, that Is quite
different proposition from land Whlch
remains wet all through the year. or
course land which contains excessive
moisture naturally interferes with the
growth of plants for the reason that the
water in the soil remains so near the
surface of the ground the plants are
not afforded an opportunity to develop
a proper root system.
If this land could be properly drained
the chances are that it would grow al
falfa to advantage and this would make
Il valuable for the production of hay,
as several cuttings per year could be
obtained. You could also Craze 1t with
pigs to some advantage. Much of the
cheap pork produced in Kansas for in
stance is made by grazing alfalfa III IL
dries off sufficiently early to be planted
to peanuts, cowpeas, soy beans, aftl-
chokes and chuffas you could MAINTAIN
a good number of hogs on the grazing
crops produced on this land during the
late summer and fall OF course, you
would have to feed a little corn in order
to firm the meat before Strengthening.
ANY of the crops above mentioned Will
grow well under normal conditions in
Georgia and If early and late matur-
ing varieties are selected succession
of grazing crops may be had for several
months.
Sweet potatoes, as you know, do best
on well drained land which contains
fair proportion of sand. Irish potatoes
do best 'on a loamy soil containing
good deal of vegetable matter. The land
would have to be we'll drained, however,
to grow potatoes satisfactorily.
ROCK PHOSPHATE AS A FERTIL-
IZER.
II. b., Macon. Ga. writes: l would Ike
some information in regard 10 the use of
raw ground phosphate rock as a fertilizer.
As acid phosphate is very high in price at
present, we have thought Of using the
ground phosphate rock If you think It VIII
answer the same purpose.
In our experinece raw ground phos-
hate rock mas not proven do Sati9A"NeO
nv as we could have wished. In other
words. for immediate results we would
prefer to apply acid phosphate. Where
soils can be made very rich in vegetable
matter or where large quantities of yard
manure are available for application 1T
Is probable that raw rock phosphate
can be applied to some advantage. Even
then we do not think that marked bene-
fit will be observed before the lapse
of several monthsa
In our experience the use of raw rock
phosphate has not seemed to affect the