Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1916-03-04
4. FERTILIZERS AND FIELD CROPS.

David Dickson. after life of use.
 full service to his fellow-man and q i life of success as a farmer, had the
 following to say about the use of
 guano: "I say that farmers can make
 every acre of their lands rich if they
 will. Providence intended the earth
 should increase in fertility as rapidly ! as it does in population. Every man that assists in removing this dormant | suano, lying idle and useless on the
 Chincha Islands, and puts it in cir culation, creating herewith food and clothing, is a benefactor to his kind. | The country suffers for want of a share of the surplus fertlizing mate rial. Remove the deposit and apply
 to crops, and it will enrich the land q commenced to use guano in 1S46, and gradually increased the use of it airtil the present time, never having omitted to use it on my crops ex- cepting the last year of the war; when could not obtain it. With the proper system of rotation of crops, and re- turning all the crops to the land, ex- cept the lint of the cotton, land may be improved with Peruvian guano alone, but not so fast as when you combine with the soil all the ele- Wents of the plants to be grown. Am monia being necessary for all plants, l know of no crop that it would not benefit. It will pay the best upon those crops that bring the most mon- ey-cotton being that crop in this sec tlon, and tobacco in other sections" :"
 It will be seen from the above that MT. Dickson profited greatly by the use of guano. He knew well the value of ammonia to growing crops, but you will observe that he knew quite as we'll the value of other plant foods to the crop. He got better yields when he applied all the clements of plant food than when he applied ammonia alone. Also observe that he consid- cred it good business to apply fertil- izer. He was business man as well as a farmer, and knew all the keen points in the business world
 The Hon. James M Smith, another millionaire farmer of Georgia, who died only a few days ago, has the fol- lowing to say with reference to the use o. fertilizers on farm crops:
 'The use of fertilizers has become one of the most important factors in Southern agriculture. It is a power full agency in producing an increased yield-a thing we should desire and work for. We certainly believe in the use of commercial fertilizers, but we also believe in the turning under of vegetable matter, the sowing of legumes and the saving of all barn. yard manure. The up>to-date farmer will not consider one of these, but all four of them, in trying ts~ increase his farm crops"
 Each of these two farmers, who have done much to stimulate farm inn izers. but learned equally we'll the value of diversified farming. They would not decrease the use of fertil- izer but diversity more. They would have us use more fertilizers, so that we could grow more plants and vege- table matter, in turn blow this under and in this way increase the fertility of our lands. The most effective farming of today Involves these two great principles. Use fertilizers and diversity the crops. Rotate and feed the plants, and you will increase your yields, be more secure from plant dis enses, and bring your farm into high state of cultivation.
 If growing crops take plant food out of the soil and we do not blow under an amount equal to this or get it from some other source and apply it, our land is sure to decrease in fertility and in value. This is fact beyond dispute. With most of our crops we take from the fields a large amount of nitrogen. Dhosphoric' acid and pot ash, which >ever goes back, to the place on the farm from whence it came. We should see to it, then, that some kind of plant food takes it's place. In the case of cotton, we sell the seed, and with them large amounts of nitrogen and other ele- ments of plant food. Very often we burn the stalks, and in this way take from the field much more valuable plant food. It is suicidal policy for us to do this under any circum- stances, but especially so when we fail to put back on the soil what we take off.
 On a sandy farm in one of the Southern states, which had been aban doned by it's original owner and sold for fifty cents per acre, little barn yard manure and heavy applications of fertilizer made another farmer rich. The last farmer used $15 worth of fertilizer per acre and raised 1,400 pounds of seed cotton per acre. This was about a bale per acre on the en- tire farm. The $15 investment in fer tilizers and good breaking and culti- vation netted the thrifty farmer more