Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1916-01-28

you have some good fresh wood ashes
which have not been leached, apply them
under the drill row at the rate of 500
pounds per acre. Incorporate we'll with
the soil, but do not mix with other fer
tilizer. All fertilizer should be applied
so it will not come in contact with the
seed
Tomatoes do not require as rich soil
as some other garden crops. We Gen
orally find it best in planting tomatoes
for home use to dig small holes about
eighteen inches in diameter and the
same depth. Fill up partly with yard
manure, put in a couple of handouts of
the fertilizer formula suggested above
and mix well with the manure. Put in
a little of the top soil and then set
the tomato therein. If you will wrap
the stalk with paper you will avoid in
jury from cut worms. You can force
tomatoes very rapidly by this method,
and if they are properly trimmed and
staked, they should bear nearly all sea-
son.
MANAGING BARNARD MANURE.
t. r. B., Dallas Ca, writes: 1 have a
lot of stable manure and / want to haul It
out in the field and put it in pens. l also
have a lot Of leaves and drlfted dirt. Would
it pay to mix lime with leaves and manure?
Or would IL be best to mix Red Devil I've
with it TO rot the leaves? want to
the manure for cotton.
If you have a good supply of stable
manure on hand, you are very fortunate,
and should take the best possible care of
it. If practicable you can open burrows
i'm your corn or cotton fields very soon
by blowing through the rows at least
twice with a good heavy turning pillow.
Then you can scatter manure in these
trenches at the rate of two or more
tons per acre, depending on the amount
you have available for use We would
then bed on this manure for cotton, but
before forming the bed, we would put
200 to 800 pounds of acid phosphate in
the drill row. You can, of course, use
some cotton seed meal with the acid
phosphate. One hundred pounds to the
acre will answer very WELL There is no
objection to using any other form of nj
trogen carrier which you consider to be
as cheap or cheaper and equally as salts
factory as cotton seed meal. OF course,
cotton seed meal has some advantage
in that it carries a certain amount of
phosphOric acid and potash.
If at all practicable, we would use
the leaves about which you inquire for
litter in the pens where you are stab
ling your stock. They will absorb a con-
siderable amount of liquid manure and
prove valuable on this account If you
are not able to use all of them in the
manner indicated. we would compost
them in large piles. tramping them down
las firmly as possible and wetting thor
oughly. If you keep them wet they will
decay quite rapidly, especially if you
fork them over and reptile them once or
twice. We do not think it desirable to
add lime to a compost heap for the rea-
son that the caustic lime is the only
Kind that will exert any effect on the
compost heap, and this will probably
cause part of the nitrogen to be lost.
Unless we are misinformed, the Red
Devil I've about which you inquire will
be of no value for the purpose you have
in mind. 1t might break down the
mass of material, but it would destroy
the nitrogen contained therein. AS a
matter of fact Red Devil I've, if we un-
derstand its nature and composition, is
really caustic soda and cotnains no pot
ash whatsoever.
PLANTING IRISH POTATOES.
II. t. NJ, Woodbury., Ca, writes: / wish
As potash is prohibitive, also cotton seed
meal what is my best chance for a fertil-
izer to make good crop. I have some
STABLE manure and was thinking of using
hydrated lime also in the furrow. I want
directions for making a hot bed to grow
sweet potato plants. VIII velvet beans
mature after oats, or had l better plant
speckled peas Yokohama beans? How
long will it take them to mature?
In growing Irish potatoes liberal fer
tilization is desirable as this would class
as a truck crop and should be supplied
with ration which contains a fairly
high per cent of phosphoric acid, nor
mally about to 10 per cent of this ele-
ment On most soils from 4 to per
cent of potash can often be used to adj
vantage and from to 4 per cent of
nitrogen If you have a considerable
quantity of well-rotted stable manure
you can either broadcast this over the
land and pillow down or broadcast and
disk in thoroughly. If you only have a
small amount you can put in under the
drill row. Remember when you do this
you should open a wide, deep furrow
and bury the manure to a good depth,
for if the potatoes come directly on con-
tact with it, there is a chance that they
will develop soab. When the manure is
placed under the drill row it will be
all right to incorporate a formula made
up of 400 pounds of acid phosphate and
100 pounds of cotton seed meal or
some other organic carrier of nitrogen
Herewith. Then make a light furrow
and plan the sets therein and cover by
blowing two more good burrows over
the top of the sets. We would ordinarily
cut the sets two eyes to the piece and