Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1916-03-14


There is no reason why sweet pota-
toes should not be grown on the type
or land to which you refer unless IL Is
so very coarse and gravelly that 1t Will
not retain a sufficient amount OF mols-
ture to properly nourish the crop. The
term gravel may mean soil which Is a
coarse sand with some pebbles in 1t, or
land which contains a large number or
good-sized pebbles and rocks. Such
land, of course, is naturally leachy and
will not hold moisture, and therefore
cannot be relied on to grow any crop
with much satisfaction, especially
shallow-rooted crop like sweet pota
ties. Ii this land is simply a gray
sandy soil with a small amount OF
gravel in it and has a fairly stiff sub
soil, there is no reason why ii Will not
grow sweet potatoes satisfactorily. We
advise that you secure as much leaf
mold and litter as you can and use on
this land. This may be applied broad
east or you may open rows where the
slips are to be planted and put the leaf
mold therein and incorporate it well
with the subsoil by means of a bull
tongue and then list thereon and plant
the slips on a low bed. Before plant
ing the slips we would fertilize with
formula containing about 3.5 per cent of
nitrogen and to 8 per cent of phos-
to use 800 pounds of such a mixture and
500 pounds will not be too much to use
on this land. OF course, you cannot Sc
cure potash this year unless in the
form of wood ashes. If you have any,
scatter them over the land at the rate of
500 pounds per acre. Do not mix with
the fertilizer. You can use any materi-
ais you prefer for supplying nitrogen
and phosphoric acid, but think you can
pounds of cotton seed meal and LOO to
1900 pounds of acid phosphate.
VIRTUES OF NITROGEN CARRIERS.
e. r. f.. Admission, Ala, writes: I notice
that yOd statAl a. nj a "onh'nsii"n % ." tOn
seed meal, acil phosphate and blood shnrii
give good results | have been told that
red clay s,als of this section ! food anil
bone proved the best unIer cotton. What
proportions of this mixture would probably
give the best results?
Peoples opinions vary with reference
to the best combination of fertilizing
materials to use. great many opin-
ions are also tinged by the selfshness
of the man who has something to sell,
and this is point for you to bear in
mind. Blood and bone is a good source
of fertilizing material but it varies
greatly in composition and should only
be bought, therefore, on definite analy-
sis. We have no objection to the use of
blood and bone as a source of nitrogen
and phosphoric acid provided they fur
nish plant food as cheaply as it can be
secured in any other form. We are not
at all welded to the use of cotton seed
meal and acid phosphate. but we judge
from the prices which have been fur
nished us that the two materials COM
bined in equal proportions furnish,
very good formula for use under corn
and cotton. We have found these two
materials to give good results in our
tests here at Athens and at other
points in the state where we have con-
Quoted experiments. The fact that they
will not last or, in other words, be ex-
hausted early in the season, is according
to our observation not well founded.
TANKAGE VERSUS COTTON SEED
MEAL.
w. L. G.. MiiIedgeville. Ca, writes: Is
takage per unit of ammonia as good n
fertilizer for corn and cotton as cotton seed
meal? ~.
Tankage is a very indefinite product,
and it is impossible to tell what this
material may contain in the way of plant
food without a careful analysis. Tank
age, as you understand, is made up of
various materials, and this accounts for
the wide variation in composition 1t
shows. Tankage may contain from to
10 or even 12 per cent of nitrogen, and
from to per cent of .phosphoric acid.
Cotton seed meal on the other hand, if
not of a good grade, contains 6.1S per
cent of nitrogen, 2.5 per cent of phos-
phoric acid and 1.75 to per cent of
potash. We think cotton seed meal
could be used to very good advantage
under the circumstances you mention,
and that you will find it equally salts
factory to tankage.
ASHES AS A SOURCE OF POTASH.
T. E. W., Doerun, Ga, writes: l have
about two carloads OF ashes from pine,
oak and hickory, made at a saw mill five
years ago. Would they be any good nov
to use with corn and cotton As potash is
very scarce this year, / would like to obtain
as much possible from other sources.
Ashes made from pine, oak and hick-
DRY which have been exposed to weather
for about five years will not contain
much plant food, so little, in fact, that
we doubt if it would pay you to haul
them out and handle them. I.eached
ashes only contain 1-2 to 2 per cent
of potash ordinarily, which you see