Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-03-26

Z JOURNAL, ATLANTA, Ga
sacked after thorough drying.
Castor beans usually yield, under
normal conditions, about fifteen to
twenty-five bushels per acre. This
plant is poisonous to stock so care
should be taken to keep all stock away
from II.
A peck Of seed will plant about one
acre. The seed can be secured by sub
contract with parties now holding con-
tract with the war department. or seed
can be purchased from Baker Castor
oil company. 100 Broadway, New York.
THE BEST METHOD OF PLANTING
COTTON
W. II. b.. Cusseta, Ala, writes I want
10 know the best way to plant cotton.
whether in narrow rows and thick in the
drill or in wide rows and wide in the
drillE How early should it be planted?
Our suggestion would be that you
plant cotton in rather wide rows under
bell weevil conditions, possibly about
FIVE feet on land of average fertility.
On other soils you might plant some
what closer. The idea in planting in
wide rows is to let in as much sun
shine as possible. thereby drying out
the ground and stimulating rapid fruit
ing. In so far as producing the largest
possible crop of cotton is concerned we
think it Is best to plant in 4 to 4 IL
foot rows and leave two plants 1S
inches apart in the drill rows. Our
experience shows that two plants left
under such conditions produces larger
crop than one plant OF course the
soil must be fairly well fertilized TO
grow cotton on the basis suggested, but
where one uses from soc to 500 POUNDS
of fertilizer and has prepared the
ground with skill and care we think the
best yields will be obtained from the
method of planting suggested. Where
boil weevil damage is likely to be Sc
we're we must of course, change our
practice to meet the conditions. Hence,
the suggestion made with reference TO
wider planting. Under these CONDITIONS
we would leave one stalk per NH ana
increase the space between the plant
to 20 to % inches. Planting as early as
practicable under boil weevil conditions
is advisable. You VIII know when 10
select the date of planting in your sec
ton of the state better than we Can
advise at this distance.
Fertilizing Value Of Velvet Beans.
r. =. NJ. Columbus Ca, writes: havS
a lot of velvet beans that l wish TO grinS
into meal for fertilizing purposes: not wdSn
seed meal nitrate of soda, acid phosphate
etc, l will have to mix with the meal 10
make a complete fertilizer for cotton
You do not state whether the velvet
beans in question we're first hulled ana
then ground or whether the nuns were
gcund in with them. For your I'M
nation. however, l will give you data
referring to the use OF the peans III
both forms A ton of velvet Deans
without the hulls contain about on
pounds of nitrogen, "a pounds or potash
and 20 pounds of phosphoric acio'
when the bulls are included they con-
tain about 81 pounds of nitrogen, S4.4
mounds of potash and 16 pounds OF
Dhosphoric acid. If you mix together
900 pounds of acid phosphate ano
400 pounds of beans without the hulls'
Won will obtain fairly satisfactory
fertilizer for corn and cotton Such d
MIXTURE would contain 40 pounds OF MI
troeen or virtually 2 per cent, lS0
hounds of phosphoric acid or per cent
and about rs per cent OF potash. ms
formula is somewhat low in nitrogen
for corn and cotton and to improve II
we would add about 200 pounds OF M
trate of soda per ton or else dlNloe the
material into four equal parts, using
hounds of nitrate of soda. putting 1T on
as a top dressing early in the growing
season. If you do not feel in position
to use 500 pounds of fertilizer per acre
we suggest a minimum OF SoV pouhuS
with so pounds of nitrate of soda.
If YOU use the velvet beans with the
hulls the per cent Of nitrogen in your
mixture will tbe reduced to about 10
per cent. This of course makes the NE
trogen content low. You may supple
ment with nitrate of soda, however as
indicated. If you can secure sulphate
of ammonia, blood, tankage or hsh
scrap any or all of these may be used
along with your mixture of velvet bean
meal or acid phosphate.
There is no reason why the tertiilzer
in velvet bean meal should
not become available quickly and meet
the requirements of the average crop
grown in your section of the state.