Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-02-11
THE rERrrL1xER SITUATION

What should be the plan and pol
icy of the southern farmer towards
the use and application of fertil-
izers during the present year? This
constitutes one of the liveSt queS-
tions of the day and hour, and one
which must be solved Immediately,
happened, and the. crop-planting
season is again at hand. For the
past few years the war has inter-
ferred seriously with the free choice
and use of fertilizers. The signing
Of the, armistice on November II,
alton materially. BY that act. there
was released and placed upon the
market, and therefore within the
reach of the farmer, thousands of
materials which it has been. diff
cult or impossible to obtain for use
during the crop seasons of the years
1917 and 1918 particularly.
Which Of these materials should
apply ap fSef them? T Ana viii Jill the e" appic M
ton at present prices prove profit
table? These are topics foremost in
the minds of landowners and oper-
ators just at the moment. There is
not be used. There is an impression
in the minds of many people that
one carrier of nitrogen as compared
with another is greatly to be pre-
ferred. From our point of view,
backed by the observations of rs
years, it makes no difference what
the source of nitrogen, provided we
measure it in pounds of available
plant food. 1t is true that there is
some difference in the degree of ra-
pidity. with which, one form OF nj
trogen or another becomes available,
hence some have certain advanta-
ges for use under a given crop, but
as rule there is no type of nitro
gen available for crop production
which will not yield up the amount
period of growth of the average
farm crop produced in this country.
The same may be said of carriers
of phosphoric acid and potash.
Therefore, the first question for the
landowner to decide is which will
be the cheapest in supplying him
with the available constituents he
needs to balance UP his soil and
supply it with the elements in which
it is most likely to be deficient. We
that a surplus of fertilizer must al
ways be used. 1t is impossible to
measure out a theoretical 20 pounds
of available nitrogen and insure the
crop taking it all up the first sea-
son. There will be some MECHANICAL
the plant food into the air as a re-
suit of nitrifying processes which
are at work in the soil at all times,
there will be some loss through
drainage waters, and some of it will
probably, get beyond the. reach OF
the plants it is intended to benefit.
The writer is disposed to think
that fertilizers should pay as large
q profit this, year as they have ever
paid provided they, are skillfully
ly have not over-fertilized our LANDS
in the last few years. We certainly
know that most of our soils here in
the south are deficient in certain
Of large and profitable crops. In
other words, as they exist now we
ucust apply to them certain surplus
es of plant. food in a readily avail
able form in order, to raise let Gs
els Of corn. If the farmer is only
soing to produce 10 to II bushels
Of corn it will be an Improbable
crop even though he has used as
much as 100 pounds of plant food
ply added to the cost of his crop
without securing any appreciab1e eff
feet because he has failed to put
sufficient surplus of certain es-
sential plant foods in the land, there
by making it possible for. the plants,
with what was already at their COM
and in the soil and what was added
in artificial form, to produce. a suf-
ficient. yield to make the farming
profitable by reason Of the favorable
yield secured. N-F i|'f
It is true that labor will be re1a-
lively high this year and that fer
t tl2 i VIII DE cosby put these are
therefore we must meet them by
preparing the land more Skillfully
than ever and by selecting our fer
'tilizers as economically as possible
4, IL ryIorp hnf
application. to the soil and the Gull
ovation of tn crop to which they
are applied as to insure their MAX
ing us a profitable return, even
though prices for farm products
months. This can be done, I am
satisfied, though it may call for the
abandonment of old methods, and 1t
will certainly be necessary for us to
concentrate our efforts upon our
t. produce larger crops than those
hitherto raised by expanding the
acreage. Our trouble now is lack
of concentration in our agriculture
direction are really appalling, SO
that the further accentuation OF
this practice is to be avoided:
Coming now to a consideration OF
the nitrogen question, let us survey
the field and see what is available
for use. First of all, there should
be virtually a normal supply of fish
scrap, blood, bone and tankage. Cot
tonseed meal is relatively as abund-
ant as ever and in addition there are
other materials which can be used
ir a pinch, though not so high in
fertilizing value as cottonseed meal:
I refer particularly to peanut meal
and to velvet bean meal. There will
be a considerable tonnage of nitrate
of soda available. The government
has already undertaken through the
county agents to distribute 100000
tones in the south. Sulphate of ans
monia will be available in larger
am credibly informed thai there will
be 100000 tons of this material in
excess of that which has ever been