The Dillon herald. [volume] (Dillon, S.C.) 1894-????, 1920-03-25

Wy fertilizing, which supplies plant
food, and the heavy crop residues,
which supply the organic matter,
make rotation unnecessary.
Model Tillage Practices.
Still another reason why Marl-
boro county gets big yields is that
the farmers generally follow good
tillage practices. Fertilizers are
directly esponsible for this. Cot
ton farmers are usually looked up
Oh as being rather slovenly in tend
ing their crop, but l have never
seen anything in the Corn Belt or
anywhere else that could surpass
the thoroughness with which cotton
is titled in Marlboro county. The
reason is that when a farmer puts
out twenty-five or thirty dollars
worth of fertilizer an acre he does
not want to take any chance on los
ing it. Consequently the labor is
followed up closely and the tillage
work is done we'll and done on time,
to make the best use of fertilizers.
once suggested to large plant
er that the heavy applications of fer
tilizers might be responsible for
much of the general improvement in
tillage.
That's the case with me any
way he agreed. when I put up
thirty or forty dollars an acre for
fertilizers 1 know good and well I
am going to see that the crop is
tended right "
, His case is like that of many 9TH
er farmers with whom I have talk
ed. They know that to get their
money back with a profit added to it
they have to give a crop a chance
to grow, and they prepare the land
and look after the cultivating the very
best way they know how.
A cardinal point these farmers
learned long ago is that it does not
pay to give all kinds of plants the
same kinds of fertilizers. The soils
they deal with are practically all
deficient in PHOSPHORUS, nitrogen
and potassium, and materials con-
tanning one or more of these ele-
ments, such as acid phosphate, cot
tonseed meal, fish scrap, tankage,
nitrate of soda, potash, kainit, are
applied. But it doesn't usually pay
to give all the plants the same kind
OF concoction, nor in the same way.
Corn, for example, needs a fertiliz-
er that contains moro nitrogen than
cotton, for it's best development.
Early Irish potatoes, whichs some of
the farmers grow, need more pot
ash than corn or cotton, for best re-
suits.
down the fertilizer in just any old
way and always get the same re-
suits. In growing corn, where the
land is well built up. usually no
fertilizer is put down at planting
time, but an application is made
when the plants are about two feeet
high. Nitrate of soda is then ap-
piled about the time the corn be-
gins to tassel. In this way the
plant grows off slowly, making a
small stalk, apd by applying the fer
tilizer late the plant food goes to
make the ear instead of the stalk.
Where the land is poor, some fertil-
izer is put down when the corn is
planted to give it a good start. The
big idea. however, is to make a COM
paratively small stalk and a big
ear, and the fertilizer is applied ac-
cordingly.
With cotton, most of the fertiliz-
er is applied before the crop is
planted. Cotton, early in the sea-
son is a slow growing plant, and the
fertilizer is needed to start it on A
second application is sometimes
made when the cotton is chopped
out, and then nitrate of soda Is
commonly applied about the time
the first blooms appear, so that
there will be a good supply of plant
food for making the fruit
These farmers, therefore, try to
give each crop the specific kind of
plant food needed, and to feed it at
a time when the plants can make
the best use of it. They have be-
come especially skilled doing this,
and not a little of their success in
farming can be attributed to this
fact.
Most of the Marlboro county far
mers buy fertilizer on credit, giving
notes that come due in the fall to
pay for it.
This credit system enables poor
man on poor land to get start. l
once asked a successful farmer who
had started from the bottom, how
he would start to build up the land,
if he had poor land and no money.
The reply came almost instantly:
II would get some fertilizer man
to credit me for fertilizer"
To develop this credit system,
however, it as been necessary to
use fertilizers that are readily avail
able. The main benefits had to be
obtained the year in which the fer
tilizer was used or the loans would
not be safe. Farmers ordinarily
expect to make a profit over and
above the cost of the fertilizer the
first year and pay the bill in the
60 " l.