Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-09-28

it between the drills. We prefer
tahe latter practice. An application
of crushed, raw, lime rock should
be made to all lands on which the
cultivation Of peanuts is undertaken.
Particularly is this true in our own
state where our soils are for the
most part notably deficient in lime
and rather strongly acid. The finer
the rock is ground, the better. APP
ply at the rate Of at least one thou
sand pounds per acre. A ton will
be. better, and, in the case Of ex-
tremely sandy, acid soils. two tons
should be used. AS rule, lime will
only need to be applied once in from
three to five years.
It would not be considered good
practice to grow peanuts year after
year on the same land. There is a
belief that peanuts exhaust the soil
very rapidly. There is some truth
in this because most farmers wish
to remove the crop in it's entirety
from the land. If the vines were
left on the soil and turned under,
much less plant food would be re-
moved than ordinarily occurs. More
over, if this crop is literally fer
tilted, as it should and must be,
then there would be less complaint
as to it's exhausting the fertility of
the soil. If, for instance, fifteen
hundred pounds Of peanuts were re-
moved from an acre Of land, they
would take away 42.9 pounds of
nitrogen, 81 pounds Of phosphoric
acid, 6.S pounds of potash and is
J1n11nIc nf IiY,1n lo y{,,o
leaves, however, approximating in
weight six thousadn pounds be re-
moved from the land, then an adGi-
tional 25.2 pounds Of nitrogen, AZ
pounds of phosphoric acid, 40
pounds Of potash and Ala pounds of
lime will have been taken away from
the soil. If only the peanuts Them
selves are sold, the draft on the
plant food element of the land is
not heavy as these figures clearly
demonstrate. OF course, a good deal
CT nitrogen is removed, but it should
be borne in mind that the peanut is
presumed to gather considerable
part of this out of the air.
Whenever our farmers realize that
the vines and leaves should be left
on the la. 4, a suitable rotation of
crops instituted, and fertilizer used
in a rational manner together with
plenty of line, they will be able to
grow peanuts indefinitely on their
farms with 9Th success and profit.
Some people think that calcium sui
phate or gypsum would be a more
desirable amendment to use in asso-
citation with peanuts than ground
raw lime rock. Some few expert
ments which have been made indi-
cate that gypsum ha~ proven bene-
fetal when used in association with
this crop. We think part of the
agitation along this line has grown
out of the effort of the owners of
gypsum or sulfur mines to over
capitalize the Importance of sui
phur. Moreover, it -uld be borne
J. n wind that acid phosphate con-
tains about one thousand pounds
of calcium sulphate per ton. 1t
would seem, therefore, as though
the liberal use Of this material would
supply all of the sulphur needed.
Personally, am not impressed by
the claims made up to this time for
sulphur, and I do not think that
there is any special reason for adj
vocating It's use, in Georgia or the
southeastern states.
The foregoing constitutes in my
judgment reasonably conservative
exposition of the fertilizer needs and
requirements of the peanut crop
I believe if our, farmers will use from
three to five hundred pounds per
acre of mixtures made up on the
basis of the formula indicated above
and apply enough lime to correct the
-idity in their soils, they will have
satisfactorily solved t.. main prob
lem which seems to have arisen in
connection with the production of
peanuts. I am sure that if a proper
ly organized rotation of crops is in
stituted and maintained, that we
can expand our area in peanuts in
d finitely and even increases the
fertility of the soils devoted to this
crop for long period of time.
It is manifest from these figures
that we cannot expect the relatively
thin and light soils to which the pea
nut crop is so admirably adapted to
continue to produce large crops of
peanuts for any COZ siderable length
of time unless they are Literally and
inteLigently fortified.