Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-12-23
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION
ANDREW M. SOULE

TICn III pOCdSI, VIII SSlNe Do OH Ga
ample. All crop by-products rich
in plant food should be conserved
and returned to the land, or else it
will soon become too poor to raise
profitable crops of either cotton or
coffee.
Should the boil weevil gain access
to Brazil, and become well estab
lished therein, you will hardly find
the cultivation of cotton profitable
on your rich bottom lands. In that
event, the ridge lands and the thin.
ner soils. we'll fertilized, will become
your best and most desirable cotton
} areas. In passing, 1 may say that
we have at last found an effective
way to control the boil weevil is the
! United States through the medium
of a fine dust spray of calcium ar
senate applied when the plants are
still covered with dew. This simply
means that we can continue to raise
cotton in our country on any basis
the worlds need may justify pro-
vided up-to-d date methods of farm
management are instituted and fol-
| lowed out. Our growers, like yours.
will expect the spinning industry
| and the consuming public to allow
| them Il living wage for their raw
! cotton. This is simple justice to
| their families, and nothing less will
| satisfy them and nothing less should.
| I have not visited northern Bra
zil, but it has been my privilege
to examine samples of the principal
type soils of that section through
the courtesy of DR.. William Coleho
de Sousa. These soils appear to
compare favorably in their main
characteristics with those of my
own southland. They are good cot
ton lands, but not rich in the es-
sential elements of plant food. The
| chemical analyses made of them in
dictate that they ire low in available
nitrogen, phosphoric acid and pot
ash. They appear to contain fair
ly good supply of lime.
Fertilizers Needed
In my judgment it will be neces-
sary to use fertilizers on these soils
if the figures laid before me are es-
sentially correct. Evidently, we'll
balanced fertilizer will be needed. I
am sure that the use of 'phosphoric
acid, and probably potash, should be
stressed. We have found applica-
lions of a complete fertilizer vary
ing in composition from to per
cent of nitrogen, to 10 per cent
phosphoric acid and to 5 per cent
of potash quite profitable. We ap-
ply from 800 to 900 pounds per acre
at the time the crop is planted &C.
cording to the character of the land
Second or side applications rarely
if ever pay under boil weevil condi-
tons, and | imagine that in fight
ing the pink boil worm, so common
ly met with in Brazil, that the quick
maturity of the crop is an end to
be sought.
Cotton prefers a neutral or non
acid soil. Much of your delta or
river bottom land may be acid. It's
derivation and appearance would
indicate. as much. The litmus test.
with which your people are no doubt
, familiar, will reveal this fact. If
strongly acid reactions are evidenced
, then l think ton or more of crush
ed, raw limestone containing 95 per
cent of calcium carbonate could be
applied with advantage to each acre.
The nature and extent of the
burning practiced to clear your lands
pears to me to be wholly undesirable.
Won may have humus and nitrogen
to burn and volatilize into the air,
but I doubt even in SO rich and
magnificent a country as Brazil if
such a wasteful practice can be con-
tinued long. The persistence in
such a policy can only result in
the early depletion of the fertility
of your soils. Then you will be
forced to use commercial fertilizers
at a heavy expense in all parts of
your extensive country.
\ Co-Operatives Can Help
The burning off of your cropped
areas can easily be avoided. by the