Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-01-27
STATE SHOULD RAISE
100000 BALES IN 20,
DR.. SOULE DECLARES
Continued from Page y

. contingencies, anu pldnC VI IO-
plant as the case may be, with
the utmost. despatch. The man
who expects to grow cotton sue
cessfully under boil weevil con-
ditions must not become easily
discouraged.
Liberal Fertilization
After the land has been thor.
oughly prepared, obtain and
use a liberal amount of high
grade fertilizer. We believe that
formulas containing 4 per cent
OF nitrogen are desirable. This
nitrogen should be in a quickly
available form. The source is
important only in respect to
the, quickness with which the
nitrogen becomes available to
the growing crop. Since phos-
phoric acid hastens maturity,
emphasize its use. Formulas
carrying s to 10 per cent of this
element will prove the most sat-
isfactory. The smaller amount
should be used on the red lands
of north Georgia and the larger
amount on the sandy lands of
south Georgia. l believe that
potash is a desirable element to
apply on much of our land. [
think the minimum amount to
use is 8 per cent and, as the
lands become sander, 5 per cent
may often be used with advan-
tage. A well-balanced fertilizer
formula now constitutes one of
the best kinds of crop insurance
we can invest in under exist
ing conditions.
Predicate the use of fertilizers,
therefore, on a minimum appli-
cation of five to seven hundred
pounds per acre. I believe that
. under especially favorable con-
ditions, one thousand pounds
per acre may often prove profit
able under boil weevil condi-
tons. L am satisfied that the
liberal use of fertilizers is es-
sential because they will make
the crop grow off more quickly
and develop more rapidly than
any other amendments we can
use. Certainly, the sooner the
crop is matured, the better it
will be for all the interests con-
cerned. AS the weevils are 60
ing to get percentage of the
bOlls in almost any event, let us
force the plant to an unusually
early maturity SO that there will
be enough unpunctured bOns left
to make a profitable crop. Il
side applications are used with
cotton under boil weevil condi-
tons, [ think they should be
applied Immediately after the
cotton has been chopped to
stand. These side applications
should run high in nitrogen in a
relatively quickly available
form. The greater part of the
fertilizer in all instances should
be thoroughly well-mixed with
the soil at the time the land is
bedded for cotton. Our exper-
fences seems to indicate that it
is very desirable that the ferti-
lizer be put under the cotton at
or before the time of planting
the seed.
Get Good Seed
The next step is to obtain an
early, standard variety of cotton
to. plant. There are a great
number of varieties of cotton
now cultivated in our state that
are of doubtful value. Some of
them mature too late to be used
satisfactorily under boil weevil
conditions. tSome yield an ur-
satisfactory quality and guam
tity of lint. Some do not hold
the cotton well after it begins to
open. In some instances, the
bolls are too small. In other
cases, the variety is of too leafy
a type, and shades the ground to
an undesirable degree. In some
strains, the stalk development is
altogether out of proportion to
the number of bolls set on and
matured. There are few
standardized strains which are
known to possess merit for
growth under boil weevil condi-
tons. Let us centralize our eff
forts on the cultivation of these
on the community basis. We.
can surely gain two weeks in
the fight against the weevil by
planting an early-maturing
strain. We can produce "a type
of cotton that will bring one to
one and One-half cents more
pound than we are obtaining for
much we are now growing.
North Georgia cotton in particu-
lar used to class as 1 to 1 1-16
and bring a premium on the
market. 1t was much in de-
mand by shippers and spinners.
In recent years, the deteriora-
ton in the length of the staple
has been so great as to reduce
the price in this locality by
more than cent pound, and
has forced spinners to go to
other locations in order to OBJ
tain the type of cotton needed.
The strains of cotton grown in
Georgia have deteriprated a good
deal in recent years due to an
indiscriminate admiXture of the
varieties we are cultivating and
our failure to select and plant
standardized seed. The buyers