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A Farm and Home Weekly for the Carolina Virginia,
Georgia and Tennessee. (
FOUNDED, 1886, AT RALEIGH, N; C.
yolvXXVII. No., 9.
SATURDAY, MARCH 2, 1912.
Weekly : $1 a Year.
Way
61
Fertilizer
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SPRAYED UNSPRAED
-i i Onta :
Two
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HERE is much talk this spring .. about reducing the amount of
feftiiizersused on the crop ! as well as the acreage planted to
cotton, and farmers in some sections are being asked, we under
stand, to pledge themselves to use only so much fertilizer per acre
oh their cotton. - - 1
ir No w'The Progressive Farmer be-'
lieves that Southern farmers are spend
ing) fortiUzers ach year several
millions of dollars which. they : .could
' ,tlrf hliirifv: that! flflvT
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such; scheme pi reductionas this is vise.
On the contrary we regard it as little
"Jess ; than positively foolish; . Reduce
Ccottb'd acreage by all ; meanswe
have beenfiirging this fors yearsU-andr
. then farm each" acre planted -jus a'seir
as possible. This is the only business-"
Hike thing to 6. Whatihe farmer! is,
interested in is not so much an increase
iiinrtli pce pf otton as an increase in
J the profits from cotton. To reduce the
cotton acreage will increase the profits
by increasing the price; but to make a
small yield to the acre will almost
surely decrease the profits by. increas
ing the cosof produdion.
We believe, then, in liberal fertiliza
tion of all crops on which fertilizers
pay a profitfbut we also believe that
Southern farmers can get much greater
returns for a smaller investment in fer
tilizers than they are now making; It
is the purpose of this article briefly to point out three ways in which
this can be done.
1. There is no reason why Southern farmers, with the splendid
list of summer and winter legumes at their command, should continue
to buy nitrogen for their corn and cotton crops. They pay 20 cents a
pound for this element in commercial fertilizers when the legumes
would take it from the air for them and pay them for the privilege.
But they have been so wedded to the "money crop" idea that they
have refused to give their legumes a chance to do it. As a corres
pondent says elsewhere in this issue, the man who uses nitrogen out
of the fertilizer bag for staple crops is literally broadcasting nickels.
Of course, the quickly, available forms of nitrogen will always be
needed for special crops and special conditions; but the farmer who
has to buy nitrogen to grow a crop of corn or cotton has been doing
some poor farming, and if he is not working toward the point where
he will not have to buy, he is still doing poor farming.
2. Southern farmers buy each year hundreds of thousands of
tons of acid phosphate and other "available" forms of phosphoric
acid when a rational system of soil improvement would enable them
to get this phosphoric acid in the form of ground phosphate rock for
less than half what they now pay. Now, let no man suppose that we
advise him to buy ground rock instead of acid phosphate. We do
riot, unless his soil is richly supplied with humus or unless he is giving
it a dressing of stable manure. On the thin, dry, humus-hungry soils
the acid phosphate will pay better. ! But here is the point: The .man
DOES PRAYING PAY?
Tri . vera'ge .Yield ic1tWegi "
Sim
Two
We have a great deal to say about spraying in this issue, and lest any
reader should conclude it is a small matter, or one of doubtful profit, we wish
to show ritrht here Just how spraying pays.
This illustration, reproduced by courtesy of the Kansas Experiment Sta
tion, shows the average yield of fruit from 76 trees, part of which were sprayed
and part left unsprayed.
It seems to us that this picture is a sufficient answer to any question as to
whether or not it pays to spray. If other proof is required, read the expe
riences on page 2 of those who have tried it-
who has his land in the condition it should be can get his phosphoric
acid in the cheap form; the man whose land lacks vegetable matter
musYpay twice what he should for his supply of this element.
3. Millions of dollars are literally wasied each year in the pur
chase of an over-supply of one element as compared with the supply
of the others For example, the farmer
on the red-clay soils of the Piedmont or
on the alluvial lands of the Mississippi
iValley; gets almost no increase of most
crops for the potash he buys, : yet he
tgoes pnear after year paying 1.50 to
ior poxasn in every, ion pi ieriu
ijzerhe uses On the sandy, soils: of the
Coastal Plain, v more potash isheeded
: for lfddically :everyv;crbp'(thaiiiis.$up
plied ;in any of the; mixtures otnmonly
used. 1 On another page a corresponds
i ent -recommends the use of a high-
grade ferlilizerat leas 8-5-5al ways,
and this illustrates the common faith in
- formulas and the common failure to
, recognize the fad that the man who
wishes to get his money s worth when
buying fertilizers must know something
of his soil as well as of his crop and the
fertilizer. To buy 8-5-5 fertilizer . for
cotton in some sections would be broad
casting, not nickels, but dollars.
Three ways, then, by which the fer
tilizer bill of the South could be re
duced without at all reducing the yields
of any crop are: (1) By growing more
legumes so as to' get nitrogen from the air instead of the fertilizer bag;
(2) by filling the soil with humus so as to get phosphoric acid in a
cheap instead of a high-priced form, and (3) by taking the trouble to
find out what elements of plant food are really needed for the crop
and then buying these and these only.
FEATURES OF THIS ISSUE.
A TENNESSEE CREAMERY One Founded on a Business Basis 21
DIFFERENT TYPES OF SPRAYERS Special Uses of Each Kind 14
FARM WORK FOR MARCH Prof. Massey's Suggestion and the
"Ten Things to Do" 4
GET READ FOR SULMER There Are a Lot of Things the House
keeper Can. Do Now. 10
GROUND LIMESTONE OR BURNED LIME? Which to Use and
Why : 3
REDUCING THE COTTON ACREAGE Three Plans Recom
mended 8
SOME SWINDLES AND WHY WE FIGnT THEM The Pro
gressive Farmer's Advertising Policy 5
THE MOST COMMON DISEASE How to Guard Against and
Cure It 21
TOE "STOCK FOOD" , FRAUD Something About the Real Value
of These . Nostrums . . ... v. 20
TIIREE SPRAYING EXPERIENCES All Show That the Work
Pays .:. . ...I....;....;...,..........;..; 20
TWO SCALE INSECTS The San Jose and the Oyster-Shell. .... 24
WHAT TO DO WITH COTTONS EED Feed It , if You ' Can ; if
, Not,' Sell and Buy the Fertilizers You Need t; v ... 12
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