The Bulletin. 13 



one or even more seasons without again becoming puddled and im- 

 pervious. 



These soils should generally be plowed in the fall for most crops 

 but in case a cover crop for green manuring purposes is grown accord- 

 ing to the plan outlined above, the impossibility of fall plowing isj 

 evident. However, since fall plowing may have a number of beneficial 

 effects on the land, chief of which would seem to be the pulverizing of 

 the land by the freezes and thaws of winter and the destruction of the 

 eggs of numerous insect pests, we would siiggest that once in three or 

 four years the green manuring crop be omitted and the land be 

 thoroughly plowed "ip the fall or early winter. 



Spring plowing for cotton is safer than for corn as cotton does not 

 require as much moisture as corn. These soils should not be plowed 

 over six or eight inches in the spring on account of the drying effect it 

 has on the subsoil, also, the subsoil is likely to be very wet early in the 

 spring and deep plowing might bring to the surface puddled soil that 

 would remain cloddy all summer and thus intensify the deleterious effect 

 of the midsummer drought which nearly always occurs in this part of 

 the State. 



FERTILIZATION. 



Stable manure or green manure should be the basis of any system of 

 fertilization on these soils, that is to say, commercial fertilizers should 

 invariably be used in connection with some cheap form of organic 

 matter. Otherwise, a large percentage of the phosphate and potash 

 applied is sure to revert to insoluble and unavailable forms before the 

 crop can utilize them. Large amounts of humus in the soil not only 

 render available the natural mineral elements originally in the soil but 

 help to hold in a soluble form the fertilizers applied artificially by the 

 farmer till the growing crops can absorb and utilize them. 



In 1845 Peruvian guano was first introduced into the United States. 

 In 1846 David Dixon of Hancock County, Georgia, "saw an advertise- 

 ment in The American Farmer, Baltimore, of the wonderful effects of 

 Peruvian guano. (He) procured three sacks of it, and finding it paid, 

 used it in increasing quantities till 1855 or 1856, and then went into it 

 fully." This was likely the first use of concentrated fertilizer for cotton 

 on soils of this series. 



The Experiment Stations of Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and 

 the Iredell Test Farm of North Carolina are on soils that are very 

 similar in origin. There are individual differences in these soils, how- 

 ever, that are likely to assert themselves under scientific treatment. 



All of these stations have, for a number of years, conducted fertilizer 

 experiments with cotton, and, as might be expected, the results all have 

 many points of agreement. These stations all find that neither potash, 

 nitrogen, or phosphate give best results when used alone ; that for most 

 profitable production all three must be used in combination, with phos- 

 phate greatly predominating in the mixture. These stations are pretty 

 well agreed, also, as to the optimum or best amount to use on lands in 

 the piedmont section that possess average fertility. Furthermore, they 

 agree on the method and time of application of fertilizer to these soils. 



