The Bulletin. Yl 



reasonably free from litter and trash, the mixture may be put through 

 a sand screen and be in condition to drill as other fertilizers are. This 

 will require care in selecting the manure, mould and dirt. 



Unquestionably, there is great advantage, if it is not, indeed, an 

 absolute necessity, to save scrupulously all the manure and other waste 

 material on and around the farm to assist in maintaining or increasing- 

 its productiveness. One way to do this is to use the compost in some 

 way similar to that suggested in the foregoing. Another and perhaps 

 somewhat cheaper way, unless the compost is made at a time when the 

 farm labor is not profitably occupied with other work, is to apply the 

 manure and woods mould, etc., broadcast where there are large quan- 

 tities of them, or in the drill when the amounts are limited and less 

 than 1,500 to 2,000 pounds to the acre, and drill the acid phosphate 

 and kainit or other materials on them. This saves the cost of mixing. 

 Each plan has its advantages, and each farmer can decide for himself 

 which best suits his individual case and which will enable him to save 

 to best advantage these exceedingly important and valuable fertilizer 

 materials on and about the farm, and which go to waste, or partial 

 waste, in far too many instances. 



Compost with Cotton Seed. — Frequently cotton seed are used as a 

 fertilizer. One difficulty in the way of their use is the killing of the 

 germs of the seed so as to prevent them from sprouting and growing. 

 A common custom is to pile the seed in the field early in the spring 

 and allow them to become wet and afterwards heat. They are then 

 put in the drill as other fertilizers, or sometimes broadcast. They are 

 also killed by composting, and the following compost with cotton seed 

 is a well-balanced and rich one for general farm crops : 



Acid phosphate 300 pounds 



Cotton seed, 13% bushels 400 pounds 



Kainit 75 pounds 



Barnyard manure, etc 1,225 pounds 



2,000 pounds 



This compost will contain: phosphoric acid, 2.6 per cent; potash, .9 

 per cent; ammonia, 1.1 per cent. One ton of it is worth between 800 

 and 900 pounds of the average fertilizer containing 8 per cent avail- 

 able phosphoric acid, 2 per cent ammonia and 2 per cent potash, and 

 a good application for cotton would be 600 to 1,200 pounds in the 

 drill, and for corn 400 to 800 pounds in the drill. 



Compost with Cotton-seed Meal. — Cotton-seed meal may replace 

 the seed in the preceding compost. In fact, it is much better to use 

 some of the insoluble forms of nitrogen or ammonia in composts rather 

 than nitrate of soda or sulphate of ammonia, which are already in 

 easily soluble condition and ready to feed plants. Besides, there is 

 not the same danger of loss when materials like cotton seed, cotton- 



