46 The Bulletin 



ods of fertilizing the various soil types of this and other counties of the 

 State, and to take the information thus secured and apply it in con- 

 junction with systems of crop rotation for the purpose of increasing the 

 producing power of the soils. From information thus secured we are 

 able to recommend methods which, if followed by the farmers of Meck- 

 lenburg County, will maintain their soils in a far more productive state 

 than they are at the present time, using the methods that are commonly 

 in practice. In providing the necessary plant-food constituents as 

 recommended above for the different types, it is necessary to adopt a 

 proper system of crop rotation if the largest and most profitable returns 

 per acre are to be secured. The following rotations are recommended 

 as adapted for conditions prevailing in the county: 



First Year. — Corn, with soybeans and cowpeas drilled in row at 

 planting or before the first cultivation. They also may be sown broad- 

 cast just before last cultivation. 



Second Year — Wheat or oats, red clover. 



Third Year — Red clover. 



This is a short rotation and is admirably adapted to the grain farms 

 of the county. The corn stover and wheat straw should be plowed under 

 or fed to stock, and the manure carefully saved and returned to the soil. 

 The soybeans or cowpeas and last crop of red clover should be turned 

 under. 



In starting this rotation on average soils of all the types, except Ire- 

 dell loam, Congaree fine sandy loam, Mecklenburg clay loam, and Meck- 

 lenburg loam, it is recommended that an application of 200 to 400 

 pounds of acid phosphate be used under the corn, and that 75 to 100 

 pounds of nitrate of soda be used as a top dressing later, about the first 

 of July. If available, farm manure may be used with the phosphate 

 and the nitrate be eliminated entirely. This fertilization applies to the 

 more extensively tilled soils. The nitrogen application could well be 

 reduced or left off entirely on new land or on other soils containing a 

 goodly supply of organic matter. Unless lime has been applied within 

 the last two or three years, an application of 2,000 pounds of ground 

 limestone per acre should be added to those soils on which legumes are 

 to be grown and to those containing a considerable amount of organic 

 matter. The lime should be applied broadcast and be thoroughly incor- 

 porated with the surface soil by means of a disc or spike-tooth harrow 

 at the time of preparing the land for a corn or wheat crop. 



The first year in which wheat or oats is grown, the land should receive 

 similar treatment to that recommended for corn. In addition to the acid 

 phosphate it would be well to apply 200 to 400 pounds of rock phosphate 

 per acre, as this fertilization is for both the wheat and clover crops. 



An application of 600 to 800 pounds of rock phosphate per acre to a 

 good crop of clover before it is turned under in the fall should furnish 

 much of the phosphoric acid required by the ci'ops of the second period 

 of the rotation. Within a comparatively short time enough nitrogen 



