42 The Bulletin 



ticularly is this so when the crops grown are of a nonlegaiminous type. 

 When the price of potash is as high as it is at the present time, its use 

 will not usually be found to pay on the ordinary crops, such as corn, 

 cotton, and small grains. 



Lime — When the main crops of the county, like cotton and small 

 grains, are grown continuously on the land, as is frequently, done, with- 

 out the turning in of leguminous crops or crop residues or the addition 

 of organic matter in other ways, lime will not usually be found to give 

 much increase at the present time. However, when cover crops are 

 used, as they should be on all soils of the county, especially those low 

 in organic matter, lime will generally be found to be essential for most 

 favorable returns. Even with soils high in calcium like the Mecklen- 

 burg Sandy Loam, it will no doubt prove beneficial to make applications 

 of lime, as the calcium of this type of soil is largely, if not entirely, 

 combined in the form of silicates which do not act in this combination 

 in the same beneficial way as does the calcium contained in ground lime- 

 stone and other agricultural forms of lime. It is suggested that in 

 plowing up the soils of the county, from one to two tons of ground lime- 

 stone, shells, or marl, or the equivalent in some other form of lime, be 

 added. Many of the soils of the county are acid, and in order to over- 

 come this acidity, make them sweet and favorable for the growing of 

 leguminous crops, it will be necessary to use lime. 



FERTILIZER MIXTURES TO USE FOR DIFFERENT CROPS 



For the average types of soil occurring in the county low in phos- 

 phoric acid it is recommended that for cotton 400 to 600 pounds of a 

 mixture containing 10 to 12 per cent available phosphoric acid and 2V2 

 to 4 per cent ammonia be used. When the price of actual potash is not 

 greater than 5 to 6 cents per pound it will in most cases prove profitable 

 to use at least 2 per cent of this constituent. However, when the price 

 of potash is as high as it is at the present time, it will not generally 

 be found to pay with such crops as corn, cotton, and small grains ; cer- 

 tainly not if a proper system of crops is used. A mixture that will give 

 approximately the proportion indicated above is as follows : 



Acid phosphate, 16 per cent 400 pounds 



Cotton-seed meal, 71/2 per cent 200 pounds 



Total 600 pounds 



Dried blood, fish scrap, sulphate of ammonia, or nitrate of soda may 

 be substituted for the cotton-seed meal in the mixture. In making the 

 substitution it may be done. by using 47 pounds of blood, 75 pounds of 

 fish scrap, 30 pounds of sulphate of ammonia, or 42 pounds of nitrate 

 of soda for every 100 pounds of cotton-seed meal in the mixture. 



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