164 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE GEORGIA. [450] 



than would the removal of a dozen crops of lint cotton. ThU 

 could be prevented by sowing oats or rye at the last plowing of 

 the cotton, or in August or first of September, even without plow- 

 ing them in, leaving them to germinate under the influence of 

 the equinoctial rains. These would serve the double purpose of 

 protecting the land from waste during the winter, and of furnish- 

 ing a green crop to be turned under in the preparation of the soil 

 for the spring crops. The denudation of soils of vegetable matter, 

 by clean culture and the absence of any system of rotation of 

 crops, is a fruitful source of the rapid exhaustion of Georgia 

 soils. The waste of natural manurial agencies on Southern farms 

 is without a parallel. Cotton seed are "thrown out to rot," where 

 they are robbed alternately by the leaching rains and the drying 

 winds, until much of the soluble plant-food is lost. Mules and 

 cattle are fed in unsheltered lots, where fully one-half of the solu- 

 ble parts of their manure is washed into the adjacent streams or 

 passes off into the air under the influence of the winds and the 

 sun. 



Cotton farms, therefore, have not been exhausted by the remov- 

 al of plant-foot in the sale of their products, but by exposure to 

 winter rains, by the waste of home manurial resources, and 

 the absence of a system of rotation by which the soil is supplied, 

 periodically, with a sufficiency of vegetable matter. 



It is gratifying to be able to say that there is a growing dispo- 

 sition to adopt a more rational and self-sustaining system of farm 

 economy. Home manures aie being more carefully husbanded 

 and the compost system being generally adopted, as recommended 

 in the circulars of the Department. 



COMPOSTING SUPERPHOSPHATES WITH HOME MA- 

 NURES. 



When we consider the fact that the farmers of Georgia ex- 

 pended about four millions dollars last season for fertilizers, 

 even on a cash basis, the question of the most economi- 

 cal mode of permanently improving our soils, and at the same 

 time producing remunerative crops, is one of vital importance to 

 our people. 



The Philosophy of Composting. Stable manure is admitted on 

 all sides to be a complete manure, in the sense of containing all 

 of the necessary elements of plant-food. There are some of the 

 more important elements (phosphoric acid is the principal) which 

 are contained in such small percentage, that large quantities of 

 the manure must be applied in order to secure a sufficient quan- 

 tity of this essential element for the necessities of plant suste- 



