FERTILIZERS COTTON-SEED MEAL. 2Q 



others to determine. The result is what we want, and I am 

 satisfied that if the island and Bolivar growers, and others 

 with old soil, will use potash freely, such trouble will not 

 occur again, here or elsewhere. 



If hull ashes, containing 30 per cent, potash, and about 8 

 per cent, phosphoric acid, could be obtained pure, there is no 

 better supply, but the mills now have such ready sale for the 

 hulls that they find it does not longer pay to burn them, and 

 when they do, it is often in conjunction with coal. Bu, both 

 the muriate and sulphate of potash can be obtained from the 

 German Kali Works, 93 Nassau street, New York, who also 

 publish a valuable pamphlet on their use, and send it free on 

 application. Just how little of either will do I cannot say, 

 as I always applied the ashes freely, but as 50 per cent, of 

 both muriate and sulphate is pure potash, about 300 or 400 

 pounds per acre ought to answer. Experiments on a small 

 scale should be made with from 200 to 500 pounds. The 

 muriate is mostly used at the North, but our agricultural and 

 mechanical station, if I remember aright, found the sulphate 

 to give the best results. It should always be broadcasted as 

 evenly as possible, and well mixed with the soil. Both the 

 hull ashes and the chemicals should be used with great care 

 in the hills with seed. The safe plan would be to scatter 

 broadcast. Use no animal manure or compost for melons 

 where plants have shown disease before, but as a starter, a 

 few handfuls of bone meal, or the New Orleans fertilizer, now 

 being used largely on the mainland with fine success for 

 tomatoes and berries, should be worked into the hills, if un- 

 able to fertilize the whole, ground. 



And now, in closing my remarks on fertilizers, I would call 

 attention to the fact that while top-dressing seems to be gen- 

 erally recommended at the North, and may be useful there, 

 this practice ruined several crops of vegetables and straw- 

 berries for me before I found out the danger of it here. 

 All fertilizers should be applied before the crops are planted, 

 and thoroughly mixed with the soil, especially in spring and 

 early summer. I would much rather trust to poor soil than 

 resort to this method at those seasons. For cabbage and 



