﻿THE CULTURE OF FLUE-CURED TOBACCO. 13 



ammonia for the minimum amounts of phosphoric acid and potash 



mentioned above. The formula would be as follows: 



Pounds. 



Dried blood, analyzing in per cent ammonia 150 



Acid phosphate, analyzing 16 per rout phosphoric acid 400 



Sulphate of potash, analyzing 50 per cent potash (K=0) loo 



Total 1 650 



Such a mixture, while weighing only 650 pounds for an acre of 

 land, would, in the quantities of plant food carried, be approxi- 

 mately equivalent to an 800-pound .application per acre of a fertilizer 

 analyzing 3 per cent ammonia, 8 per cent phosphoric acid, and 6 per 

 cent potash. If desired, cottonseed meal (analyzing 7^ per cent 

 ammonia) might be substituted for the blood, using twice the number 

 of pounds; or nitrate of soda (analyzing 18 to 10 per cent ammonia). 

 at the rate of about two-thirds the number of pounds of blood, could 

 be used. Generally speaking, however, cottonseed meal is somewhat 

 less active than blood on the basis of equivalent quantities of am- 

 monia, while there may be some question whether nitrate of soda 

 does not affect unfavorably the quality of the leaf produced. 



The cost of the 650 pounds of fertilizer shown in the formula 

 will vary somewhat from year to year, but will generally be about 

 $10. In certain cases, of course, as when the soil had been consider- 

 ably improved by the use of manure or leguminous crops, even a 

 smaller quantity of ammonia than here mentioned might give better 

 results. In extreme cases, especially when color is an important 

 factor, the ammonia might be omitted altogether. On the other- 

 hand, in the case of the lighter types of soil in the Old Belt, particu- 

 larly in the eastern part of that section, where the lighter types of 

 soil predominate, the proportion of ammonia in the fertilizer gen- 

 erally could be somewhat larger than that shown in the above 

 formula. For these conditions 200 pounds of blood, or even more in 

 some cases, might be a better balance and prove more profitable. 



In the New Belt section, with the combination of still lighter and 

 weaker soils and early harvesting in warmer weather, a materially 

 richer fertilizer could undoubtedly be used to advantage in most 

 cases, and for that section a mixture may be recommended for 

 average conditions composed about as follows : 



Pounds. 



Dried blood, analyzing 16 per cent ammonia 250 



Acid phosphate, analyzing 16 per cent phosphoric acid 500 



Sulphate of potash, analyzing 50 per cent potash (KaO) 150 



Total 900 



This mixture of 900 pounds for an acre of land would be equiva- 

 lent in plant-food value to a 1,000 pound per acre application of a 



