198 



quently mixed by the plough and cultivator, will probably be the b«»t 

 depth for all potassic manures. Super or acid phosphates require a 

 small depth, but a very extended width, covering, if posible, the entir* 

 distance to be manured, They should be scattered at a depth of two or 

 three inches over the area to be occupied by the roots of plants. 



Nitrates and Salts of Ammonia are always best used as a top dress- 

 ing at short intervals, in small quantities. 



Dried Blood requires but little depth, provided moisture necessary 

 for conversion into available plant food be present. 



Cotton Seed Meal requires a little more depth than Dried Blood, 

 while Tankage, Bones and Fish Scrap must be sunk to deeper depths 

 to obtain fermentation necessary to their conversion into soluble plant 

 food. 



None of the above should be turned too low, especially in stiff soils, 

 since air, moisture and heat are the factors needed in decomposition. 

 Here as elsewhere in good agriculture, the judgment of the planter 

 must decide, after a thorough acquaintance with his soil. Proper 

 depths may vary from two inches in a stiS clay soil to six or eight 

 inches in loose sands. (*) 



co^'CLusIO^ s. 



Shall our manipulated fertilisers, such as Tankage, Cotton Seed Meal 

 or complete fertilisers, be applied at the time of planting, or later 

 during growth ? Shall they be applied broadcast or in drills ? Shall 

 they be applied in large, or small quantities ? Positive replies to these 

 questions suitable under aU circumstances, cannot be given, and here 

 again the farmer must use his judgment after studying his environ- 

 ment. The following will aid him, however, in deciding, Under 



PLANT CANE 



a small quantity of readily available fertiliser directly under and near 

 the cane is highly beneficial, since the double line of rootlets which are 

 disposed in concentric rays around the stalk develop simultaneously 

 with the bud and feed the young shoot. Experiments given elsewhere 

 show the superiority of stalks thus manured over those unfertilised. 

 Especially is this true when the seed ii more or less unsound. 



Again, the rootlets emerging from the base of the young plant simul- 

 taneously with the sucker, finding food at hand, aid greatly in develop 

 rng a healthy sucker, and thus give the entire plant a vigorous send oS 

 in youth. This is especially desirable in Louisiana, where we harvest 

 cane after a growth of a few months, and doubly desirable for that cane 

 destined for the mill in early fall. 



In Louisiana, cane is planted from September to April. The planter 

 should decide from the character of his soil, whether the loss from 

 leaching to his nitrogen, during the winter would be greater than the 

 benefits to his crop, and act accordingly. The simple question is thui 

 presented. Nitrification goes on throughout our entire winters, and if 

 some crop is not present to consume the nitrates formed, they will leach 



(4) The practict of plaping fertilisers in small holes near to the cane planti, 

 common in some places, is to be condemned, for when such a method is followed 

 only th« more soluble and difiusible constituents become available for the crop to 

 which they are applied. 



