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What Farmers Want to Know About Fertilizers! Sources of Phosphoric Acid. Will you please inform me of the difference between phos phoric acid and acid phosphate. Do you know Thomas phos phate? What Is its value as a fertilizer? J. A. B. (Answer by Prof. W. F. Massey.) Acid phosphate is the result of dissolving the phosphate rock in sulphuric acid to make the phos phoric acid it carries available read ily to plants, for we buy acid phos phate to get phosphoric acid. The phosphoric acid in acid phos phate is more readily available than that in basic slag, but you can get a larger percentage in slag. Basic slag is valuable for phosphoric acid which is the form in which we supply plants with phosphorus, as we cannot use the pure phosphorus, as it takes fire AVI OVnACiiVA f A A in TX 7 A i * a a billed with limestone in the rock, and dissolving this with sulphuric acid we turn a large part of the lime into plaster or sulphate of lime and get the phosphoric acid in a readily available state. Thomas slag is sim ply another name for basic slag. The advantage of the slag is that it car ries a large percentage of free lime which tends to sweeten the soil. # __ Liming Land in Spring. I will have a car of rock lime that I wish to distribute on some land that a crop of rye, clover, and oats is now' growing on, and on some portion of this land I broadcasted stable ma nure at the rate of four or five 2-horse wagon loads to the acre before Christmas, and I still have some stable manure that 1 wish to put on. Will it injure the growing crop to put the lime on as a top dressing? Will it do to put the lime on land where I broadcasted stable ma nure before Christmas? Will it detract from the value of stable manure to put it on land after I have put on the lime? VW m u. r. i• (Answer by Prof. W. F. Massey.) You do not say what crop is to go on the land. The lime should be spread after the land is plowed, and then harrowed in. It will not hurt the growing crops on the land if well slaked, but I do not care to use it in that way, but had rather put it on plowed land for a hoed crop, like corn. It will do no harm to spread it where you have manured land, though it is a bad plan to mix it with manure before applying. What ever might now escape from the ma nure will be absorbed by the soil. The best thing to do, as I have said, is to apply the lime after plowing and then harrow it in, and you can apply manure at same time or after. Where to I se Ground Limestone. Can you advise me as to the use of ground limestone mixed with manure? Will it be all right to use it in gutters of cow barn, and what is it worth a ton for fertilizer? G. T. B. Editorial Answer: Lime is not generally needed in soils as a plant food. There is usually enough cal cium in the soil to supply the food needs of the plants. Strictly speak ing, therefore, lime is not to be val ued as a fertilizer. It is, however, very valuable on certain soils, cor recting sourness, improving physical or mechanical condition and setting free or rendering plant food soluble and available for the use of plants. For such purposes we advise the di rect application of the ground lime rock to the soil. It should not be mixed with stable manure. For use in the drains in the cow barns we suggest ground phosphate rock. In this the calcium is largely in the form of a phosphate instead of a carbonate and will not set free the ammonia as will the carbonate in the lime stone. Moreover, the ground phosphate rock also contains phos phoric acid in large quantities which is a plant food needed by most Southern soils. Fertilizer for Irish Potatoes. I wish to plant 3 or 4 acres nf Irish nntatnpc nnri urmilri IIIta to know the best fertilizers to use. I have part of the land sown in rye now and have plen ty of barnyard manure and have been putting some on the land this winter. MRS. R. C. (Answer by Prof. L. N. Duncan.) It is best not to use any more oi the barnyard manure asdt may cause scab. The land should be thoroughl] broken at an early date, turning un der the rye and incorporating the manure with the soil. The following mixture should give good results: 1,000 lbs. of acid phosphate, 390 lbs. of nitrate of soda, 2 80 lbs. of muriate (or sul phate) of potash. The above mixture will analyze about 8 per cent phosphoric ack 3 per cent nitrogen and 7 pei cent potash. This mixture shouk be used at the rate of 800 to 1,00( pounds per acre. The acid phosphate and muriate (or sulphate) may be applied just before or at the time of planting, one half of the mixture broadcasted and worked into the sol and the other half nut in th« hnttnrr of the planting furrow and elthei covered lightly or a plow rui through It to mix It with the soil Plant the potatoes In this furrow and cover them. As the plants appeal above the ground apply 60 to 10(1 pounds of the nitrate of soda as a top dressing along on each side o! the row when the foliage of thi plants is not wet. Make successive top dressings of the nitrate of soda in this way about every two weekt until the total of 390 pounds is ap plied. If the plants are large, heal thy, green and vigorous the last ap plication of the nitrate of soda may be omitted. The Use of Land Plaster. Please give me the analysis of land plaster, and what kind of land it suits and the crops, and what it really is, and Its best uses all? Also what kind of fertilizer is best suited for gray sandy land? What I need on this Is the stalk. What it puts on matures but it does not grow large. W. A. 8. (Answer by Prof. W. F. Massey.) Land plaster is merely sulphate o! lime, and different samples vary to some extent, as some will contain a small percentage of lime carbonate from weathered rock. Plaster, like lime, is not a fertilizer. Its main use is in releasing Insoluble potash In the soil. The action of plaster on any soil can only be determined by experiment on the soil. It sometimes gives good results, and farmers are apt to conclude that it is a manure till they find by continued use that it has helped them exhaust their soil. For corn the best fertilizer is a crimson clover sod on which the farm manure has been spread In winter. Having the clover and no manure, it will pay to use acid phos phate liberally and on sandy soils, muriate of potash with it. The fact that stalks do not grow large shows the need of nitrogen and you can get this more cheaply in peas and clover than in a fertilizer. But hav ing no clover, you will need a fertil izer strong in nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash, a high-grade article. Why Fertilizers Give Poorer Returns Than Formerly. Twenty-live years ago, w# could put out one sack of gu ano on an acre of old land and it would grow cotton waist high and fruit much better than it does now with twice the amount of such stuff as we buy nowadays. We sometimes buy a high-grade and can scarcoly i tell the difference in it and the 8—2—2 goods. Suppose I wish ’ to buy chemicals and mix my fertilizer at home, what chemi » cals, and how much of each must I mix to produce a fertil i lzer with the same plant food as 25 or 30 years ago? K. D. N J. Editorial Answer: The trouble Is not In the fertilisers, but In jour i __. ,__ ■ f I I The Gin That Bales the Dollars Both the cotton ginner and the c<>it«»n grower profit by the perfection «»f the MtNGtR System Gins. The grnncr profits by increased capacity, economy of operation, freedom from I breakage and repairs and the South-wide prestige i and reputation of the MUNGER The Perfect System Ihe grower patronize* the Ml’NGKR System because close ginning means I**m turn-out “dMi7v^?f.r«Sy‘lcm" means best sample. Ml MjKR System Gin Outfits may be had of any capacity. Choice of Monger, Pratt, Eagle, \V mship and Smith Gins. Engine*, Boil ers Lmters and every cotton machine between nwd and loom. Plan, and o.timato far complete equipment or ••nglo mach.no fro.. Catalogue on appeal,on. CONTINENTAL GIN COMPANY nllu^T0* Birmingham. AU CWiolto N c D^Ua. Texas Memphis. Tenn Bridgewater. Mass (For export) (Addreaa sales ofQce nearest you ) laud. If you had read carefully what we have been paying in our “Short Talks About Fertilizers,*' you would understand why it is neces sary that the soil be well supplied with humus to get the most good out of commercial fertilizers. I^and that has been cropped year after year, without any return to the soil of stable or green manure la bound to respond less and less to commercial fertilizers. What you want to do is to plan a rotation for your farm that will givo you a le guminous crop each year—an easy matter here in the South, and then to make Just as much stable ma nure as you can and return It to the soil. We have repeatedly stated that dependence on commercial fer tilizers alone will deplete any soil; though when used as they should be, to supplement the farm manures, they will pay constantly Increasing profits. Ikin’t Mi* Ashe* With Meal. I hav© a nlc© lot of dry mood ashes. Can I conibiuo thorn with cottonseed meal and acid phosphate aud make a Rood fer tiliser for cotton? if so, in what proportion. il. L. H. (Answer by Prof, W. F. Massey.) No. you cannot safely mix ashes with cottonseed meal, as the lime in the ashes will drive off the ammonia and you will lose value In the fertil iser. Never mix ashes or lime in manure or organic nitrogenous fer tiliser. You can mix them with the acid phosphate, but even then the phosphate will be lens available by the lime reverting the phosphoric acid to slight extent. Better use pot ash sails like the sulphate and use the ashes alone on corn or some oth er crop.