One Thousand Questions in California Agriculture Answered Part 54

Would cleanings from sweet peas or all kinds of seeds grown on a seed farm be of any value as a fertilizer on sandy loam soil for an orchard?

This has been in a pile for three years or more, and I can get it for the hauling. There are a hundred loads or more of it and not very far to haul.

It would be worth more on a heavy soil, because the danger of drying out would be less and the surety of reduction to humus greater. To get the highest value from such stuff it should be composted with water and turning in heaps, but that would occasion expense beyond value probably, unless it could be composted with manure for market garden purposes. The hauling might be good work for idle teams. Spread the stuff rather thinly to be covered in with fall plowing, so that its decay could be promoted during the rainy season.

Slow Stuff as a Fertilizer.

How can we use sawdust and shavings from our high school shop so as to combine it with street sweepings, lawn cuttings, etc., and insure ready decay without objectionable features?

Do not mix sawdust and shavings with lawn clippings and street sweepings, because of the great difference in susceptibility to decay.

The lawn clippings and street sweepings, which would contain considerable horse manure, would be readily transformed into a good fertilizer by composting. Such treatment, however, would have no appreciable effect upon sawdust or shavings for a considerable period of time, and they would still be too coa.r.s.e in their character to be of any value unless you have to deal with heavy clay soil, and in that case the sawdust and fine shavings might be dug in at once and trusted to decay slowly in the soil, at the same time improving its friability by their coa.r.s.er particles. If, however, you are dealing with light sandy loam, such coa.r.s.e material would cause too rapid drying out and injure the plant, which might be benefited by lawn clippings and street sweepings.

The best way to get rid of the sawdust and shavings is to set up an altar, such as we have in our own backyard - a piece of an old boiler about two feet in diameter and two and a half feet high, in which we currently burn all rubbish which is not available for quick composting into a fertilizer.

Lime on Sandy Soil.

Do you think 500 pounds of lime per acre would help a sandy soil which has not been enriched by pasturing or legumes? Of course, we would not apply the lime until next fall before plowing.

Lime is not usually called for in a sandy soil, which probably requires direct fertilizing with stable or commercial fertilizers.

Lime on Alfalfa.

What effect does putting lime on land have in holding moisture? Also, will it pay to put it on a large field of alfalfa? The land is adobe. I can get slaked lime for the hauling, distance being about five miles.

The lime will make the land more friable and, therefore, less disposed to bake and lose moisture by evaporation. Alfalfa is hungry for lime and is generally advanced by the application of it.

Fertilizing Alfalfa.

Can new cow manure be put on alfalfa? Is not the best way to use the above as a fertilizer in form of liquid being run from barn via pipes to a settling-tank and from there via irrigation ditches to the land to be irrigated? What is the best way to get rid of cow manure so as to keep a barn sanitary and the place free from stench?

Cow manure can be used to advantage on alfalfa. Corrals can be cleaned up and the manure spread at the beginning of the rainy season. During the winter the manure can be spread as it is produced and very good results will be noticed in the growth during the following summer. It is perfectly rational for you to use the liquid fertilizer as you propose in connection with irrigation water, but this is not generally done because of the cost of the outfit and the labor of handling the material in that way. The best way to keep a barn sanitary is to keep it clean, removing all the waste matter to a considerable distance daily, allowing nothing to acc.u.mulate, and have the stable drainage arranged so that the stable can be frequently flushed out into good drainage outlets, carrying the water to gra.s.s or alfalfa land if possible.

Fertilizing Corn.

We are going to plant about 20 acres to corn on a sidehill and intend to put some fertilizer on, but want to give it to the corn only. Would it be a good plan, after we have marked out our rows, to scatter some fertilizer in these marks and put the corn right on top of it?

We take it you ask about the use of a readily soluble commercial fertilizer. If so, you can do as you propose, being careful not to use too much. The operation of planting will distribute the fertilizer through enough soil if the application is not too heavy. The effect will depend something upon what showers you get after planting.

Sc.r.a.p Iron as a Fertilizer.

Is cast or other iron in small pieces plowed into the land of any benefit to trees as a fertilizer? If so, what would be the value as such per 100 pounds? Junk dealers sometimes offer 25 cents per 100 pounds. If it has any value as a fertilizer, I am satisfied it must be worth four times that price. We pay three cents a pound for sulphate of iron as a fertilizer. Of course, it is a salt and dissolves quickly, therefore, I believe cast iron, even if it works slowly, has some value, and at the same time farmers can clean up and get rid of a lot of rubbish.

In most cases the California soils are sufficiently supplied with iron by nature. Iron sc.r.a.ps have a little and remote value because they are so slowly available by the process of rust disintegration. It might, therefore, be worth while for farmers to bury such sc.r.a.p iron as acc.u.mulates on the place below the reach of the cultivating tools. But it would not be profitable to buy iron sc.r.a.ps at junk dealers' price, nor would it be profitable to haul this material any long distance, even if it could be had for nothing.

Kelp as a Fertilizer.

Are there ill effects from using sea kelp as a fertilizer for orange trees?

There is no ill effect. Sea kelp has been dragged from the beaches at low tide, partly dried and used, for centuries perhaps, as field fertilizer for all sorts of crops in Europe, and for decades, to some extent, on the New England coast. The dangerous substance in it would seem to indicate that that is not present in sufficient quant.i.ty to cause trouble. The great difficulty lies in securing and transporting the substance, for less than its fertilizing equivalent can be obtained by purchase of other more concentrated manures.

Applying Thomas Phosphate.

When is the best time to apply Thomas phosphate slag on orchard land?

As Thomas phosphate is slowly soluble, it can be applied at any time during the rainy season without danger of loss, and for the same fact, it should be applied early during the rainy season in order to be available to trees during the following summer's growth. It ought, perhaps, to be added that other forms of phosphate have largely displaced slag during the last few years in the United States, other forms being more available.

Sugar Factory Lime for Fertilizing.

Is the lime from a sugar factory a good fertilizer for either oranges or walnuts; if so, about what amount to the acre would you recommend?

If your land needs lime or if it is heavy and needs to be more friable, or if you have reason to think that it may be soured by exclusion of air or by excessive use of fermenting manures, the refuse lime you speak of will do as a corrective just as other lime does, though, perhaps, not so actively. Beyond that there is nothing of great value in it. You can use two or three applications of 500 pounds to the acre without overdoing it - if your land needs it at all.