A70-32l 25M -L TEXAS AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE OF TEXAS W. B. BIZZELL, President BULLETIN NO. 2'77 MARCH, 192! 5V)G.L.-=’O a*s:-a"11o :~, w ,9 ‘V AHVHEF? SWEET POTATO FERTILIZER EXPERIMENTS AT SUBSTATION NO. Z," TROUP B. YOUNGBLOOD, Dnuccron mammal: STATION, BRAZOS COUNTY, Tmus STATION STAFFT ADMINISTRATION ENTOMOLOGY B. YOUNGBLOOD, M. Director M. C. TANQUARY, Ph. D., Chief; Stale CHAS. A. FELKER, Chief Clerk Entomologist - A. S. WARE, Secretary _ _ H. J. REINHARD, B. S., Entomologist .A. D. JACKSON, ExecutiveAssistant L. R. WATSON, A. M., Apiarist - CHARLES Sosoux, Technical Assistant C. S. RUDE, B. S., Assistant Entomologist M. P. HOLLEMAN, .IR., Assistant Chief Clerk ACl\R%N€MY B s Ch'f c i ‘VETERINARY SCIENCE ~ - ONNEW ~ -- 1e i '9!" . i =|=M_ FRANCIS, D_ v_ M” chief A. H. LEIDIGI-l, B. S., Agronomist,_Soils ; H_ SCHMmT, D_ V_ S“ Veten-nan-an E. BCREYNOLDS, M. S., Agronomist, Small ;_- ~ - rains 2 D. H. BENNETT, V. M. D., Veterinarian F“ W: $1551“)? B_ S’, Agronomist’ Farm Sflpep in en en Claljngllsrgflg’ Ph. D., Chief; State Chemist **SALOME COMSTOCK, B. S., Seed Analyst S. E. ASBURY, M. S., Assistant Chemist PLANT PATHOLOGY AND PHYSIOLOGY f ‘S. IfiOLSIIAN[TLBB.SS.,AAS§l8l(1lgtC€'h6HllSi J. J. TAUBENHAUS, Ph. D., Chief 5 . . MXTII, . ., ssistan emist I WALDO WALKER, Assistant Chemist F sflonTlcuLTuRE S. D. PEARCE, EICCUHUC Secretary ‘i, H. NESS, M. s., Chief _ - FORESTRY _ § W. S. HOTCHKISS, Horticulturist E. O. SIECKE, B. S., Chief, State Forester i i.‘ ANIMAL INDUSTRY PLANT BREEDING J. MI JONES, A. M., Chief; Sheep and Goat -——~——‘, C nvestigations v R C 0 i R. M. SHERWOOD, B. S., Poultry Husband- FAghgfAclfg, Piyl)? NOMlCS G“. RWQTARREN’ B. S“ Animal Husbandmarl J. W. ELLIOTT, B. S., Graduate Assistant i in Charge of Swine Investigations SOIL SURVEY _ ' i -—-——-———, Dairy Husbandman ' **W. T. CARTER, JR., B. S., Chief g i-R. A. BREWER, B. S., Assistant Animal Hus- T. M. BUSHNELL. B. S., Soil Surveyor 5 bandman, Sheep and Goat Investigations H. W. HAWKER, Soil Surveyor l SUBSTATIONS ‘No. '1. ‘Beeville, Bce County N0. 7. Spur, Dickens County I. E. CQWART, M. S., Superintendent R. E. DICKSON, B. S., Superintendent i No. 8. Lubbock, Lubbock County No. 2. Troup, Smith County B. E. KARPER, B. S., Superintendent W. S. HOTCHKISS Superintendent y No. 9' Pecos, Reeves County _ V. L. CORY, B. S., Superintendent No. 3. Angleton, Brazoria County V. E. HAFNER, B. S., Superintendent No. 10. College Station, Brazos County (Feeding and Breeding Substation) No. 4. Beaumont, Jefferson County L- J‘ MCCALL» Superintendent ~ A- H~ PRINCE» B~ S» Superintendenl No. ll. Nacogdoches, Nacogdoches County G. T. McNEss, Superintendent 1N0‘ 5' Temple’ Ben County **No 12 Chillicothe Hardeman Count ' - - 9 y D. T. KILLOoGH, B. S., Superintendent AI B. CRON’ B. S" Superintendent ‘No. 6. Denton, Denton County No. l4. onora, Sutton-Edwards Counties C. H. McDowELL, B. S., Superintendent E. M. ETERs, B. S., Superintendent tAs of February 15. 1921. _ _ _ *In cooperation with School of Veterinary Medicine, A. and M. College of Texas. **In cooperation with United States Department of Agriculture. BULLETIN N0. 277. MARCH, 1921. SWEET POTATO FERTILIZER EXPERIMENTS AT SUBSTATION NO. 2, TROUP BY W. S. HOTOHKISS SWEET POTATO FERTILIZER EXPERIMENTS This bulletin reports the results of fertilizer experiments With sweet. potatoes which were conducted at Substation No. 2, Troup, Smith County, Texas, in 1907, 1908, and 1911. The topography of this region is gently rolling to mo-derately hilly. The prevailing soil types are fine sandy loams and fine sands. These conditions are typical of a large part of eastern and northeastern Texas. Table 1 shows the distribution of the rainfall from January to Sep- tember, inclusive, for the three years. Table 1.—Inches rainfall from January to September, inclusive, for 1907, 1908, and 1911. Month. g 1907 ' 1908 1 1911 ilraiguary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . l e a y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. _.. . . Marrcuhi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 2.39 2.74 8.38 April . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.68 6.64 7.32 May.....' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..l 7.79 15.87 2.28 June . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2.6 1.61 .68 July . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.78 .79 6.19 August . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..! 2.18 l 6.04 1.31 September . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.69 4.35 .28 ‘ Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28.85 44.4 25.82 The rainfall from May to September, inclusive, in 1907, 1908, and 1911, was 17.70, 28.66, and 10.74 inches, respectively. The soils on which these experiments were conducted are classed by the Bureau of Soils as Susquehanna fine sandy loam. This soil is grayish in color with a red plastic clay subsoil mottled with drab or yellow or both. The Susquehanna fine sandy loam is typical of large areas of soil in eastern and northeastern Texas. In 1907 the test was on a poorly drained phase of the Susquehanna fine sandy loam, which varied in depth from four to six inches. The plats in 1908 and 1911 were on a better drained soil, which varied from six to twelve inches in depth. Under favorable weather conditions this soil will produce one-fourth to one-third of a bale of cotton, or twelve to fifteen bushels of corn to the acre without fertilizer. METHOD OF CONDUCTING TEST ' The method of applying the fertilizer was the same throughout the experiment; that is, furrows were opened and the proper fertilizer was 4 TEXAS AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. carefully weighed and distributed by hand in the furrows and bedded with two furrows. The rows were four feet apart with the plants placed two feet apart in the row. In all the experiments a good strain of the Dooly Yam" was used. The slips, or sprouts, were planted in the field May 10, 1907; May 25, 1908; and May 16, 1911. EXPERIMENT DATA Table 2 shows the plan of the experiment and the acre yield of each plat in 1907 and 1908 with averages. Table 2.—-E ertilizer experiments with Csweet potatoes, 1907-1908. Pounds of Yield in bushels per acre. Plat Kind of fertilizer used. fertilizer ‘ per acre. 1907 1908 Average 1 Check, No fertilizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 65 92.5 2 Cotton seed meal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260 208 79 143,5 3 Acid phosphate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320 208 85 146.5 4 Acid phosphate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400 215 85 150.0 5 Sulphate of potash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 146 63 129.5 6 Check. No fertilizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 64 94.5 7 Cotton seed meal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500 230 90 160.0 8 Acid phosphate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500 242 116 179.0 9 Acid phosphate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320 Cotton seed meal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260 268 127 158.0 10 Cotton seed meal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260 Sulphate of potash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 207 135 171.0 11 Acid phosphate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320 Sulphate of potash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 181 124 152.5 12 Check, No fertilizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 96 106.0 Acid phosphate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320 13 Cotton seed meal. . ._ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260 Sulphate of potash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 249 104 176.5 Nitrate of soda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 14 Acid phosphate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320 Sulphate of potash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 246 157 201.5 15 Cotton seed meal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 580 221 125 173.0 16 Acid phosphate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 580 228 106 167.0 17 Cheek, No fertilizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 93 111.5 18 Acid phosphate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400 Cotton seed meal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325 Sulphate of potash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 220 131 153.5 Plat 1L1, which received a mixture of nitrate of soda, acid phosphate, and sulphate of potash, produced the highest average yield for 1907 and 1908. Acid phosphate applied at the rate of 500 pounds to the acre gave the second largest yield. Sulphate of potash applied with either acid phosphate or cottonseed meal gave little or no increase in yield over cottonseed meal or acid phosphate alone. All the plats that received acid phosphate gave slightly higher average yields than those plats that received cottonseed meal. In 1908, one end of the field used was on better soil than the other end. This is shown by the fact that check plats 12 and 1'7 yielded SWEET POTATO FERTILIZER EXPERIMENTS. 5 nearly 50 per cent. more than check plats 1 and 6. As the potash- treated plats were on better soil, the apparent increase in yield due to potash in 1908 may be attributed to lack of uniformity in the soil. This fact makes it appear that the potash is even of less value than the actual figures show. The yields in 1907 were much larger than in 1908 and 1911. This was probably due to the fact that the rainfall was more evenly dis- tributed throughout the growing period that year, as shown in Table 1. The results secured in 1911 are presented in Table 3. It will be noted that the fertilizer treatments are smaller than the treatments in 1907 and 1908. - Table 3.—Fertilizer experiments with sweet potatoes, 1911. Pounds of Yield in Plat Kind of fertilizer used. fertilizer bushels per acre. per acre. 1 Check, No fertilizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69.8 2 Cotton seed meal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200.0 81 .3 3 Acid phosphate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200.0 96.0 4 Acid phosphate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300 ._0 117.2 5 Cotton seed meal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300.0 95.5 6 Acid phosphate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150.0 Cotton seed meal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150.0 96.0 7 Check, N0 fertilizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75.3 Sulphate of potash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80.0 77.4 9 Cotton seed meal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200.0 l Sulphate of potash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80.0 98.1 Cotton seed meal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150.0 10 Acid phosphate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150.0 Sulphate of potash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.0 98.1 11 Acid phosphate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200.0 Sulphate of potash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80.0 97-1 12 Acid phosphate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200.0 Cotton seed meal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 . 0 101 - 1 13 Check, N0 fertilizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77-4 14 Acid phosphate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300.0 Cotton seed meal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300.0 95.5 Acid phosphate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355.0 15 Nitrate of soda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140.0 Sulphate of potash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.0 92-2 _ Acid phosphate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177.0 lb Nitrate of soda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70.0 Sulphate of potash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5 79 .6 In 1911 the average yield of plats 3 and 11, which received acid phos- phate alone, was higher than the yield of any other plat receiving a different treatment. A mixture of 200 pounds each of acid phosphate and cottonseed meal produced the second largest yield. Sulphate of potash was less valuable than either acid phosphate or cottonseed meal. Table 4 summarizes the results for the three-year period, showing the cost of fertilizer, the acre yield, acre increase, and acre value. TEXAS AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. . ~ _Qv,.,umod..u_.*z.. B. uuuizmuw 8 2.=§ con B. 0on3: .. mm . _ , u¢u< i __ “ . . Q. W L. . . ww mOkfikOa. H. kmm>w at? Pzuémmxiu an ~..=Eu.._. % V 45$ 3% zoioo w uh<§acéeo< L j { 322w» zctbu I 7 ukzxflaomn e3 V auuqifiuoz {$46k . a 10¢... f. i,.m.oZ. Z0_._.