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.

Scrap 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 scraps 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 scrap iron as accumulates on the place below the reach of the cultivating tools.  But it would not be profitable to buy iron scraps 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 quantity 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.