69 



in regions where commercial fertilizers are generally em-. 

 ployed should be acid phosphate, of which 100 to 240 pounds, 

 should be used per acre, in addition to cotton seed meal or 

 other nitrogenous fertilizer as uecessarv. 



6. The proper proportion of cotton seed meal to acid 

 phosphate in a fertilizer formula for cotton depends largely 

 on the recent cropping and manuring of the field. 



(a) Small stalks, (if not due to climatic influences, poor- 

 cultivation, etc.) are usually an indication thai nitrogen (as. 

 in cotton seed meal), is needed. 



(b) Excessive stalk or "weed growth'' of cotton is an 

 indication that nitrogen can be dispensed with wholly or 

 partially. 



(c) Phosphate hastens maturity. 



• (d) The fresher the land the less the need for nitrogen, 

 (e) A luxuriant growth of cowpeas just preceding cot- 

 ton dispenses with the necessity for cotton seed meal, as. 

 does a recent heavy dressing with stable manure or cotton 

 seed. 



7. Nitrogen costs about three times as much as phos- 

 phoric acid or potash and hence most of it should be pro- 

 duced on the farm by growing soil-improving plants, (as 

 cowpeas, velvet beans, vetch, crimson clover, etc.) and by 

 increasing the number of livestock and the amount of stable 

 manure saved. 



8. In response to requests for recommendations of 

 definite fertilizer formulas for cotton on different soils, the 

 writer would tentatively suggest the following, to be modi- 

 fied somewhat when the facts mentioned in paragraph 6- 

 seem to require it : 



(a) For red lime lands in North Alabam; for the red 

 clay lands occupying a triangular area in the central por- 

 tion of East Alabama — for the most part north of the West- 

 ern Railway and east of the Coosa River — and for the stiffer 

 non-calcareous soils of the northwestern and western part 

 •f the State : 



