The Bulletin. 45 



VARIETIES, CULTURE AMD FERTILIZATION OF COTTON ON 

 SANDY LOAM SOILS OF THE COASTAL PLAIN 



Seven years' fertilizer and variety experiments have been conducted 

 on the sandy loam soil of the Edgecombe Test Frani. On a basis of these 

 results and other information vs^hich we have, the suggestions below are 

 given for the culture and fertilization of cotton on the sandy and sandy 

 loam soils of the Coastal Plain section, and the varieties of cotton 

 which are best suited to them. 



Cotton is not a hard or exhaustive crop on the soil, when the soil and 

 crop are handled with care and intelligence. A bale of cotton (900 

 pounds of seed and 500 pounds of lint) removes from the soil in round 

 numbers : 



-SO pounds Nitrogen, 



12 pounds Phosphoric Acid, and 



13 pound Potash, 



worth at present prices of fertilizer ingredients $7.20. Only 48 cents 

 worth of this is carried away in the lint. The seed can be sold for enough 

 to return in commercial fertilizer considerably more plant food than the 

 lint and seed took from the soil. The stalks, leaves, and bolls, which 

 should never be burned or otherwise removed, and 95 per cent of which 

 have come from the air, add vegetable matter or humus to the soil. If 

 the land is liberally fertilized in the right way, well drained and pro- 

 tected from surface washing, it should continue to produce large and 

 profitable crops of cotton from year to year, and with a good rotation 

 and profitable fertilization will increase in fertility and productiveness. 

 None of our other staple crops are as easy on the soil as is cotton when 

 handled in the way indicated above. 



Preparation and Cnltivation. — The land should be thoroughly and 

 well prepared by breaking in the fall or early spring to a depth of 6 or 8 

 inches, and the soil may be gradually deepened beyond this for a few 

 inches to advantage. Before planting, cut up well with a disk harrow 

 to get rid of clods and to make a good seedbed, and inin off rows 3^ to 4 

 feet apart, and on very fertile land 4^4 feet. As a rule, the fertilizer 

 should be put in the drill before planting and the cotton planted on a 

 level or just above the level, according to the season and drainage con- 

 dition of the land. Weeders and light harrows may be run across the 

 rows two or three times before and after the cotton is up and before 

 cultivation with cultivators and hoeing begins. When the crop is well 

 up and danger of frost is over, hoe and thin to a stand of 15 to 20 inches 

 in the drill, leaving as nearly as possible one stalk in a place, and giving 

 greater distance in the row and between rows as the productiveness of 

 the land increases. On thin land the rows should be closer together and 

 'the cotton closer in rows, as the stalks do not grow very large; but 

 distance should be given both ways as the land increases in productive- 



