The Bulletin. 15 



The Alabama station found, after a number of experiments, that the 

 cotton plant needs a complete fertilizer mixture on the soils of the 

 station farm and that the best amount to apply ranged between 500 and 

 700 pounds per acre. 



The Georgia station came to practically the same conclusion after a 

 number of experiments which showed a 10-3-3 to be a good formula 

 for their soils. 



The South Carolina station found all three of the elements, nitrogen, 

 phosphate, and potash, necessary in the mixture for best results on the 

 station farm, with phosphate in considerable excess. 



Mr. B. W. Kilgore, of this Department, conducted fertilizer experi- 

 ments with cotton for a number of years on the Cecil Clay Loam soil 

 at the Iredell Test Farm at Statesville and here found the most economi- 

 cal fertilizer mixture for cotton to be one containing about 10 per cent 

 phosphate, 2 per cent potash, and 2 per cent nitrogen. All these sta- 

 tions, therefore, located as they are, on soils derived from the same 

 geological formation, and which have a number of qualities in common, 

 find the fertilizer requirements of these lands very similar both as to 

 the elements needed and the amounts to be applied. 



After repeated experiments all of these stations concluded, moreover, 

 that an application of 400 pounds to 600 pounds of fertilizer should 

 be made in the drill and applied some two or three weeks prior to 

 planting. In case more than 600 pounds and as much as 1,000 pounds 

 is used they suggest that the amount either be broadcasted or put on in 

 two applications. 



These stations find that an application of cotton-seed meal or dried 

 blood should be thoroughly mixed in the furrow just before planting, 

 while stable manure should be placed in the soil at least one month 

 before planting the crop. It was found, also, that an application of 

 from 50 pounds to 100 pounds of nitrate of soda a month or six weeks 

 after planting gave increased yields. 



COASTAL PLAIN SECTION. 



What we have said above is intended to apply to cotton soils outside 

 the coastal plains section and known generally as piedmont or middle 

 ISTorth Carolina soils, all of which are called residual in origin as dis- 

 tinguished from the coastal plains soils, all of which are sedimentary 

 deposits, having been laid down under conditions similar to those exist- 

 ing today along the sea coast. 



As in the piedmont section, cotton is grown with more or less success 

 on most of the soils found in this region. There are some two or three 

 types in this section, however, that may be thought of as the leading 

 cotton soils of the coastal plains region of the State. These all belong 

 to either the Norfolk or the Portsmouth series of soils which cover the 

 vast majority of this section. 



The Norfolk fine sandy loam, the Norfolk sandy loam, and the Ports- 

 mouth fine sandy loam are the most important cotton soils of these 

 two series, both in areal extent and adaptation to the crop. The areal 

 extent and relative importance of these soils follow, so far as we have 

 studied them, in the order given above. 



