56 



The Bulletin. 



pounds of fertilizer. These results are given in detail below and are on basis 

 of one acre: 



The averao^e profit from the use of fertilizer or cotton on the soils in the two 

 sections of tlie State was $4.27 per 100 pounds of fertilizer and after paying for 

 the fertilizer. It will, 1 tliink, be dilTicult to find a farm operation which will 

 yield a higher profit than this shows for cotton. It is a case where after eating 

 the cake more than four cakes have been left or produced; after paying for the 

 fertilizer itself, more than four dollars profit have resulted for each dollar ex- 

 pended, and we know now that tiie fertilizer used, wliich we had to assume at 

 the beginning of the e.vperimcnts, was not the kind which would produce most 

 profitable returns. What this fertilization should be for the most profitable pro- 

 duction of cotton and tlie betterment of the land in the two sections of the State, 

 are the siibjects of Bulletins now being printed and soon to go out. 



(2) The soils on which these experiments were conducted are not much, if any, 

 better than the average cotton lands of the State, unless it l)e one of the fields 

 on the Edgecoml)e farm, where there is perhaps a better subsoil than the average 

 eastern lands have, but the second field on this farm has only an average subsoil. 

 At any rate, there is an abundance of land as good and better than these in the 

 State for growing our cotton crop. 



The average yield of cotton on all the fields in seven and five years respectively 

 was: 



Without fertilizer 325 of a bale. 



With 400 pounds 72.5 of a bale. 



With (iOO pounds 80.5 of a bale. 



With 800 pounds 910 of a bale. 



With 1000 pounds 985 of a bale, or almost one bale per acre. 



The average yield of cotton in the State last year was 228 pounds of lime, or 

 .456 of a bale per acre. By using 800 pounds of fertilizer per acre, on basis of 

 our tests, this yield could be doubled, or else produced on one-half the area of 

 fairly good cotton land, as labor and trade conditions might direct. It is true 

 that the land on which our work was conducted had good preparation and culti- 

 vation, good seed and good fertilization, but not as economical fertilization as 

 we are and shall use in the future on our general crop of cotton. It is seen, 

 however, that preparation, cultivation and seed will not take the place of needed 

 plant food. 



(3) In 1009 there were 1,359,000 acres devoted to cotton production in North 

 Carolina. It is not known how much fertilizer was used as an average per acre, 

 but I estimate 200 to 300 pounds. If 400 pounds per acre were applied it means 

 that 53 per cent of the total fertilizer used in the State was for cotton. If 300 

 pounds, 39.8 per cent; if 200 pounds, 2C,\(, per cent. If 400 pounds of fertilizer 

 per acre were used it means that 271,800 tons were applied to cotton, and if the 

 profits obtained were as large as those obtained in our experiments in the Pied- 



