122 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



The States in which cotton most asserts supremacy are Louisiana, Mis- 

 sissippi, and Arkansas ; those in which corn is most prominent, Tennessee, 

 Korth Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama. Miscellaneous products claim 

 comparatively more attention in Tennessee, ITorth Carolina, and Flor- 

 ida. Of the area in " improved " land, only about one-fourth is annually 

 cultivated. In 1870 the reported area " improved " was 138,635,313 acres. 

 The present nrea actually cultivated is estimated at about thirty-four 

 million acres, of which cotton has nearly twelve millions and corn over 

 fourteen millions. The nearest i^ercentages, discarding fractious, are: 

 corn, 41 ; cotton, 34; other crops, 25. This indicates an advance in nine 

 years, in miscellaneous products, from 18 per centum to 25. 



FERTILIZERS. 



The use of commercial fertilizers for cotton is a practice obtaining 

 since the war, and confined mainly to the Atlantic coast. The worn and 

 partially exhausted lands of the older States responded to special fer- 

 tilization in a giatifying increase of product; and as the wages of labor 

 ruled high, and farm supplies were dear, it was an object to make a 

 heavy cash outlay for these aids to production, especially while prices of 

 cotton continued high. Thus the expenditure for guanos and bone 

 phosphates and superphosphates increased, the prices of cotton de- 

 clined, and the outlay became a burden upon industry, often a partial 

 loss of the investment by injudicious or excessive application. 



Nine years ago, in canvassing this subject, this Department depre- 

 cated the injudicioufi and excessive use of commercial fertilizers, most of 

 which in those days cost far more than a fair estimate of their actual 

 cash value, based upon the commercial prices of their essential constit- 

 uents. The local resources for fertilization were briefly pointed out, and 

 shown to be abundant, accessible, and inexpensive. Among the sugges- 

 tions presented were the following : 



Every farmer should rely mainly upon his stock for manures ; hops should be fat- 

 tened upon field-pcase ; cattle and horses should be penned at ni^ht in deeply-littered 

 yards. Accretions to the manure-pile may be made from a great variety of sources, 

 iuclnding all decaying vegetable and animal matter, waste and wash from the kitchen, 

 muck from the swamps, and pine straw or leaves from tbe forest. 



There are many special fertilizers in this section ample for a j)erpetual supply of all 

 possible drain upon the resources of the soil. The coast-line from Virginia to Texas, 

 including all the sounds, inlets, bay.s, and estuaries, has an aggregate extent of thou- 

 Bands of miles, and every mile can furnish abundant stores of fish and sea- weed for 

 manuring adjacent fields. Oyster-shell lime is also plenty and cheap in the tide-water 

 regions. 



No mineral manure is more abundant than marl, which is found in the whole tide- 

 water section of tlio Atlantic coast, in the Mississippi Valley, and in Texas. It under- 

 lies wide belts at various depths, often very near the surface; it is in many localities 

 easily obtained in large quantities ; and its value, though variable, is undoubted for 

 applical ion for soils needing lime. Gypsum can be obtained from native beds at no 

 great distance from any locality in the south. Lime is abund.ant in the mountain val- 

 leys from Virginia to Northern Alabama: and the "rotten-limestone" formations of 

 Alabama and Mississippi are unsurpassed for fertility. 



All these home re.sources should be used in bringing up the average cotton yield 

 from 190 to TiOO jjounds per acre, and obtaining from half of the present acreage all of 

 the liber needed, leaving free a sufliciont area to produce the bread, the fruits, the veg- 

 etables, the Ifcef and mutton necessary for the home population, and a surplus of the 

 lighter product.s for exportation. 



The progress made since 18GS in utilizing many of these resources 

 has been considerable, in some sections very noticeable. The commis- 

 sioner of agriculture of Georgia has been empowered by the State with 

 the inspection of chemical fertilizers, and the prohibition of the sale of 

 worthless and fraudulent brands, which has had the effect to increase 



