26 



bered that an average corn crop makes very considerable drafts upon the 

 soil supply of phosphoric acid; but, if the grain is used for fattening 

 swine, whose manure is much richer in phosphates than most farm ma- 

 nures., and the latter is restored to the land, serious soil impoverishment 

 may be averted. 



The next step in our suggested rotation is the cotton crop. Here, too, 

 limitations are imposed upon the planter who is without abundant ma- 

 nurial resources to maintain the future integrity of his grove. He may 

 sell the lint from his cotton, but he can not dispose 'of it (as is frequently 

 done here) in the seed. 



If the enterprise be not upon a scale that will justify the equipment of 

 a mill and the manufacture of the oil, he has no alternative but to return 

 the seed in lieu of the seed cake, wasteful and extravagant though such a 

 process be. 



The oil so returned is without manurial value and, if left in the seed, 

 is so much money wasted. The rational process, of course, calls for the 

 return of the press cake, either direct or in the form of manure after it 

 has been fed. With this is also secured the hull, rich in both the potash 

 and the phosphoric acid 1 which we now know is so essential to the future 

 welfare of the grove. 



The above rotation is simply suggested as a tentative expedient. 



The ground will now be so =Mded that we can not hope to raise more 

 catch crops for harvesting, although it may be possible during the dry 

 season to raise a partial stand of pulses, of manure value only ; but, from 

 the fruiting stage on, this becomes a minor consideration. 



This stage of the cultural story brings us once more face to face with 

 the principle contended for at the beginning of this paper, namely, that 

 there can be no permanent prosperity in this branch of horticulture until 

 the crop is so worked up into its ultimate products that none of the resi- 

 due of manufacture goes to waste. 



At best the return of these side products is insufficient, and, despite 

 their careful husbandry, we can not ultimately evade a greater or less 

 resort to inorganic manures of high cost and difficult procurement. 



The residue from the press cake is rich in nitrogen and humus, which, 

 in the ever-increasing shade of the grove, will become more and more dif- 

 ficult to produce there through nitrogen-making agencies; but the waste 

 from the manufacture of coir and the ashes from the woody shell will go 

 far toward supplying the needed potash. 



Such a system would, if closely followed, practically restrict the farm- 

 er's ultimate purchases to a small quantity of acid phosphates, or of bone 

 dust, which, in conjunction with good tillage, should serve to maintain 

 the grove in a highly productive condition for an indefinite term of years. 



1 Conn. Exp. Sta. Rep. 1897, Part II. 



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