FARM CROPS 159 



Second, the nitrogen-gathering crops, while helping to 

 feed the stock, also reduce the fertilizer bills by supplying 

 one of the costly elements of the fertilizer. The ordinary 

 cotton fertilizer consists principally of nitrogen, potash, and 

 phosphoric acid. Of these three, by far the most costly 

 is nitrogen. Now peas, beans, clover, and peanuts will 

 leave enough nitrogen in the soil for cotton. Then, if they 

 be raised, it is necessary to buy only 

 phosphoric acid and sometimes potash. 

 This is a very great saving. 



SECTION XXXIII TOBACCO 



The tobacco plant connects Indian 

 agriculture with our own. It has always 

 been a source of great profit to our 

 people. In the early colonial days 

 tobacco was almost exclusively our 

 money crop. Many rich men came 

 to America in those days merely to 

 raise tobacco. 



Although tobacco will grow in almost 

 any climate, the leaves, which, as most 



.r IG. I^Q. 1\. J_jEAF 



of you know, are the salable part of the 



plant, get their desirable or undesirable qualities very largely 



from the soil, and from the climate in which they grow. 



Excepting perhaps the grape, there is no other plant 

 that is so much influenced by its surroundings as tobacco. 

 Since this is true, it follows that tobacco growers must, 

 with this crop more than with any other crop, study the 

 peculiarities of their land. 



