124 



COTTON 



COTTON A FAR LESS EXHAUSTIVE 

 THAN CORN OR WHEAT 



CROP 



This table shows several interesting things. The 

 most striking fact brought to our attention is this : 



Of the three great staple crops of America, cotton 

 is by far the least exhaustive. 



Wheat requires more than twice and corn nearly 

 seven times as much plant food as does cotton. 



Nor is this all. We will suppose that cotton seed, 

 corn stover and wheat straw are used on the farm, and 

 in the end find their way back to the soil. The plant 

 food they contain will be returned to the land from 

 whence it was taken. We will now find a still 

 greater difference in reference to the demands on 

 the soil made by each crop, as is shown in the table 

 below : 



In respect then to the amounts of nitrogen, phos- 

 phorus and potassium required for average acre 

 yields of cotton, wheat and corn in the United 

 States, wheat calls for 19 times as much of these 

 elements as cotton, and corn calls for 30 times as 

 much as cotton. 



RETURNING COTTONSEED TO THE SOIL ESSEN- 

 TIAL TO ITS PRESERVATION 



The greatest demand on the soil by the cotton 

 plant is for seed production. For the average 



