FIBER CROPS 



349 



fail to make profitable use of commercial fertilizers. For 

 these soils drainage and the growing of leguminous crops are 

 especially recommended. 1 



443. Methods of Applying Commercial Fertilizers. Commer- 

 cial fertilizers may be applied in the furrow at the time of 

 planting the seed, or they may be bedded on some time, say 

 two weeks, in advance of planting. It is best not to place the 

 fertilizer in direct 

 contact with the 

 seed, especially if 

 considerable quan- 

 tities of potash or 

 nitrogen salts are 

 used. The ferti- 

 lizer may be dis- 

 tributed by hand 

 with fertilizer dis- 

 tributer or with 

 the combined cotton seed planter and fertilizer drill. When 

 large quantities of fertilizer are used a scooter plow may be run 

 in the furrow to mix the fertilizer with the soil before "bed- 

 ding on." When distributed by hand, the Texas Station recom- 

 mends the tin bugle, to prevent the wind from interfering. 



"This device is made of tin. It is three feet long, and has a diameter 

 of two inches. 'I he top is funnel-shaped, and may be any convenient size 

 to receive the fertilizer. To one side of the top a handle is soldered. The 

 man distributing the fertilizer carries the bugle in his left hand with the 

 lower end of the bugle in the furrow and the funnel directly under the mouth 

 of a sack of fertilizer carried in the right arm. The fertilizer is run into 

 the funnel in a constant stream, the right hand acting as a check valve to 

 control the passage of the fertilizer from the sack. Uniformity and rapidity 

 of distribution may be secured after a few hours' practise." 2 In some cases 

 the bugle is carried by a rope slung over the shoulder and fastened to rings 

 attached at suitable places on the tube. 



When the nitrogen in the fertilizer was obtained from cotton- 



1 Alabama Sta. Bui. No. 107 (1899). p. 286 

 - Texas Sta. Bui. No. 75 (1904), p. 19. 



Common form of fertilizer distributer used by cotton planter 



