FIBER CROPS 183 



of linters, and 125 pounds of trash. The 1000 pounds of kernels 

 yield from 250 to 300 pounds of oil and from 750 to 700 pounds 

 of cake. 



229. Cotton soils. Cotton will grow in a great variety of 

 soils, but always requires a well-drained soil. Some very poor hill 

 lands produce fair crops under good cultivation, especially when 

 properly fertilized. The very rich alluvial lands, especially when 

 new, produce an excessive growth of stalk. The most productive 

 cotton soils are the rich deep loams. Heavy clay soils produce 

 late crops, and therefore are not so desirable for cotton, especially 

 in the territory where the boll weevil is abundant. 



230. Climatic and weather conditions. The most favorable 

 season is a relatively dry spring, with warm nights, followed by 

 abundant showers during the summer, and a dry fall. In the 

 boll-weevil territory a week or two of dry, hot weather is much 

 desired when the beetles become numerous. When the tempera- 

 ture ranges from 96 to 100 degrees F., the surface of the soil 

 becomes hot enough to kill the boll-weevil larvae that are in 

 the fallen squares. 



231. Fertilizing the cotton. The cotton crop receives more 

 commercial fertilizer than does any other crop grown in the 

 United States. If the lint alone were marketed, and the cotton- 

 seed meal and stalks plowed under, no other crop would remove 

 so little fertility from the soil. 1 However, since cotton is a 

 crop of clean cultivation the soil is left bare and much deterio- 

 ration of soil comes through erosion and leaching. In cotton- 

 growing districts crop rotation is not so generally practiced as 

 it should be. 



For cotton a complete fertilizer is generally used, the com- 

 position being varied to suit different localities. The farmers 

 frequently mix their own fertilizers from cottonseed meal and 

 acid phosphates. On average land a mixture of equal parts of 

 cottonseed meal and acid phosphate containing 6.88 per cent 



1 A bale of cotton lint, a fair yield from an acre, contains about \ pound of 

 phosphorus, i\ pounds of nitrogen, and 2 pounds of potassium. Contrast the 

 amounts of plant food removed by cotton with that removed by corn. 



