COTTON FERTILIZERS 327 



however, on sandy soils, most tests show the residual ef- 

 fect of both cotton seed and cotton-seed meal to be slight. 

 It seems safe to conclude that on most soils half a ton of 

 medium or high-grade cotton-seed meal is about equal 

 as fertilizer to a ton of cotton seed. 



Cotton seed may be applied in deep furrows in January 

 without much danger that they will grow. If applied 

 late, they should first be either crushed or composted or 

 subjected to a high temperature caused by allowing them 

 to be moistened and heated in bulk. When the seed ger- 

 minate, the fertilizing value is apparently decreased, but 

 not lost. Further experiments on this point are needed. 



The oil is without value as a fertilizer, and the hulls 

 contain but little plant-food. Therefore, the most com- 

 plete value of the cotton seed is obtained by the public 

 when the oil mill extracts the oil. 



It has been shown that the meal and hulls from one ton 

 of cotton seed is at least as effective a fertilizer as the 

 entire seed. Hence, the farmer who can exchange one ton 

 of his seed for the meal and hulls contained in it, namely, 

 about 750 pounds of meal and 800 pounds of hulls, loses 

 nothing in fertilizing value. When the farmer can get 

 1000 pounds or more of meal and no hulls for one ton of 

 seed, he usually makes a nearly equal exchange, if the 

 cost of hauling be disregarded. He should usually obtain 

 in exchange for a ton of cotton seed, considering only the 

 fertilizing value, as many pounds of meal in excess of 1000 

 pounds as will pay for hauling both ways and whatever 

 profit he may see fit to charge. 



297. Other forms of nitrogen. Whenever the nitro- 

 gen in nitrate of soda is as cheap as that in cotton-seed 



