OTHER FARM CROPS 536 



crumbles into a loose mass of better tilth than many elaborately 

 tilled upland soils. It is so deep that the deepest tillage, even by a 

 steam plow, would not reach beyond the true soil material. Its high 

 absorptive power secures crops against injury from drought. Two 

 bales of lint per acre can be produced on these soils with fair cul- 

 tivation and good seasons. 



In South Carolina the ridge lands and the soils of the Red Hill 

 formation, covering an extensive area in the central and eastern 

 portions of the State, are types of the most productive and most cer- 

 tain cotton soils, under good treatment. These soils, which may be 

 considered a type of the finest cotton soils of that region, contain 

 from 25 to 30 per cent of clay and 40 per cent of silt. In the North 

 this would make a very fair quality of wheat land. These soils 

 maintain on an average during the growing season about 10 or 12 

 per cent of moisture for the cotton crop. 



The Sea Island cotton is best adapted to a very different kind 

 of soil. The best soils for this variety are light, fine-grained, sandy 

 soils, containing from 4 to 8 per cent of clay, from 4 to 6 per cent 

 of silt, and from 75 to 90 per cent of fine sand. Soils of this char- 

 acter from James Island maintained during two growing seasons 

 about 5 per cent of moisture and are very different from the best 

 type of soils adapted to the upland cotton. (U. S. E. S. B. 33.) 



Fertilizing. In reviewing the results of the experiments con- 

 ducted at or under the auspices of the experiment stations, and 

 taking into account the general experience of successful cotton 

 growers, certain general conclusions on the subject of the fertiliza- 

 tion of cotton may be accepted as tentatively established: 



(1) Cotton is a plant which responds promptly, liberally, and 

 profitably to judicious fertilization. 



(2) By judicious fertilization the maturity of the crop may be 

 hastened and the period of growth, from germination to fruiting, 

 BO shortened as to materially increase the climatic area within which 

 cotton may be profitably grown. 



(3) As is the case with most other crops, the profit from ma- 

 nuring cotton with concentrated fertilizers is much enhanced by 

 antecedent proper preparation of the soil. It pays to bring cotton 

 lands up to a condition of good "tilth" by mechanical treatment, 

 and especially by incorporating in them liberal quantities of or- 

 ganic matter. Upon lands in such condition fertilizers of all kinds 



G'eld more profit, either from small or large applications, than upon 

 nds not so treated. 



(4) Renovating crops, and especially the cowpea, furnish an 

 efficient and economical method of bringing cotton lands into con- 

 dition to respond most liberally and profitably to the application of 

 concentrated manures under cotton. The most profitable plan of 

 employing the cowpea for this purpose on cotton is to gather the 

 peas at maturity, cut the vines for hay, and turn under the stub- 

 ble along with the manure resulting from feeding the hay to stock 

 and cattle, 



