( 49 ) 



have encouraged heavier than normal applications. Fertilizer 

 prices are low relative to prices of cotton. From 1939 to Feb- 

 ruary 1943, prices of fertilizer materials rose 16 per cent, and 

 prices of cotton rose 126 per cent. From February 1942 to 

 1943, fertilizer prices declined 2 per cent and cotton rose 10 

 per cent. Cotton has risen in price relative to fertilizer over 

 the entire war period. This stimulates the use of fertilizer. 

 The amount of fertilizer applied per acre of cotton is low, 

 but the cotton area is enormous. A material increase in the 

 amount of fertilizer applied to the cotton acreage might re- 

 duce the supplies available for other crops. 



In certain intensive crop areas .farmers have sharply in- 

 creased the normal applications of fertilizer. Fertilizer and 

 labor are two of the costs entering into crop production, and 

 within limits they are interchangeable. With farm wage rates 

 rising sharply, with low ceiling prices on fertilizer, and with 

 high prices of certain farm products, the tendency has been 

 to shift toward heavier applications. Such practices might 

 result in an abnormal distribution of the amount of fertilizer 

 available. 



