F °Pi1mts Phosphoric acid here and takes her nitrates from Chile, 



in which the energizing plant-producing power is nearly 



80 all available. 



If cotton growing, on the 35,000,000 acres now 

 under that plant, could be brought by rational fertiliz- 

 ing and by ordinary improvements in seed selection 

 and soil treatment to the Egyptian standard of 400 

 pounds to an acre, the yield of the country could there- 

 by be raised to 28,000,000 bales a year. Rural credit 

 institutions for the supply of necessary capital at low 

 cost and the diversion of immigration into the cotton 

 states, would insure the necessary labor and capital. 

 One thing more — the invention of a successful mechan- 

 ical cotton picker — and the American cotton crop 

 would be on a fair way to double itself within another 

 decade. 



Flax and Hemp. 



For Hemp. 100 pounds Nitrate per acre may be 

 applied as a top-dressing at the time of planting. 



For Flax. 100 pounds Nitrate per acre may be 

 applied as a top-dressing at the time of planting. 



Tobacco. 



The value of tobacco depends so much upon its 

 grade, and the grade so much upon the soil and climate, 

 as well as fertilization, that no general rules for tobacco 

 culture can be laid down. Leaving out special ones, 

 such as Perique, the simplest classification of tobacco 

 for the purposes of this book is as follows: Cigar. 

 — Tobacco for cigar manufacture, grown chiefly in 

 Connecticut and Wisconsin. Manufacturing. — Tobacco 

 manufactured into plug, or the various forms for pipe 

 smoking and cigarettes. All kinds of tobacco have the 

 same general habits of growth, but the two classes 

 mentioned have very different plant food requirements. 



Cigar tobaccos generally require a rather light soil; 

 the manufacturing kinds prefer heavy, fertile soils. In 

 either case, the soil must be clean, deeply broken, and 

 thoroughly pulverized. Fall plowing is always prac- 

 tised on heavy lands, or lands new to tobacco culture. 



