COTTON CULTURE 37 



Experience seems to indicate that these intercultural 

 applications of nitrate of soda should not be deferred until 

 a later period than about the time the blooms commence 

 to appear and never in larger quantities than one hundred 

 pounds per acre at any one time. 



FERTILIZING MATERIALS FROM THE FARM 



In order to use farmyard manure to the. best advantage 

 on the average soil, it must be supplemented with commer- 

 cial fertilizers containing available phosphoric acid and 

 potash. As a general rule, with every ton of stable manure 

 applied, there should be from fifty to one hundred pounds 

 of acid phosphate and from twenty-five to fifty pounds 

 of high-grade muriate of potash or sulfate of potash. 



In rotted manure the fertilizer constituents are, as a 

 rule, more readily available for the use of plants. Rotted 

 manure is less bulky and more easily distributed than 

 fresh manure. It is also less likely to promote the too- 

 rapid growth of stems and leaves as in the case of fresh 

 manure. For the improvement of the mechanical con- 

 dition of a soil, the best results will be obtained by using 

 rotted manure on light soils. It must, however, be re- 

 membered that on such soils there is more or less danger 

 that some portion of the valuable fertilizing constituents 

 may be leached out and lost. On this account it has been 

 found advisable to apply such manure to light soils only 

 a short time before it is needed by the crop, and the spring 

 is usually the right time to apply such rotted manure. 

 In warm, moist climates, it matters less whether the manure 



