64 COTTON CULTURE 



them $6 per acre and over had an average net profit of 

 $12.51 per acre. 



"It will thus be noticed that the increase of expense 

 for fertilizer in cotton raising apparently leads to increased 

 profits; and further, that so far as these results disclose, 

 the point of diminishing returns was not reached in the 

 total for the five States (South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, 

 North Carolina, and Alabama) that are included, and 

 where it was reached, apparently, in any State, the result 

 is probably a chance one due to the small number of returns. 



"The planters who lost did so because of more or less 

 crop failure due principally to drought, in which case, as 

 is well known, the full value and effect of manures or 

 fertilizers can not be shown; there is, however, little 

 actual loss, as the plant food is largely retained in the soil 

 for the next season's crop. Had these crops been raised 

 under normal conditions, losses would have been gains, 

 although not necessarily equivalent ones." 



Additional official evidence is furnished from testimony 

 obtained by a Congressional Committee (Agriculture and 

 Forestry) appointed to examine into the conditions of 

 cotton planting. A report was made to this Committee 

 from Beaufort County, N. C., stating that about ten per 

 cent of the land in that district would produce five hundred 

 pounds of lint cotton per acre if fertilized. From Barn- 

 well County, S. C., an answer to the Committee's circular 

 letter states: "There is from thirty per cent to fifty per 

 cent profit in the use of fertilizers, depending on the grade 

 and the land. Without fertilizers we would have to quit 

 planting cotton." 



