COTTON CULTURE 6$ 



COST OF MAKING COTTON 



The cost of producing a pound of cotton depends on so 

 many contingencies that all calculations are more or less 

 misleading and of little service to the practical farmer or 

 to the student of agriculture. 



The actual fixed expenses vary considerably in different 

 farms and under different managements. They may vary 

 from $12 to $20 per acre. At any given figure for fixed 

 expenses the cost per pound of cotton will vary inversely 

 as the yield per acre. Practically, it costs as much to cul- 

 tivate a poor acre as it does to cultivate a rich acre, the 

 difference being in rental value. It costs some farmers 

 fifteen cents per pound of lint; others, twelve, eight, and 

 so on down to five cents. At the lower figure (five cents) , 

 naturally rich, highly improved, and liberally fertilized land 

 would be required, also, the best seed and the most skillful 

 cultivation. 



Possibly the average cost of producing lint (at present, 

 1909), is around eight cents per pound. 



It is quite certain that the use of a well-balanced fer- 

 tilizer is an indispensable aid in producing cotton on ordi- 

 nary soils at .a low cost. Eight hundred pounds, or about 

 $10 worth, of a properly balanced high-grade fertilizer 

 may, under favorable conditions, cause an increase of 

 eight hundred pounds of seed cotton or two hundred and 

 sixty pounds of lint, worth (at ten cents) $26.60, and five 

 hundred and thirty-four pounds of seed, worth (at eighty 

 cents per cwt.) $4.27, making a total of $30.87. Even in 



