ANALYSIS OF COTTON AND ITS SOIL. 209 



mineral matter than fibre ; the latter containing only 1.25 per 

 cent, of ash, whilst the former contains 4'03 per cent. In the 

 seed the chief mineral constituent is phosphoric acid; more 

 than one-third of all the mineral composition of th* seed being 

 composed of this ; we have next in quantity potash, also com- 

 posing more than one-third of the whole amount of mineral 

 matter ; next in quantity we have magnesia, then lime, then 

 sulphuric acid ; and as neither of these substances can be fur- 

 nished by the air, if the soil be deficient in them, they must 

 be supplied by manures. They are essential to the growth 

 of the plant, and if not present in the soil in proper quantity, 

 and suitable form for assimilation, the plant, without manure, 

 will languish and die. 



We thus are told by the fibre and seed, in plainest language, 

 what they need for their full development ; the cotton plant 

 seeks this kind of food from the soil. Can the soil respond to 

 its wants ? Is it capable of furnishing all of the constituents 

 shown in the above analysis in proper quantity, and in proper 

 form, to supply what the plant needs ? If the soil can do 

 this, then no mineral manure is necessary. We will submit 

 the soil to the same scrutiny as that to which the fibre and 

 seed have been subjected. We will add to this, information 

 derived from practical experience in manuring the soil a 

 thing never to be despised, and we will see in these two 

 modes, each confirming and strengthening the testimony of 

 the other, what should be the composition of the manure best 

 adapted to the crop, and at the same time the wants or the 

 deficiencies of the soil upon which it grows. 



The soil upon which the above-examined cotton was raised, 

 is composed, as to its bulk, of nine-tenths of fine alluvial 

 sand, and of one-tenth of a cement consisting of sand, 

 peroxide of iron, clay, lime, magnesia, and humus. It is not 

 alone the proportionally very small quantity of cement to 



