CHAPTER XVII 

 FERTILIZERS FOR VARIOUS SPECIAL CROPS 



IN addition to the generally familiar crops already 

 described, there are certain special ones, not distinct 

 from the others because they are of less importance, 

 but rather because they are only grown in certain lo- 

 calities. 



COTTON 



Among these special crops, cotton takes first rank, 

 because it is one of the leading crops of the country, 

 occupying wide areas, and exercising fully as great an 

 influence upon our agricultural prosperity as any other 

 of our American staples. 



The climate suitable for the growing of cotton is con- 

 fined to about one-quarter of the area of the country, 

 and in this area it occupies a more important position 

 than any other crop grown there. 



In the earlier history of its cultivation, the methods 

 employed were not such as to encourage the largest 

 yield. In the first place, it was grown on the poorer 

 soils rather than on the more fertile, and after it had been 

 grown consecutively upon the same lands for a number 

 of years, and thus rapidly exhausting them, the planter, 

 instead of attempting to improve the lands, either by 

 better methods of culture or by the use of manures, 

 extended the areas under cultivation. After the civil 



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