Fertilizers for Various Special Crops 333 



war, when it became still more necessary to change 

 methods, fertilizers were looked to as the main reliance, 

 rather than the improvement of the character of the soil, 

 either by judicious rotation or by manuring. The results 

 secured from the use of fertilizers at this time were so 

 generally satisfactory that their large and indiscriminate 

 use was encouraged, and this, without proper attempts 

 at the improvement of the soil in other respects, hastened 

 the time when such use did not give profitable returns. 

 The very great importance of the crop to the agriculture 

 of the leading cotton states, and the necessity of better 

 methods of culture, were so fully appreciated that a scien- 

 tific study of the crop was then entered upon, and the 

 states largely interested planned, through the aid of their 

 colleges and experiment stations, a wide series of experi- 

 ments, which were directed toward the solution of the 

 problems connected with the feeding of the plant. The 

 results of these experiments have been fruitful of such 

 valuable information as to warrant practical and specific 

 suggestions which have a wide application, and which, if 

 followed, will result in the improvement of the soil and in 

 the economical increase in crop. 



As already stated, the cotton crop is not an exhaustive 

 one in one sense, though the methods of practice used in 

 its growth have been wasteful, and thus have given rise 

 to that belief. That is, a large crop of cotton does not 

 remove from the soil a very considerable amount of the 

 fertilizer constituents. The following amounts are con- 

 tained in a crop yielding 300 pounds of lint to the acre : l 



Nitrogen 46 Ib. 



Phosphoric acid 12 Ib. 



Potash 30 Ib. 



1 Farmers' Bulletin, No. 14, Department of Agriculture. 



