Fertilizers for Various Special Crops 335 



experiments conducted in the various states have been 

 very fully set forth in various publications, 1 and the 

 following statements drawn from these indicate what 

 are believed to be the advantages derived from the right 

 use of fertilizers, and the best methods to be observed : 

 "The cotton plant responds promptly, liberally and 

 profitably to judicious fertilization. The maturation 

 of the crop may be hastened, and the period of growth 

 from germination to fruiting may be so shortened as to 

 increase the climatic area in which it may be profitably 

 grown. It should be assigned to a place in a rotation 

 system. One of small grain, corn (with peas) and cotton, 

 is well suited for the conditions prevailing in the cotton 

 belt, and, as with other crops, the results derived from 

 the use of fertilizers for this crop are much enhanced by 

 the proper preparation of the soil. It pays to bring 

 up the cotton lands by mechanical treatment, and es- 

 pecially by introducing organic matter. The renovating 

 crops, especially the cowpea, are very profitably employed 

 as adjuncts to the fertilization of the crop itself. On the 

 majority of soils, too, it is advisable, and more generally 

 proves profitable, to use a complete fertilizer, rather than 

 one containing one or two of the constituents ; and of the 

 forms of nitrogen, organic (vegetable and animal) is best 

 suited to the cotton, if one form alone be used, although 

 nitrate of soda is probably nearly, if not quite, of equal 

 value. The relative advantages of various proportions 

 of the different forms have, however, not yet been fully 

 determined; hence the use of a mixture of the best is a 



1 Fanners' Bulletins, Nos. 14 and 48, Department of Agri- 

 culture. Office of Experiment Stations, Bulletin No. 33, De- 

 partment of Agriculture. Various bulletins issued by the 

 Georgia, South Carolina and Louisiana Experiment Stations. 



