FARM-MANAGEMENT STUDY IN -ANDERSON CO., S. C. 



13 



and undoubtedly accounts for much of the difference in yield on 

 different farms. But in this study it was not practicable to secure 

 the complete history of soil treatment for a series of years for each 

 farm. This is not so unfortunate, however, as might at first appear, 

 for it is fair to assume that the treatment of soil on each farm, during 

 the year to which this study chiefly relates was, in general, the same 

 that had been in vogue during several previous years. 



Other factors having an important influence on crop yields are 

 manure and commercial fertilizers, the succession of crops on the 

 land, or the crop rotation, live stock, the kind of seed, and the methods 

 of tillage used. So far as data are available concerning the effects 

 of these factors they are given in the following pages. 



One of the principal methods of maintaining or increasing yields in 

 the Belton area is by the application of fertilizers. These consist 

 principally of acid phosphate, cottonseed meal, nitrate of soda, and 



CROP 



COST 





* 1.00 



COST PER ACRE 



2.00 3.00 



4.00 



COTTON 



CORN 



OATS & OAT HAV 



WHEAT 



AVERAGE PER 

 CROP ACRE 



*4-.8 8 

 3.84- 

 2.39 

 1.94 

 4.37 





























Fig. 5. — Cost of fertilizer per acre. 



some form of potash salts, although some basic slag, sulphate of 

 ammonia, fish scrap, blood meal, and tankage are used. 



The common custom in applying fertilizers (see fig. 5) is to make 

 the heaviest applications to cotton, the next heaviest to corn, to 

 apply only small amounts to oats and wheat, and none at all to cow- 

 peas. The average cost per acre of fertilizer applied in 1914 to the 

 principal crops was: Cotton, $4.88; corn, $3.84; oats and oat hay, 

 $2.39; and wheat, $1.94. The average for all crops was $4.37 per 

 crop acre. Most of the barnyard manure, of which there was only 

 a small quantity, was applied to cotton. 1 



1 The economic reason for the heavier fertilization of cotton is its higher value per acre and the consequent 

 greater profit from fertilizing. The average acre value of cotton and cotton seed in 191-4 was S32.26, and of 

 corn and corn fodder §19.92. Suppose, for example, an application of S4 worth of fertilizer per acre increased 

 the yield of the crop by 25 per cent, which is not an uncommon occurrence, the gross value of the increase 

 of cotton would be §8.07 per acre, leaving a margin of $4.07 as against an increase with corn of S4.98 and a 

 margin of S0.98. 



The relative prices of fertilizers and crops, particularly cotton, determine the amount of fertilizers it is 

 profitable to apply. An increase in the relative price of fertilizers reduces the amount, while an increase 

 in the price of crops increases it. The tables are based upon the 1914 prices of fertilizer. The use of 

 fertilizers in South Carolina has enormously increased within the last quarter of a century, principally 

 because of the higher prices received for cotton. 



