14 



BULLETIN 651, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



In Table VII the records are arranged in groups according to the 

 amount of fertilizer applied to cotton, as measured by the cost of the 

 fertilizer. 1 Beginning with a group of records where $3 worth or less 

 of fertilizer per acre was used and the average yield was 200 pounds 

 of lint per acre, the yields gradually increase as the amount of fer- 

 tilizer used increases until an application of $7 or more of fertilizer 

 is reached. 



Table VII. — Relation of the cost per acre of fertilizer applied to yield, and cost of cotton. 



Cost of fertilizer per acre. 



Number 

 of records. 



Average 



cost of 



fertilizer 



per acre. 



Yield of 



net lint 



cotton 



per acre. 



Cost per 

 pound of 

 producing 

 gross lint. 



S2. 99 or less 



21 

 61 

 44 

 23 



$2.26 

 4.02 

 5.62 

 8.64 



Pounds. 

 200 

 221 

 272 

 276 



SO. 1142 



S3 to S4.99 



.1140 



S5 to S6.99 



.1028 





.1217 







But this increased yield did not always give a decrease in the cost 

 of production. With the exception of the group of records using $5 

 to $6.99 worth of fertilizers per acre, there is not much difference in 

 the cost per pound of lint in any of the groups. The earliness of the 

 fall season was at least partially responsible for the high cost of pro- 

 duction in the group using the most fertilizers. Heavy application 

 of fertilizers causes late maturity, and in 1914 late cotton was cut 

 short by the frost. It is probable that in most years the heavier 

 application of fertilizers would have given the higher yields and that 

 the cost of production would have been lower. The yields of corn 

 increased (see Table VIII) from 14.2 bushels where less than $3 

 worth of fertilizer was used per acre to 21.8 bushels where $5 worth 

 or more were used. There was no marked change in the cost per 

 bushel, which was $ 1 in the group with the least fertilizer expense and 

 SO. 96 in the group with the highest. 



Table VIII. — Relation of cost of fertilizer applied to corn to yield, and cost of production. 



Cost of fertilizer per acre. 



Number 

 of records. 



Average 



cost of 



fertilizer 



per acre. 



Yield of 

 corn. 



53 

 63 

 32 



$1.75 

 3.74 

 6.50 



Bushels. 

 14.2 

 18.4 

 21.8 



Cost per 

 bushel. 



$2.99 or less 

 $3 to $4.99.. 

 $5 or more . 



$1. 000 

 .970 

 .959 



In finding the effect of fertilizer on oats and oat hay (see Table IX) 

 the two crops were combined. Yields can not be shown in this way, 



1 The application of fertilizer and the yields and costs were obtained for the individual crops cultivated 

 both by the operator and the cropper. Hence Tables VII, VIII, and IX show more records than there are 

 farms, as the crops grown by the operator alone and by the croppers are considered as distinct cases. 



