CHAPTER XIX 



COTTON — SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 



Cotton is a most adaptable crop. Almost anj- land in 

 the cotton-belt — from light sandy to stiff clay — will 

 produce a crop, provided it be well drained, and, if poor, 

 supplied Ti-ith the necessarj- kind and amount of fertilizing 

 materials. 



281. Soil range. — A large proportion of the American 

 cotton crop grows on land too sand}-, dry, and poor to 1)6 

 thoroughly satisfactory for corn. Indeed, a large area of 

 cotton grows on land too poor to jield a profit even from 

 cotton. These unprofitable areas, these " rol^ber acres," 

 are the source of much loss to cotton farmers. They 

 could be more advantageously devoted to pasture or to 

 leguminous plants. On sandy land the plant is much more 

 subject to injury from cotton rust than on loamj-or clay 

 soils. 



On some verj^ rich, moist, bottom land, cotton makes 

 a stalk of excessive size without a corresponding develop- 

 ment of fruit. Therefore, such lands are not favorable 

 for cotton, but may be more advantageously devoted to 

 the production of corn, hay, or pasturage. 



General Considerations on Fertilizing Cotton 



282. Draft of cotton on soil fertility. — The table in para- 

 graph 246 showed that in certain experiments the seed and 

 lint together contained about half the total nitrogen and 



315 



