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 S3 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. ofrecorS. 
Average 
cost of 
fertilizer 
per acre. 
Yield of 
net lint 
cotton 
per acre. 
Cost per 
pound of 
producing 
gross lint. 
■?2.99orless 
S3 to $4.99 
21 
61 
S2.26 
4.02 
5.62 
8.64 
Pounds. 
200 
221 
272 
276 
SO. 1142 
.1140 
$5 to S6.99 
44 
.1028 
S7 or more 
23 
.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 SI in the group with the least fertilizer expense and 
SO. 9 6 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 
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. 
