The Dillon herald. [volume] (Dillon, S.C.) 1894-????, 1920-03-25
The Country Gentleman, Of Philadelphia, Gives
Inside Dope From Marlboro County, Where
Heavy Fertilizer and Good Tillase
Gives Record Cotton Yields"

fairly uniform during the season,
however, and the yearly variations
are not wide.
know of some lands outside of
this county, near the coast, that lie
quite level. The natural drainage
Is not provided. In extra good
years these lands produce magnifi-
cent crops and heavy use of fertiliz-
ers pays well, but in years when the
rainfall is much above the average
crops are poor and money spent for
fertilizers is almost wasted. On such
soils as these, therefore, the crops
are too uncertain to risk heavy ap-
plications of fertilizer and conse-
auently the average application Is
small. Marlboro county and other
sections with sure soils and uniform
climate have a great advantage over
sections like these, since good re-
turns are obtained from the use or
fertilizers even in adverse seasons.
1t is noticed that in any part of the
county where fertilizers are used
most heavily there are few If any
crop failures because Of the soil or
the climate.
Another factor that goes to justl-
fy the lavish use Of fertilizers is
crop that gives a high return an
acre. Crops that require little la
Dor, like oats, are cheap, but crops
that require frequent tillage and
much labor in harvesting like cot
ton. tobacco or truck crops; must OF
necessity have high valuation or
folks will not grow them. FertilZ-
ers can be used more profitably on
these expensive crops than upon the
cheap ones, for given percentage
of increase in the yield is worth
more. The following examples Will
illustrate this point:
Suppose a certain cotton crop was
ordinarily worth, without fertiliz-
ing eighty dollars an acre, and
corn crop forty dollars an acre. Sup
pose that an application of ten dol
lars worth of fertilizer would IN
crease the yield of each of these
crops by thirty-five per cent. The
value of the increase in the cotton
crop would be twenty-eight dollars
an acre, and the profit eighteen dol
lars. With corn the increase would
be worth fourteen dollars, and
there would be a profit of four dol
lars an acre. In this case it would
pay to fertilize both crops, though
the greatest profit is made with the
crop that has the highest value an
acre.
Now suppose that with an appll-
cation of twenty-five dollars worth
of fertilizer there would be an III
crease of sixty per cent in the yields
of both crops, which would not be
an uncommon result. The value OF
the increase of the otton crop
would be forty-eight dollars an
acre and of the corn crop only twen-
ty-four dollars. With the cotton
aside from the extra cost of har-
vesting and marketing, the profit
from tho use"of fertilizer would be
twenty-three dollars an acre, but
with the corn the increase IN
weld would be bought at an actual
loss of one dollar an acre. Such an
application for cotton would be pro-
jfitable, but for corn it would not
pay unless the residual effect OF the
fertilizers was such as to make the
duplication worth while in spite OF
the loss on the corn crop.
h The cotton crop, therefore, has
been largely responsible for the
heavy use of fertilizers in Marlboro
county. Without cotton much less
fertilizer would u sed and the
method of maintaining the soil fer
tility would vary greatly from that
of the present system. Farming
areas of the United States that
grow more extensive crops with a
lower value an acre than cotton will
never be able to use so much fertil-
izer and use it so profitably as those
areas which grow intensive crops.
Furthermore, these farmers do
not depend on just fertilizer to
keep up their soil. A supply of
organic matter in the soil, to con-
serve the moisture and help to make
the p liant food more available, is
essential. Without humus the fer
tilizer W ould largely be wasted.
Cotton farmers in Marlboro county
use different methods of keeping up
this organic supply.
Cowpeas are grown in the corn
and after oats, for hay or soil i'm
lprovement. Some velvet beans are
used. and the manure produced on
the farm is carefully conserved The
principal way of supplying organic
matter, however, is to turn under
the crop residues of cotton and corn,
but more particularly of cotton.
Where such heavy yields Of cotton
as are common in this county are
made, the stalks cannot be fed like
cornstalks, and they are turned un-
der and left to rot in the land for
the benefit of the succeeding crops,
Where these heavy growths OF
stalks are made, and the applica-
ton of fertilizers is heavy, cotton
can be grown on the same land year
after year and frequently the yields
will gradually increase.