A fertilizer or fertiliser is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from liming materials or other non-nutrient soil amendments. Many sources of fertilizer exist, both natural and industrially produced. For most modern agricultural practices, fertilization focuses on three main macro nutrients: nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) with occasional addition of supplements like rock flour for micronutrients. Farmers apply these fertilizers in a variety of ways: through dry or pelletized or liquid application processes, using large agricultural equipment or hand-tool methods.
Colbert County is a county located in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 census the county's population was 57,227. The county seat is Tuscumbia. The largest city is Muscle Shoals.
Ammonium nitrate is a chemical compound with the formula NH4NO3. It is a white crystalline salt consisting of ions of ammonium and nitrate. It is highly soluble in water and hygroscopic as a solid, although it does not form hydrates. It is predominantly used in agriculture as a high-nitrogen fertilizer.
Cherokee is a town in west Colbert County, Alabama, United States. Located near the Tennessee River, it is part of the Florence–Muscle Shoals metropolitan area, known as "The Shoals". As of the 2010 census, the population of the town was 1,048.
Muscle Shoals is the largest city in Colbert County, Alabama, United States. It is located on the left bank of the Tennessee River in the northern part of the state and, as of the 2010 census, its population was 13,146. The estimated population in 2019 was 14,575.
Florence is a city in, and the county seat of, Lauderdale County, Alabama, United States, in the state's northwestern corner, and had a population of 40,184 in the 2020 census. Florence is located along the Tennessee River and is home to the University of North Alabama, the oldest public college in the state, which makes Florence a college town. Florence is located about 70 miles west of Huntsville, Alabama, via US-72.
The Tennessee Valley is the drainage basin of the Tennessee River and is largely within the U.S. state of Tennessee. It stretches from southwest Kentucky to north Alabama and from northeast Mississippi to the mountains of Virginia and North Carolina. The border of the valley is known as the Tennessee Valley Divide. The Tennessee Valley contributes greatly to the formation of Tennessee's three legally recognized sectors.
North Alabama is a region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Several geographic definitions for the area exist, with all descriptions including the nine counties of Alabama's Tennessee Valley region. The North Alabama Industrial Development Association also lists Cherokee, Cullman, Franklin, and Winston counties in the region. The Alabama Mountain Lakes Tourist Association expands the definition further to include Blount, Etowah, and Marion counties.
Wheeler Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Tennessee River between Lauderdale County and Lawrence County in Alabama. It is one of nine dams on the river owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which built the dam in the mid-1930s as part of a New Deal-era initiative to improve navigation on the river and bring flood control and economic development to the region. The dam impounds the Wheeler Lake of 67,070 acres (27,140 ha) and its tailwaters feed into Wilson Lake.
The Birmingham District is a geological area in the vicinity of Birmingham, Alabama, where the raw materials for making steel - limestone, iron ore, and coal - are found together in abundance. The district includes Red Mountain, Jones Valley, and the Warrior and Cahaba coal fields in Central Alabama.
The Florence–Muscle Shoals Metropolitan Area, commonly known as “The Shoals”, is a metropolitan statistical area in northwestern Alabama including the cities of Florence, Muscle Shoals, Tuscumbia, and Sheffield, and the counties of Lauderdale and Colbert. The 2020 Census population for the Shoals is 148,779 and an additional 410,000 commute to the Shoals daily as the economic, social, and educational center of northwest Alabama. The Shoals has also been known as the Tri-Cities and the Quad-Cities by locals.
American Cyanamid Company was an American manufacturing conglomerate. It began as a fertilizer company and added many additional lines of business before merging with American Home Products in 1994. The combined company sold off most of its divisions, adopted the name of its remaining Wyeth division, and was bought by Pfizer in 2009, becoming defunct as a separate concern.
Pickwick Landing Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Tennessee River in Hardin County, in the U.S. state of Tennessee. The dam is one of nine dams on the river owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which built the dam in the 1930s as part of a New Deal-era initiative to create a continuous navigation channel between the river's mouth and Knoxville, and bring economic development to the area. The dam impounds the 43,100-acre (17,400 ha) Pickwick Lake and its tailwaters are part of Kentucky Lake.
Wilson Dam is a dam on the Tennessee River between Lauderdale and Colbert counties in Alabama. Completed in 1924 by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, it impounds Wilson Lake, and is one of nine Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) dams on the Tennessee River. It was declared a National Historic Landmark on November 13, 1966, for its role as the first dam to come under the TVA's administration. The dam is named for Woodrow Wilson.
Muscle Shoals Sound Studio is an American recording studio in Sheffield, Alabama, formed in 1969 by four session musicians known as The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. They had left nearby FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals to create their own recording facility.
State Route 133 (SR 133) is a 16.976-mile-long (27.320 km) mostly multi-lane state highway and is a primary artery through the Florence–Muscle Shoals metropolitan area in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Alabama.
Claudius Hart Huston was a prominent industrialist and politician from the U.S. state of Tennessee, he became a leader in the development of the Tennessee River.
Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area is a federally designated National Heritage Area in the northwestern portion of the U.S. state of Alabama. It is centered on the portion of the Tennessee River around Muscle Shoals and interprets the region's history and culture.
The Clyde Carter House is a historic residence in Ford City, Alabama. Built at a time of vast land speculation in Colbert County, the house represents the then-fashionable Spanish eclectic style not commonly found in the rural deep South. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.
The Sheffield Residential Historic District is a historic district in Sheffield, Alabama. The district contains 678 contributing properties covering 160 acres that represent the growth of the town from its founding in the 1880s through the 1950s. The town of Sheffield was founded in 1883, on the former site of a town known as York Bluff. Montgomery banker Alfred Moses founded the Sheffield Land, Iron, and Coal Company and began laying out streets in a north–south grid. Soon after the initial land sale in the town, five iron blast furnaces were built, along with landings and docks along the Tennessee River. Other industries and commercial businesses followed. The upper classes built large Victorian houses along the bluff overlooking the river, while more restrained Victorian cottages were built closer to the industrial district. A two-story commercial district, several churches, and a school were also built in the late 1880s.
