Farmers have probably always realised that soil is alive. Good soil seems to have certain intangible qualities, over and above its physical structure and chemistry. There is something special about topsoil.

From a humanised viewpoint cotton may be thought of as a lazy plant. It "employs" microscopic fungi to do some of the hard work of collecting nutrients from the soil.

Question: When is a cotton plant not a cotton plant? Answer: All the time. Healthy cotton plants are always part of a mycorrhiza.