The effects of seven preplant nitrogen fertility levels on the growth and development of the cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) cultivar 'DPL 50' were evaluated in a replicated field experiment in 1989. The cotton fertility treatments, which ranged from 0 to 150 lb. N/ac at 25 lb. Increments, had been in place since 1973. Plants were regularly "read" via estimates of physiological shedding, mapping techniques and counts of the highest white bloom relative to the terminal to progressively monitor the effects of nitrogen on development of plant structure, fruiting behavior and earliness. Data were analyzed by distance-weighted leastsquares approximation in the fitting of regression lines depicting these relationships.