The Bulletin. 17 



and at the same time enrich the land with nitrogen, sometimes in excess 

 of what might be desired for the growth of cotton. 



One good method of using burr clover in combination with cowpeas 

 in cotton production is the following: Lay the cotton rows off 5 feet 

 apart, and plant a row of cowpeas between the cotton rows, thus having 

 a row of cotton and a row of cowpeas every two and a half feet. In 

 September or October, sow broadcast about 15 pounds of clean burr 

 clover seed to the acre and harrow this in between the rows of peas and 

 cotton. When the peas ripen pick them and let the old pea vines and 

 old cotton stalks remain on the ground over winter. 



In the spring bed the new cotton rows exactly where old cowpeas rows 

 were the summer before, leaving the old cotton stalk row stand in a 

 six to eight-inch balk, till the burr clover has ripened seed. This may 

 be after the cotton has been planted in the old cowpea row and worked 

 once or twice. When the burr clover has ripened seed, cut the old 

 cotton stalks to pieces with the stalk cutter; break out the old cotton 

 stalk row some six or eight inches deep with the "middle buster," and 

 plant cowpeas as was done the previous year. 



This method puts two leguminous crops on the land each year, one 

 in the summer, the other in the fall, winter and early spring. The sum- 

 mer crop concentrates the nitrogen in what will be the cotton row 

 next year while the winter crop broadcasts the nitrogen over the entire 

 field, and both, together with the leaves, stems, and roots of the cotton 

 plants, add large amounts of organic matter to the soil. This method 

 has been followed with great success in some of the Gulf States and 

 burr clover and cowpeas grow here as well as they grow there. 



Green manure may be safely plowed under more deeply on these soils 

 than on those of the piedmont section. This is because the soils when well 

 drained are more open and porous and the air penetrates more deeply. 

 We would expect the organisms that produce decay of vegetation to 

 work at a much greater depth in the Norfolk sandy loam than in the 

 Cecil clay loam for the obvious reason that water drains out of it 

 more quickly and the subsequent ventilation is better. 



Therefore, where green manuring crops are to be plowed under in the 

 spring preparatory to planting cotton, they should first be disced a 

 number of times to cut the vegetation and reduce it to rather small bits, 

 after which it should be plowed under not less than eight or ten inches 

 deep where the soil is well drained. Where drainage is sluggish, the 

 plowing should not be so deep since soil bacteria can not work at all in 

 Avater clogged soils, and after all it is principally to feed the soil bacteria 

 that we turn under the vegetable matter in these soils. 



In all these loose soils we need a deep soil stratum in order to con- 

 serve moisture. It is too well known to the farmers of this section that 

 the first three or five inches of these soils dry out rather rapidly during 

 the summer. This drying effect quickly kills the surface roots of what- 

 ever crop happens to be on the land and the plants must feed, frequently 

 in the midst of their development, from the deeper layers of soil in 

 which there may be, and frequently is, but little available plant food. 

 In these sandv soils, therefore, we want to develop a deep soil stratum, 



