18 The Bulletin. 



at least ten or twelve inches deep, by turning under deeply the vegetable 

 matter grown on the surface. We must be careful, however, to incorpo- 

 rate this vegetable matter uniformly throughout the whole soil stratum 

 as outlined for the piedmont soils, otherwise disastrous results may be 

 expected the first season, before the material has entered the state of 

 rapid decay, by the cutting off of the water supply from below. 



PLOWING. 



The need for deep fall plowing is evidently not so great for these 

 light soils as for the heavy soils of the piedmont section. The pulver- 

 izing effect of the Avinter freezes is not necessary as they are already 

 sufficiently loose, but the destruction of the eggs and larvae of certain 

 insect pests may occasionally be desirable and in this case fall plowing 

 should be resorted to. 



It must be borne in mind that much greater latitude may be taken in 

 the plowing and cultivation of these loose soils than the farmer would 

 dare take in the handling of heavy soils. Being loose and sandy they 

 may be plowed sooner after a rain without becoming puddled and 

 cloddy; they may be plowed deeper in the spring without detrimental 

 effect ; and more of the subsoil may be brought to the surface at one time 

 than should be turned up from heavy clayey subsoils. 



Green manures, such as cowpeas and soy beans should be plowed 

 under in the fall, unless they are used in connection with burr clover as 

 outlined above, while all winter legumes must be incorporated with the 

 soil some weeks before the cotton crop is planted in the spring. 



FERTILIZATION. 



In the early history of cotton growing in this State no artificial 

 manuring or fertilization was practiced. The bulk of the crop was 

 grown on new land, and when the new lands were "worn out," other 

 fields were cleared and put under the plow. Why should "new lands" be 

 preferred for the crop ? Fundamentally because they were always well 

 stocked with humus which rendered soluble the mineral matter of the 

 soil and thus developed an abundant food supply for the crop. This, 

 then, should give us the cue to the proper system of fertilizer application 

 to these soils. Organic matter first, then the necessary plant foods and 

 soil correctives. 



Curiously enough no extended experiments in the fertilization of these 

 soils for cotton growing have, as yet, been brought to any satisfactory 

 conclusion in any of the States. 



At the outset, however, we must bear in mind the difference in 

 origin of these soils from that of the soils in the piedmont section. The 

 soils in the latter section have moved but little, if any, from the parent 

 rocks from which they were derived. We say they were formed in place 

 or in situ, which indicates that most of the less soluble mineral matter 

 present in the original rocks still remains in the soil and subsoil. 



N'ow there are many different kinds of rocks in the piedmont and 

 mountain sections of the State, each extended area of which gives rise 

 to a distinct type of soil. But during the processes of soil formation a 



