20 The Bulletin. 



PREPARATION OF THE SEED BED 



PIEDMONT SECTION. 



As previously noted in this paper it is not wise to sanction any system 

 of cotton farming that does not include the incorporation of liberal 

 amounts of organic matter in the soil. This organic matter may come 

 either from summer legumes combined with the stems and leaves of the 

 old cotton stalks cut fine and plowed under in the fall, or from some of 

 the winter legumes and noulegiiminous crops, such as crimson clover, 

 vetch, and rye, so-mi in the fall, together with the old cotton stalks, cut 

 fine and incorporated with the soil in the early spring. 



In view of this system, shall the land be plowed in the fall or in the 

 spring? If cotton follows cotton, which is generally a bad practice, the 

 land, it is evident, can not be fall plowed, and must be plowed in the 

 spring or early winter. If cotton follows a pea stubble or peas turned 

 under, which is much better, as a rule, the land may be, and should be, 

 plowed deep in the fall and receive a winter cover crop of rye or crimson 

 clover, to be cut fine Avith the disc harrow and plowed under six to eight 

 inches deep in the spring, some ten or fifteen days before planting. 



RIDGE OR LEVEL CULTURE? 



Some speculation has been indulged in by the friends of cotton wlion 

 the question of ridge or level cultivation has come up for decision. One 

 will say the cotton plant owes its tap root to the fact that it has for 

 decades been growm on a ridge and forced to send its roots downward 

 instead of laterally in quest of food. But we recall that the farmer 

 who grows his cotton by the ridge method grows his corn by the ridge 

 method also. Another says it is a typical tap rooted plant, but years of 

 poor treatment have so reduced its vitality that it is subject to all sorts 

 of diseases and insect pests. We recall, however, that various other 

 crops, many of which have received first rate treatment, are still subject 

 to disease and the attacks of various insects. 



But which shall be used, level or ridge cultivation? From whatever 

 cause, we know that cotton always sends a tap root down deep into the 

 subsoil in quest of moisture, but in addition to this tap root there are 

 numerous fibrous roots running out in every direction in quest of food 

 and drink. 



We stated above that the elaboration of plant foods was largely con- 

 fined to that part of the soil stratum lying between three and ten inches, 

 hence it is easy to see why these fibrous roots should seek those soil 

 layers near the surface, since it is here that the richest feeding ground is 

 found. Here the soil bacteria are at work; here the great bulk of 

 soluble fertilizers recently applied are found; and here it is that every 

 operation looking to the warming, fining, and sanitation of the soil, is 

 performed. We may, it is true, attempt to confine our fertilizer appli- 

 cation to a narrow furrow, over which we make a ridge, but the rains 

 will eventuallv carrv much of it in solution out from the ridge into the 



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