The Bulletin. 51 



COMMENTS ON DISTANCE TEST OF COTTON. 



The average results of the distance tests conducted at the Edge- 

 combe and Kcd Springs farms during the past four years indicate 

 that the best distancing of cotton for the Edgecombe section is some- 

 where about 3 1/2 feet by 16 inches, while at Red Springs it centers 

 closely around 4 feet by 16 inches. As the average of three years' tests 

 at the Iredell farm the best distancing was 4 feet by 24 inches. 



The general deductions above should be accepted tentatively, as 

 here, as with other tests, it will require a number of repetitions to 

 arrive at a fair idea of the best width of rows and distance in rows 

 for planting cotton on the types of soils on which these tests were 

 made. 



The plats at the three farms were arranged in lateral series, with 

 each test occupying from two to six rows. 



As the results of this test are likely to vary somewhat with differ- 

 ent varieties, Culpepper's Improved seed were used at Red Springs, 

 Russell's Big Boll at Edgecombe, and King's Improved" at Iredell. 



In Table XIII is presented a summaiy of four years' tests at 

 Edgecombe and at Red Springs, and three at Iredell. 



III.- Fertilization and Cultivation of Corn and Cotton. 



CORN. 



Culture. — It unquestionably pays well to thoroughly break and 

 broadcast-harrow land for corn. Using a two-horse plow and run- 

 ning it 8 to 10 inches deep, and afterwards harrowing with large 

 smoothing harrow, puts the land in nice condition. It is also well to 

 run a small-tooth harrow or weeder across corn rows about the time 

 the plants are coming up, and even after they are several inches high, 

 slanting the teeth of the harrow backward. Harrowing in this way 

 saves after-cultivation, and is a quick and comparatively inexpensive 

 way of getting over the land. The land being thoroughly broken 

 before the corn is put in the ground, only shallow, level cultivation 

 with some one of the considerable number of good cultivators need be 

 given the crop during the growing season. The one-horse cultivators 

 cover corn rows in two or three furrows, and the two-horse ones at a 

 single trip. The cultivations should be frequent — about every ten 

 to twelve days — and if possible just after rains, so as to break any 

 crust formed by showers, leaving a dust mulch to retard the loss of 

 moisture added to the soil by previous rains. Toward the end of the 

 gTowing season the cultivators should only be run one to one and a 

 half inches deep, so as to disturb as little as possible the roots of the 

 plants, which, by that time, are well into the middle of the rows. 



Fertilizers for Corn. — The experimental Avork on the sandy soils 

 of the east, reports of which have been made previously, has pro- 



* Culpepper Improved was used in the test of 1903. 



