392 THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



crop, neither those in which there is a large amount of undecom posed vegetable material. 

 Cotton has a long tapering root, which runs perpendicularly and deeply into the soil in the 

 early stages of its growth, and afterward sends out laterals, which furnish the small feeding 

 roots of the plant. It is thought by some that the crop is increased in regions that are 

 subject to frost, by decreasing the length of the root and thus increasing the laterals which 

 furnish the necessary plant-food, for hastening the growth and maturity of the crop. A good 

 authority says with reference to this subject : 



&quot; We have reason to think that the radical system of the annual cotton plant gains more 

 if we diminish the length of the tap root than if we increase it, and PS evidence of this we 

 offer the enormous crop produced on lands where the soil is very thin, but of excellent 

 quality. Such are those about Sierra Leone, where cotton is grown on a soil of a few inches 

 in thickness only, all beneath being solid, level rock. Here the tap root exists, as elsewhere, 

 but the moment it encounters the rock its growth is arrested, and thereafter the laterals push 

 out prodigiously, and gather nourishment enough to produce great yields of the staple.&quot; 



This peculiar structure of the plant explains the reason for its early maturity and enor 

 mous yield, on certain very thin soils, overlying a rocky or impenetrable subsoil; it also 

 shows the necessity of underdraining soils with a stiff clay subsoil that may be penetrated by 

 the root, as a surplus of moisture about the roots is very injurious to the crop. When this 

 cannot be conveniently done, open ditches may be the best remedy to avoid the evil. Where 

 neither can be accomplished, ridge culture with furrows for draining between the rows, 

 though not a very efficient mode, will prove to a certain extent beneficial. A proper system 

 of underdraining is to be recommended as preferable to all other means of removing surplus 

 water from lands, whatever the crop to be cultivated. 



Underdraining has not only a tendency to carry off the surplus water from the soil, but 

 permits it to remain sufficiently moist by the retention of the heavy dews, so common in the 

 cotton-growing section, and also renders the subsoil better fitted for the long roots to pene 

 trate it, thus obviating the evil effects of drought; hence, the cotton crop is greatly benefited 

 by it in both wet and dry seasons, having a tendency to promote a greater uniformity of 

 moisture, so essential to the perfect development of the plants. 



In upland sections, which may be badly washed by heavy rains, thus removing much of 

 the fertilizing elements of the manure that has been applied, planters often resort to what is 

 termed circle-ditching, or circle plowing, for the cotton crop. 



By this method, the lowest point is found for an outlet of the water. From this point 

 a ditch is made with a bank of earth firmly laid on the lower side to prevent washing. The 

 ditch is then made to gradually wind around the hill, maintaining a slightly uniform and 

 gradual descent. This ditch is usually made by plowing two or three furrows so as to lap 

 over each other, and then cleaning out the last one with a hoe or trench-plow. In plowing 

 such a field, the furrows should follow the curves of the ridge thus formed, never disturbing 

 it, and the cotton should also be planted in rows following the same direction. By this means, 

 manv of the upland sections that would otherwise be injured by the heavy rains, are made to 

 produce fine crops, and all evils from washing prevented. 



A rotation with other crops is essential to the most successful results in cotton produc 

 tion. Cotton for two years is often followed by corn, sweet potatoes, and wheat or oats. 

 Cotton followed by oats in January, where the climate will admit of it, followed by cow-peas 

 immediately after, a part of which may be cut for hay, and the remainder plowed under for 

 green manure, followed the next season with corn, and this crop again by cotton, is a very 

 good rotation for most soils. Corn, oats, potatoes, and cow-peas are generally considered by 

 planters to be the best- crops for a rotation with cotton. The plowing should be rather deep, 

 and the soil well pulverized, since the cotton-plant has a long root that penetrates down into 

 the earth quite a distance, sometimes into the subsoil. Care should, however, be observed in 



