FIBRE PLANTS 315 



other weeds, all plants but the few that are chosen 

 to make the crop. 



Next comes the cultivator, with the important 

 duty of stirring ,the surface soil, thus killing the 

 young weeds and grass. Unhappily, the ignorant 

 cotton-grower goes too deep and too close with his 

 one-horse plow, which cuts off side roots, and so 

 gives the plant a great backset. It is the same 

 plow he used in the preparation of the field for 

 the seed, and is utterly unfit for the tilling of a 

 growing crof>. Besides he must make two trips 

 to do a single row. 



It is a pathetic sight to see farmers damaging 

 their crop with labor that is so hard, when a tool 

 suited to the job would save half the effort and 

 double the yield of the land. 



Every week or ten days the cultivation of the 

 rows is needed to check the weeds and grass, and 

 to keep the soil moisture from being lost by evapo- 

 ration. The roots are gathering their food from 

 the soil moisture, and need all they can get. 



Rains by night and hot sunshine by day bring 

 the cotton plant up fast, send out side branches, 

 heavy with leaves, and on these branches the buds. 

 The flowers open, white or yellowish, and close at 

 nightfall. The second day they open and be- 

 come reddish. On the third day the blossoms fall, 



