FOR BETTER CROPS IN THE SOUTH 



41 



The Race Begins— A majority of the wintered-over weevils 

 are out of winter quarters by the time the cotton begins to set 

 squares. A race that means much and a race that is watched 

 by all the world then begins. The cotton runs the race of its 

 life to set squares faster than the weevils can multiply and 

 puncture them. If the land is warm, quick-making, thoroughly 

 pulverized and fertilized with from three to eight hundred 



A disk harrow cultivating cotton 



pounds per acre, the seed an early, rapid-fruiting, prolific varie- 

 ty, the crop given intensive, shallow cultivation until the cotton 

 begins to open— the cotton goes out under the wire far in the 

 lead with from one-half to a bale per acre. If the land is " late ' ' 

 broken into clods, very little fertilizer applied, the seed a late, 

 slow-making variety, the cultivation slow and deep, the weevils 

 will soon destroy all the squares, and then destroy all the bolls. 



