176 THE CHIEF SOUTHERN AGRICULTURAL CROPS 



the hill lands, where the cotton rows are so generally 

 made to follow the contour Imes, the following of the 

 old rows is always strictly adhered to, since it requires 

 a considerable amount of time and trouble to properly 

 lay off the rows in a new field. When planting time 

 arrives, which is somewhere from the first to the 

 last of April, according to the latitude, the beds are 

 freshened up by passing a plank drag or some similar 

 device over them, and a one-horse planter is driven 

 along the top of the ridge, planting the seed in a 

 continuous row, or drill. When the young plants are 

 about three inches high, the first cultivation is given. 

 In the hills, where the contour-line system is followed, 

 the implement used for cultivating is almost univer- 

 sally the heel sweep (see page 34). This is held 

 at such an angle that one wing of the sweep scrapes 

 the surface of the ridge, upon which the cotton is 

 growing. It is usually run about an inch below the 

 surface, and throws a little dirt toward the plant, 

 thus leaving a beneficial dust mulch ; and it is very 

 effective in killing young grass and weeds. An ex- 

 pert plowman will run one of these implements so 

 that the end of the sweep will almost touch the plant, 

 thus obviating the use of the hoe. It, however, works 

 only one side of the row, requiring two trips to each 

 row. On level land, where the rows can be laid 

 straight, a regular two-horse corn cultivator can be 

 used to great advantage in the cotton field, for as they 

 work both sides of the row only one trip is required. 

 On level lands, too, disk cultivators can be very 

 economically used for throwing up the beds on which 

 to plant. After the first cultivation, when the plants 



