286 HUMAN FACTORS IN COTTON CULTURE 



Sam McCall decided to remain as a tenant on the planta- 

 tion of his former owner in Alabama. Being thrifty, a hard 

 worker, and a good manager he saved what he earned and was 

 soon able to make a payment on 40 acres of land. He thus 

 started farming for himself, and later added to his purchase 

 until he owned 163 acres. He became a one-horse farmer in a 

 section where the land was so grown up with brush and cut 

 with gullies that the exhausted soils had been abandoned by 

 the so-called better class farmers. 



After growing cotton and corn for 15 years by the ac- 

 cepted methods on as much of his land as was tillable, 

 McCall decided to intensify and diversify his farming. He se- 

 lected his two most fertile acres and worked out the following 

 method of farming: Oats were grown, harvested, and the 

 stubble plowed under. Immediately afterwards he planted 

 corn, and in April he planted cotton between the corn rows. 

 Cowpeas were then planted between the hills of corn. As 

 .soon as the ears of corn were established he cut off the tops 

 above the ears to let light in on the cotton. As soon as the 

 corn was matured he removed the stalks, thus giving the cot- 

 ton full possession of the ground during the latter part of 

 the summer. In one year one of these acres yielded 75 bushels 

 of winter oats and three bales of cotton. The other acre 

 yielded three crops, one bale of cotton, 50 bushels of corn, 

 and 50 bushels of oats. He increased the fertility of the soil 

 without the use of fertilizer by plowing under cowpeas, oat 

 stubble, and corn stalks. 



By selecting the seed from the best plants he developed 

 a high yielding strain of cotton, known locally as the Sam 

 McCall cotton which he sold at fancy prices. He soon found 

 that his best plants were producing a pound or more of lint 

 apiece, and he figured that with a perfect stand of plants 

 he could produce nine bales of cotton on one acre. He has 

 secured at one time as high as seven bales on the two acres. 

 One year he succeeded in growing a 500 pound bale on a 

 measured one-eighth acre which produced a perfect stand of 



