CHAPTER XX. 



CULTURE FROM SEED TO BOLL 



In the romance of cotton the climax is reached 

 in that scene which has to do with its culture. All 

 that has come before is concerned with stage set- 

 tings properly to introduce the chief actor, and 

 what follows in the disposition of the crop is but 

 the natural conclusion expected before the final 

 curtain falls. In this growing scene the seeds 

 awake from their sleep in the soil, the tiny two- 

 leaved plants peep through their surface screen 

 and come forth into sunlight and growth, now to 

 engage the attention of a vast army of men and 

 women through long months of watchfulness and 

 care. 



THE BED IS MADE 



Sometime before planting time the land is 

 "bedded up" as a final preparation for the seed. 

 This custom seems to be almost an universal 

 practice, wherever cotton is grown. While it 

 involves extra time and labor, its warming influence 

 on the soil, especially in cool or wet weather, 

 is sufficiently helpful to modify any objection to 

 the practice. 



The plan of bedding up is this: the row is 

 opened and in it the manure is placed (or if a 

 fertilizer drill is used, the work is done by a single 

 operation) ; then the plow is run back and forth, 



(153) 



