28 KNAPP METHOD OF GROWING COTTON 



The most satisfactory of all lands for cotton, 

 taking it through a long series of years, is a 

 medium sandy loam with a clay subsoil. The 

 nearest approach to ideal conditions can be 

 maintained on such soil in all seasons. The 

 plant growth in a normal year will neither 

 be too rank nor too small. There is a com- 

 paratively small percentage of typical loam soils 

 now in cultivation. Some of the best of these 

 have been cropped with cotton so continu- 

 ously that much of the plant food has been 

 exhausted and leached out. 



The per cent, of sand or clay in soils has an 

 important bearing on both their mechanical 

 texture and production. The texture of the 

 soil means more to the average farmer than its 

 chemical composition. Long experience and 

 practice have taught him to determine the best 

 cotton lands from observing the native growth 

 and the texture of the soil, rather than from 

 chemical knowledge of its contents. The tenant 

 farmer soon learns the fields that are best suited 

 to the crop, and this accounts largely for their 

 continuous cropping in cotton. 



About 50 per cent, of all space in soils is 

 occupied by air and water. Sandy soils are 



