34 KNAPP METHOD OF GROWING COTTON 



The object of deep fall plowing is mainly to 

 increase the supply of available plant food and 

 the storage of moisture in the soil. The parti- 

 cles of the soil are separated by this tillage, 

 allowing frost to penetrate deeper and the air 

 and moisture to circulate freely, and the winter 

 rains are stored up for use in the spring and 

 early summer. When the subsoil is first 

 brought to the surface it is a dead inert mass, 

 and the soil particles must be acted on by the 

 oxygen of the air, the frost, and the rains to 

 make plant food available. Every farmer has 

 observed that when a ditch is dug and dirt is 

 thrown out from the bottom nothing will grow 

 on it for several months. The second year the 

 rankest growth is found on this soil. An 

 additional advantage of fall breaking is that 

 it destroys some injurious insects, which pass 

 the winter in the soil. Deep fall plowing is of 

 great value in fields long in cultivation where 

 the plant growth is medium or less. On very 

 rich, moist soils where there is too much avail- 

 able plant food for cotton, a condition that 

 makes an excessive growth of the stalk and a 

 consequent decrease in fruitage, it is best not 

 to do fall breaking. Such lands should be 



