104 FUNDAMENTALS OF AGRICULTURE. 



crop is grown. If possible the rotation should always 

 include a legume. In the corn belt, corn, oats or 

 wheat and clover is a good rotation. In the south, 

 corn, cowpeas, or soy beans or other legumes with or 

 without a cereal ought to be considered. If the le- 

 gume can be fed on the land so much the better. 



EXERCISE. State the popular method of planting corn among your 

 people and state why this method is used. Bring a cornplant in 

 tassel to school and make a study of its roots, stalk, leaves, tassel, 

 etc. Do all stalks of corn produce ears? How many ears of corn 

 generally grow per stalk? If the rows of corn are planted 5 ft. 

 apart, the distance between the plants is 2 ft., and 115 ears shell a 

 bushel, what would be the yield if every stalk produced an ear? 

 Name the varieties of corn of your section. Bring ten ears of corn 

 to school and learn how to pick out the best ear. How would you 

 improve the yield of corn? State what corn is used for at your 

 home. 



SECTION XIX. COTTON. 



By PROF. W. R. DODSON, 



Dean of the College of Agriculture, La. State University and Director 

 of the La. Experiment Stations. 



Importance of the Crop. Cotton is the most im- 

 portant farm crop grown in the United States south 

 of the thirty-seventh parallel of latitude. No other 

 vegetable fiber is used throughout the world so exten- 

 sively or for such a diversity of purposes. The south- 

 ern states produce from ten to thirteen million bales of 

 500 pounds each, which is about three-fourths of the 

 world's supply of cotton, and the value approximates 

 three-quarters of a billion dollars annually. Nearly 

 two-thirds of the crop is exported and is our greatest 

 article of export. The value of the cotton and cotton- 

 seed products exported from the United States is 

 greater than twice the value of the exported packing 

 house products. It is greater than twice the value 

 of all the grain and grain products exported. It is 

 more than one-third of all the agricultural exports of 

 the United States including forest products. 



History. It is not known when and where cotton 

 was first used by mankind. Probably it is native to 



