206 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE 



begins to fruit, but that it should make its most rapid 

 growth during the first period, and attain nearly maxi- 

 mum size. Sea-island cotton requires 90 to 100 days 

 for the growing period, and 80 to 90 days for the 

 fruiting period. The early-maturing type represented in 

 Fig. 103 should require only about 70 days for the first 

 period. It is desirable that the vegetative period shall 

 be short and the fruiting period as long as possible. 



Warm, moist weather, with warm nights and gradu- 

 ally increasing heat, are desirable during the period of 

 growth. For the fruiting period, dry weather with oc- 

 casional showers is desirable. An excess of moisture in 

 the soil at this time will cause the stalk to grow too large 

 and retard the proper development of the bolls. 



194. Cotton Soils. Cotton develops best on a clay or 

 sandy loam soil, with a clay subsoil at a depth of about 

 two feet. On bottom land, enriched by occasional over- 

 flows, there is a tendency for the stalks to grow very 

 large, and they sometimes become so tough that they must 

 be chopped down with axes before the land can be cleared 

 and plowed for the succeeding crop. 



Good cotton land should be well drained, but sufficiently 

 retentive of moisture to insure the crop against injury 

 by drought. To increase the water-holding capacity of 

 the soil, there should be a higher percentage of organic 

 matter than is usually found in cotton fields. This can 

 be secured by planting peanuts or some bush variety of 

 cowpeas between the cotton rows, and plowing them under 

 with the cotton stalks after the cotton has been picked. 

 This is not yet a common practice. Bur clover grows well 

 in the southern states in the winter, and can be used as a 



