1 84 THE ESSENTIALS OF AGRICULTURE 



phosphorus or 16 per cent phosphoric acid, applied at the rate 

 of four hundred pounds per acre, either before planting or 

 during cultivation, gives good results where cotton has not been 

 preceded by cowpeas. More phosphate and less meal, or simply 

 less meal, is used if the crop follows cowpeas or clover. Where 

 a rotation is practiced, with cowpeas and some kind of clover, it 

 is not necessary to purchase much nitrogen in the form of com- 

 mercial fertilizer. Potash is desirable in some localities, and is 

 generally supplied in the form of kainite, in sufficient quantity to 

 have the fertilizer contain 2 per cent of potash. 



232. Planting and cultivating. The best results are obtained 

 when the land is well prepared in time to allow the soil to be- 

 come well compacted before the seed is planted. With tenant 

 farmers and with a large percentage of the land owners the 

 practice is to "split the middles" of the former rows either with 

 a double moldboard or with two furrows of a single plow, then 

 distribute the fertilizer and turn back the soil with the four fur- 

 rows, then harrow and plant. Under the best system now recom- 

 mended, cultivation of the crop begins with a thorough harrowing 

 before the cotton is up, and the subsequent use of surface culti- 

 vation as often as once a week if possible. When the land is 

 inclined to run together, the row may be barred off l when the 

 plants are from one to three inches high. The crop is thinned 

 to one or two plants in a hill, the hills being twelve or fifteen 

 inches apart in poor land and farther apart in richer lands. The 

 dirt is worked back with a disk cultivator or with small shovels. 

 The one-horse implement is very extensively used, and an 

 expert may accomplish nearly any desired result with a "heel 

 sweep " and a harrow. A second thinning is generally prac- 

 ticed, leaving only one stalk in a hill. This is done when the 

 plants are safe from injury from cutworms and cold weather. 

 When the soil is in good condition, barring off is not necessary, 

 though it may lessen to some extent the work to be done with 

 the hoe. The crop should be cultivated often enough to keep 

 down the weeds and grass. 



1 The soil thrown from the plants with a turning plow. 



