138 THE HANDBOOK FOR PRACTICAL FARMERS 



with good results and will probably be used more and more in 

 the future. It is very necessary to hoe the crop at least once so 

 as to be sure to get all of the weeds that are left by the culti- 

 vators. The hand work necessary in the production of cotton 

 makes it a rather expensive crojD. 



Through most of the cotton belt fertilizers are found essential. 

 A fairly high i)ercentage of the mineral fertilizers with a low 

 percentage of nitrogen is the usual combination. Fertilizer is 

 usually applied in the row wath the cotton, and often a second 

 application is applied at the side of the cotton row later in the 



i 



Fig. 50. — Diversified farming. Cotton crop in the foreground. 



season, although on the majority of the soil types there seems 

 to be very little difference in the yield by applying all the fer- 

 tilizers at one time as compared Avith dividing it. 



Much of the cotton belt practices continuous cotton cultiva- 

 tion, although in many cases a rotation has been used. For 

 many years a standard rotation Avas cotton, corn, small grain 

 and cowpeas. Since the advent of the velvet bean and the boll 

 weevil, and the necessity thereby of turning under the cotton 

 stalks, the rotation has been changed to corn and velvet beans, 

 cotton and small grain. From data at hand at this time it would 

 seem that the small grain does better after cotton than it does 

 after corn. 



With the advent of the boll weevil many changes in cotton 

 production have been brought about. First, a rotation is more 



