142 



FARM CROPS 



by cotton in this way would be kept in the South, 

 instead of being sent west for meat and feed. 



Best Kind of Cultivation. Make a stand for 

 good seed. And what is also quite to the point, 

 select your own seed. Give the crop better care. 

 Begin the cultivation early. 

 Start with the weeder or 

 fine-tooth harrow. I have seen 

 much cotton and I have grown 

 some myself where a hand hoe 

 was never used. Some will 

 hesitate at the start to elim- 

 inate the hand hoe. The 

 doubting ones can continue to 

 use the hoe, but let it be after 

 the fine-tooth harrow has gone 

 along the rows tearing grass 

 and weeds and thinning out 

 some of the stalks ; for the 

 finishing touches the hoe can 

 then be used. The harrow in 

 the early stages will also put 

 the soil in excellent condition. 

 It will warm the land, much to 

 the pleasure of the cotton 

 plant; and the millions and 

 millions of grass seeds that lie at the top, sprout- 

 ing or just ready to sprout, will be destroyed. 



Then, too, better care must be taken of the bales. 

 While the moisture they may take up when exposed 

 to all kinds of weather tends to increase the weight, 

 it is fictitious and does not represent value ; it is 

 also a dishonorable way to get something for noth- 

 ing; and to say that others do it is not to meet the 

 question face to face. On the one hand, while a 



COTTON BOLL 



The house of seed 

 and lint. In it are 

 from three to five 

 or more cells in 

 which are lodged the 

 commercial products. 

 The size, shape and 

 general appearance of 

 cotton bolls are char- 

 acteristic of each par- 

 ticular variety. 



