228 COTTON CULTURE 



method is the one most commonly used, the level-furrow method is 

 rapidly growing in favor. 



Date of Planting. In order to insure the longest possible 

 growing period for the crop, cotton should be planted as early as the 

 climatic restrictions of the locality will permit. The general rule is 

 to begin planting within two or three weeks after the average date of 

 the last killing frost. The following table by Shepperson gives the 

 approximate dates when cotton planting begins and ends in the 

 southern States: 



The Process of Planting. Cotton planting on a large or even a 

 moderate scale is done by a specially designed implement, the cotton- 

 planter, which opens the furrow, drops and covers the seed, all at one 

 trip. The ordinary planter seeds but a single row at once, but there 

 are other types which seed two rows, and still others, which having an 

 attachment for drilling fertilizers, perform at one operation the 

 processes of fertilizing and seeding. 



Quantity of Seed. Cotton is usually planted at the rate of 4 to 

 8 pecks of seed per acre, but of this amount only a relatively small 

 number actually develop into mature plants. If each cotton seed 

 of a bushel containing approximately 140,000 seeds were to become 

 a mature plant, there would 'be a sufficient number of plants to pro- 

 vide a stand for 15 or 16 acres. However, in order to secure a good 

 stand of the crop it is necessary to plant an excessive amount of 

 seed. Many of the seeds fail to germinate and a large number of 

 those which actually germinate do not survive, although there is 

 still left for the thinning process a far greater number of vigorous 

 young plants than are needed for a stand. 



Thinning or Chopping. The crop is thinned or " chopped " to 



