198 SUCCESSFUL FARMING 



leaching if plowed early. All fall-plowed lands, especially if they are 

 sandy or subject to erosion, should have some winter cover crop like crimson 

 clover or grain so that their roots may take up the plant food as fast as it 

 becomes available and prevent washing of the surface. In the early spring 

 the cover crop is plowed under in the final preparation for planting. In a 

 large measure the date of the first plowing should be governed by the labor 

 on hand, the amount of litter and stiffness of soil. 



Seed-Bed. Land that was plowed broadcast in the winter or early 

 spring is marked off in rows by a furrow that receives the fertilizer. Where 

 cotton follows cotton without any previous plowing, as is too often the 

 practice in a large part of the cotton belt, a furrow with a middle-buster 

 is run in the row of old stalks or in the middle of the previous rows, and the 



TURNING UNDER CRIMSON CLOVER FOR COTTON. 



fertilizer is distributed in this open furrow with a one-horse machine that 

 has a shovel-plow to mix soil and fertilizer together. By throwing over 

 the fertilizer four or five furrows with a turning plow, a bed or ridge is 

 formed four or five inches high and two feet wide. When no fertilizer is 

 used, many farmers omit even the center furrow and "list" or bed without 

 running the center furrow as a preparation for the row. 



Planting. Just before planting a drag or spring-tooth harrow is 

 drawn across the beds or lengthwise to smooth them down and freshen the 

 surface. On well-drained land some farmers are discarding the high beds 

 and planting on a level surface. In the western" part of the cotton belt, 

 where the rainfall is below twenty-two inches, much planting is done in a 

 water-furrow made with a two-horse lister. 



In the southern part of the cotton belt, planting begins in March and is 

 usually completed in the northern part of the cotton belt by the end of May. 



