102 AGRICULTURE 



losses and keep on raising cotton, the farmer must buy ferti- 

 lizers. 



He will tell you that his crop is subject to disease and insect 

 pests, nor is it strange that they breed in the fields where the plant 

 on which they feed grows year after year. The farmer will tell 

 you that he has trouble about labor, too. He cannot afford 

 to keep all the year as many laborers as he needs at certain times, 

 especially during the cotton-picking season, and it is difficult to 

 get them when needed. Probably he cannot tell you his exact 

 expenses, but he knows that they are heavy and his profits small. 

 In addition to paying laborers and buying fertilizers, often he has 

 to buy feed for his horses and mules; these must be kept all the 

 year, though they are not busy one fourth of the time. 



If you ask this farmer why he does not plant less land in cotton, 

 he looks at you in amazement. He answers that he would like 

 to plant more ; it is hard to get on as things are, and he could not 

 make expenses if he planted less. 



Let us see. 



Cotton in a Rotation. The farm adjoining this has the same 

 natural conditions, but luxuriant crops grow on its fertile soil. 

 One important element of its owner's success is his well-planned 

 rotation of crops. His tilled land is divided into three parts, 

 or * shifts,' as farmers call them. On one he plants cotton, on 

 one corn, on one cowpeas are drilled or sowed. These crops 

 require planting and cultivating at different times, and so there 

 is lighter and more constant work for man and team. Oats 

 are sowed after the cotton. The cowpeas are gathered and the 

 vines plowed under, or the vines are cut for hay and the stubble 

 is plowed under. In either case, the land is improved in ways 

 which are more fully explained on page 108. On this land is 

 seeded a winter-growing crop, such as rye or barley; this keeps 



