14 COTTON CULTURE 



Bedding the Land. The foregoing suggestions in re- 

 gard to "preparation of the soil" refer only to the broad- 

 cast, preliminary breaking which will be necessary in 

 stiff soils or those covered with more or less trash, weeds, 

 grass, and the debris of the preceding crop. 



If the soil does not crumble readily, and the surface is 

 rough and uneven, it should be harrowed once or twice 

 before the time for putting in manures and fertilizers. 

 From two to three weeks before planting time the land 

 should be laid off in rows varying from three feet wide, 

 on land capable of producing less than one bale of 

 cotton, to three and a half to four feet and upwards, 

 on land capable of producing from one to two bales 

 per acre. 



The fertilizer, or manure, should be put in these furrows, 

 then the scooter-plow run in them to mix all together 

 and finally a broad list made by throwing two furrows, 

 back to back, on the center furrow. If these listing fur- 

 rows be made with a two-horse plow a very narrow balk 

 will be left to be split out just before, or immediately 

 after, planting the crop. 



THE WASHING OF SOILS 



To check the damage from washing as much as possible, 

 furrows and rows should run with the contour of the sur- 

 face around the hills, or at right angles to the line of the 

 greatest fall. The result is, that the furrow, or cotton, 

 row, crossing the line of the fall, offers an obstruction 

 to the flow of water down the hillside, and, by dimin- 



