COTTON CULTURE 17 



follow each other in succession, but it is an unnecessary 

 waste of fertility, besides an injury to the physical condi- 

 tion of the soil. 



The common practice in the South has been to grow 

 cotton continuously, with small tracts in corn for feeding 

 work-stock on the farm. Then the corn acreage is put into 

 cotton the following year. Under usual conditions it would 

 not be profitable to grow tracts of corn of such size that 

 the whole plantation would alternately be in corn or cot- 

 ton, or, each year half cotton and half corn. Corn is 

 rarely profitable as a sale crop in the South, hence good 

 planting would restrict the corn acreage to such tracts as 

 will about supply the needs of the farm or plantation. 



It is entirely practicable to so diversify farm practice 

 as to provide for the home consumption of much larger 

 food crops. This necessitates the breeding and fattening 

 of beef cattle, the production of milk and butter, the breed- 

 ing of horses and mules, swine for pork and bacon, sheep 

 for mutton, and poultry and eggs for the table and for 

 market. Such a course would call for a larger production 

 of field crops for food purposes and at the same time 

 afford a wider field for rotation, a larger product of animal 

 manures, and the more rapid restoration and permanent 

 improvement of the soil. 



Under such a system small grain and hay would become 

 a more valuable addition to food resources. The plan 

 would permit of a comparatively equal division of the 

 crop area on most farms between cotton, Indian corn, 

 small grain, cow-peas, etc. 



