While the season is a material factor in the production of cotton, 



the production depends larjxely upon the character of the seed-bed, 



the amount and proportions of the fertility in the soil, the seed and 



cultivation. 



The Seed-Bed 



The seed-bed should be deep, thoroughly pulverized and fairly com- 

 pact. While the cotton plant requires a great deal of moisture during 

 the growing period, if it exists in the seed-bed or in the upper stratum 

 of the soil to such an extent that the air spaces between the particles 

 of soil are clogged, thereby hindering the free circulation of atmos- 

 pheric oxygen, the plant, will either perish or be deficient. The water 

 should be stored in the deeper subsoils and should be carried to the 

 cotton roots by capillary attraction. Cotton ground should be drained. 

 Drain tile accomplishes three very important things. 



1. They carry off superfluous water. 



2. They admit atmospheric oxygen, an element which is necessary 

 to maintain soil micro-organisms. 



3. They influence the temperature of the soil. 



It has been fully demonstrated that drained ground in the south is 

 several degrees warmer in the spring than undrained ground. This is 

 a matter of great importance to the cotton grower. If he can plant 

 his cotton ten days or two weeks earlier in the spring, he, in a measure, 

 defeats pests and his crop matures before the early frosts. If the 

 ground is thoroughly drained after a heavy rain the surplus water 

 which cannot be stored in the subsoils will be carried away thereby 

 permitting the planter to plant and cultivate his soil, whereas, if he 

 is obliged to wait until the water soaks into the ground and the seed 

 bed dries, the weeds are apt to make him a great deal of additional 

 work. The writer has seen a splendid stand of cotton abandoned be- 

 cause of a two weeks' growth of weeds and grass. 



The seed-bed should be deep in order that the plant roots will have 

 an abundance of room. Two often a cotton crop will be deficient, 

 not because of an unfavorable season nor because of a lack of plant 

 food but because the seed-bed is not more than three or four inches 

 deep and a hard-pan exists which prevents the plant roots from pene- 

 trating to the deeper subsoils. 



Fertility 



Cotton requires nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, lime and some of 

 the minor inorganic elements. It is not enough to have an abundance 

 of any one of the elements mentioned and a deficient amount of another, 

 but all the elements must exist in sufficient quantities so that the plant 

 can secure a full balanced ration. It is ridiculous to presume to pre- 

 scribe a complete fertilizer which will meet all of the requirements of 

 cotton under all conditions. The planter should either determine by 



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