UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



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BULLETIN No. 511 



Joint Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry, WM. A. *NoJ*/ 

 TAYLOR, Chief, and the Office of Farm Management, 



W. J. SPILLMAN, Chief 



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Washington, D. C. 



PROFESSIONAL PAPER 



March 31, 1917 



FARM PRACTICE IN THE CULTIVATION OF COTTONJ 



By H. R. Gates, 

 Scientific Assistant, Office of Forage-Crop Investigations. 



CONTENTS. 



I'age. 



Introduction 1 



General statements 3 



Subsoiling 4 



Drainage 5 



Tillage before plowing G 



Plowing 6 



Preparation after plowing 9 



Planting 10 



Normal averages of farm conditions 12 



The relation of crop rotations to crop yields. . 14 

 The relation of tillage and price of land to 



crop yields 15 



Groups of cotton-growing areas 16 



General farm practices and conditions 17 



Survey in Pemiscot Coimty, Mo 17 



Survey in the Mississippi Delta 21 



Survey in Robeson Coimty, N. C. 24 



Survey in Mecklenburg County, N. C 27 



General farm practices and conditions — Con. 



Survey in Barnwell County, S. C 29 



Sm^ey in Pike County, Ga 31 



Survey in Tift County, Ga 34 



Survey in Giles County, Term 3G 



Survey in Bulloch County, Ga 3S 



Survey in St. Francis Coimty, Ar'.c 40 



Survey in Ellis County, Tex 43 



Survey in Chambers Countj', Ala 45 



Survey in Johnston County, Okla 47 



Survey in Jefferson County, Fla 49 



Survey in Lincoln Parish, La. 51 



Survey in Lavaca County, Tex 53 



Survey in Houston County, Tex 55 



Survey in Monroe County, Miss 57 



Survey in Bexar County, Tex 59 



Summary 61 



INTRODUCTION. 



The data presented in this bulletin ^ represent the first step in a 

 comprehensive study of farm tillage practice in the cultivation of 

 cotton. In this study facts are presented as to what practices are 

 actually employed by the average farmer in the various regions of 

 the^ South, A study of tiiese practices and the conditions under 

 which they exist should be of value to cotton farmers and investi- 

 gators in all regions where cotton is grown. 



In collecting these data it was fomid necessary to take into con- 

 sideration many economic and even sociological factors which might 



1 This work was begun in the OfiBce of Farm Management in 1914 when that office was a dixision of the 

 Bureau of Plant Inddstry and has been continued in the OflEice of Forage-Crop Investigations of the same 

 bureau. 



2 Acknowledgment is due R. W. Pease for assistance rendered while collecting the data presented in 

 this publication. 



70799°— Bull. 511—17 1 



