16 . BULLETIN 511, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The cotton plant, on the other hand, has a deep taproot system, 

 with very few shallow surface roots. Extra cultivation therefore 

 does very little injury to the cotton roots, and the advantages of 

 cultivation, such as aerating the soil, liberating plant food, and con- 

 serving moisture, are all secured without detriment to the cotton 

 plant. 



GROUPS OF COTTON-GROWING AREAS. 



The areas in which cotton-tillage surveys were made may be 

 grouped into four divisions (Table IX) : (1) The Delta areas; (2) the 

 South Atlantic division; (3) the Intermediate areas; and (4) the 

 Southwestern division. 



The Delta area studies were made in Yazoo, Sharkey, and Wash- 

 ington Counties, Miss., and in Pemiscot County, Mo. 



In this division, especially in Mississippi, the farms are very 

 large and are operated by the tenant system. Usually the owner 

 lives in a near-by town or village and visits the farm only occasionally 

 to direct the work. A hired superintendent lives on the farm and 

 has direct control of it and the supervision of the tenants. 



The soils in the Delta areas are very fertile, and little commercial 

 fertihzer is used. Average crop yields are higher than in any other 

 area studied. More tillage after planting is given cotton in this area 

 than in the other regions surveyed. This is due largely to the fact 

 that many of the fields are infested with nut-grass, and to control it 

 extra tillage is required. 



The South Atlantic division is composed of North Carolina, South 

 Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Alabama. In this division eight sur- 

 veys were made. The farms are of medium size and are largely oper- 

 ated by the tenant system, but under the direct supervision of the own- 

 ers. The prevaiUng system is to furnish each tenant with a mule and 

 20 or 25 acres of land, the greater part of which is planted to cotton. 

 Cotton is the most profitable crop in this area, and one reason for a 

 1 -horse tenant system is that when each tenant has only a 1 -horse 

 crop he grows all the cotton he and his family can pick. With a 

 2-horse crop the tenant could not increase his cotton acreage because 

 of scarcity of labor for harvesting, so he would necessarily grow other 

 crops, such as corn or oats; consequently a larger percentage of the 

 land is cultivated in cotton by the 1 -horse tenant system, with a 

 relatively larger return for the landowner. 



Considering crop yields, land values in this division appear fairly 

 low; but in this connection the fact that large applications of com- 

 mercial fertilizers are required to produce such yields tends to alleviate 

 the apparent low price of land. Throughout this division the prevail- 

 ing soil type is the Norfolk sandy loam, but it grades into a clay loam 

 in those areas farther from the coast. 



