FARM PRACTICE IN THE CULTTVATIOlSr OF COTTON". 



19 



but few cattle are raised. Not enough fruit and truck is produced to 

 supply the local markets. 



The tillage methods employed with cotton combine features of 

 both the corn and the cotton belts, in that the heavy teams of the 

 corn belt are employed, with the type of implements and methods 



^^Mi 







M 



1 





1 



^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Hl^^^^ 



^^P 







H 







H 







1 



i 

 1 



1 







Fig. 8. — ^Harrowing a field before plowing the land for cotton. In many parts of the cotton belt a disk 

 harrow is used to cut up the old cotton stalks before plowing the land. 



found in the cotton belt. In preparing the land the old cotton and 

 corn stalks are cut up with a stalk cutter or disk harrow before plow- 

 ing. (Fig. 8.) The land is then broken with a 2-horse or 3-horse plow. 

 About half the land is broken level. Later it is harrowed with a spike- 

 tooth harrow and bedded with a middle buster, or lister. These beds 



are slightly leveled off with a log 

 drag and the cotton planted on 

 the bed. About half thef armers 

 bed the land as it is broken. 

 This is done with a lister or 

 with a turning plow. The beds 

 are harrowed with a spike-tooth 

 harrow (fig. 9) and then leveled off with a log drag before planting 

 the cotton. Cotton is always planted on a shght bed and either a 

 1-horse 1-row or 2-horse 2-row planter is used. The rows average 3 J 

 feet apart, and about a bushel of seed is planted per acre. After 

 chopping, the stalks are left from 15 to 20 inches apart in the drill. 

 The cultivating after planting is largely by means of 2-horse imple- 

 ments. The first cultivation is given with a 2-horse 1-row cultivator 



Pig. 9. — A spike-tooth harrow, well adapted for pre- 

 paring a seed bed on any type of soil. 



