46 BULLETIN 511, U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



The principal crops gro\\'ii are cotton, corn, and oats. No defi- 

 nite rotations are practiced. About two-thirds of the land is in cot- 

 ton annually. Hardly enough corn is produced for home use. What 

 oats are produced are fed on the farm and often without thrashing. 

 Cowpeas, peanuts, sugar oane, sweet potatoes, fruit, and truck Crops 

 are grown for home use. Enough cattle and hogs are kept for home 

 use, but little is sold from the farm except cotton. 



In preparing a seed bed for cotton there are two general methods 

 employed. By the first method, which is largely employed, the old 

 cotton or corn stalks are plowed out with a 2-horse middle buster, 

 the fertilizer applied in this furrow, and a bed made on the fertilizer 

 with a 1 -horse turning plow. 



Sometimes the land is broken level, the rows laid off with a middle 

 buster or broad shovel, the fertilizer applied in this furrow with a 

 distributor, and a bed made on the fertilizer with a 1-horse turning 

 plow. Four furrows are required for each bed. This plowing is 

 done in the early spring. If the old cotton or corn stalks are rank 

 they are sometimes cut up with a stalk cutter before breaking the 

 land. 



At planting time, if the land is rough these beds are harrowed with 

 a spring-tooth harrow. Cotton is planted on the bed with a 1-horse 

 1-row planter. The rows average 3 J feet apart, and IJ bushels of 

 seed are planted per acre. After thinning, the stalks are left from 

 12 to 15 inches apart in the drill. 



For cultivating after planting, 1-horse implements are generally 

 employed. Just after the cotton comes up, often a spike-tooth 

 harrow is used, and later a 1-horse shovel plow with a sweep attached. 

 This implement throws the soil away from the cotton and leaves the 

 plants on a small ridge, giving the same effect as barring off with a 

 turning plow. Sometimes a turning plow is used for this cultiva- 

 tion. After the first cultivation the cotton is chopped to a stand. 

 For later cultivations the 1-horse sweep or scrape is used entirely. 

 At first 16-inch or 18-inch sweeps are used, and three furrows are 

 required for each row. For later cultivations longer sweeps are 

 used. During the season five or six cultivations are given and the 

 cotton is slightly ridged up during the cultivating. At the tliird or 

 fourth cultivation any extra cotton stalks or weeds are chopped 

 out with a hoe. No cover crops are grown and little stable .manure 

 is produced. Commercial fertilizer is used on every farm. The 

 average application per acre for cotton is 312 pounds. 



The principal varieties of cotton grown are Christopher, Kussell's 

 Big Boll, King's Improved, and Cook's Improved. 



The most prevalent and troublesome weeds are crab-grass, coffee 

 weed, cocklebur, Johnson grass, Bermuda grass, and nut-grass. 



