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



for the level land. The soil is mostly sandy loam with a clay subsoil, 

 but some clay loam is fomid. 



The farms are of good size, averaging 241 acres. Each farm is 

 usually worked by the owner or by a tenant who is supervised by the 

 landowner. Most of the labor is performed by negroes or Mexicans. 

 No definite rotations are practiced. The principal crops grown are 

 cotton and corn. Oats are grown on many farms and cut for hay 

 wliile the grain is in the dough stage. Cowpeas and peanuts are often 

 planted between the com rows and pastured by cattle and hogs. 

 Sweet potatoes and truck crops are grown for home use on almost 

 every farm. Some fruit is produced for home supply and for local 

 markets. Cattle and hogs are grown for home use and a few cattle 

 are sold. Only enough com is raised to feed the farm cattle, and 

 the farm income is derived almost entirely from the sale of cotton. 



Cotton is usually planted on land which was in com or cotton the 

 previous year. In preparing the seed bed for cotton the old cotton 

 or com stalks are broken up with a stalk cutter or disk harrow during 

 the late fall or winter. Then, in the early spring the land is plowed 

 with a 2-horse turning plow or middle buster and as broken is thrown 

 into beds the desired width apart for the cotton rows. Before plant- 

 ing, the land is rebedded with a turning plow and the beds harrowed 

 with a spike-tooth harrow. Where commercial fertilizer is used, it is 

 applied in the water furrow before rebedding and the land bedded 

 on the fertilizer. 



Cotton is planted on the bed with a l-horse 1-row planter. The 

 rows average 3 J feet apart, and 3 pecks of seed are planted per acre. 

 After thinning, the stalks are left from 12 to 15 inches apart in the drill. 



In cultivating, both l-horse and 2-horse implements are used. The 

 first cultivation is usually given with a spring-tooth cultivator, either 

 l-horse or 2-horse, and often this implement is used for the second 

 cultivation. For aU cultivations after this, sweeps are used. About 

 half the farmers use l-horse sweeps, putting three furrows to the row, 

 and about half use 2-horse cultivators equipped with sweeps instead 

 of shovels. These 2-horse cultivators are equipped with four small 

 sweeps or with only two large sweeps. During the season four or five 

 cultivations are given. 



The cotton is chopped to a stand after the first cultivation and again 

 gone over with the hoe at the third cultivation for a second thinning 

 and to chop out weeds. 



No cover crops are grown and little stable manure is produced. 

 About half the farmers use commercial fertilizer. The average appU- 

 cation per acre is 202 pounds. 



The principal varieties of cotton are Mebane and Rowden. The 

 most troublesome and prevalent weeds are crab-grass, Johnson grass, 

 cocklebur, careless weed, and Bermuda grass. 



