48 BULLETIN 320, IT. S. .DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Cantaloupes are largely grown, and at the last cultivation cowpeas 

 are sown broadcast over the entire field, furnishing shade for the 

 ripening melons. Later, crab-grass comes up among the pea vines, 

 and the mixture makes excellent hay. Practically no fruit is grown 

 and only enough truck crops other than cantaloupes are grown to 

 supply local demands. 



Most of the cultivated land is in intertilled crops, labor being 

 plentiful during the cultivation period. The cultivating is done with 

 1-horse implements (Table XXII). This is because more labor is 

 available than is necessary during the cultivating season, in order that 

 there may be enough available for picking cotton in the fall. 



Some time during the winter or spring the cotton and corn stalks 

 are chopped up with, a stalk cutter or disk harrow. 



Practically all the corn land is broken in the spring, mostly 

 with a 2-horse plow. A few farmers practice breaking in the fall 

 with a 2-horse plow and then rebreak in the spring with a 1-horse 

 plow. It is a common practice to break the land for corn by throw- 

 ing it up in beds the width the corn rows are to be apart. Occasion- 

 ally land is broken level and then bedded. After bedding, no further 

 preparation is given until planting time, and for preparation and 

 planting a modified form of the Williamson plan is used. The corn 

 is planted in the water furrow between the beds, but before planting 

 a 1-horse subsoiling plow is run in the bottom of this water furrow, 

 breaking the subsoil to a depth of 6 or 8 inches, and the corn is 

 planted in this furrow by hand or with a 1-horse planter. The 

 planting is always in drills about 5-| feet apart, with hills 1^ feet 

 apart in the drill and one or two stalks to the hill. 



Most of the farmers employ a modified form of the Williamson 

 plan of cultivation. After planting, the corn is allowed to stand for 

 three or four weeks before the first cultivation is given, in order to 

 stunt the growth of the young plants. This is supposed to give a 

 larger production of grain with a smaller stalk growth. To further 

 this process no fertilizer is applied at planting time, but after the 

 first cultivation some is applied at each cultivation, and during the 

 season 500 to 700 pounds per acre are applied. 



For the first cultivation one furrow is run on either side of the 

 row very close to the corn, with a 4-inch 1 -shovel plow going as deep 

 as one mule can pull it.. The middle is not plowed out at this culti- 

 A^ation. 



Usually for the second cultivation a furrow is opened with a lister 

 directly between the rows; then with a 1-horse turning plow all the 

 middle is plowed out, throwing the dirt to this furrow and away from 

 the corn. This usually takes six furrows with the turning plow. 



For the next cultivation the middle is plowed out with the turning 

 plow or sweep, throwing dirt to the corn. After this, practically all 



