60 



BULLETIN 320, IT. S. DEPABTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 



Fig. 37. — A 1-horse 1-shovel plow with 

 cotton sweep attached, used to cultivate 

 corn in tbe Southern States. At the top 

 is a broad shovel or solid sweep ; below, 

 a narrow shovel, used in making furrows 

 for planting. 



planted between the corn rows at the last cultivation. These are 

 either harvested or pastured by cattle and hogs after the corn is 

 gathered. By this means a few cattle and hogs are grown. A good 

 part of the land is pasture, but the native grasses afford poor grazing. 

 Little fruit or truck is grown, and the farm income is principally 

 from cotton. 



Under the tenant s}^stem here each tenant is usually given one 



mule and as much land as this 

 mule can cultivate, so that prac- 

 tically all the cultivation is with 

 1-horse implements. In break- 

 ing the land for corn, sometimes 

 an extra mule is furnished and 

 the land is broken with a 2-horse 

 plow, but the general practice is 

 to break the land with a 1-horse 

 plow, and instead of flat break- 

 ing it is thrown into ridges or 

 beds the width apart the corn 

 rows are to be. Sometimes a narrow strip of land is left between 

 these ridges. This strip is plowed out with a 1-shovel plow (fig. 37) 

 running very deep, and the corn is then planted in the furrow. 



A few farmers break the land level and then lay off the rows with 

 a double moldboard plow known as a lister, or middle buster, which 

 throws the dirt to each side and leaves a broad, deep furrow. The 

 corn is planted in the bottom of this furrow. After plowing, the 

 land is usually given no further 

 preparation before planting. 



The corn is planted in drills 

 from 5 to 6 feet apart, with one 

 or two stalks every 2 feet in the 

 drill, and either between beds or 

 in the bottom of a furrow. After 

 the corn is up, a 1-horse spike- 

 tooth cultivator (fig. 38) is often FlG 

 used for the first cultivation, but 

 more often a 1-horse turning plow 

 or a 1-horse 1-shovel plow, known as a bull tongue, is used. One 

 furrow is run on either side of the row, throwing the dirt toward the 

 middle of the row and away from the corn, leaving' the corn on a 

 narrow ridge. Later, the middle is plowed out with the turning 

 plow, throwing the dirt toward the corn. This cultivation tears down 

 the ridge and leaves the land almost level. After this, the cultivating 

 is done with broad sweeps covering all the middle with three or. four 



—A 1-horse spike-tooth cultivator, 

 or side harrow, used in the rolling areas 

 of Alabama and Mississippi. 



