FARM PRACTICE IN" THE CULTIVATION OP CORN. 61 



furrows. Three to six cultivations are usually given, depending 

 on the amount of rainfall and the weed growth. The white dent 

 varieties of corn are almost exclusively grown. 



Commercial fertilizer is extensively used for all crops, but little 

 stable manure is produced. Practically no cover crops are grown, 

 but winter weeds, principally life everlasting (cudweed) , often make 

 considerable growth during the fall and winter months, which make 

 winter cover crops not so necessary. 



The most prevalent weeds are life everlasting, Johnson grass, 

 purslane, cocklebur, and crab-grass. 



SURVEYS IN HOLMES COUNTY, MISS. 



The tillage records for Mississippi (Table XXIX) were taken in 

 Holmes County, mostly around Lexington. The upland soils are 

 of a silt-loam type, dark yellow in color, and from 6 to 10 inches 

 deep. The subsoil is of a heavier silt loam, containing more clay and 

 darker in color. Along the streams the bottom lands are much 

 heavier and more level land is found, but the uplands are very roll- 

 ing and erode easily. Practically none of the land is tile drained 

 and very few surface ditches are found. Only about one-half the 

 land is cultivated, and after a field has been depleted of its fertility 

 by continuous cropping and erosion it is abandoned and other land 

 cleared. 



Only a few of the roads have been macadamized, and hauling is 

 very difficult during bad weather. The land is mostly owned in large 

 tracts or plantations and is worked by negro tenants under the 

 supervision of the owner. The landowners have good houses and 

 appear prosperous, but the tenant houses and the lack of good out- 

 buildings detract from the prosperous appearance of the country. 



The principal crops grown are corn and cotton, with some oats for 

 hay. In the southwestern part of the county sugar cane is exten- 

 sively grown. Truck crops, especially strawberries and cabbage, are 

 much grown in the eastern part of the county and shipped to the 

 Chicago market. Near Lexington very little truck or fruit is grown. 

 Considerable land is in native grass, which furnishes pasture for a 

 good part of the year, and a few cattle and hogs are kept. It is a 

 common practice to sow cowpeas broadcast between the corn rows 

 at the last cultivation and after the corn is gathered pasture them 

 oil' with cattle and hogs. The principal money crop is cotton, but 



Since the, I, oil weevil has reached this section more corn and less cot- 

 ton are jri'own. \'o rotations are practiced, and the land is usually 

 l-'I'i in corn or cotton until the crop yields become so low that its 

 cult ivation is not profitable. 



