16 



BULLETIN 651, U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



The preparation of the land and the cultivation of the crops are 

 other factors affecting yields. These depend on the labor devoted to 

 tillage and the quality of the work. Labor used is frequently an 

 individual problem or a matter of judgment. The amount of work 

 that can profitably be done in preparing land for planting and in 

 cultivating crops varies with the condition of the land, the prevalence 

 and kinds of weeds present, the earliness or lateness of the season, 

 the rainfall, etc. For this reason any study based on the labor 

 devoted to tillage per acre may be misleading. It may be noted, 

 however, that the farmers who used above the average amount of 

 man labor and mule labor, both in preparing the land and in culti- 

 vating the crop, produced the most cotton and corn per acre. 



The quality of the tillage depends upon both the character of the 

 implements used and the efficiency of the men and mules operating 

 them. A careful man with a strong mule may do better work with 

 a one-horse plow than an inefficient man using two small mules and 

 a two-horse turnplow. On the whole, however, farmers using good 

 implements and good work stock made the best yields, even where 

 the same amount of fertilizer was used. More improvement can be 

 made by increasing the quality of the tillage than by increasing the 

 labor devoted to it. It is not possible, however, to increase the 

 yields in this region as much by improving the tillage as by increas- 

 ing the application of fertilizers and by growing more legumes. 



Live stock, because the number kept is small, does not have a 

 marked effect on yields in this area. On the farms that keep the 

 most stock, however, there is a tendency to devote the poorer grades 

 of land to pasture and to plant more cowpeas. This leaves a better 

 grade of land for crops, winch, with the improvement from the 

 pasture and cowpeas upon the poorer land and the manure from the 

 live stock for the crop, gives better yields than are made on the 

 average farms. 



The variety of seed planted also has a direct bearing on yields. 

 Farmers who planted Cook and Cleveland Big Boll cotton (see 

 Table XI) obtained the best yields. Marlboro Prolific was the best- 

 yielding variety of corn. It is noticeable that the farmers who take 

 an interest in the kind of seed they plant are the ones who make 

 the best crops. Farmers whose interest in the seed is so little they 

 do not know the variety they plant are the ones who have the poorest 

 yields. 



Table XI. — Varieties and yields of cotton and corn. 



Variety ot cotton. 



Number 

 of farms. 



Yield of 

 net lint 

 per acre. 



Variety 01 corn. 



Number 

 of farms. 



Yield per 

 acre. 



Cook 



Cleveland Big Boll 



Not specified 



Christopher 



Pounds. 

 248 

 242 

 230 

 228 



Marlboro Prolific. 

 Not specified 



Bushels. 

 19.9 

 16.3 



