FARM MANAGEMENT STUDY OF COTTON FARMS. 33 



is well known that soil, in order to be fertile, must contain a con- 

 siderable quantity of decaying vegetable matter (humus). The 

 farmers of Marlboro County have learned that after they have 

 forced the yield of cotton to a bale per acre, the stalks and leaves 

 of the cotton plant, if carefully returned to the soil, will keep it 

 sufficiently supplied with vegetable matter. When the yield is less 

 than a bale it is necessary to use more vegetable matter than this. 



The sandy loam soils of Marlboro County, S. C, are quite different 

 in character from the " black-waxy " soils of Ellis County, Tex., and 

 doubtless require different treatment. From what is known of the 

 black-waxy soils, it is probable that nitrogen is the only commercial 

 fertilizer that would do much good on them. Heretofore the cheapest 

 source of commercial nitrogen has been nitrate of soda. But this is 

 now very expensive. Fortunately, the farmer is in position to pro- 

 duce his own nitrogen. This he can do by growing legumes, either 

 for forage or as green manures. There are several legumes that can 

 be sown in cotton fields late in the season and plowed under in the 

 spring. Bur clover, crimson clover, and hairy vetch are examples. 

 It is not known how these crops would behave on the black-waxy 

 soils of Texas. It is believed, however, that they are worthy of trial 

 on a small scale as above suggested. Any of them that will grow 

 4 inches high in time to turn under in the spring will add enough 

 nitrogen to the soil to stimulate the growth of cotton very materially. 



Another method of getting nitrogen and vegetable matter into the 

 soil practiced extensively on a Georgia farm is as follows : Hairy 

 vetch is sown between the cotton rows at the last cultivation. No 

 further attention is paid to it until the time to plant cotton in the 

 spring. A middle-buster is then run in the middles between the 

 rows of old cotton stalks which are still standing. The dirt is then 

 thrown back to the middles and the new crop of cotton is planted. 

 It is cultivated sufficiently to keep the land clean near the new rows 

 until the vetch, which is still growing on the old stalks, has matured 

 to seed, the seed being allowed to fall to the ground for a new seeding. 

 The old rows are then run over with a stalk cutter, and these and the 

 vetch vines and seed are cultivated into the soil. The vetch seed 

 comes up about the time the new crop of cotton is laid by, and the 

 same process is repeated from year to year. 



After the yield of cotton has been brought up to a bale or more per 

 acre, it is probable that plowing under the cotton stalks and leaves 

 will keep the Ellis County soils sufficiently supplied with vegetable 

 matter to maintain good yields, especially if a little nitrate of soda 

 is used, and careful use is made of such manure and waste vegetable 

 matter as can be found about the farm. 



The records show that on those farms which grow some alfalfa the 

 cotton yields are higher than on others; but this can hardly be due 



