350 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 



planter that places the seed in a narrow drill or in hills 

 requires less; and still less is required when planting is 

 done by dropping the seed by hand in separate hills. 



On stiff land, it is regarded as advantageous to have a 

 thick stand of plants, so that the combined strength of 

 the young plants may be exerted to break through the 

 surface crust, which might be too strong for a single 

 plantlet. On the other hand, the presence of only one 

 seed in a place greatly reduces the labor of chopping or 

 thinning cotton. 



324. Broadcast tillage. — One change which should be 

 made in cotton culture is the introduction of broadcast 

 tillage; that is, of cultivation or tillage across the rows by 

 means of weeders (Fig. 86) or of light, spike-tooth, adjust- 

 able harrows (Fig. 85). This kind of tillage permits a 

 larger area to be covered in a day's work of man and team 

 than does any other kind of cultivation. It has the double 

 object of breaking the surface crust before this has become 

 very thick and hard, and of destroying weeds and grass 

 while they are extremely small or merely sprouting. One 

 horse drawing a weeder, or a double team drawing a light, 

 spike-tooth harrow, may cultivate ten or more acres in a day. 



As soon as a crust begins to form, there is need for the 

 use of a weeder or Hght harrow at the following stages in 

 the cultivation of cotton : — 



(1) A few days or weeks before planting, in order to 

 break the crust and save the moisture for the germination 

 of the seed soon to be planted. 



(2) Following a rain occurring soon after planting, which 

 otherwise would leave too dense a crust to be easily broken 

 by the young plants. 



