COTTON 151 
In addition to these you should have either a 
disk or cutaway harrow, for crushing and for com- 
pleting the pulverization begun by the plow. 
Where clods are left on top of the soil, the 
wooden drag or roller will be the next implement to 
use. The wooden drag grinds the clods and 
lumps, and is also a good implement for leveling 
purposes. 
The fertilizer distributor is another economical 
tool, doing its work evenly and satisfactorily. 
Following the fertilizer distributor comes the 
cotton planter, and drops the seed in a continuous 
chain. While our planter as now used serves its 
urpose, it is far from being ideal. It must do 
etter work. It is not enough to drop the seed; it 
must drop the right quantity and in the place 
where wanted. When this end is achieved, seed 
will be tested for vitality and germinating power, 
and the planter regulated for dropping seeds to 
suit the requirements of each particular soil. 
This will largely do away with “chopping,” now 
a laborious and costly burden to the cotton farmer. 
The cultivating tools required in cotton culture 
serve three purposes: they kill weeds, provide a 
mulch so as to conserve the moisture in the soil, 
and release plant food. 
The old one-shovel plow is fast giving away tothe 
shallow cultivator with several shovels. 
And the one-horse plow—do you use it for cul- 
tivating purposes? Up and down the row it goes, 
breaking roots, increasing labor bills, lessening 
profits. Let us again express the hope that im- 
proved cultivating tools will soon replace it 
throughout the South. 
For the early work of cultivating young cotton 
plants, perhaps no implement is more useful than 
