CHAPTER XX 



COTTON — THE CULTIVATION OF THE AMERICAN 

 UPLAND GROUPS 



The modes of tilling and handling a crop of gro\^ing 

 cotton, as of any other wide-area staple crop, come to be 

 largely traditional and perfunctory. The fact that such 

 labor is often left to ignorant or uninterested workmen 

 tends to perpetuate this rule-of-thumb. .Sometimes the 

 methods are followed ■with the bhndness of a superstition. 

 The cotton-grower, however, must recognize that even the 

 most common daily labor of tillage must rest on principles 

 and reasons, if he is to secure the most satisfactory results ; 

 therefore, this subject is worth}- of careful and detailed 

 consideration, 



312. Disposal of litter. — WTiere cotton is the preced- 

 ing crop, the first step in preparing the field for another 

 crop of cotton consists in reducing the old stalks to frag- 

 ments fine enough to be plowed under. This is most 

 economically done by drii.-ing a stalk cutter fFig. 77) along 

 each row, the blades on the cutter chopping the stalks 

 into short pieces, A more common method consists in 

 beating the old brittle stalks with a hea^w stick ; this is 

 best done during dry weather or on a frosty morning late 

 in %\inter. Sometimes the stalks are hfted by a plow or 

 by hand and then raked and burned. This latter course 



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