/?^ 



348 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 



average date of the last killing frost in that locality. 

 Planting begins in March near the Gulf of Mexico ; it 

 begins about April 1 in the central part of the Gulf States ; 

 and in the extreme northern part of the cotton-belt it 

 may be delayed until May. In the central part of the 

 cotton-belt most of the crop is planted before May, but 

 an occasional field is not planted until about the first of 

 June. Extremely early planting increases the risk of 

 injury by frost in spring and increases the labor of culti- 

 vation. Rather early planting is advisable in regions 

 where the cotton boll-weevil is present. Extremely late 

 planting reduces the labor of cultivation and usually also 

 reduces the yield, many of the immature bolls Ijeing 

 destroyed by frost in the fall. 



322. Cotton planters. — There are numerous forms of 

 planters for cotton. Most of them plant a single row at a 

 time, opening the furrow, dropping the seed, and covering 

 the seed, at one trip (Fig. 150). Probably the most impor- 

 tant features about a planter are; (1) provision for con- 

 stantly agitating the mass of seed, so that the feed may be 

 uniform, and (2) provision for rolling or otherwise pressing 

 the soil around the seed. 



If the earth above the seed be rolled, or otherwise com- 

 pacted, the depth of planting may be as shallow as one inch. 

 The usual depth is from one to throe inches. 



Some planters drop the seed at regular intervals rather than 

 in a continuous drill. Such dropper-planters may require that 

 the seed be first treated by some method that will ser\'e to lay 

 the fuzz and enable the individual seeds to be separated from the 

 mass. This may be done by adding a little thin flour paste to 

 the dry cotton seed while being shaken in a revolving barrel ; or, 



