250 



COTTON 



COTTON 



Barnyard manures also serve an important purpose 

 in improving cotton lands. They supply a small 

 quantity of plant-food and a considerable quantity 

 of organic matter which opens the soil and im- 

 proves its mechanical condition. They are also 

 supposed to act on the constituents of the soil in a 

 chemical way, converting the plant-food into an 

 available condition for the use of the plants. 



Probably one of the cheapest and most effective 

 means of soil-improvement is crop rotation. Cotton 

 would never exhaust the land if washing could be 

 entirely prevented and the seeds were returned to 

 it each year, as the lint cotton, the part necessarily 

 removed, contains only a very small quantity of 

 plant-food ; but unfortunately in many cases the 

 seeds are also removed without substituting their 

 equivalent in other manures. This is a source of 

 great loss, for the seed contains large quantities 

 of the most valuable elements of plant-food. Sur- 

 face washing is also a source of great impover- 

 ishment to cotton-fields, as the nature of the crop 

 necessitates a method of tillage which causes an 

 extreme surface exposure of the soil for practically 

 every month in the year, thereby intensifying the 

 bad effects of heavy rains. During heavy rains the 

 water is quickly shed into the middles of the rows, 

 where it is confined to a very small part of the 

 available area and has great power to wash away 

 the fine soil as it runs off. Unless these conditions 

 can be counterbalanced, cotton-fields will gradually 

 grow poor. This can be accomplished in a large 

 measure by planting from time to time leguminous 

 crops which enrich the soil by collecting nitrogen 

 from the air, and which occupy a larger part of 

 the surface and necessitate a minimum surface 

 exposure of the soil, thereby greatly reducing the 

 loss by surface washing. This is usually done by 

 rotating cotton with corn, small grain and cow- 

 peas. 



Other methods of preventing soil-washing are 

 terracing, deep plowing, and running the rows at 

 right angles to the -direction of the slope of the 

 land. 



Preparation of the land. — The preparation of 

 the land before planting consists of breaking the 

 soil and making the seed-beds. This bre.aking can 

 be done in the winter or just before planting. As 

 a rule, when cotton is to be planted after grain or 

 other crops, the land is broken broadcast with a 

 turn-plow in the winter. The rows are laid off 

 several weeks previous to planting, and the seed- 

 beds are made just before planting. When cotton 

 has been grown on the land the previous year, the 

 above method is sometimes followed, but more fre- 

 quently the new bed is made in the old middle, and 

 the trouble of laying off new rows is thereby 

 avoided. The method is not so important, the only 

 essential point being to have the soil thoroughly 

 broken, and to have fresh, loose seed-beds. 



Seeding. — There are cotton-planters on the mar- 

 ket that give good service. Some of them, however, 

 have a tendency to drop too many seeds, making 

 much hand-hoeing or chopping necessary later in 

 the removal of the surplus plants. The number of 

 plants can be reduced and the stand regulated in. 



part by the use of a weeder or a harrow when the 

 plants are small. Many farmers dig plant-holes 

 with a hoe and drop eight to ten seeds in each 

 hole. In consequence of the waste in planting, the 

 quantity of seed per acre varies considerably. The 

 seed required will vary from one to three bushels 

 per acre. One bushel is plenty when properly 

 sown. 



The common practice is to have the rows four 

 feet apart. On the lighter soils three to three and 

 one-half feet will give as good results. This dis- 

 tance, as well as that between the plants in the 

 row, varies with varieties and soil conditions. The 

 distance between the plants in the rows varies 

 from twelve to twenty-four inches. Twenty inches 

 is, perhaps, a safe distance on good soils. On poor 

 soils the planting should be closer. 



Time of planting. — It is the general experience 

 that cotton planted early most often gives best 

 results. The time of planting varies with the dif- 

 ferent localities. In Florida and southern Georgia, 

 cotton can be planted much earlier than in North 

 Carolina or Tennessee. The following table of 

 dates, from Mr. A. B. Shepperson's " Cotton Pacts," 

 will give the approximate dates when planting 

 begins and ends : 



Thinning. — After the seeds come up to a stand, 

 the cotton is chopped out with hoes, leaving one 

 hill for every twelve to twenty inches and one to 

 three plants in each hill. A few days later it is 

 thinned again, removing all but one plant from 

 each hill, leaving the most vigorous one. 



Cultivation. — Owing to the variable weather 

 conditions, the subsequent cultivation can not 

 follow any specific methods. How- 

 ever, it is very important to culti- 

 vate the crop thoroughly and 

 rapidly, thus giving the plants an 

 opportunity t o 

 make a steady 

 and vigorous 

 growth from the 

 time of germi- 

 nation through- 

 out the growing 

 season. In cul- 

 tivation, sweeps (Pig. 358) are ordinarily used, 

 which break the ground to a depth of about two 

 inches, leaving a loose soil mulch over the sur- 

 face. If this is done thoroughly and as soon as 

 possible after each heavy rain, surface evaporation 



Fig. 358. 

 Sweep used in cultivating cotton. 



