10 BULLETIN 291, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUBE. 
Beferen ce s .—Bureau of Plant Industry Cir. 66: Farmers' Bui. 501; 
Office of Experiment Stations Bui. 33, pp. 211, 212. Write to your 
State college of agriculture for literature on selecting seed for 
planting. 
LESSON V. 
Subject. — Place of cotton in crop rotation. 
Topics for study. — (l).Eeasons for rotation: (a) Different crops 
make different requirements of the sqil; (b) root systems differ; (c) 
crops should be selected W-suit varying seasonal conditions; (d) 
the culture of one crop preparessfor a succeeding crop of a particular 
kind; (<?) distribution of labor. £2) Cotton in systems of rotation. 
How would you make a crop of cotton regardless off the boll weevil? 
Exercises. — Draw plans of the home farm, showing fields, and 
write in each field the crops in the order in which they were grown 
during the last fixe years. Write to the State agricultural college 
for (a) a system of crop rotation in cotton farming and for (b) a 
system of rotation in live-stock farming, which will help to create 
extensive home markets for roughage ant] leguminous crops and at 
the same time add to the fertility of the soil. 
References.— Farmers' Buls. 326. p. 21; 364, pp. 8, 9; Office of 
Experiment Stations Bui. 33, p. 260. 
LESSON VI. 
Subject. — Preparation of the seed bed. 
Topics for study. — It is good practice to plow, any soils except the 
sandiest in the fall, provided some winter-growing crop, such as the 
small grains, or clovers, or vetches, are sown. 
Kinds and conditions of soil necessary. Time of plowing. 
Methods of plowing or breaking. Depth of plowing. When should 
cover crops be turned unde'r for cotton ? Characteristics of a good 
seed bed. 
Exercises. — Show the effect of plowing under cloddy soil, or a large 
cover crop, on the rise of capillary water; also the effect of disking a 
cover crop, or heavy coating of manure into the surface soil before 
turning under. Use four lamp chimneys, numbered 1, 2, 3, and 4. 
Fill all to a depth of 5 inches with a sandy soil. Finish filling Xo 1, 
using good loam soil. On top of the sand in Xo. 2 put 1 inch of 
wheat or oat chaff well packed down. In Xo. 3 put 2 inches of fine 
clods. Finish filling Xos. 2 and 3 with loam soil. Complete the 
filling of Xo. 4 by using a mixture of loam and the same amount of 
chaff used in Xo. 2. Set all chimneys in about 1 inch of water. 
Observe and explain results. 
References. — Textbooks on elementary agriculture; bulletins pub- 
fished by the State agricultural college; Office of Experiment Stations 
Bui. 33,^ pp. 25S-260. 
