Ma 
y 
THE COST OF PRODUCING COTTON. 19 
CLEAN DITCHES AND TERRACES. 
It is a common practice in the Cotton Belt, especially on land that 
was somewhat rolling, to terrace in order to prevent undue erosion. 
Except on new land, the terraces have existed for several years. 
After the terrace has been constructed there is more or less annual 
up-keep. Some terraced fields have open ditches through them. 
Attention must also be given to drainage and where open drains are 
used a certain amount of cleaning must be done during the spring and 
summer months. There were 580 records (70 per cent) which 
included cleaning terraces and ditches. (See Table XIV.) 
TaBLE XIV.—Clean ditches and terraces. 
Reporting. Acres per farm. Crew. Hours per acre. 
State and county. . Per | i i | | 
Num- | cent of cot- Ov- | 
ew AGT eR. ereq, | Man. | Mule. | Man. | Mule. 
records. | 
Georgia: | 
Laurens County..........2..22:-- 48 56 45.041" 44101 6.81 o 1.81 245 1.7 
Greene: COUN bys aa oe 71 91} 54.99} 54.43 2.1 .9 3.8 et 
SHMIeL COUN bys = ene 47 59 | 59.63 | 59.63 2.3 | su 2.0 aD 
Alabama: | | 
Tallapoosa County............... 60 67 | 13.93} 13.93 1.3 | 8 4.6 228 
Marshall County ................. 88 981) 14:06:| 14,06.) 1.1] 10 73|- 218 3.9 
Wale Comity == 44 49-1 16.6851 = 16268 |e 1.2 3 353 3.7 
South Carolina: 
Anderson County -............-.- 88 99 | 32.28} 32.28 2.6 | 2.0 2.4 1.6 
Barnwell County................. 17 19| 66.59] 66.59] 23] .7| 3.2 7 
exas: 
Bilis @ountyos ses aa te 71 95 | 166 | lti52)| 1.8 | 1981 1.0 9 
ask County <2 2202. 46 Bieler al laa eae 20) eS 7 
On the farms of some districts the cleaning was done entirely by 
hand. Other farms in the same area use both man and mule labor. 
Crews of one man and one mule, one man and two mules were 
reported in nearly all districts. These crew sizes were about equally 
divided. Sometimes the cleaning was done with a V-drag, scraper, 
or turning plow. The hand work was done with a shovel, or hoe, 
and in some instances a scythe. For most districts the normal 
requirement varied from one to three man hours per acre. In a nine- 
hour day, one man would be able to do the cleaning on three to nine 
acres of land. — 
CUT STALKS. 
In the districts visited cotton is frequently planted upon the same 
land continuously. It may also follow corn. The stalks of cotton or 
corn, especially if of any great size, are usually broken down with a 
stalk cutter before the operator is ready to proceed with the initial 
tillage in the preparation of the land for a new crop. There were 
some areas in which the stalks made a very limited growth and no 
cutting was necessary prior to the breaking or plowmg. _ These records 
