48 BULLETIN" 320, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Cantaloupes are largely grown, and at the last cultivation cowpeas 
are sown broadcast over the entire field, furnishing shade for the 
ripening melons. Later, crab-grass comes up among the pea vines, 
and the mixture makes excellent hay. Practically no fruit is grown 
and only enough truck crops other than cantaloupes are grown to 
supply local demands. 
Most of the cultivated land is in intertilled crops, labor being 
plentiful during the cultivation period. The cultivating is done with 
1-horse implements (Table XXII). This is because more labor is 
available than is necessary during the cultivating season, in order that 
there may be enough available for picking cotton in the fall. 
Some time during the winter or spring the cotton and corn stalks 
are chopped up with a stalk cutter or disk harrow. 
Practically all the corn land is broken in the spring, mostly 
with a 2-horse plow. A few farmers practice breaking in the fall 
with a 2-horse plow and then rebreak in the spring with a 1-horse 
plow. It is a common practice to break the land for corn by throw- 
ing it up in beds the width the corn rows are to be apart. Occasion- 
all} 7 land is broken level and then bedded. After bedding, no further 
preparation is given until planting time, and for preparation and 
planting a modified form of the Williamson plan is used. The corn 
is planted in the water furrow between the beds, but before planting 
a 1-horse subsoiling plow is run in the bottom of this water furrow, 
breaking the subsoil to a depth of 6 or 8 inches, and the corn is 
planted in this furrow by hand or with a 1-horse planter. The 
planting is always in drills about 5-J feet apart, with hills 1J feet 
apart in the drill and one or two stalks to the hill. 
Most of the farmers employ a modified form of the Williamson 
plan of cultivation. After planting, the corn is allowed to stand for 
three or four weeks before the first cultivation is given, in order to 
stunt the growth of the young plants. This is supposed to give a 
larger production of grain with a smaller stalk growth. To further 
this process no fertilizer is applied at planting time, but after the 
first cultivation some is applied at each cultivation, and during the 
season 500 to TOO pounds per acre are applied. 
For the first cultivation one furrow is run on either side of the 
row very close to the corn, with a 4-inch 1 -shovel plow going as deep 
as one mule can pull it. The middle is not plowed out at this culti- 
vation. 
Usually for the second cultivation a furrow is opened with a lister 
directly between the rows ; then with a 1-horse turning plow all the 
middle is plowed out, throwing the dirt to this furrow and away from 
the corn. This usually takes six furrows with the turning plow. 
For the next cultivation the middle is plowed out with the turning 
plow or sweep, throwing dirt to the corn. After this, practically all 
