FARM PRACTICE IN" THE CULTIVATION OF COTTON. 
33 
In the system of farming practiced cotton usually follows cotton 
or corn. In preparing the land the old stalks are' broken up with a 
stalk cutter before the land i§ plowed. If the previous crop was corn, 
the land is broken in the fall. If the previous crop was cotton, 
early spring plowing is preferred. 
Two-horse turning plows are generally used and the land is broken 
level. One-horse turning plows are used less frequently. Two- 
horse middle busters, or listers, are sometimes employed, which plow 
the land into beds. 
Before planting, the land is harrowed with a disk harrow and 
thrown into beds with a turning plow or lister. The fertilizer is 
applied on this bed with a distributor and the cotton planted on the 
bed with a 1-horse planter. Sometimes the fertilizer is applied at 
the second or third cultivation. 
Cotton is planted at the rate of 
If bushels of seed per acre in 
rows that average 3| feet apart. 
After chopping is completed the 
stalks are left from 12 to 15 inches 
apart in the drill. 
The cultural treatment after 
planting is very uniform. One- 
horse implements are used almost 
entirely. For the first cultiva- 
tion a spike-tooth harrow or a 
spring-tooth 1-horse cultivator 
(fig. 17) is used. A few farmers 
use a 1-horse scrape, which pulls the earth away from the cotton, 
leaving a small ridge on which the cotton can be easily chopped to 
a stand. 
For the second cultivation a 14-inch or a 16-inch scrape is employed, 
and three furrows are given each row. For* the third cultivation 
about two weeks later, a 16-inch or an 18-inch scrape is used, putting 
three furrows to each row as before. For the later cultivations 
22-inch and 24-inch scrapes are used and only two furrows are given 
each row. In all, fi.ve> or six cultivations are given. Cotton is usually 
chopped to a stand with a hoe at the first or second cultivation and 
hoed again at the third or fourth cultivation to take out any weeds 
or extra stalks of cotton. 
No cover crops are grown and little stable manure is produced. 
Commercial fertilizer, however, is used extensively, the average appli- 
cation for cotton on the farms surveyed being 416 pounds per acre. 
The principal varieties of cotton grown are Cleveland Big Boll 
and KusselFs Big Boll. ♦ 
The most prevalent and troublesome weeds are crab-grass, coffee 
weed, cocklebur, and ragweed. 
Fig. 17.— A 1-horse spring-tooth cultivator, exten- 
sively used for the tillage of cotton in Monroe 
County, Miss., and other parts of the cotton belt. 
